Abstract: An air intake water-tighting device is provided for a marine outboard motor for closing the intake automatically to prevent the ingress of water in the event of a capsize of the craft to which the outboard motor is fitted. The device consists of a valve casing adapted to fit over the engine air intake, a ported sleeve fixed in the valve casing, a rotary ported barrel fitted to swivel inside the sleeve, and an air inlet trunk outside the valve and fixed to one end of the barrel which air inlet trunk is so weighted that it turns the barrel through approximately 180.degree. in the sleeve in the event of a capsize and thereby moves the ports in the sleeve and barrel angularly out of register.

Abstract: A valve for the automatic flow control of a fluid in a conditioning system comprises as air lock means a tab rotatably mounted in a valve body, associated with a dampering device and a means for opposition to tab oscillations. The dampering device comprises a first rod mounted on the rotary shaft of the tab, fixed to a reactor gear meshing with a flywheel. The oscillation opposing means comprises a second rod fixed to the first rod and connected to the valve body by adjustable spring means. A fixed baffle is provided at the lower portion of the valve body, under the rotatable tab.

Abstract: A roll-damping tank for ships to extend athwartships and to contain liquid that moves in the direction from end to end of the tank as the ship rolls, in which the ends of the tank at the sides of the ship are configured by curving or chamfering to destroy the velocity of the wave in the tank.

Abstract: The invention provides a shock absorber for wheeled and track type vehicles in which the conventional compression valve is replaced by an acceleration controlled vortex throttle. A beam deflection amplifier introduces fluid radially, tangentially or at an intermediate position into a vortex chamber under control of an accelerometer. The vortex throttle is controlled such that in the presence of acceleration of a wheel relative to the ground shock motion is lightly resisted while long term movement of the wheel toward the vehicle is strongly resisted so that the wheel more closely follows the terrain contour with reduced energy delivered by the wheel to the vehicle body.

Abstract: A hand-operated liquid spray apparatus operates on the air-lift pump principle wherein the air-forcing member and the spray-forming member are one and the same. Such an apparatus requires no nozzles or valves and no permanent pressurization of the sprayed liquid. A plurality of deflectable vanes are movably disposed in an open-ended chamber which communicates with the interior of a liquid container via separate air and liquid passages. The vanes, when at rest, seal both passages from the open chamber end. Operator-initiated motion of the vanes toward the air passage forces air trapped in the chamber through the air passage and into the container, thereby forcing liquid up through the liquid passage to wet the vanes in the chamber. A lip at the open end of the chamber is arranged to deflect the wetted vanes as they move past the lip. After passing the lip the deflected vanes spring back to their undeflected positions and, in so doing, throw off a spray pattern of liquid droplets.

Abstract: An area beam of electrons capable of delivering large doses of electron irradiation at small dose rates and having a predetermined distribution pattern is provided by an electron accelerator comprising plural discrete cathodes positioned as required to achieve the desired pattern. An individual emission control is provided for the filament of each cathode. In a preferred embodiment plural cathodes are movably mounted in a row extending transversely of the transport path of material to be irradiated, a plurality of such rows being positioned along the direction of transport.

Abstract: A hair cutting and trimming apparatus includes an elongated hollow tube atop which is a hollow head member having a width which is considerably larger than its height. The hollow interiors of the tube and head are in flow communication so that suction applied to the bottom of the tube draws air into the open forward end of the head. Mounting means are provided on the outside of the tube for an electric clipper positioned so that its teeth extend into the head through a suitably provided slit opening in the under side of the head. The longitudinal axis of the tube and the length dimension of the head form an angle in the range of 90.degree. to 120.degree. to permit a user to hold the open forward end of the head adjacent a scalp without having to raise the user's elbow and arm to an uncomfortable position. A plurality of extenders of different length are adapted to fit under the forward end of the head member to permit selective adjustment of the length of hair cut by the clipper teeth.

Abstract: A system for drying and/or transporting particulate material, including fluidizing the material by means of pulsed air flow in jets which oscillate parallel to the path of motion of a bed of the material in an assymetric sweeping fashion which applies a net transporting force in one sense or direction, or by applying such pulsed flow so that the net force in either sense is zero, to cause drying without transport. The system utilizes phase locked acoustic oscillators to provide sweeping jets of fluid moving in opposite directions for drying and in the same direction for transporting the particulate material. The fluid oscillators are fabricated from 2 groups of molded or extruded members with the members of each group being identical. Spacers are employed to position the parts whereby to provide the desired oscillator configuration.

Abstract: A marine propulsion system includes a hull-contained, open-ended duct extending from bow to stern along the bottom of a vessel, the top of the duct being disposed above the water line and all duct walls extending parallel to the axis of motion of the vessel. Buoyancy chambers extend along the top and sides of the duct from a location aft of the duct inlet to the stern and converge at their forward end to define a venturi throat. A reaction device, located aft of the duct inlet and forward of the venturi throat, imparts rearward flow velocity to water in the duct. In one embodiment the reaction device is a partially-submerged horizontally-extending cylinder oriented perpendicular to flow through the duct. The cylinder, when rotated, increases water flow velocity in the duct and additionally pumps the water toward the throat in which the water experiences further flow velocity increase.

Abstract: An article of childrens protective clothing, such as a bib in combination with an article of use. The article, which may be a toy or eating implement, is permanently attached to one end of a cord which has means at its other end for the engagement in an opening in the protective clothing. The means at the end of the cord may take the form of a toggle engaging in the opening to releasably secure the article of use to the protective clothing.

