Abstract: An apparatus is provided for grasping objects. It is particularly useful for grasping objects on the ground with the user in a standing position. The apparatus has particular utility in picking up animal droppings. it consists of two long arms with long, rigid handles and shorter, resilient shanks that cross and are pivotally connected to one another where they cross. Adjacent the pivot, each shank carries an object grasping head. When the heads are in engagement and the shanks are undeformed, the handles diverge so that the handles can be brought together to provide considerable force for grasping a thin-walled object such as a can, bag or the like. When the handles are brought together, they may be held in place using a loop of thong on one of the handles.

Abstract: For marking a field with unseeded rows during seeding, the seed box of a seed drill is equipped with a valve unit mounted inside the box for shutting off seed flow to one of the seed cups during selective passes. A control system for the unit allows the shut-off to be automatic, after a selective number of passes have been completed, or manual as selected by the operator, The unseeded rows are used after germination for guiding a crop sprayer so that there will be no spray overlap and no gaps between the sprayer passes.

Abstract: A power operated, draw bar mounted hitch for connection to the tongue of a farm implement has a fixed draw pin and a bottom hammer strap that engages under the tongue and raises the tongue onto the draw bar, where it is captured in place between the bottom hammer strap and a top hammer strap mounted on the draw bar. The hitch has an automatic self locking feature that automatically locks the hitch when it reaches the engaged position.

Abstract: Faults in electrical coaxial power cables are detected by transmitting a pulsed signal into the cable at a frequency of 512 Hz at an amplitude of the order of 4000 volts peak-to-peak. The capacitance of the cable is adjusted by a separate capacitive tuning box to generate a parallel resonant condition between the transmitter and the cable. These parameters create a condition in which the resistive current generated by the fault is larger than the capacitive/reactive current per foot of the cable enabling detection of the fault by a manually transported receiver dedicated to the frequency of the transmissions.

Abstract: This invention provides an indicator means for a grass mower to detect blockages of a duct used to transport clippings from a mower head to a storage container. The indicator is mounted on the duct and is responsive to air flow rate in the duct thereby indicating any reduction of air flow rate from a predetermined normal flow rate and therefore when a blockage is occurring so that the operator can take actions to prevent it.

Abstract: Air brake anchor spring pliers have two straight plier arms arranged side by side and linked by an adjustable pivot mechanism. At the jaw ends of the arms are two convergent slots that slope towards one side of the pliers. These are arranged to engage air brake anchor springs of all types. The opposite, handle ends of the pliers slope outwardly and have bevelled ends that may be used to pry the spring ends loose from the brake shoes.

Abstract: This application describes a method of testing for manufacturing faults and quality of unpopulated or inactive populated electronic printed circuit boards (PCB). This method can be used to develop a new contactless test system (CTS). An electromagnetic field is generated by an energizing plate connected to an AC signal. When a board under test (BUT) is placed within the electromagnetic field, perturbation of the original field by conducting elements on the BUT is solely a function of the geometrical layout of the conducting elements on the BUT. Therefore, measurement of the perturbed electromagnetic field produces a characteristic pattern for the BUT. Such a pattern can then be compared to a known pattern for the same type of board to determine whether the BUT is faulty (shorts or opens) or not faulty. The most distinctive feature of this method is that testing PCBs by this method requires no electrical contact with the BUT due to the use of the energizing plate.

Abstract: A tire bead breaker is used for a pneumatic tire mounted on a wheel. The breaker has an elongate main body that extends from the tire rim where the bead is to be broken across the center of the wheel. Two rim engaging hooks at the end of the main body engage under the wheel rim and are held in place using a retainer plate that engages the inside of the rim and is itself retained in place using a keeper mounted on the main body. The bead is dislodged using a push rod with a curved, spatulate head that engages the side wall of the tire and is driven against the tire side wall using a bolt threaded into the end of a sleeve in which the push rod slides.

Abstract: A keyboard training aid has a support resting on the keyboard around the text entry keys and an opaque cover pivotally mounted on the support. The cover extends over the text input keys so that they cannot be seen by a training operator. Two apertures in the top cover are aligned between the keyboard operator and the home keys in the center row so that the home keys can be viewed.

Abstract: An air cleaning device for attachment to a toilet bowl comprises a bracket mounted on the bolts behind the toilet seat and extending outwardly to one side. At the end of a bracket is mounted a cradle into which a housing is mounted including a fan housing and a filter assembly. The filter assembly is carried on the underside of the fan housing and includes a cage having a closed base wall and a plurality of vertical bars for the air enters the interior of the cage and escapes horizontally through the bars. A sleeve-shaped filter element is mounted over the bars and sits on the horizontal base. Vertical power supplied by a battery pack which can slide in and out of a receptacle on the top cover of the housing. The housing includes a nozzle which can slide in and out of a receptacle in the housing, the nozzle being formed in the shape of a flat tube so as to extend over the toilet bowl.

Abstract: A seed and fertilizer boot is mounted on a conventional cultivator shank. The boot has side-by-side fertilizer and seed tubes. One tube leads to a downwardly and rearwardly sloping delivery spout while the other delivery tube projects below the delivery spout. A flat knife is mounted on the front of the straight delivery tube to form a narrow furrow immediately in front of the associated delivery tube for receiving seed or fertilizer from the tube. The knife is adjustable along the tube so that its depth can be adjusted to compensate for wear. A second knife extends along the front face of the delivery spout to form a second furrow immediately beside the first furrow. This closes the first furrow and packs the soil onto the planted seed or fertilizer. The second knife also provides a shallower furrow for planting fertilizer or seed as the case may be. Like the first knife, the second knife is adjustable. Where desired, a skid-type packer can be mounted on the shank to close the furrows.

