Abstract: The electronic timepiece comprises circuits within an integrated circuit for effecting at least one auxiliary function associated with information supplied to their inputs and, programming circuits for programming and memorizing the said information. A system applied to the timepiece makes it possible to consult and reprogram manually the memory from outside the timepiece, as well as memorizing the state of this memory in the absence of feed voltage, for as long as necessary.

Abstract: The invention concerns an electronic time-piece having a barometric indicator, indicating, for example, barometric trends.The time-piece comprises, in addition to the reference oscillator for determining the time, a measurement oscillator associated with a transducer exposed to the ambient air. A counter measures the variations of the frequency of the measurement oscillator due to the fluctuations of atmospheric pressure, and an electronic circuit controls, from predetermined detection thresholds, the indication of barometric trend on the display device of the time-piece.

Abstract: A miniature electric motor having substantially identical stator halves which are connected together by lugs axially interengaging on the circumference of the stator.The lugs of the stator halves resiliently engage in pairs on a common plane between ribs formed on a plastics material ring which is located inside the stator halves and which also forms an outer protective casing for the coils and the rotor parts of the motor. The lugs may be slotted at their free ends to provide resilient shanks.

Abstract: The invention relates to an electronic timepiece in which an input terminal of the integrated circuit is used as an output terminal. During the manufacturing of the timepiece it is important to check the running of the frequency of the oscillator and the operation of at least part of the frequency divider chain. However, in a timepiece, the places available for obtaining measurements could be very limited, and the timepiece does not generally have an output terminal adapted to connect the signal to be measured to an external counter. The purpose of the invention is to utilize an already existing input terminal as an output terminal for permitting a precise and rapid checking of the frequency of the oscillator by measuring, on that terminal, a signal of intermediate frequency delivered by the frequency divider chain.

Abstract: Apparatus for the cross-flow filtration of liquids or gases, such apparatus having disc-shaped filter elements which are located concentrically around a filtrate collecting pipe and within a tubular jacket, and an inlet and outlet pipe extending parallel to the filtrate collecting pipe, each inlet and outlet pipe having an aperture between each filter element to ensure that the liquid to be filtered is supplied tangentially thereby assuming a helical flow across the filter elements. The filter elements are provided on both sides with a microporous membrane and are provided with a supporting layer having sealed passages in order to supply the filtrate to the central collecting pipe.

Abstract: An electronic timepiece with an alarm device, having a digital display unit for indication of the actual time and a memorized time of alarm, and an analog display unit driven by a stepping motor. In such a timepiece, the alarm signal is produced from signals delivered by the frequency divider and is transmitted to an electroacoustic transducer when coincidence exists between the time as measured by the timepiece and the memorized time of alarm. During the signal, the consumption of current is relatively high and is further increased when a driving pulse of the stepping motor is superimposed upon the alarm signal. Such a peak of current is undesirable because the magnetic field produced by the excitation coil of the electroacoustic transducer may disturb the correct functioning of the motor.A solution to this problem is to shift the alarm pulses in time with respect to the driving pulses so that they never appear simultaneously.

Abstract: The invention relates to an electronic timepiece provided with an electroacoustic transducer for transmitting acoustic signals to indicate a time of alarm, and also for receiving information in the form of acoustic signals to control different functions of the timepiece.Coded acoustic information is delivered to the transducer, for example, by a special apparatus intended for that purpose, and serve to control different functions of the timepiece through a watch and transducer control logic network. The logic network is interconnected with the frequency divider chain, a display control circuit, and a transducer. The logic network includes a selector which connects the transducer either to the output of an alarm logic circuit for delivering alarm signals to the transducer at the time of alarm, or to a transducer detector for transmitting the electrical signals delivered by the transducer acting as a microphone to a watch logic circuit.

Abstract: A safety razor incorporates an apparatus for substantially vertical displacement of a blade carrier and the shaving edge carried thereby with respect to a skin guard. The blade carrier includes a circular hub retained by a circular receiving portion of a cover member used in the razor. A circular interfacing device, between the hub and the receiving portion, incorporates two eccentric segments. A first segment receives the hub, and the second segment is engaged by the receiving portion of the cover. Rotation of the interfacing device in the cover provides displacement of the blade in accordance with movement of the centers of the two segments of the device. Such displacement specifically causes movement of the razor blade with respect to the skin guard formed in the cover, and is used to provide a height adjustment for the blade.

Abstract: The device according to the invention comprises a sensor formed by a plurality of capacitive or resistive electrodes. The user searches the symbol to be selected by displacing his finger on the sensor while looking at a control display unit. Any position of the finger on the sensor causes the display of to at least one symbol within an alphanumeric group, these symbols appearing sequentially on the control display.The device does not require any instruction for use nor any indicator marked on the instrument because its working principle is based on permanent visual feedback. The device is compatible with the dimensional requirements of portable instruments of small dimensions, e.g. timepieces.

Abstract: Electronic watch for yacht races capable of being used for effecting a countdown from a warning signal, having sufficient possibilities of control and possessing a clear and easily identifiable display with regard to the time remaining until the starting signal of the race.The watch comprises control means which permit, by means of some of the electronic circuits incorporated in the intergrated circuit of the watch, starting and stopping of the countdown of at least one of the time sequences preceding the start of a race, correcting the display of at least one of the time sequences, and delaying the start of at least one of the time sequences of the watch, the start of the time sequences being announced by signals external to the watch.

