Abstract: A process for manufacturing metal and ceramic matrix composite materials. The invention also encompasses various composite products made by the disclosed method. The resulting composite material comprises a reinforcement material in either continuous or discrete form embedded in a matrix material which is either a pure metal, a metal alloy, or a ceramic. The reinforcing material is optionally coated with a barrier coating material. An electric arc or plasma arc is used to spray a thin layer of matrix material over a preplaced layer of reinforcement material. Successive layers are built up until a desired object shape and thickness are achieved. There is an optional final step of high-temperature diffusion annealing or hot isostatic pressing.

Abstract: Apparatus for cleaning paint spray gun nozzles automatically includes a housing having separate cleaning and reservoir chambers separated by a dividing wall, and a cleaning spray head in the cleaning chamber for directing a spray of cleaning fluid at a nozzle in the chamber. A supply of cleaning fluid in the reservoir is connected to the cleaning spray head by a supply tube. The cleaning chamber has an entrance for receiving a spray gun nozzle, and a supply of gas under pressure is connected to the reservoir chamber automatically on detection of entry of a spray gun nozzle through the entrance, to urge cleaning fluid from the reservoir into the supply tube. A passageway is provided in the dividing wall for returning used cleaning fluid to the reservoir. The supply of gas to the reservoir is cut off automatically at the end of a cleaning cycle on removal of the cleaned nozzle from the chamber.

Abstract: A pre-stressed cartridge of the invention generally comprises a cylindrical liner wrapped with a plurality of layers of wound fibers or high tensile wires. These high tension wrapped windings put the walls of the cartridge liner into compression, thus pre-stressing the cylindrical liner. A cartridge constructed in this fashion may develop an ultimate strength in the circumferential direction which approaches ten times the ultimate strength of a typical solid metal cylinder alone. Special reinforcing elements may also be provided, located at the points where the maximum stress is developed upon detonation. Various modifications of this structure include fabricating the liner out of ceramic instead of aluminum, incorporating a steel cup containing the explosive at the base of the internal space of the cartridge, and combining the composite windings with the steel cup to provide a cartridge consisting of a steel cup with the rest of the cartridge being composite fiber windings.

Abstract: A stripline circuit grounding and shielding system has specially configured ground plane foil sheets that are applied to opposite sides of a module substrate. The sheets extend beyond perimeter edges of the substrate, being folded into overlapping contact and soldered together. Intersecting slits made in the sheets permit tab portions of each sheet to be formed about protruding circuit components of the module. Cover plates on each side of the module have cavities for receiving the protruding component portions, together with the sheet tab portions, which are biased against the components by spring members that are also retained by the cavities. The soldered edges of the sheets provide excellent EMI shielding, while the tab portions provide short, low resistance ground paths for the components, without introducing harmful air gaps, because no soldering is done at the ground planes of the sheets.

Abstract: A process is described for enhancing superconductor characteristics by application of strong magnetic and/or electric fields to the constituent component materials from which ceramic superconductors are being formed and during the time that these superconductors are being synthesized. This process has particular applicability to the production of superconducting oxide ceramics such as the cuprates. The required magnetic fields are on the order of 1-10 tesla and the required electric fields are on the order of 0.1-1 MV/cm. The fields act as ordering mechanisms and induce grain orientation. The magnetic field aligns the magnetic moment of the grains. The electric field induces electric polarization in the grains and then aligns them. The superconducting structure formation occurs during the sintering, cooling and annealing phases of the fabrication process. Superconductivity is strongly affected by the oxygen stoichiometry in the lattice elemental cell. Applied electric fields cause elongation of the unit cell.

Abstract: The rugate filter comprises a glass film which is deposited on one or both end facets of a diode laser. The glass film has a continuously varying refractive index with thickness, usually in the form of a sine wave or a "windowed" sine wave. Such a film may be deposited by ion-assisted co-deposition techniques in which the concentration of the higher refractive index material is periodically varied according to the period required to produce the desired filter. The glass of which the rugate filter is formed has an average refractive index which does not vary with temperature by more than 10.sup.-6 /.degree.C. By reflecting light at the peak wavelength back into the laser, the laser is caused to emit at the desired wavelength. Since the rugate filter selectively reflects light within a narrow band of the desired wavelength, the laser emits light within a narrow peak on the order of 10 .ANG. or less.

