Abstract: A tire changer including a base mounting a tabletop provided with wheel securing clamps. The tabletop is mounted on the base for movement between tire changing positions and a generally vertical wheel loading and unloading position. The tabletop is provided with a tire changing tool driving fixture and a tool is receivable in the fixture and includes a head for engaging a tire bead for changing positions and a tire support surface spaced from the tool head for suppporting a tire during the initial stages of a mounting operation eliminating any need for the operator of the changer to provide such support.

Abstract: An improved mobile magnetic lifting assembly for providing magnetic pickup and release in response to hydraulic control. A hydraulic drive motor and electric generator are disposed within a housing which includes an electromagnet attached thereto. The motor drives the generator which is electrically coupled to an electromagnet. The housing includes a suspension brakcet for detachably securing the housing to the boom of a lifting apparatus, as a crane. Hydraulic connections extend through the housing to provide hydraulic motor drive control of the electrical power to the electromagnet.

Abstract: A cable-wrapping apparatus is provided for applying cable (26) to a toroidal, non-cylindrically-shaped body (10) under uniform tension and with a uniform spacing. The machine includes a shuttle (20) rotatable about a transverse section of said body (10), which body is being rotated in a plane transverse to the plane of rotation of the shuttle (20). A compensating apparatus (44) is provided on the shuttle (20) and includes a profile follower roller (62) held in contact with the surface of the body (10) by centrifugal force created by the rotation of the shuttle (20). A compensator wheel (70) on the compensating apparatus (44) moves with the follower roller (62) to control storing of cable (26) during periods of low cable demand and paying out the stored cable (26) during periods of high cable demand.

Abstract: A method of starting the engine of a vehicle, such as an automobile, over a wide range of ambient temperatures, such as in cold temperatures below 32.degree. F. and warm temperatures above 32.degree. F. The method includes the steps of energizing the starter motor of the vehicle from the vehicle battery only and starting the vehicle at warm temperatures, and providing an auxiliary battery connected in combination with the vehicle battery for starting the vehicle at cold temperatures. The invention comprehends maintaining the auxiliary battery warm separate from the vehicle during low ambient temperature conditions when the vehicle is not in use. Alternatively, the invention comprehends utilizing a small, low capacity battery which may be incapable of starting the vehicle when the battery is at the cold temperature, but which may itself start the vehicle when the battery is at warm temperatures.

Abstract: A ski having a so-called waxless plastic sole wherein a pattern in the form of a plurality of rearwardly-directed curbs is provided in the running surface of the sole. The pattern consists of a plurality of arc-shaped, wedge-formed cuts wherein the center of the arcs lies to one side of the longitudinal central plane of the ski, and a plurality of arc-shaped, wedge-formed cuts which intersect said first cuts. The center of the latter arcs are lying on the other side of the central longitudinal plane of the ski.

Abstract: A door latch interlock system for use in a microwave oven in selectively securing a closure door in a closed position across the opening to the microwave oven cavity. The structure for selectively securing the door in the closed position includes a guide on the cabinet, a slider member movably carried by the guide, catch structure carried by the slider member, latch structure carried by the closure and engageable with the catch structure as an incident of the closure being disposed in the latching position, an actuator carried by the closure for operating one of the switches of the electrical circuit for controlling delivery of electric power to the microwave energy generator of the oven to permit operation of the generator only when the door is latched in the closed position, and manually operable structure carried by the closure for arranging the actuator to cause the one switch to prevent operation of the generator and concurrently move the slider member to the released disposition.

Abstract: A machine for applying a clip to a tie at a side of a rail and detecting when the clip has been fully seated comprising, a head positionable at a predetermined location relative to the tie and rail, a pair of arms pivotally mounted on the head for rotation in a plane which extends parallel to the rail, and power structure for simultaneously pivoting both of the arms between a raised retracted position and a lowered position. Movement between the retracted and lowered positions causes a clip-engaging member on one arm of the pair to engage and advance the clip to a fully-seated position. The second arm of the pair detects when the clip has reached the fully seated position and stops further movement of the clip-engaging member.

Abstract: A dishwasher structure having a centrifugal pump for providing dishwashing liquid to a spray arm thereof. The swirling motion of the dishwashing liquid effected by operation of the pump is utilized to divert a portion of the liquid to an accumulator wherein soil material is collected from the liquid. The cleansed liquid is returned to the pump chamber to be repumped with additional dishwashing liquid. The soil accumulating chamber is arranged concentrically about a guide chamber, in turn arranged concentrically about the pump chamber to provide a compact coaxial liquid cleansing structure. A drain is provided for draining the dishwashing liquid and collected soil at the end of the dishwashing cycle.

Abstract: A production control system wherein statistical determinations are continuously made on the basis of current manufacturing process data corresponding to preselected parameters of the product being manufactured. The control method includes a determination of the mean .+-.3 standard deviations of statistical samples. The method further includes the step of determining whether the mean .+-.3 standard deviation is within preselected permissible limits. Parameter determinations which are outside the permissible limits may be signalled for suitable action. In one form, the method includes the feedback of control signals to the manufacturing apparatus for effecting automatic corrective adjustment thereof when necessary. The determinations may be made by a statistical computer with information as to the product parameters being provided to the computer from conventional sensing devices.