Abstract: The invention relates to a cigarette making machine of the kind having a fixed member and a movable packing block together defining a cylindrical cavity for compressed tobacco, a nozzle communicating with the end of the cavity for supporting a preformed paper tube and an ejector for ejecting the charge of compressed tobacco through the nozzle into the paper tube. A new operating mechanism for such a machine comprises a sliding member including a rack and a pivoted lever secured to the compression member having gear teeth in meshing engagement with the rack and operatively connected to the ejector. Restraining means restrains rotation of the lever during a first portion of the travel of the sliding member during which the tobacco is being compressed, after which said means disengages from the lever to permit rotation thereof in a second portion of the travel of the sliding member in which said ejector forces the charge of compressed tobacco through the nozzle into the paper tube.

Abstract: A cutting machine particularly for cutting plates of plastic material and non-ferrous metal sheets, having a cutting blade rotating in such a direction that its cutting rim enters into a guard casing at the cutting place, said guard casing having a rim closely adjacent said cutting blade at least near the cutting place, and said rim being pressed against the material to be cut near said cutting place thereby preventing bending, deformation and splitting of said material by the cutting forces.

Abstract: A gas-tight ball valve having a ball and a valve seat made of hard material such as sapphire or ruby, wherein said valve seat has two annular surfaces forming between them an edge with an obtuse angle, the ball resting on one of said surfaces, and a method for producing the valve seat by lapping said surfaces and then polishing them for breaking the edge between such surfaces.

Abstract: The present invention refers to a method of securing a sheet or a poster to a base, wherein the sheet or poster is brought into contact with at least one plastics material sheet and caused to adhere to said base by dampening said base or by wiping said base on the poster side with a means suitable for producing an electrostatic charge.In one particular application two plastics material sheets joined together along one edge and folded along said edge so as to be superposed one on the other are utilized, said sheet or poster being placed between or on said superposed sheets, said superposed sheets being caused to adhere to one another by being wiped with means suitable for producing an electrostatic charge.

Abstract: An apparatus for automatically measuring the vertical profile of the temperature in the atmosphere.The temperature of the air is obtained by the measurement of the propagation speed of sound wave pulses, to which it is directly related, by means of a continuous Doppler radar.The automation of the measurement is ensured by the automatic control of the radar emission frequency by the Doppler frequency which it receives, with reference to the frequency of the sonic emitter oscillator.The apparatus presents a major advantage with respect to known methods in use for measurements of the lower layers of the atmosphere such as the meteorological towers and the sounding balloons due to its automatic functioning.

Abstract: The invention concerns an electronic timepiece including a system for detecting the end of useful battery life. This system is based on a circuit for detecting the length of the driving pulses for the stepping motor, associated with a circuit for shortening the driving pulses. The detector circuit comprises two counters, the output logic levels of which coincide when the voltage of the battery has dropped to a value such that the stepping motor is at its limit of operation, in which case the duration of the driving pulses is at a maximum.

Abstract: The invention relates to a phase-shifting circuit for providing a signal out of phase by an amount .DELTA..PHI. digitally predetermined with respect to the phase of a reference signal and which can be any function of time or another variable or a constant. The circuit comprises a digital divider receiving an input reference signal and delivering an output signal whose phase is measured by a number detected at the set of outputs of the divider, this number being fed to the input of a digital arithmetic circuit to be therein added to a signal delivered by a binary number generator which determines the phase-shift .DELTA..PHI.. The output of the arithmetic circuit is a signal out of phase of an amount .DELTA..PHI. with respect to the signal at the output of the divider circuit.

Abstract: A monitoring system for detecting and indicating typical operating conditions, particularly vibration of an aircraft engine, wherein at least two measuring feelers such as accelerometers are exposed to the same conditions, the output signals from said feeler are compared with each other and logical means detect normal conditions when the output signals are equal, system defect conditions when the output signals differ from each other and alarm conditions when the output signals both exceed a safety limit. Such a system greatly increases the reliability and at the same time avoids false alarms.

Abstract: Apparatus and method for monitoring the quality and integrity of a communications system, such as a cable television system, which includes several monitoring circuits placed throughout the system to detect and amplify RF or audio frequency signals received at any number of selected points. The detected signals are used to amplitude modulate a continuous wave oscillator at a selected one of several discrete frequencies identifiable with the position of the monitoring circuits. The modulated CW signals are then fed upstream for processing at a central location. Each monitoring network includes a broadband detector so as to enable the detection of one or more discrete frequency signals or a band of signals. The use of several discrete frequency signals for normal monitoring purposes allows reliable monitoring to be carried out on a continuous basis without casing interference to the information signals being transmitted through the system.

Abstract: Electronic timepiece delivering an acoustic signal to signalize to the user a particular state of working mode. The invention applies more particularly to timepieces with a digital display for indicating the time and the date, the same display being used to indicate the time of alarm. In such a timpiece, it is necessary to be able to make corrections of the time and the date in the watch correcting mode as well as corrections of the time of alarm in the alarm correcting mode. It is this alarm correcting mode which, in the described example, is signalized by an acoustical signal.The timepiece includes an oscillator, a frequency divider, at least one display unit, an alarm device, a memory and a comparator for the time of alarm, a control logic circuit and a first and a second control means.