Abstract: Apparatus and a process are disclosed for cleaning and/or fluxing circuit card assemblies. The assemblies are moved through an enclosure in which they are sprayed with cleaning and/or fluxing liquid from fenestrated cylinders rotating above and below the path of the assemblies and disposed laterally thereacross. The complex spray impact pattern created by the simultaneous movements of the assemblies and the cylinders effects thorough cleaning and/or fluxing of the assemblies. Separate control of liquid pressure from the cylinders prevents unsoldered components from being dislodged from the assemblies during cleaning and or fluxing.

Abstract: The present invention proposes a dielectric waveguide formed on a substrate of ultra-low thermal expansion glass which is assembled with a commercially available diode laser to create a temperature stabilized laser. The waveguide comprises multiple dielectric films which have equal and opposite temperature induced changes in refractive index with respect to each other into which is formed a Bragg grating, the grooves of which are sufficiently shallow to allow penetration of light into the waveguide of 1 mm to 1 cm. This provides a signal which is both narrowband and frequency stable so that the optical signal can be guaranteed to remain in a given narrow frequency band. The dielectric layers are deposited using ion assisted deposition (IAD) to provide uniform, high density films with reduced index-temperature coefficients and increased density, resulting in a waveguide with near-zero temperature variations in refractive index.

Abstract: An actively damped steering rate sensing device for an autopilot control system capable of producing angular rotation in a control plane of an intentionally continuously axially rolling airframe such as a homing missile in response to a rotation related guidance command signal. The device includes an elongated armature member mounted to the airframe for pivotal movement about an axis extending through the member intermediate its length. The pivot axis is oriented with respect to the rotational axis of the airframe so that the armature member will pivot by gyroscopic precession in response to rotation in the control plane of the rolling airframe. Sensing and damping coils are mounted on opposite ends of the armature member. Magnets and flux path return elements are fixedly mounted adjacent each of the coils.

Abstract: A device for use as a float switch device for use in a liquid medium is disclosed which has a magnetic latching feature used to produce an offset, with the switch actuating in a first manner when the liquid level drops to a first level, and actuating in a second manner when the liquid level rises to a second level which is aabove the first level by a selected offset distance. The float element has two buoyant disks on the ends of a hollow cylinder, with switching magnets being located intermediate the two buoyant disks, and latch magnets being located on the bottom of the bottom buoyant disk. The float element slides vertically on a switch stem having a magnetic reed switch therein and a steel washer on the bottom thereof, with the float element being latched in a downward position by the latch magnets until the liquid level rises to the level of the upper buoyant disk, resulting in crisp and precise operation of the switching function.

Abstract: A fault-resistant, solid-state line driver having a pair of P-type transistors in series between a bus output and a voltage source, a pair of N-type transistors in series between the bus output and a connection to ground, and a pair of input lines, one of the input lines being connected to both the gate of the P-type transistor closest to the voltage source and the gate of the N-type transistor closest to the bus output, the other input line being connected to both the gate of the P-type transistor closest to the bus output and the gate of the N-type transistor closest to the connection to ground. Such a line driver is particularly useful in devices utilizing wafer-scale levels of integration, as the failure of any one of the driver's transistors will not result in a shorting of the bus output to either ground or the voltage source.

Abstract: At least one optical resonator having a selected optical processing property is formed upon a substrate. Various property resonators may be stacked upon one another so as to share a common optical axis. A resonator typically has a pair of multilayer dielectric or semiconductor mirrors formed on opposite ends of an optical cavity with the mirrors formed in a plane parallel to the substrate surface. Temperature and mechanical stability superior to current technology is thus achievable in the structure. Additional combinations of mirrors, cavities and gratings may be formed in conjunction with the resonator.

Abstract: A semiconductor diode laser is aligned to a waveguide with two sections, a first section being a passive low-loss waveguide and a second section being a Bragg grating. The first section works to increase the total cavity length l of the laser by about 1 to 2 cm. The lengthening of the cavity reduces the longitudinal mode spacing .DELTA..lambda. according to the equation .DELTA..lambda.=.lambda..sup.2 /2nl, and provides a higher average output power level because it is substantially immune to mode hop-induced fluctuations. The second section causes the output to be centered at the desired wavelength depending on the grating spacing. An array of diode lasers with an array of waveguides as described above provides a high power source with a controlled bandwidth. The high power laser array with stabilized output wavelength is used to pump a solid state laser crystal.

