Abstract: Modular roll apparatus particularly suitable for conveying hot material such as a sheet of steel being processed. Each roll has its own individual water bath and drive mechanism. A water trough isolates the bath from the bearings and drive mechanism for the roll and bathes the underside of the roll to cool it. The entire modular unit can be removed from its operating position and replaced by a similar such unit. A conveyor containing a multiplicity of such units is suitable for conveying hot sheet steel or other hot material in a processing mill.

Abstract: Coiler furnaces of the type used with reversing rolling mills are provided with a strip guide for guiding the leading edge of the incoming steel strip into engagement with the slot in the winding drum of the coiler furnace. According to the present invention, the strip guide is designed as a dual purpose strip guide provided with a cleaning element (e.g. a scraper blade or abrasive element) fixed to the distal end of the strip guide for contacting and cleaning the exterior cylindrical surface of the winding drum when the coiler furnace is otherwise idle.

Abstract: A pipe coupling or connection comprises a female coupling component and a mating male coupling component. Each component is matingly threaded for coupling engagement, and each is provided with an adjacent frusto-conical sealing surface. The sealing surface is provided with a controlled surface roughness, viz. very shallow fine surface variations, preferably formed as microgrooves at a pitch small relative to the pitch of the threads. The slope of the frusto-conical surface of the sealing area of the male component is slightly mismatched with that of the sealing area of the female component to simulate the bearing force vs. axial distance characteristic of shrunk-fit circular cylindrical sealing surfaces. The slight mismatch enables the sealing pressure to be above a design minimum throughout the entire sealing area yet higher at each end of the sealing area.

Abstract: There is disclosed an erectable portable emergency shelter for use in cold conditions. This comprises a wind-proof fabric enclosure having an inflatable floor as a base and inflatable ribs for supporting an upper section mountable on the base. There is in one embodiment a hinge between the base and upper section such that the upper section can be opened to uncover the entire floor. This allows an injured person to be moved onto or off of the floor by assistants without fetter of the upper section. There is also a seal provided between the upper section and the base for when the upper section is not open at the hinge. There is further provided a vestibule having means for providing heat-loss limiting entry or exit of a person from the shelter. Various other survival assisting features may be included. In another aspect there is a survival kit which includes the shelter, interior combustion heat generation means, and possibly other safety features.

Abstract: A pipe coupling or connection comprises a female coupling component and a mating male coupling component. Each component is matingly threaded for coupling engagement, and each is provided with an adjacent frusto-conical sealing surface. The sealing surface is provided with a controlled surface roughness, viz. very shallow fine surface variations, preferably formed as microgrooves at a pitch small relative to the pitch of the threads. The slope of the frusto-conical surface of the sealing surface of the male component is slightly mismatched with that of the sealing surface of the female component to simulate the bearing force vs. axial distance characteristic of shrunk-fit circular cylindrical sealing surfaces. The mismatch enables the sealing pressure to be above a design minimum throughout the entire sealing area yet higher at each end of the sealing area. As the coupling is assembled, thread interference in the vicinity of the sealing surface lags the occurrence of interference between the sealing surfaces.

Abstract: A pipe coupling or connection comprises a female coupling component and a mating male coupling component. Each component is matingly threaded for coupling engagement, and each is provided with an adjacent frusto-conical sealing surface. The sealing surface is provided with a controlled surface roughness, viz. very shallow fine surface variations, preferably formed as microgrooves at a pitch small relative to the pitch of the threads. The slope of the frusto-conical surface of the sealing area of the male component is slightly mismatched with that of the sealing area of the female component to simulate the bearing force vs. axial distance characteristic of shrunk-fit circular cylindrical sealing surfaces. The slight mismatch enables the sealing pressure to be above a design minimum throughout the entire sealing area yet higher at each end of the sealing area.

Abstract: A weather protector for the end of a pipe section, e.g. for use in a pipeline, tends to prevent the ingress of snow and rain into the interior of the pipe. The weather protector is made from a generally circular blank having peripheral tabs, a few of which are widely circumferentially spaced and are appreciably longer than the remaining tabs and extend over the edge of the pipe end. The weather protector is placed in the interior or the pipe, the tabs forming a substantially continuous cylindrical rim portion that engages the interior cylindrical surface of the pipe. The longer tabs position the weather protector in the interior of the pipe by overlapping the pipe end to prevent the weather protector from being pushed further into the interior of the pipe.

