Abstract: A safety device for a hypodermic needle or for a similar instrument used in the clinical puncture of the skin comprises a sheath (6, 25 or 32) adapted to be connected to the needle (5, 21 or 33) or to a support (4 or 31) for the needle. The sheath is so connected in a first position (FIGS. 1A, 2A, or 3A) which permits normal use of the needle and can be placed, by movement relative to the needle (FIG. 1B or 3B) or by folding upon itself (FIGS. 2B and 2C) in a second position in which the needle is encapsulated by the sheath. The sheath is retained in that second position, for example by a projection (9, 27 or 35) extending into a slot (10 or 36) or through an aperture (28).

Abstract: A selectively-operable drive device for drive action including a drive input member to put drive into the device, a drive output member to supply drive action from the device, the input and output members being electrically isolatingly spaced, the device being selectively operable to put the input member and output member into driving relation by electric field electrodes on the input and output members and between the spaced members a quantity of electric field responsive fluid subject, on energisation in operation, to an electric field between the electrodes, the output member being of material of lower density than the input member and the output member having a lower mechanical time constant than the input member.

Abstract: An electrochromic device comprises two electrodes separated by an electrolytic medium and means to permit the application of a potential between the electrodes, so as to create a circuit for charge transfer, and an electrochromic material in contact with the electrolyte and an electrode so that a change in spectral properties of the material is detectable from the exterior of the device, the electrochromic material comprising an aluminium and/or silicon containing monophthalocyanine or monotetrabenzoazaporphyrin complex.

Abstract: A thin fluoropolymer film is covalently bonded to a microporous ptfe film to make a bilayer for separation, filtration or reverse osmosis, by exposing the microporous film to perfluorocyclohexane under plasma.

Abstract: A poultry-handling assembly (10) (FIG. 6) comprises two endless conveyors (12,13) arranged side-by-side and adapted to move poultry from a first location (15) to a second location (17). Access means at the first location allows birds to enter the assembly (10) one by one e.g. with one foot on one conveyor (12) and the other foot on the other conveyor (13). Conveyor guide means constrain the conveyors (12,13) to present an open-bottomed V-shaped trough configuration at the second location, where the legs of the birds will slip between the two conveyors (12,13) for engagement by a restraint device (19) and subsequent take-up by the shackles of a processing plant shackle line (20). In an alternative embodiment (FIG. 9), the conveyors (12,13) are replaced by two side-by-side conveyors 38,39 which grip the birds laterally.

Abstract: A method for detecting the presence of a substance in a heterogeneous sample or article (i.e., a contraband substance) in a magnetic field includes establishing a level-crossing condition (B.sub.LC) for the substance to be detected for a set time (t.sub.b), and subsequently measuring nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signals to detect some consequence of the level-crossing condition. A saturating signal is applied at the begining of each cyclic test. Apparatus for detecting the presence of predetermined substances is also disclosed.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for spinning fibres into yarn including providing a supply of fibres, providing a yarn-building region, opening fibres from the supply into the region, landing opened fibres in said region, removing energy from landing fibres, building and twisting the fibres landed in the region into a yarn and withdrawing the yarn from the region. The fibres may be landed leading-end first in said region. The fibre trailing-end may be flicked to remove energy from the landing fibre.

Abstract: A protein which inhibits milk secretion by lactating cows and which is present in the eighth (6B, Figure) significant peak when a nominally 10-30 KDa fraction of the whey proteins of the milk is resolved on a "Mono Q" anion exchange column using 10 mM imidazole buffer, pH 7.0 and a sodium chloride elution gradient.

Abstract: A gyroscopic device comprising a supporting structure (2; 104) and at least one mass (1; 50, 51; 100-103), the masses being attached to the structure by beams (3-6; 25-28; 52-63; 98-99). Masses, supporting structure and beams lie within a common plane when the device is at rest. A voltage source (V) to generates electromotive forces between such masses and structures to excite the masses into a vibratory primary motion. By simple flexure the beams can permit the masses to make limited motion relative to the structure in response to a rate of turn applied to the device, a measure of that rate being obtained from sensing that relative motion. By appropriate arrangement of the flexural connections (85-88) between the mass and the supporting structure, the device can measure rates of turn about two orthogonal axes. By connecting the supporting structure (104) to further structure (112) with additional flexural members (113) the device may be made capable of measuring rates of turn about three orthogonal axes.

Abstract: An apparatus for use in stunning fowl prior to slaughter has a mechanism for passing a predetermined electrical current through a series of items of varying electrical resistance, the mechanism including a continuous shackle train (10) having shackles (11) evenly spaced along its length, a water bath (15), electrical circuitry (21) having a connection to the bath (15) and means (12,16,17) for connecting the circuitry to the shackles (11) such that any object bridging a shackle (11) and the water bath (15) completes an individual electrical circuit, the circuitry being adapted (20) to maintain the predetermined current in all the circuits.

