Abstract: An elevator for drill pipe which includes at least two jaws for supporting a length of pipe and structure for maintaining the jaws in clamping engagement with the pipe. The structure includes linkage means coupled to the jaws for maintaining the jaws clamped to the pipe when the elevator and pipe are urged apart by gravity due to the weight of the pipe as when the pipe is raised or otherwise supported by the elevator. Additionally or alternatively, the elevator includes a pressure actuator assembly connected to the jaws for applying a positive force against the jaws for maintaining the jaws clamped to the pipe independent of the effect of gravity and, thus, independent of the orientation of the elevator.

Abstract: A freight wagon is assembled from a set of building blocks together forming a superstructure mounted on a skeletal underframe having at least one axial beam and an upper surface with a modular bearing pattern. The building blocks are selected from a set of building blocks of corresponding modular dimensions, there being a plurality of species of building blocks and sets of congruent building blocks of each species whereby the underframe is usable with alternative superstructures for carrying alternative types of goods and which alternative superstructures are assemblable from alternative selections and combinations of building blocks. The wagon is particularly useful as a railway wagon in a system of wagons having bearing patterns which are unified in the sense that the modular dimensions are the same although not necessarily having the same number of modules. The wagon is assembled using simple slotted joints for automated assembly.

Abstract: An ultrasonic welding tip assembly and associated method of use are described. The welding tips of the assembly may be conical with the cone height A and base width B having a ratio of A/B=1.2 or frusto-conical with a ratio of 0.76 in preferred embodiments. The welding tips are supported on anvils. In the welding process, the tips are only partially inserted into the material being welded so that the anvils remain spaced from the material. This space provides a reservoir into which molten material may flow away from the regions of the welding tips.

Abstract: The invention is a process for preparing a sintered polycrystalline compact of cubic boron nitride, the compact produced by the process, and articles comprising the compact. A mixture is formed of cubic boron nitride grains and from 5 to 20 volume percent of binder material, or sintering aid, consisting essentially of silicon and an aluminum-containing material selected from the group consisting of aluminum, aluminum nitride, aluminum diboride, and mixtures thereof. The mixture is subjected to elevated pressure and temperature conditions sufficient to melt the binder material and at which the boron nitride is thermodynamically stable. The elevated pressure and temperature conditions are maintained for a time sufficient to sinter the compact. The compact is characterized by substantial intergranular CBN-CBN bonding, and has superior wear and impact resistance, thermal conductivity and stability.

Abstract: A measuring system includes reference marks provided in the measuring direction alongside the graduation of the scale. These reference marks are absolutely allocated to the graduation and are used to generate reproduceable control pulses. For the identification of each reference mark there is serially allocated to each reference mark a code mark which is made up of code mark segments. The code mark segments follow one upon the other without gaps in the measuring direction, and each includes a homogeneously continuous surface or zone. These code mark segments are arranged in correspondence to their coded information, offset parallel to one another transversely to the measuring direction and are scanned by a scanning field which is integrated in the scanning field used to scan the reference marks. This gapless arrangement of the code mark segments prevents interference with the scanning of the reference marks.

Abstract: The invention is an oven ventilation system which uses sheets of moving air to remove heat and also to insulate the oven from the remainder of the room or vehicle in which the oven is located. More particularly, the ventilation system takes air from outside the room or vehicle and forms rapidly moving sheets of air which pass over the external surfaces of the oven. After passing over one or more of the external surfaces of the oven, the sheets of air are exhausted to the outside. Preferably, the ventilation system also comprises wall means for forming a chamber to separate the oven and ventilation system from the remainder of the room or vehicle.

Abstract: An improved telephone paging system and method are disclosed. The sytem interfaces with a conventional telephone branching system, such as a PBX, and remote pager devices which are worn by subscribers to the system. A plurality of PBX extension telephone lines are connected to the system via a subscriber line interface, and one PBX extension line is connected to this system via a control line interface. The subscriber line interface is used to detect ring signals on the selected extension lines. When a ring signal has been detected on a selected line, the microprocessor-based system sends command signals to the PBX to place the incoming call on hold. The system identifies a paging code signal distinctively corresponding to the subscriber line on which the ring signal was detected. The identified paging code signal is sent to a transmitter which transmits the paging code signal to all pagers within its range.

Abstract: A center-filled chewing gum comprises a chewing gum base shell enclosing an internal void and a center fill in the void. The center fill comprises a thaumatin or monellin sweetener constituting from about 5 to about 100 ppm by weight of the chewing gum.

Abstract: A keyboard entry system is disclosed which comprises a keyboard which includes a plurality of letter keys, one for each letter of a selected language. The entry system responds to conventional sequential activation of individual keys by providing output signals indicative of the respective individual letters associated with the activated keys to an application program such as a word processor or printer control program. The keyboard entry system also responds to chords of simultaneously activated multiple keys by using these chords to retrieve stored words from a dictionary. It is the stored words rather than the entered chords which are applied as inputs to the application program. This system allows an operator to use both conventional sequential key entry techniques and chorded entry techniques for rapid data entry.

