Abstract: A handicapped person can move with ease about a room from a seat pivotably suspended by a pair of elongated rigid arms from a telescoping post that is mounted in compression between the floor and ceiling of a room. The handicapped person can propel himself or herself through a doorway of a bathroom and into the shower stall or to the sink or to a position over the toilet.

Abstract: A dynamoelectric machine that is both inexpensive and efficient has a rotor including one or more permanent magnets, the working faces of which lie in a spheroid and are centered on the equator of the spheroid. Surrounding the rotor is a brushless stator having spirally wound stator coils. Each coil has a cup-shaped working face centered on said equator and closely spaced from the working faces of the magnet. This dynamoelectric machine can be small, lightweight, and almost twice as efficient as any prior dynamoelectric machine that is equally inexpensive.

Abstract: An economical power-reducing circuit for either a fluorescent lighting fixture or for a high-intensity, low-voltage incandescent lamp has an electrolytic capacitor and a diode connected in parallel with the capacitor. When used in a fluorescent lamp fixture, the circuit reduces power consumed by the fixture, both when used as a lamp substitute or as an attachment that does not eliminate a lamp. When used with a high-intensity, low-voltage incandescent lamp, the power-reducing circuit eliminates a transformer, thus saving both cost and weight. It also should provide a power saving at no reduction in brightness, and should prolong the life of in the incandescent lamp.

Abstract: Appliances such as fluorescent lamps and low-voltage DC motors can be operated from household AC without a transformer by employing a current-limiting circuit which is compact, lightweight, reliable, draws less energy, and has fewer power consuming components than do prior devices for driving those applicances. The current-limiting circuit has 4 rectifiers in a bridge circuit and a current-limiting capacitor which should be selected to match the load, a larger capacitor being necessary to supply a larger current. When used to drive a discharge lamp, the current-limiting circuit should also contain an inductive coil in series with the current-limiting capacitor. Otherwise there may be undue flicker. The inductive coil and capacitor together improve the power factor and therefore reduce the current drawn from the line without reducing the lamp output.

Abstract: A dynamoelectric machine has a brushless, substantially ironless stator coil of a long electrical wire conductor which comprises a large number of straight legs which are grouped into spaced bundles to form a thin-walled structure that may be cylindrical as in FIG. 1 or flat as in FIG. 6. The thin-walled structure may be supported by a plastic framework or may be adhered to a thin, correspondingly cylindrical or flat, ferromagnetic sheet. A ferromagnetic sheet not only supports the coil, but also enhances efficiency by providing a return path for electromagnetic flux. A plastic framework is lighter in weight.

Abstract: The novel axial fan may have a cylindrical shroud, an impeller mounted coaxially within the shroud, and a bell-shaped deflector extending across the exhaust to redirect the airflow toward radially outward directions. A malleable blank may be cut and shaped to form the impeller having at least three blades, the peripheries of which define a cylinder coaxial with the shroud. The impeller should have a depth-to-radius ratio exceeding 0.5.

Abstract: The axial fan produced by the novel method may have a cylindrical shroud, an impeller mounted coaxially within the shroud, and a bell-shaped deflector extending across the exhaust to redirect the airflow toward radially outward directions. A malleable blank may be cut and shaped to form the impeller having at least three blades, the peripheries of which define a cylinder coaxial with the shroud. The impeller should have a depth-to-radius ratio exceeding 0.5.

Abstract: Bikini-type undergarment of two triangular panels sewed together at apices have a pocket in the front panel for protectively supporting the continually erected penis of a penile prothesis implant patient.

Abstract: A cylindrical tank such as a scuba tank is stowed in a cradle having a pair of upstanding yokes connected by a central I-beam. The weight of a tank placed in the cradle pinches the tank between the yokes.

