Abstract: A prosthetic nucleus replacement embodiment of the present invention comprises a rounded shaped ceramic domed body with a receptacle in its bottom side. A keeled base of biocompatible metal is press-fit into the receptacle at any relative angle to complete a two-piece assembly. A keel part of the base especially is finished in porous coated metal and shaped to promote natural in-growth of bone from the inferior vertebrae.

Abstract: A latched, spring loaded valve having a water sensor and an activation mechanism shuts off water supply, when a water leak is detected, to specific application as cloths washing machines, dishwashing machines, sinks, toilets, and refrigerators equipped with ice makers. The shutoff valve system with leak detector has a sealing member movable with a valve body between an open position and a closed position wherein the sealing member blocks fluid flow.

Abstract: A starch hydrolysis food making process comprises mixing rice flour and rice syrup or honey in equal parts, adding amylase enzymes to the mixture, and extruding for a few seconds at an elevated temperature. Water may be added to the rice flour mixture to adjust the final product texture. A second extrusion can be used to adjust the pH. In a second starch hydrolysis method embodiment of the present invention, one part of water is mixed with five parts of rice flour. Then amylase enzymes are added to the mixture and extruded for a few seconds at an elevated temperature. The extrusion products are then packaged as food ingredients.

Abstract: A safety cable and rack system comprises tubular material-bay dividers with wire-rope safety-cable gates and easy-to-release cable clips. Long sticks or sheets of material are stood on-end inside the bays for retail display. The cable clips are mounted on the front edges of the tubular material-bay dividers and the wire-rope safety-cable gates are secured to prevent the retail material from falling out onto the aisleways. A sliding lock on the cable clips has an enlarged hole that can be aligned to allow a beaded end of the wire-rope safety-cable gates to be secured or released. Such sliding lock is loosely attached, and will fall into a cable-locked position when not held up.

Abstract: An automated warehouse system for a building has elevators for automatically accepting incoming material on pallets. A rotating forklift mounted inside the elevator extends its forks to reach out and bring in the pallets. Once inside, the rotating forklift spins around to face inside warehouse doors. When the elevator car arrives at a designated level, the rotating forklift deposits the material on the pallet on a temporary shelf just outside the elevator. Each level has an aisle cart that moves along an aisleway for both a loading elevator and an unloading elevator. Each aisleway is intersected by several row rails that are right angles to the aisleway. The aisle cart carries a battery powered row cart that can run back and forth along the rows. The aisle cart is positioned at the appropriate row along the aisleway, and the row cart carries, deposits, and picks up material on pallets. Storage positions are provided along each row, front to rear.

Abstract: An integrated circuit device socket is spring-loaded to accept and capture a semiconductor device. As the frame springs relax, a device nest and capture arms lower the device down onto a grid of pogo-pins that probe the contacts underneath. Such pogo-pins pass through a dielectric grate, and are self-cleaning. The capture arms lock as they slide into constraint channels. Such prevents the device from escaping when a large aggregate force is applied from beneath by the pogo-pins. Each pogo-pin can generate 20-grams of contact force, and combine to as many as six pounds of force. To release the device, cams are used to force the frame springs open. The constraint channels clear the capture arms. The device releases when the capture arms move apart fully open.

Abstract: A guitar shoulder strap incorporates thickened, rolled edges along the length of the strap. The strap webbing between is generally about two millimeters thick and fifty millimeters wide. The thick, rolled edges are almost four millimeters thick and about six millimeters wide. A decorative pattern is weaved into the outside decorative surface. The strap webbing and thick, rolled edges are a single weave of textile wherein many longitudinal fibers have been bunched into cords at the edges and spiraling transverse fibers are woven to build the webbing and encase the cords.

Abstract: A warehouse material-rack safety-netting system comprises left and right vertical extension posts that bolt to the face of the top bay of an open material rack. A two-part curtain netting that parts in the middle is supported between horizontal, parallel top-and-bottom wire ropes on hooks. The left and right edges of the curtain netting are hooked to the vertical extension posts with carabiners. In order to reduce inadvertent snagging, these hooks and wire ropes are critically attached along the middle line of the inside opposite-facing edges of the vertical extension posts. The front aisle-facing edges of these vertical extension posts are smooth and no part of the curtain netting extends past them when the curtains are fully closed. A latch is provided at the center to secure the two-parts of the curtain netting together.

Abstract: A pier support system comprises a support pier with a load-spreading plate that is laterally braced at the top to an anchor plate pinned to the ground just under the periphery of a modular building. The support pier is placed directly under the support girders of the modular building at critical points, and the lateral bracing runs outboard at a down angle of 35°-55°. Sufficient working room exists just inside the periphery of the modular building for large pinning rods to be driven into the ground through the anchor plate.