Abstract: An arrangement for the automatic application of milking apparatus to a milk animal including a milking apparatus store, a milking apparatus handling device including a milking apparatus carrier movable on the device and a teat sensor on the handling device together with at least one animal position sensor and a control unit responsive to the animal and teat sensor to operate the handling device, the arrangement being such that when an animal is sensed to be in milking position the control unit operates the handling device to take milking apparatus for a teat of the animal from the store in the carrier to a specific teat with the carrier moved to a sideways offset at a selected angle to the device and the teat sensor in range of the teat.

Abstract: In or for a prosthetic knee joint device involving a femoral component having a convexly curved articulation surface, a tibial component (10) having a relatively flattened articulation surface (14), and a meniscal component (20) having two articulation surfaces (21,22) in back-to-back disposition and respectively substantially complementary to, and for mutual engagement with, the femoral and tibial component articulation surfaces: an assembly of tibial and meniscal components including means (30) separably connectable with the tibial component at least partially to bridge the meniscal component to retain their mutual articulatory engagement.

Abstract: An acoustic probe comprising a piezoelectric ceramic transducer element energizable to emit ultrasonic signals in a first direction and in a second direction opposite to the first, and mountable on a sample to be tested so as to transmit thereto signals emitted in the said first direction, is further provided, according to the invention, with a rod-shaped acoustic waveguide having one end coupled to the transducer element to receive signals emitted by the transducer element in the said second direction and to transmit them along the waveguide, with lossy cladding material acoustically coupled to the surface of the waveguide at least at a part thereof remote from its one end, and with coupling means surrounding and mechanically secured and acoustically coupled to the ceramic element and the said one end of the waveguide, the coupling means having a surface adapted to be secured to the sample to be tested and to transmit thereto signals emitted by the transducer element.

Abstract: A method of measuring the .sup.17 O isotope content and distribution in a body by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) by collecting first and second nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signals of the body under the same conditions of examination except that before one examination, the body is first irradiated with radio waves at the .sup.17 O resonance frequency, whereas before the other examination the body is not so irradiated. The difference in the results of the two examinations is measured to provide an NMR image of the .sup.17 O isotope distribution in the body.

Abstract: A method of strengthening glass using a mixture of a silane and a resin, the mixture being applied to the glass surface as an aqueous emulsion which is then cured. The silane is a reaction product of a silane coupling agent, which contains an epoxy group, with an unsaturated carboxylic acid, and the resin is a resin having at least two polymerisable unsaturated groups in the molecule. Preferably the silane and the resin have unsaturated reactive groups of matched reactivity. Advantageously the mixture contains about 20 parts of the silane per hundred parts of the resin. In another embodiment a silane coupling agent is dissolved in a polymerisable resin, the mixture of silane and resin is emulsified in water, the emulsion being applied as a coating, which is then cured.

Abstract: Measurements, particularly of current, using the Faraday magneto-optic effect in an optical fibre, have suffered from inaccuracy due to vibration causing linear birefringence in the fibre. Current measurement according to the method and apparatus employs an optical fibre (3) coiled round a conductor (6) carrying the current to be measured. A laser (1) launches two counter propagating light beams into the fibre by way of a beam splitter (2) and directional couplers (4,5). Polarization beam splitters (7,8) derive two pairs of orthogonally linearly polarized light beams, one from each direction of propagation. These beams are passed to detectors (10,11,12,13) having outputs coupled to a processor (14). An output signal is derived by the processor which is representative of the non-reciprocal Faraday rotation but independent of reciprocal birefringent effects, including linear birefringence due to vibration. Thus the output signal is representative of current in the conductor.

Abstract: A very stiff mounting structure comprises at least three pyramidally disposed rod-like members rigidly coupled together at one end and with their other ends rigidly coupled to a base either to stiffen the base and/or to mount a device such as a tool or instrument with respect to it. Three pyramidally disposed members (1a, 1b, 1c, FIG. 10) may be mounted on a tetrahedral base 22 or another three-dimensional base 22' (FIG. 11), or four such members on respective corners of a square pyramid, to form therewith a framework in which to mount, for example, a machine tool or measuring instrument, the base preferably being formed of similar rod-like members; or the base may be a plate or other structure of a separately existing machine or other entity.

Abstract: An inspection arrangement for a teat of a milk producing animal, including an elongate probe, at least one radiation sensor on the inner surface of the probe and structure to rotate the probe around a teat, positioned for inspection, to scan the surface of the teat to provide signal output from the at least one sensor, the output indicating a surface condition of the teat, which may be cleanliness and health thereof.

Abstract: An animal stall in which an animal is presented for milking with the udder and teats moved forward from the position when the animal stands normally to a position improving access for milking including a forward floor part fixable higher than a rear, entry, floor part whereby the animal adopts a posture other than that of the animal on a level floor.

Abstract: The invention provides a method, and apparatus for practicing the method, of producing an electrical impedance tomographic image of an object, comprising the steps of: positioning a plurality of electrodes peripherally of the object in electrical contact therewith, repeatedly applying an electrical signal between at least two selected ones of the electrodes to which the electrical signal is applied being different for different applications of the signal, registering the measured electrical potentials as measured data obtained during a plurality of different applications of the applied electrical signa, and processing the measured data to provide data defining the electrical impedance tomographic image of the object.