Abstract: A pipe coupling or connection comprises a female coupling component and a mating male coupling component. Each component is matingly threaded for coupling engagement, and each is provided with an adjacent frusto-conical sealing surface. The sealing surface is provided with a controlled surface roughness, viz. very shallow fine surface variations, preferably formed as microgrooves at a pitch small relative to the pitch of the threads. The slope of the frusto-conical surface of the sealing area of the male component is slightly mismatched with that of the sealing area of the female component to simulate the bearing force vs. axial distance characteristic of shrunk-fit circular cylindrical sealing surfaces. The slight mismatch enables the sealing pressure to be above a design minimum throughout the entire sealing area yet higher at each end of the sealing area.

Abstract: An improved retainer mechanism for retaining a gate relative to a frame has two spring bars and a pin. The spring bars may be attached to the frame. The pin may be attached to the gate. The spring bars are made of resilient material and each is shaped and mounted to the frame such that the free ends of the bars form a constriction between them. The width of the pin is greater than the width of the constriction. The space between the bars widens on either side of the constriction. The relative position of the gate, the pin and the bars is such that when the gate is closed, the flared free ends of the bars distally of the constriction between the bars constrains (excludes) the pin, retaining the gate in a closed position. The pin must move through the point of constriction, deflecting the bars apart, when the gate is moved towards an open position. In one embodiment, the invention is suited for use on the discharge chute gates of railway hopper cars.

Abstract: Seamless steel tubes suitable for use as grades of casing and line pipe having yield strengths in excess of 70,000 psi, without being heat treated, are made of an alloy comprising, by weight, about 0.10% to 0.18% carbon, about 1.0% to 2.0% manganese, about 0.10% to 0.16% vanadium, about 0.008% to 0.012% titanium and about 150 parts per million to 220 parts per million nitrogen, the balance comprising iron and incidental impurities. Strains are applied to the shell in a stretch reducing mill below the T.sub.nr of the steel and above the A.sub.r3 to provoke dynamic recrystallization. The nitrogen and vanadium are preferably introduced to the steel during alloying in the form of a VN alloying agent. The vanadium, titanium and nitrogen are predominantly present as vanadium nitride and titanium nitride. The steel may also comprise 0.03% to 0.05% aluminum by weight.

Abstract: Intrusion detection apparatus for use in perimeter security systems and the like is provided with multiple channel signal processing. Each signal processor includes a bandpass filter whose passband is selectable. Each is respectively responsive to sensed movement including vibrations within the associated selected passband. An output affirmative signal is generated if the amplitude of the input signal constituent within the associated frequency range exceeds a threshold level for a predetermined period of time. A logic circuit receives the outputs of all of the signal processors and provides an output alarm signal when a predetermined combination of affirmative signals is received from the signal processors. Such logic circuit preferably works with digital signals obtained by analog-to-digital conversion.

Abstract: A method for producing seamless steel tubes suitable for use as grades of casing and line pipe having yield strengths in excess of 70,000 psi, without being heat treated. Such steels are made of an alloy comprising, by weight, about 0.10% to 0.18% carbon, about 0.10% to 2.0% manganese, about 0.10% to 0.16% vanadium, about 0.008% to 0.012% titanium and about 150 parts per million to 220 parts per million nitrogen, the balance comprising iron and incidental impurities. The subject method comprises the steps of alloying a steel of the aforesaid chemical composition, forming the steel into a billet of steel, reheating the billet in a reheating furnace, passing the billet through a piercing mill to form a steel shell, elongating the steel shell within a mandrel mill, and reducing the diameter of the elongated shell in a stretch reducing mill. Strains are applied to the shell in the stretch reducing mill below the T.sub.nr of the steel and above the A.sub.r3 to provoke dynamic recrystallization.

Abstract: A knitting needle of the type used in industrial knitting machines is provided in the shank, typically distally of and adjacent the driving butt, with a bow-spring portion acting as a shock absorber for the needle during its acceleration and deceleration. The bow-spring portion is stabilized on either longitudinal side thereof by shank portions aligned with the transverse dimensional boundaries of the shank. The convex limit of the bow-spring is spaced from the opposed transverse dimensional boundary by a distance sufficient to enable the spring to flex transversely under compression without reaching the transverse boundary. This structure facilitates high-speed operation of the needle and tends avoid fatigue failure of the hook.

Abstract: A remotely controlled door and window locking device is provided with a plurality of deadbolts responsive to master control signals and positioned with respect to associated doors and windows so that when triggered to locked positions, all of the doors and windows connected to the system are locked. The device has retaining means preventing the movement of respective deadbolts associated with the doors and windows when the doors are left ajar or windows are left in other than a closed or predetermined open position, and display lights at a master control panel each one of which remains off when its associated door is ajar, or window is in other than a closed or predetermined open position.