Abstract: A tool kit for containing truck or tractor repair tools and parts includes an elongate, unitary body adapted to be supported by the upper peripheral portion of a front tire on either side of a cab-over-engine tractor. The body has a front section and a rear section on which are provided transverse trays for tools or repair parts, a center section having a horizontal plate for the temporary support of tools or parts, and an outer sidewall with larger, longitudinally-extending trays for holding larger tools or parts. The three body sections have a single base wall which has a radius approximately equal to the radius of a tractor tire on which the kit is designed to be supported. The center section includes a pair of handles extending upwardly from the base wall at the forward and rearward ends, respectively, of the horizontal plate.

Abstract: A stator coil finish wire is wedged between the wound coil from which it extends and the stator core at a stator winding station. To accomplish this, a loop is formed in the finish lead and trapped between cooperating surfaces to frictionally resist the wire loop being pulled out by the wire gripper of a lead pull assembly. The wire gripper moves in directions to remove the loop and to wedge the stretch of the lead wire extending through the stator core between the coil and the core. This procedure is advantageously used when winding stators which do not have terminal boards.

Abstract: A low cost toaster having a metal body and plastic end panels. The end panels have cooling inlet vents near their lower ends and the top wall of the metal body has air outlet vents. Ambient air admitted through the inlet vents flows upwardly through the toaster and outwardly through the outlet vents to provide a cooling effect sufficient to allow the use of inexpensive plastic material for molding the end panels. The toaster has a bread lifter made entirely from a wire rod, a bread lifter extension made entirely from a wire rod, and a toast color cam made entirely from a single piece of sheet metal.

Abstract: A timer has as at least two timing intervals, at least one of which is switchable between different preset intervals by the user, between which tasks are to be performed by a user. Upon the expiration of each timing interval, the user is alerted that a task is to be performed. A display panel indicates the number of days remaining in one of the timing cycles and may temporarily be switched to indicate the number of days remaining in the other timing interval. A particular use for the timer of this invention is to remind a user to service a humidifier. Another particular use is to remind a user of chores to be performed to maintain indoor or outdoor plants.

Abstract: A coffee maker has a housing having an upstanding tower, a carafe support platform extending horizontally forward from the lower end of the tower, and a fixed, tubular filter basket support extending horizontally forward from the upper end of the housing above the platform. A horizontal filter basket cover, including a water spreader, is disposed above the filter basket support and carried by the housing for pivotal movement about a vertical axis. A cover pivotal about a horizontal axis is provided over a water reservoir defined by the housing. A valve mechanism is provided that operates upon pivoting of the filter basket cover to selectively permit heated water to be supplied to the water spreader, thereby preventing burns from heated water when the water spreader is not located above the filter basket support. The coffee maker also includes an electronic controller having a control pad on the front surface of the housing platform. A pivotal cover is provided to shield the control pad from spilled coffee.

Abstract: A slow cooker is provided with a clamp assembly for holding the parts of the cooker together when transporting the cooker from one location to another. The clamp assembly includes downwardly-opening grooved portions of housing handles and an elastomeric band having opposite end portions received within the grooved portions of housing handles.

Abstract: Armature support pallets are provided with support assemblies which have parts that cooperate with structural features of the armature assembly they carry to maintain the rotary orientation there

Abstract: Stator coil lead wires are coursed along complex, circuitous paths on the end of a stator core and trimmed at a precise predetermined distance from the stator core. Improved end effector wire-guiding tooling members are provided in place of conventional gripper jaws to permit the lead wires to be coursed along complex, circuitous paths. In addition, an improved lead pull assembly, improved temporary wire clamps, and a wire former assembly are provided.

Abstract: A household electric flat bread making appliance has a heated lower pressure plate fixed to a frame, an upwardly biased upper heated pressure plate pivotally mounted on the frame, and a heated skillet mounted on the frame in general vertical alignment with the pressure plates. A handle is connected to the upper pressure plate to enable the upper pressure plate to be manually pivoted downwardly toward the lower pressure plate to flatten a mass of dough between the two pressure plates.

Abstract: A portable humidor has a cedar cigar storage container formed from a lower housing and an upper lid hingedly connected thereto. A cover assembly having an outer surface of leather or other suitable durable protective material is secured to the cedar container. The cover assembly includes a zippered closure. When the storage container is in a closed position for travel, the zippered closure serves to entirely enclose the container within the cover assembly.

Abstract: Stator coils having lead wires inserted into temporary wire clamps (36) at a winding station are electrically tested before the coil lead wires are removed from the temporary clamps. In one aspect, the clamps each include a jaw (54) formed with a wire-engaging surface (88) which scrapes the insulating coating off from a lead wire as it is inserted therein. The clamps are electrically connected to terminal members (90) which are engageable by electrical test terminal members (100). In a modification, the clamps include a wire-scraping jaw having, in addition to a body formed with a sharpened or knife edge, a shield having wire-guiding surfaces engageable by a lead wire being inserted into the clamp. The wire-guiding surfaces are located adjacent the knife edge and are so positioned that the depth of the insulated wire scraped or cut away by the knife edge is only a few thousandths of an inch.

Abstract: A cooking appliance having an upper cooking unit pivotally mounted on a lower cooking unit for rotation substantially about a horizontal axis into three different positions, a first position in which the upper cooking unit is on top of the lower cooking unit to form a contact grill, a second position in which the upper cooking unit is substantially horizontally oriented with and parallel to the lower cooking unit to form therewith a double grooved griddle, and a third, generally upright, position intermediate the first and second positions to provide access to the lower cooking plate when the appliance is being used as a contact grill. The cooking plates have elongate grooves which are generally parallel to an axis of the hinge that connects the upper and lower cooking units together and which grooves increase in depth from one side of the cooking appliance to the other for carrying liquid cooking byproducts away from the food being cooked.

Abstract: Armature start and finish wires are trimmed after connection to their associated commutator tang by use of a knife edge carried by an otherwise conventional lead guide mechanism. The lead guide mechanism moves the knife edge into position against the coil lead, and the coil lead is drawn across the knife edge by pivotal movement of a wire gripper holding the lead. The knife edge preferably comprises a blade removably secured to a portion of the lead guide mechanism, but the knife edge may alternatively be formed, by machining for example, on a part of the lead guide mechanism itself.

Abstract: High speed bonding of wound electric components, and particularly armatures, having coils wound from bondable wire is obtained by providing a component support table having equally-spaced component-receiving stations and repeatedly indexing the table in a predetermined direction through predetermined increments. Plural wound and unbonded electric components are loaded in plural, mutually-adjacent stations on the table. After loading a first predetermined number of wound electric components, and while continuing to index the support table, an electric current is applied to the coils thereof to cause the coils of the first set of components to be heated and bonded while a second set of components is being loaded into successive stations. The application of electric current is accomplished by the use of a bonding head plate that is movable toward and away from the support table and rotates with the support table while electric current is supplied to the coils being bonded.