Abstract: A booster retarding apparatus for an airborne vehicle such as a missile having a separable booster at its rear end, comprises a series of flaps with hinge assemblies for securing the flaps to the aft end of the booster for movement between an inner position extending rearwardly from the booster and an extended position projecting outwardly from the booster. The flaps are biased towards the extended position, and normally retained in the inner position by retaining devices. The retaining devices are released on booster thrust termination, and include a release mechanism responsive to booster thrust termination for releasing the retaining devices. The release mechanism includes a biasing device having a biasing force less than the acceleration forces developed on launch which oppose operation of the release mechanism so that the flaps are held in during booster thrust and are released and urged outwardly on booster thrust termination to brake the booster and separate it from the remainder of the missile.

Abstract: An apparatus for generating a variable wavelength optical signal. The apparatus includes a signal generator for generating an optical signal. A reflector receives a portion of the optical signal and an electrical tuning signal. The reflector is responsive to the optical and tuning signals, reflecting a selected spectral component of the optical signal back to the signal generator. The generator receives the selected spectral component and responds by stabilizing the wavelength of its output at the wavelength of the spectral component.

Abstract: An optical modulator for generating an amplitude modulated optical signal. A signal generator generates an optical signal that is optically coupled to a tunable filter which shares a common optical axis with the signal generator. The tunable filter wavelength response varies in response to an electrical input control signal thereby providing an output amplitude modulated optical signal. An optical isolator is located between and shares a common optical axis with the signal generator and the tunable filter. The optical isolator is for preventing optical signals originating at the filter, traveling toward the signal generator, from impinging on the signal generator.

Abstract: An array of optical RF bandpass filters which is fabricated from planar waveguides on a single substrate. The array of filters receives an input of frequency multiplexed optical signals and separates the intensity modulated optical signal of the desired frequency from signals at other frequencies. Each bandpass filter comprises a resonant cavity formed from a segment of a planar optical waveguide with mirrors deposited at each end. By using ultra high purity CVD techniques common in the optical fiber industry, material absorption is dramatically reduced. Much thicker waveguides are grown than those conventionally fabricated, allowing the use of refractive index differences between waveguide and cladding which are much smaller than those normally used in planar waveguides. To enable the fabrication of a monolithic array of filters having differing center frequencies, the substrate is cut at an angle so that resonant cavities of different lengths are formed.

Abstract: An anti-armor weapon comprises an outer casing in which a non-explosive, armor-penetrating device, suitably a solid rod of heavy, high density metal or metal composite, is mounted. The penetrating device is mounted in a forward portion of the casing while a launch population device is mounted at the rear end for launching the weapon from a launch tube or firing barrel at a first, subsonic launch speed. A second, boost propulsion device is mounted in the casing adjacent the penetrating device for accelerating the weapon to a second, faster speed sufficient for the penetrating device to penetrate a target, and is associated with an igniter for actuating the boost propulsion device. A sensor is provided within the missile for sensing when the weapon is a predetermined distance from the target and subsequently actuating the igniter.

Abstract: The feedback control loop for temperature stabilization of a tunable diode laser consists of a series of lenses or gratings and a detector array disposed in the optical path. The lenses or gratings of the feedback loop are formed in a planar optical waveguide which is temperature stabilized, being fabricated from a plurality of dielectric materials which have approximately equal and opposite changes in refractive index with temperature. Light from a tunable diode laser is input into the loop and is collimated, deflected, and focused onto a portion of the detector array depending on the wavelength of the light. Each detector within the array corresponds to a given wavelength. The detector converts the detected wavelength into an electrical signal which is fed back to the laser phase control to provide tuning to the desired channel.

Abstract: A safety harness for use with an electrostatic spray paint gun is disclosed which fits over the feed tube and the barrel of a standard electrostatic spray gun and acts both to protect the hand of the spray gun operator from an electrostatic discharge and to provide an indication of the electrostatic operation of the spray gun. A T-shaped safety shield made of non-conductive material is placed over the portions of the spray gun which may develop an electrostatic charge thereon, and is held onto the spray gun by mating strips of material. Located on the inner surface of the safety shield is a thin sheet of conductive foil which acts to channel the discharge through a wire to illuminate an indicator light located remote from the spray gun in a highly visible position.