Abstract: Recognition of characters, particularly handwritten characters, is facilitated by examining a character for holes (i.e. non-character portions enclosed by character portions), split characters (i.e. disconnected character segments), overhangs and underhangs (i.e. extensions of character segments to the left or right of other segments). In a specific embodiment a character to be recognized is quantized into a grid of vertical column and horizontal rows and then shifted in parallel by column, serially by row through a recognition mask which examines one row at a time. Results of the examination may be used either as positive character recognition or as pre-recognition exclusionary information to resolve possible ambiguities in conventional recognition processes.

Abstract: A liquid spray is characterized by a liquid jet which is cyclically deflected at a high frequency such that it breaks up into a fan-shaped spray pattern in which the fluid distribution and droplet size can be controlled. Jet deflection is accomplished with energy in the pressurized liquid itself. In a preferred embodiment, the spray is produced by a fluidic oscillator, of the type having a flow-reversing interaction region terminated by an outlet throat from which outlet walls diverge, configured to establish a static operating pressure at the upstream end of the interaction region which is positive relative to the pressure in the outlet region.

Abstract: Apparatus for shifting heavy supporting structures relative to stationary load carrying structures comprises a plurality of parallel jack rods secured to the load carrying structure. A plurality of climbing jacks adapted to operatively engage the jack rods are secured to the heavy supporting structure. The arrangement is such that the heavy supporting structure is shifted relative to the load carrying structure when the climbing jacks are operated and advance along the jack rods while the load carrying structure remains stationary. The reactive forces caused by the operation of the climbing jacks is transferred to the load carrying structure by the jack rods. A method for shifting heavy supporting structures is also disclosed.

Abstract: A variable flow, modular-type terminal unit for conditioning rooms in a centralized conditioning system is provided with means for controlling the conditioned air flow arranged within the outlet diffuser in order to vary the cross-section area of the outlet ports, being operated by a thermostatic device. The thermostatic device, directly fed with conditioned air operates such controlling means through a control lever, a control rod displaceable in the direction of its length and a triangular lever hinged at one vertex for rotation in a plane parallel to that where the control lever is pivotedly mounted. The operating member of the thermostatic device engages the control lever through the end of a threaded rod adjustable for setting the operation temperature. Other two adjusting screws are provided for hand control of the maximum and minimum cross-section opening of the diffuser outlet ports, by limiting the control lever rotation in two opposite directions.

Abstract: Accurate manual adjustment of a desired delivered flow rate in an intravenous liquid injection system is expedited and simplified. A programmable counter, fed by a pulse train of known repetition rate, is pre-set in accordance with the volume of liquid to be delivered, the size of the individual liquid drops, and the desired length of time during which the liquid is to be delivered. The counter provides a pulsed visible and/or audible indication at the drip rate determined by the pre-set conditions. The operator, upon comparison of the actual drip rate with the pulsed indication rate, can readily adjust the drip rate to coincide with the indications. The apparatus may include a pulse per unit time readout capability.

Abstract: A continuous monitoring arrangement for a carrier telephone system utilizes the subscriber carrier at a reduced level when the subscriber set is on-hook. Proper reception of the reduced carrier level at the central office circuit during on-hook condition verifies operability of the carrier frequency circuitry. In a preferred embodiment the central office carrier, which is always present, is modulated by a control tone in the audio range during on-hook conditions. The control tone is detected at the subscriber circuit and modulates the reduced level subscriber carrier whereby reception of the control tone back at the central office circuit verifies operability of all carrier and voice frequency circuits at both subscriber and central office locations.

Abstract: A process and plant is provided for the production of nitric acid from atmospheric air in which the feed air is passed in succession through a number of stages each comprising a high temperature regenerative nitrogen fixation reactor followed by a catalytic oxidation reactor and a nitric oxide absorber, all operating at superatmospheric pressure. Heat is exchanged between the inlet and outlet gas streams of each stage absorber. The compressors are driven by a turbo-expander powered by the exit gas stream in which fuel has been burned upstream of the turbo-expander. The nitrogen fixation reactors each consist of a pressure vessel enclosing a gas-permeable refractory wall surrounding a furnace chamber in which fuel is burned, the interior of the vessel being divided into two sections by an impermeable wall with a gap for flow through in the furnace zone.

Abstract: The invention relates to raised flooring panels which have excellent fire resistance. The panels of the invention comprise wooden panels whose undersides and side edges are covered with a metal sheet, and the panels being strengthened by downwardly projecting metal flanges. Such a panel can have better fire resisting properties than a metal panel which is liable to warp when there is a fire and which conducts heat to its upper surface so that floor coverings rapidly reach their flash point or than a wooden panel whose underside but not side edges are covered with a metal sheet.

Abstract: In an imaging system, a radiation detector which scans an image has it output amplified by a D.C. preamplifier and to neutralize low frequency noise and drift the preamplifier output is amplified by a further D.C. amplifier having a feedback capacitor and to which a reference voltage is applied the further amplifier output being applied as a second input to the preamplifier. A sample and hold switch controls the application of the preamplifier output to the further amplifier, this switch being closed only during the dead times between consecutive scan lines.

Abstract: The invention relates to a sand and gravel dredge in which, for discharge ashore, the cargo is re-slurried in the hold by high pressure oscillating water jets at the center of the hold floor, creating a turbulent region from which the re-slurried material enters a duct keel through selectively-operable valves and is pumped to dewatering screens at deck level. The dewatered material from the screens is conveyed ashore and the water passing through the screens is directed into settling tanks from where it is recirculated to the high pressure jets.