Abstract: A charge-flow transistor having a gapped gate electrode and a thin-film sensor material in the gap, which sensor material is sensitive to a property of the ambient environment and has a surface conductance that differs substantially from the bulk conductance thereof. The charge-flow transistor is shown as part of an instrument operable to measure said property.

Abstract: A fluidized bed, particulate collector system wherein, in one embodiment, the bed particles have applied thereto at the surface thereof, an additive that serves to adhere particulate, once collected, to the bed particles. The bed particles and/or additive may be combustible or may be incombustible. In one embodiment, the system includes two fluidized beds, in tandem, the first of which collects particulate mostly in the supermicron sizes and the second of which is an electrofluidized bed that collects particulate mostly in the submicron sizes.

Abstract: A signal processing filter wherein electromagnetic wave energy is coupled into a magnetic material at a first region of the surface of the magnetic material and is coupled from the material at a second region of the surface after having propagated within the material as magnetic wave energy. The filter parameters serve to confine the electromagnetic wave energy to a small, localized region of the magnetic material and regional confinement of the magnetic wave energy is also achieved.

Abstract: An electrofluidized bed agglomerator and method of agglomerating which comprises agglomerating submicron (and/or supermicron) particulates with a liquid, said liquid acting as a bond between particulates of the agglomerate thus formed to maintain the integrity thereof.

Abstract: A venetian-blind solar collector system having several slat-like members each of which has a radiation-reflecting surface and a heat exchange mechanism, radiation being reflected from the reflecting surface of one member of the collector to the heat exchange mechanism of another member. The members can be oriented to provide energy collection during certain periods of time and then re-oriented to provide a thermal insulating function. The system includes storage facilities for a heated liquid.

Abstract: Process and apparatus to control the chemical state of a material. Bulk control of the chemical state of such material which permits maintenance of chemicals including enzymes by both restoration and stabilization. Optical and electrical power sources act in the presence of chemical mediators to control the rate of charge transfer to substances including metals contained in proteins, for example. Controlled charge transfer to the proteins enables construction of devices including small molecule detectors, e.g., electrically restored ferrous deoxyhemoglobin in a discrete component electrooptical circuit to monitor, for example, oxygen and carbon monoxide partial pressures. Restoration of chemical activity in molecules which have deteriorated enables construction of chemical reactors composed of stabilized catalysts and enzymes, e.g., restored functional nitrogenase in solar energy conversion devices which evolve molecular hydrogen or in chemical reactors which convert molecular nitrogen into ammonia.

Abstract: A controllable heat-transmission device, herein called a thermic device, uses temperature changes to modulate heat flow between two regions. A fluid, in thermal contact with both regions, varies its non-radiative heat transfer in response to the temperature of either region or to a separate temperature source: both hereafter simply called the temperature source. The variation in heat transfer is due only to the thermal energy of the two regions or the temperature source; no other energy is required.

Abstract: A device to monitor movement of a surface such as, for example, the roof of a mine tunnel or the like and to provide an indication if that movement exceeds some predetermined creep rate or velocity. The device includes a sensing member formed of a material whose precise creep characteristics as a function of stress and strain are known. The device includes a sensing member formed of a material whose precise creep characteristics as a function of stress and strain are known.

Abstract: A method of separation of one gaseous species from another gaseous species in a gas mixture containing a plurality of gases of different masses. The species are first separated from one another by thermal diffusion using laser radiation to effect such separation and then separated from the mixture electrically or chemically. Apparatus to perform the method is also disclosed.

Abstract: A voltage waveform synthesizer whereby an ac waveform (which may be varied in frequency) is synthesized from dc or unidirectional voltages in a programmable fashion, the power carried by the waveform being controllable from zero to some maximum value and the harmonic content of the waveform also being controllable. The synthesizer per se is described and it is shown in combination with a rotating electric machine to provide, for example, a variable speed drive mechanism.

Abstract: Apparatus for altering (i.e., deactivating or activating) the biological or chemical activity of macromolecular species that employs laser beam radiation at a frequency that excites vibrational and rotational states of the irradiated species and at an intensity sufficient to activate the species (but below the denaturation level) or to a level such that the weak bonds -- e.g., hydrogen bonds -- that determine the spatial character, and hence the biological activity of macromolecules are irreversibly broken to such extent that the macromolecule loses its original form (the process of denaturation) and assumes an inactive (denatured) configuration. In the case of absorbing materials, pulses of energy from the beam, which are obtained by interrupting a c.w. beam, using a pulsed laser, or as a Q-switched configuration, are used. In a broad sense, the invention is primarily directed to the breakdown of large molecules either into varieties with different spatial characteristics or into smaller molecular units.