Abstract: A funnel is designed for attachment to one end of a cylindrical drum and includes an inclined funnel surface depending toward a discharge opening passing through an opening adjacent one edge of the drum. Around the inclined surface is a raised flange and outside the flange is a depending skirt. The skirt is attached to the peripheral wall of the drum by screw fasteners. The flange includes a plurality of recesses with each recess defining a horizontal bottom wall which sits on the end of the drum. A lid is also provided for engagement onto the funnel and comprises a dome central section and a peripheral depending section for engaging over the outer surface of the flange of the funnel. The peripheral section includes a plurality of recesses corresponding to the recesses of the flange to act as a friction fit within the recesses to hold the lid in place.

Abstract: Rigid foam material, for example, expanded polystyrene foam, is drilled using a bit that forms an annular slit in the foam material and compresses the block temporarily around the slit. This frees the core for ready removal. The drill bit has a cutting ting at the leading end with an inside cutting edge and an annular bevel leading from the cutting edge to the outside surface of the cutting ring. The cutting ring is mounted on the leading end of a tube with an inside diameter greater than the inside diameter of the cutting ring in order to clear the core and an outside diameter less than the outside diameter of the cutting ring in order to clear the surrounding foam material.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are described for preparing an end of a reinforced concrete pile (68). Excessive lengths of the driven pile are cut off using a shear blade (22) that is driven through the concrete and reinforcing steel (102) of the pile. Concrete is then removed down to a certain level below the cutoff position using a pair of blades (62) that engage the surface of the pile and penetrate the surface while wedging the upper pan of the pile up away from the main body of the pile. This cracks the concrete through at the desired position. At the same time, concrete breakers (88) engage the concrete pile above the blades to fracture the concrete from the reinforcing steel. This eliminates the need for cutting of the piles with explosives and the removal of concrete using pneumatic hammers.

Abstract: A conventional well bore drilling system includes a coiled tubing mounted on a reel and connected to a mud supply for supplying mud through the tubing to a downhole end of the tubing to which is attached the downhole drilling tool. The system is modified by the addition of an inner tubing attached to the reel shaft and extending through the outer tubing to the drilling tool. The drilling mud is supplied in the space between the inner and outer tubes and a gas is supplied through the inner tube, The gas is vented through a coupling at the drilling tool into the well bore so as to enter the well bore and reduce the hydrostatic head of the fluids within the well bore to an under balanced condition below the pressure of the producing zone.

Abstract: A dental film-based radiograph which is relatively small of the order of 40 mm by 30 mm is scanned and converted to a digital image by mounting the radiograph on a table movable in a single direction at a transparent aperture of the table and by transmitting through the radiograph a beam of laser light from a line source with the line parallel to the radiograph and defining a collimated beam of parallel light at right angles to the line and lying in a single plane containing the line. A detector in the form of a linear array of CCD detector elements is arranged in the plane to receive the light passing through the radiograph. The whole is contained in an enclosure to exclude ambient light. The scanning movement can be effected step by step or continuously with the laser source pulsed.

Abstract: An apparatus for hanging a sign from a suspended ceiling of the type including T-runners and intervening ceiling panels comprises a ceiling engaging member defined by an extruded bar having a pair of tabs attached to each end so as to extend outwardly in the horizontal top plane of the bar. The bar includes a vertically extending slot for receiving the blade of a handle by which the bar can be lifted and twisted to engage the tabs on top of the T-runners of the ceiling. A central raised button allows the bar to be rotated against the ceiling panel. A second extruded bar is attached to the first by a central coupling head which allows the second bar to rotate. The sign is attached to the second bar and suspended therefrom, the vertical plane of the sign being movable between different orientations by rotation of the second bar.

Abstract: A watering gutter for use in a flood irrigation system is an elongate channel with spaced side walls and two container supporting surfaces running along the bag. The container supporting surfaces are separated by a drainage trough. Two additional drainage troughs are located between the side walls and the container supporting surfaces. In use, the gutters are arranged side by side, but spaced apart to provide adequate air movement around the plants. The troughs in the base of each gutter ensure uniform water distribution to plants and full drainage of the water away from the plant containers.

Abstract: A collapsible hopper is used with a conveyor, for example a grain auger. The hopper is fastened onto the bottom end of the auger to surround the inlet. It has a flaccid side wall that is normally supported in a raised condition by a top, rigid hoop connected to the hopper base by a pair of springs. The springs allow the hoop to be deflected downwardly when engaged by another object, for example a truck box when it is dumping into the hopper. An over-center linkage allows the springs to be released so that the flaccid hopper wall can collapse, allowing insertion of the hopper in this collapsed state into a position where there is insufficient clearance to insert the fully-raised hopper.

Abstract: A winter front for the front grill of a motor vehicle comprises a plurality of separate panel elements each formed from a thin substantially rigid sheet of acrylic. Each panel can be separately clipped onto the front grill by a spring clip adhesively attached to the rear face of the panel element. In many arrangements the grill has recesses at openings therethrough with structural members across the recesses at a position recessed from the front face of the grill. The elements are separately inserted into respective ones of the recesses with the clips attaching to the structural elements across the grill. A shallow cut out at one edge of the acrylic sheet allows a key to be inserted behind the element to pull the element out of the recess in the grill for removal. The elements in combination cover effectively the whole of the openings in the grill to prevent air flow through the grill. One or more of the elements can be separately removed.