Abstract: Apparatus for controlling the supply of electric power to a power consuming appliance (e.g. an electric soldering iron) in dependence on a parameter (e.g. the temperature of the soldering iron) comprises electric circuit means including a thyristor connected in series with the appliance across an AC supply, a first voltage divider including a variable resistor for defining a set point for said parameter, a second voltage divider including a sensor for said parameter and adapted to provide an analogue electrical parameter, and a first and a second transistor having their bases connected respectively to tappings of said voltage dividers defined respectively by a terminal of said variable resistor and said sensor, the emitter of said second transistor being connected to the gate of said thyristor.

Abstract: The present method involves the use of a urethral probe, having one tapered end with a silk thread anchored near said tapered end, at about four centimeters from the apex of the taper. The probe is inserted into the urethra while the free end of the thread is held firmly in the examiner's hand. Once the probe has been inserted into the urethra to the point where the attachment of the string is exactly at the external meatus, the examiner holds only the thread, exerting a slight tension on it. (The thread represents a continuation of the unstrained urethral axis.) The patient is then asked to strain. If there is any weakness of urethral support, the instrument is deflected upward. This upward deflection causes the stationary thread to create an angle which is then read directly from a scale, wherein the degree of deflection can be interpretively read in order to determine the degree of deformity of the urethrovesical angle from its normal anatomic position.