Abstract: A dishwasher structure having a centrifugal pump for providing dishwashing liquid to a spray arm thereof. The swirling motion of the dishwashing liquid effected by operation of the pump is utilized to divert a portion of the liquid to an accumulator wherein soil material is collected from the liquid. The cleansed liquid is returned to the pump chamber to be repumped with additional dishwashing liquid. A drain is provided for draining the dishwashing liquid and collected soil at the end of the dishwashing cycle and is controlled by a pressure-responsive drain valve which is operated by differing pressure conditions automatically during dishwashing and drain cycles respectively.

Abstract: A pile-cutting machine for cutting multi-sided piles, such as square piles, having a frame which can be clamped to the pile at a desired location, a carriage mounted on the frame for movement in a continuous path around the pile and a cutting head carried by the carriage with a power-driven cutter positioned relative to the carriage to be at full cutting depth in a pile as the carriage moves along a straight side of the pile and, thereafter, to automatically withdraw from the pile as the carriage swings in travelling around a corner of the pile and subsequently move to full cutting depth in the pile as the carriage advances along the next straight side of the pile.

Abstract: A liquid storage tank of the type which has a base, an annular concrete sidewall seated on the base and free to shift laterally thereon as it shrinks and expands, and a multiplicity of horizontal tension hoops embracing the sidewall is provided with a multiplicity of tension rods which are anchored in the base and extend upwardly out of direct contact with any part of the tank sidewall and have an upper end portion above the plane of the top of the sidewall. A fitting operatively engaged with the upper end portion of each tension rod bears effectively perpendicularly upon the top of the sidewall to pull on the tension rod and force the sidewall strongly toward the base. Provision is made for lateral motion of the lower portion of the sidewall relative to the tension rods which is necessary to minimize the effect of stresses resulting from wall curing, wall compression during horizontal post-tensioning, expansion and contraction.

Abstract: A molding apparatus and method for molding patties of ground raw meat and the like that has a hopper for holding a supply of the meat, a mold having a patty shaped mold cavity, a ram equipped pressure chamber into which the meat is moved from the hopper and from which it is forced into a patty shaped mold cavity in the mold, means for moving the mold between a filling position for the cavity and an ejecting position for removal of the patty from the cavity, and the ram being reciprocable in the pressure chamber toward and away from the fill and exit openings thereby tending to create a vacuum in the pressure chamber on the movement away from the opening and venting the chamber to relieve this vacuum.

Abstract: A scale testing vehicle for transporting certified weights and depositing them on the platform of truck scales, the vehicle body having a pair of rails supported above a truck bed carrying the weights and having a trolley carried by the rails for movement fore and aft. A cable is looped over pulleys at each end of the rail and is attached at one end to the trolley with its free end passing over a sheave on the trolley and supporting a bar having hooks for attaching to the weights. One of the pulleys may be moved to change the cable loop length, thereby raising or lowering the weights supported on the hooks. The bar has a counterweight which pivots the hooks when the weights are not supported therefrom so that the hooks clear the weights when moved horizontally. Hydraulic output from a truck engine driven pump is used to traverse the trolley as well as to raise and lower the weights so that transfer between truck and scale may be expeditiously accomplished.

Abstract: A seamless aluminum container of the type used for beer, soft drinks, edible goods or the like is provided which container is adapted to be manually axially collapsed in a predetermined pattern to a smaller size when its contents are exhausted, the container collapse being accomplished without the need of any apparatus for guiding the container sidewall collapse and without the aid of any mechanical or fluid pressure device. The container sidewall is embossed with a number of adjacent rows of similar, shallow, elongate embossments, adjacent embossments of a row being separated by narrow increments of the lateral surface. Rows of sharply angled rib means separate the rows of embossments. Increments in a row of embossments are each offset peripherally from increments of an adjacent row. Manual axial forces collapse adjacent rows of embossments about an interposed rib means to form a collapsed container approximately one-fifth the size of the original container.

Abstract: An electronic organ apparatus arranged to provide percussive musical tones by differentiating a rectangular waveform tone signal and subsequently clipping the differentiated signal at a variable level under the control of an envelope signal to produce an improved percussive sound envelope. The time constant of the differentiator may be varied to vary the output sound. The output sound may be controlled by concurrently varying the level of clipping of the differentiated tone signal and varying the time constant of the differentiator. Voicing filters and other modifying inputs may be utilized for further controlling the character of the output sound.

Abstract: A room air conditioner includes a variable speed eevaporator fan and a compressor selectively energized by a temperature control system. An ambient temperature sensor monitors the temperature of the room and an evaporator temperature sensor monitors the temperature of the evaporator. In an automatic mode of operation, the evaporator fan speed and compressor energization depend upon the difference between the ambient temperature and a set point temperature as determined by the position of a slide switch with multiple contacts each of which correspond to a stored set point value. The ambient and evaporator temperatures are determined by a linearization computation which utilizes a capacitor sequentially charged through the reference resistor and the ambient thermistor and the evaporator thermistor. The compressor is cycled off when the evaporator temperature falls below a certain value, and the compressor is held off for a fixed period of time after it has been de-energized to prevent short cycling or lockup.