Abstract: Thick, finely-grained films of cermets are fabricated using conventional techniques of sputtering the ceramic and the metal onto a substrate. The cermet is then subjected to differential sputtering in which the metal is sputtered away faster than the ceramic to leave a ceramic-rich surface layer having excellent secondary-electron-emission properties for low-energy incident electrons. Typical of such cermets are MgO/Au, MgO/Pt and MgO/Ag. The presence of metallic particles in the bulk of the films and the small size of the ceramic particles greatly reduce surface charging while allowing the emitter film to be made thick enough to have a long operating life under adverse device conditions.

Abstract: An interface device that serves to connect a local RF signal and a broadcast signal to a television receiver as alternate inputs to the receiver.

Abstract: Liquid mixtures are used as the active medium in two-photon resonant four-wave mixing processes to achieve efficient nonlinear conversion of infrared laser frequencies. The resonant energy levels involved in these four-wave mixing processes are Raman-active vibrational modes of a molecular species which is one of the major constituents of the liquid mixture. Additional molecular and/or atomic constituents are added to the active molecular species to adjust the dispersion of the medium to optimize the nonlinear process. Diluents further may be used to fine-tune the two-photon resonance parameters to better match available infrared laser sources.

Abstract: A way of automatically inspecting a machined part, for example, to a tolerance of 0.001 inches. A minicomputer monitors a change in phase, for example, of wave energy impinging upon a sample part and compares it with a change in phase of such energy for a standard or master part, any difference between the monitored changes being interpreted to determine if the sample is within acceptable tolerance limits. The inspection approach described uses no moving parts and can be used to inspect many dimensions of a part simultaneously in less than a second. Acoustic waves or microwave electromagnetic wave energy can be used to inspect parts of any shape. The inspection system disclosed can be used, as well, to monitor the geometry of an object over time to note any changes in said geometry. And the concepts of the inspection system can be employed in conjunction with robot-controlled devices to provide close-positioning data for such devices.

Abstract: An electronic game wherein simulated players, a simulated object, a simulated playing field, and so forth, are produced electronically on the image screen of a television receiver by an electronic master controller, the players being caused to move about in both the .+-. x direction and the .+-. y direction by the electronic master controller under the control of human operators. Movement of the simulated object, spatial coincidence of the players and the object, and so forth, are all sensed and predetermined actions are taken on the image screen by virtue of signals from the electronic master controller to the television receiver.

Abstract: A method that permits essentially exact synthesis of a cylindrically symmetric static magnetic field of specified and fixed characteristics and either spatially uniform or non-uniform, as required, in a magnet of arbitrary, but feasible, shape and apparatus that provides such cylindrically symmetric static magnetic field.

Abstract: Acyl phosphate salts suitable for use as phosphate donors in the production of cofactors, such as adenosine triphosphate, are prepared by acylation of phosphoric acid with a ketene, followed by reaction with ammonia or an amine. The reaction product, e.g. diammonium acetyl phosphate, can normally be used directly in enzymic production of cofactors without the necessity of prior conversion to the free acid or another salt, such as the sodium salt. The acyl phosphate salts are produced in high yields, and the method allows production of cofactors for use in biosynthesis from readily available materials.

Abstract: A spark plug wherein corona discharge is employed to create a long arc and to determine, in part, the path of the arc, electrodes of the spark plug being shaped, oriented and positioned to create an arc of desired length, orientation and at a desired location as well as to effect electromagnetic interaction between electric current in the arc and the current in at least one of the electrodes to provide a force on the arc which acts in consort with the electrode shapes, positions and orientations to control its spatial behavior, the electrode configuration being further selected so that ionized species in the flame of ignited fuel are subjected to a high electric field over a substantial volume.

Abstract: A rotating electric machine having an armature winding wound in the form of a toroid. The toroidal winding consists of a plurality of sectors which are wound in alternating sense and are disposed circumferentially around a rotor. The sectors are interconnected around the torus to form a substantially continuous circumferential voltage gradient which is approximately sinusoidal in the circumferential direction.