Abstract: An impact attenuating body is disclosed for use on trucks or the like, the impact attenuating body being arranged for engagement by vehicles or the like, the impact attenuating body being further adapted for gradually arresting motion of the vehicle and dissipating its impact energy. The impact attenuating body is formed with a collapsible form including laterally extending members with interconnecting brackets forming rows of compartments, the compartments being generally elongated along the direction of travel of the vehicle, selected compartments being void and different densities of shock absorbing material such as expanded plastic foam being arranged in the other compartments for arresting movement of the vehicle and dissipating its impact energy as the vehicle travels a selected distance after initial engagement with the body, the arrangement of shock absorbing material in the compartments being selected for causing the vehicle to continue generally along its initial travel direction.

Abstract: Apparatus for measuring displacement comprises a member, such as a reading head, which carries a stepped index diffraction grating (14) and is movable with respect to a reflective scale grating (16). The head also carries a source (10) and lens for directing light on to the index grating and then on to the scale grating for reflection to the index grating, with the resultant Moire bands detected by a photodetector (18) on the reading head. In order to determine the phase separation or offset, and to avoid high sensitivity thereof to the spacing between the gratings, the index grating (14) has a square-stepped profile resulting in graded, increasing thickness. Alternatively, a conventional index grating may be employed in conjunction with a stepped profile optical element interposed between the two gratings.

Abstract: An intrinsically safe battery pack arrangement for electrically powering electrical devices is disclosed. The power pack has a device for electronically determining a short in a cable or device and switching off the voltage to the power pack. The electronic device includes a transisterized circuit for sensing and controlling current through the cable. When the current exceeds a predetermined maximum, the circuit limits the current in the cable to a maximum value. The circuit is latched in the off position when the short is present for an extended time and the circuit may be reset after the short is removed and the problem corrected. This form of circuitry in power packs for use with mining equipment such as lamps, provides a unit which will not cause hazardous sparks when shorted thereby constituting an intrinsically safe device for use in mines.

Abstract: An evaporator device system having an electron jet heating device for the vaporization of several materials onto a substrate in a vacuum chamber includes at least two crucibles for the reception of respective evaporation materials. These crucibles are concentrically arranged on a turntable. For the more uniform evaporation of the material, at least the crucible aligned with the electron jet is caused to rotate in the turntable during operation of the eletron jet heating device.

Abstract: A pizza preparation and delivery system is disclosed including a vehicle having a driver's station and a kitchen area. The kitchen area includes a pie case, a pizza preparation station, an oven, and a chair for supporting a cook while in transit. In the preferred embodiment, the prearation station is defined by an upper surface of the pie case. The kitchen area also includes a hinged pizza cutting table, an ice bin and beverage dispensing unit. The beverage dispensing unit is connected by tubing to a beverage supply holder disposed adjacent to the driver's station. The beverage supply holder conceals a cash box. As a result of an order received by mobile radio, pizza is prepared in the kitchen area while the vehicle is en route to delivery destinations.

Abstract: A position measuring system includes for the determination of a reference position at least one additional reference scanning unit which is shiftable relative to the measuring scale, independently of the measuring scanning unit and the measuring scale, and accordingly of the machine components connected to the measuring scanning unit and the measuring scale. The measuring scale carries an incremental graduation and a reference mark, and the measuring scanning unit and the reference scanning unit carry indicator blocks which on coincidence form a zero indicator. In order to determine the reference position, the reference marks and the zero indicator are scanned successively, but in arbitrary sequence, and their differential spacing is determined with the aid of a graduation of the reference scanning unit.

Abstract: An information recording medium includes a substrate having first and second sides. A layer of photoresist is deposited on the first side of the substrate. This layer of photoresist has a selected thickness and defines an area of openings therein such that the first side of the substrate is exposed at the openings, the openings being distributed in a pattern indicative of selected stored information. A reflecting layer is deposited on the photoresist layer and on the first side of the substrate at the openings. Both the substrate and the layer of photoresist are adapted to transmit the reading beam such that a portion of the reading beam incident on the second side of the substrate is reflected out of the substrate by the reflecting layer, both in a first region comprising the openings and in a second region between the openings.

Abstract: A polycrystalline diamond body with a plurality of faces having enhanced surface irregularities over at least a portion of at least one of the faces is disclosed. The polycrystalline diamond body with the enhanced surface irregularities attaches to other materials such as metal by conventional mounting techniques. The polycrystalline diamond bodies of this invention are without a carbide or metal backing. The pattern forming the enhanced surface irregularities of this invention can be predetermined or random. Similarly the pattern can be randomly distributed on the surface or positioned in a repeatable pattern. It is therefore not necessary that the surface irregularities be uniform in either shape or size. One method of forming the enhanced irregularities is during the press cycle during which the polycrystalline diamond is formed with screens, molds, or free standing bodies.

Abstract: A polycrystalline diamond and metal element for use as a cutting element for drilling holes or similar uses. The cutting element comprises a polycrystalline diamond center portion and at least one metal side portion. The metal side portion is made from a soft metal having a Young's Modulus less than approximately 45.times.10.sup.6 psi and is selected from a group comprising cobalt, nickel, iron, copper, silver, gold, platinum, palladium and alloys of these metals and intermetallic compounds containing these metals. Since the metal portion is sufficiently yielding the internal stresses formed in the polycrystalline diamond/metal bond during cooling and subsequent attachment to a tool body are signficantly reduced. The reduction the stress in the polycrystalline diamond/metal bond reduces fracturing in the diamond or metal and delamination of the polycrystalline diamond/metal interface during attachment to the tool and during use.