Abstract: The improvement of a hood of a tractor that has a filler neck passing through a neck aperture in the top surface of the hood. The neck aperture is transversely offset from the tractor's centerline. The improvement includes a downwardly projecting trough in the hood's top surface. The bottom of the trough is a major depression that is connected at four brake lines to the top surface by inner, outer, fore and aft sides. The major depression incorporates a pair of run-off apertures, with each run off aperture being adjacent one of the fore or aft sides. The neck aperture is located in the inner side of the trough, while the outer side of the trough contains a grip aperture. The improvement also includes a seal which resiliently and sealably connects the filler neck and the inner side of the trough. The improvement further includes a downwardly projecting hand grip that is sealably secured to the outer side of the trough in the grip aperture.

Abstract: Polyimide foams derived from mixtures of aromatic diamines and partial esters of a benzophenonetetracarboxylic acid. The precursors are converted into polyimide foams by the application of heat; and the foams are then compressed, yielding dense, rigid, and structurally strong, intumescent materials.

Abstract: An apparatus that includes a drawbar, a pair of furrow forming disks rotatably mounted on the drawbar, a seed tube located between the disks for depositing seed in the furrow, a press gauge wheel assembly mounted on the drawbar rearward of the disks for closing the furrow and compacting the soil on both sides of the seed, and also including adjustment structure for varying the height of the press wheel relative to the drawbar for controlling furrow depth in response to pressure exerted on the apparatus.

Abstract: In a tractor having a hood and a frame with a latch to establish a closed position of the hood on the frame, the present invention includes a frame track and a hood track secured to the frame and hood respectively, a pair of hood guides secured to the hood and movable in the frame track, a pair of frame guides secured to the frame and movable in the hood track and a mechanism for automatically rigidly connecting the hood to the frame in the closed position.

Abstract: Disc brake rotors on driven axles are resurfaced without being removed from host axles by replacing the relatively non-abrasive service brake pads with abrasive grinding pads. Grinding pads are urged into contact with the rotor being resurfaced utilizing the service brake piston. The rotor to be resurfaced is driven by the vehicle drive train after the vehicle has been raised to prevent wheel contact with the ground.

Abstract: Mobile, air transportable, trailers or vans which have retractable landing gear at one end thereof, a jacking/skid plate at the opposite end, and retractable running gear. The disclosed trailers can be loaded on and unloaded from aircraft without removing the underbody of the trailer and without ground handling equipment by as few as two persons.

Abstract: A control for a spring-apply, pressure release brake system having a pilot signal-generating valve and a slave brake valve interconnected by a pilot signal line. Hydraulic pressure is directed to both the pilot valve and the slave valve. Manual stroking of the pilot valve modulates the pressure to the signal line. A spool within the slave valve senses both the signal pressure and the brake pressure and moves to an equilibrium position to equalize the signal and brake pressures.

Abstract: A boom arm of a boom assembly is formed of a pair of side walls integrated into a box boom structure where the top and bottom plates are roll formed with transition edges providing a weld bed for welds attaching the side walls to the top and bottom plates. The particular cross sections of the top and bottom plates provide a weld blow-through preventing barrier and also dimensional guidance and tolerance control during assembly of the boom arm.

Abstract: Polyimide fibers which have a porous, microcellular structure. Methods of making such fibers from a precursor under conditions which cause the precursor to foam and undergo imidization.

Abstract: An automotive diesel engine is provided with pistons which carry two compression rings and an oil control ring in the conventional manner, the cold end clearance of the second compression ring being greatly exaggerated compared to the cold end clearance of the top compression ring and the annulus defined by the second land of the piston, the two compression rings and the engine cylinder wall having an empirically determined volume, preferably in the range of about 0.12 cubic inches to about 0.35 cubic inches. The top land of the piston is preferably set back to provide exaggerated diametrical clearance with the cylinder wall.

Abstract: A forage harvester having a rotary reel cutterhead disposed within a housing to operate against a shear bar, peripheral shielding being disposed on the inlet side of the cutterhead except for a material entry gap in the region above the shear bar is provided with a crop reinjection chamber disposed in the peripheral shielding immediately above the material entry gap, the chamber comprising a transversely extending cavity wherein the cavity wall in the direction of rotation includes an arcuate portion for redirecting the flow of crops escaping the cutterhead periphery back into the cutterhead at a substantial angle to the cutterhead periphery.