Abstract: A container tracking system comprises a dispatcher workstation with a graphical user interface and a database. These are used to track the whereabouts of shipping containers in a storage and transfer yard. A mobile unit in the yard is attached to container handling equipment and monitors the container lock-on mechanism. When a container is locked on for a move, the mobile unit starts reporting positions and velocities to the dispatcher workstation over a radio channel. These positions and solutions are computed from a combination of GPS satellite navigation receiver solutions, inertial navigation, and local beacon markers. Reports stop when the container handling equipment unlocks from the container. The database then updates the new position for that container, and the graphical user interface can be used to “see” the container on a yard map.

Abstract: A write-protected memory device has two write modes. Such memory device has many memory cells organized into pages. A normal write mode checks a one-bit flag collocated with every memory cell to see if writes are allowed. If the flag indicates a write operation to that memory cell is allowed, the flag is toggled and the cell is written. If the flag has previously been toggled, the write operation is prevented. A special write mode allows write operations to memory cells regardless of the state of the one-bit flag. The special write mode can be discerned in hardware by the loading of a register with a reprogrammable password, or the splitting of a normal single write-enable pin into two independent pins, e.g., normal write and special write.

Abstract: A deadman ground-anchor comprises a heavy steel rod with several inches of machine threading at a back end, and an arrowhead with a pair of wedge-shaped wings at a front end. The wedge-shaped wings are welded to the steel rod. A pivotable fluke is hinged to the shaft with a lateral pin. The whole unit is driven into the soil, e.g., with a jack-hammer, until the threads at the back end are almost completely buried. A stabilizer vane and interlocking cap are then placed over the end flat on the ground. Nuts are put over the threaded end and tightened so that the whole unit is drawn back out a few inches. The fluke folds out perpendicular to the shaft and locks compacted soil between it and the cap. The stabilizing vane braces the top end of the anchor against lateral forces.

Abstract: A method for installing spine-stabilization components comprises directing a long plastic flexible tool through a sublaminar space of a human spine vertebrae inside the spinal canal. Such tool enters the sublaminar space of a particular one of the human spine vertebrae posteriorly from the intervertebral gap with an adjacent vertebrae. It exits the sublaminar space of the particular one of the human spine vertebrae posteriorly from the intervertebral gap with another opposite-side adjacent vertebrae. A suture is threaded through an eye of the tool. The suture is pulled back through the sublaminar space by withdrawing the long plastic flexible tool. The suture is detached from the long plastic flexible tool. A pulled-through part of the suture is attached to a spinal-fixation wire or cable. The suture is then usable as a pilot-line to draw the spinal-fixation wire or cable through the sublaminar space. The spinal-fixation wire or cable is used to anchor a spinal-fixation system.

Abstract: A jazz drumming ride pattern flip chart tool comprises at least one ride pattern card and a notation card beneath and extending beyond the ride pattern card. A sliding dowel moved to a place on the notation card indicates which drum should be struck. Each sliding dowel is positioned horizontally exactly the same distance apart as the space between the notes on the card directly above. A disk is at the top of each dowel with “R” on one side and “L” on the other side.

Abstract: A pallet cart comprises four corner adapters that lock on to respective corners of an ordinary wooden pallet. A pair of ladder frames have vertical posts that fit at the bottom into each of the four corner adapters. The ladder frames support a system of wire-frame shelves at various parallel levels above the pallet. The pieces can be disassembled to lie flat.

Abstract: A memory cache device for a CD-ROM for use with a host computer capable of initially filling a clone area of the hard disk with data from the compact disc using a sequential striped fill process for copying a plurality of blocks of data from the compact disc to the hard disk, the process comprising the steps of: accessing a first block of data of a sequence of data blocks from the compact disc and copying the first block onto the hard disk, accessing a second block of data in the sequence of data blocks from the compact disc and not copying the second block to the hard disk, and accessing a third block of data in the sequence of data blocks from the compact disc and copying the third block onto the hard disk, the fill process continuing until the entire capacity of the hard disk devoted to cloning the compact disk is full, while leaving sufficient area for storage of blocks not initially copied in the fill process.

Abstract: A spinal-fixation system comprises a dual parallel bridging that runs along a posterior length of the spine and is anchored with cables looped through a dorsal corner of the spinal canals of respective adjacent vertebrae.

Abstract: A photograph display and organizer comprises a central post that can freely rotate on a base. The post is square or hexagonal or octagonal in cross-section to provide either four, six, or eight sides to which panel pivots are mounted. Each side has a top and bottom pivot plate that can receive as many as five sets of pivot axles each attached to a frame. Foam-board display panels are inserted into each frame which is constructed of metal U-channel material. A U-channel closure is attached between the open-ends of each frame piece to retain the corresponding display panel. Such arrangement allows a user to flip through panels like pages in a book and look at all the photographs mounted on the two opposite surfaces of the display pages. The whole assembly can be rotated like a turnstile by a user who wishes to look at the photographs mounted on the display panels on the side and back parts of the central post.