Abstract: An automatic telephonic message transmission apparatus is disclosed which includes a base station and preferably a remote unit for receiving inputs indicative of various operator emergency conditions and for thereupon automatically sequentially dialing a plurality of preselected telephone numbers, and for thereupon transmitting aural messages indicative of the alarm condition. The apparatus includes solid state memories for storing a digital representation of aural messages, keyboard for inputting information such as selected telephone numbers, alarm times, etc., and a controller for acting on the input signals and keyboard entered data for controlling the automatic dialing operations.

Abstract: Optical recording disc having a rigid, dimensionally-stable support which keeps a plastic film taut and flat so that an optically-recordable coating on the plastic film resists the dimensional changes and warping which it otherwise might experience if unsupported. The optically-recordable coating may include an energy-absorbing layer which develops discontinuities immediately upon impingement by a focused laser beam and thus provides DRAW capability.

Abstract: Pressure-sensitive adhesive tape which has both high adhesion and high cohesion values and adheres strongly to automotive paints and to rubber or plastic foam layers, thus showing great promise for adhering plastic molding strips to the sides of automobiles. The adhesive layer of the novel tape may be made by photopolymerizing (1) acrylic acid ester of non-tertiary alcohol, the alkyl groups of which have an average of 4-14 carbon atoms and (2) N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone in an amount within 15-50 parts by weight of the total monomers (1) and (2), preferably 25-35 parts.

Abstract: Free flowing resin powder which upon striking a heated article fuses, flows and hardens to provide a protective coating, which powder consists of a mixture of rough and rounded particles, the rough particles having a granular appearance as a result of being pulverized and the rounded particles having smooth, glossy, spheroidized surfaces as a result of being briefly heated to a temperature above the softening point. Preferably each particle of the powder is a blend of thermosetting resin and curing agent.

Abstract: Acicular hyper-magnetite particles, that is, acicular particles of(FeO).sub.x Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3where x is greater than one and not greater than 1.5, are provided with coatings of a cobalt compound, the cobalt providing 1% to 10% of the total weight of the particles. The particles provide superior magnetic recording media.

Abstract: Vibration-damping composite comprising one or more structural metal sheets having adhered thereto a viscoelastic polycyanurate polymer which effectively damps vibrations at elevated temperatures after prolonged exposure thereto. A preferred structural sheet is dead-soft aluminum-killed steel.

Abstract: Recording tape reel having a plastic hub of I-beam construction and a pair of plastic flanges interconnected by an annular array of radially-elongated lugs through slots in the central web of the hub. Clearances permit the hub to be compressed under forces applied by a wound tape without substantially transmitting those forces to the flanges.

Abstract: Welding backup having a train of rigid, heat-resistant tiles, the contiguous ends of which have round surfaces which provide knuckle joints. The round surfaces terminate in matching stops which limit the knuckle motion in either direction to 5-20 degrees.

Abstract: Rotary speed changer including a 2-element internal gear set. The eccentric of a crankshaft is journalled in the inner element on its axis. Fixed to a driveshaft is a plate which has cycloid pins mating with cycloid holes in the inner element so that the driveshaft rotates at a fraction of the speed of rotation of the crankshaft. Instead of being attached to the driveshaft, the plate may be fixed to the housing so that the outer element of the gear set rotates at a fraction of the speed of the crankshaft.

Abstract: Improved reflective sense marker less than 2.5 micrometers in thickness including (a) a reflective thin-film metal coating, (b) a thin layer of adhesive bonding the thin-film coating to the back side of a magnetic recording tape, and (c) a thin, tough, abrasion-resistant transparent polymeric protective layer such as a copolymer of ethylene and vinyl acetate covering the thin-film coating.

Abstract: Improved electrostatic coating is obtained by heat-rounding or spheroidizing pulverized resin particles so that 30-80% take on a glossy appearance while the rest remain rough to provide a mixture that is free flowing at ordinary room temperature and would pass through a screen having openings not exceeding 200 micrometers. Preferably each particle of the mixture is a blend of thermosetting resin and curing agent.