Abstract: A serviceable pivot pin assembly having a pin with a lubricant reservoir rotatably mounted on bearings and releasably secured to both a thrust ring and to bucket brackets through an end plate.

Abstract: An axial flow combine having a crop harvesting header including a feeder for cutting a crop and feeding it rearwardly into a threshing and separating mechanism. The mechanism includes a casing for receiving the crop material and a rotor within the casing for threshing and separating grain from the crop material. The rotor has a central drive shaft driven through a gear case behind the rotor. The gear case is partially enclosed within a cover having a smooth exterior surface. The end of the rotor is configured in a smooth exterior surface which is complementary to the surface of the cover to inhibit collection of chaff about the drive shaft. Impeller blades are secured on the rotor for creating an air flow directing crop material away from the drive shaft to prevent crop material wrapping about the shaft or accumulating in the drive system.

Abstract: For inclusion as spacer between the confronting faces of first and second axially spaced apart members mounted for limited angulation about a common axis, the first member having a seal recess formed in one face, the second member having an end face opposite the seal recess, the improvement of: a laminated torsielastic thrust bushing consolidated in the recess as a one-piece part therein, with its nonmetallic laminae so uniformly thin that the part in the axial direction is a substantially incompressible composite piece.

Abstract: A tilt steering column mechanism having two brackets, one of which is connected to a cab frame member and the other of which is connected to a steering column and is slideable within the first bracket upon tilting or pivoting of the steering column about a point remote from the second bracket. The first bracket carries a slideable lock bolt, which is spring-biased in one axial direction, and has a raised frusto-conical portion thereon which cooperates with any one of a number of uniformly spaced frusto-conical receptacles provided in the second bracket. A handle, pivotally mounted to the first bracket, causes the sliding of the lock bolt through the intermediary of a toggle link, which in the dead center position, together with the bias of the spring, holds the frusto-conical portion in the selected frusto-conical receptacle.

Abstract: A tilt steering column mechanism having two brackets, one of which is connected to a cab frame member and the other of which is connected to a steering column and is slideable within the first bracket upon tilting or pivoting of the steering column about a point remote from the second bracket. The first bracket carries a slideable lock bolt, which is spring-biased on opposite ends in opposite axial directions by a plurality of springs of differing magnitude, and has a raised frusto-conical portion thereon which cooperates with any one of a number of uniformly spaced frusto-conical receptacles provided in the second bracket. A handle, fixedly mounted to one end of the lock bolt causes the sliding of the lock bolt through the intermediary of a rotary cam and pin follower, which pin follower, in the raised cam land position, against the bias of the springs, holds the frusto-conical portion in the selected frusto-conical receptacle.

Abstract: An axial flow combine having a crop harvesting header including a feeder for cutting a crop and feeding it rearwardly into a threshing and separating mechanism. The mechanism includes a casing for receiving the crop material and a rotor within the casing for threshing and separating grain from the crop material. A plurality of crop material directing vanes is disposed within the casing and cooperate with the rotor in directing the material generally helically along the casing. Means are included for selectively and simultaneously adjusting the position of the vanes to change the rate of movement of the crop material through the casing.

Abstract: An over-center latch mechanism having a spring loaded link including a projecting rod. The rod having an "S" shaped bend on its free end which permits insertion and removal of said bend from an elongate slot only by actuation of the lever in the over-center mechanism.

Abstract: An electrical vehicle is propelled by a constant speed motor receiving current from a storage battery. An alternator, driven by the vehicle power train through a differential while the vehicle is in motion, is associated with the drive train such that it controls the velocity of the vehicle. Dynamic braking through increasing field current of the alternator is provided. The alternator is used to recharge the storage battery during periods of less than maximum vehicle velocity and also during deceleration of the vehicle.

Abstract: Lightweight, porous, compliant structural members comprising an assemblage of metallic strips disposed in side-by-side relationship with the edges of the strips at opposite sides of the assemblage. There are interstices between the strips, and the edges of the strips are fixed relative to each other on at least one side of the assemblage to maintain the strips in the proper relationship.