Abstract: The invention provides a safety electrical connector construction in the form of electrical receptacles carried by a weatherproof housing on a front panel. The receptacles are of insulating material, with attached contactor pins having exposed exterior faces adapted for engagement by cooperable spring-loaded pins of a line plug from a liquid transfer facility that receives electrical information for monitoring tank filling operations. The receptacles have collars which interlock with the line plugs whereby the latter must be manually released prior to the vehicle being driven off after termination of the filling. The mounting of the receptacles includes unique simplified detent means which are arranged to yield under excessive forces experienced thereby, and to release the receptacles from their supporting panels in the case of an emergency, such as if the driver of a vehicle would forget to uncouple the line plug and would drive the vehicle off with the line still connected.

Abstract: An inductively-coupled signalling system having multiple waveforms, for exchanging information between a vehicle and a storage facility, said system including a safety, separable signal-coupling device comprising a signal-transmitting coil carried in a housing and disposed at an accessible location at or on the vehicle, and a signal-receiving coil carried by a cable having a second housing, said cable leading to a signal-receiving and deciphering means located at the storage facility. The two housings of the coupling device are adapted for juxtaposition to each other so as to locate the coils thereof in inductive relation. A magnetic keeper part on one of the housings and a magnet part on the other housing releasably retain the housings in operative relation when the coupling device is in use. The receiving coil housing constitutes almost a complete magnetic shield for the receiving coil so as to minimize stray pick-up of spurious signals.

Abstract: A gauge for monitoring the height of liquid contained in a storage tank or the like, comprising a channel-like structure having a first elongate probe element constituted as a circuit board having a conductive strip running for a substantial length therealong, an additional upright probe element also constituted as a circuit board, coextensive with the first and also having a conductive strip running for a substantial length therealong, and an elongate member disposed along the boards and constituting a spacer for maintaining the conductive strips of each of the elements in substantially parallel relation. Means are provided for mechanically connecting the boards to the spacer, with both probe elements being adapted for immersion in the liquid being gauged.

Abstract: A device for indicating the presence or absence of liquid at a single level in a tank, comprising a sealed cylindrical housing having one end wall permanently fixed and the other end wall removable. The housing has an internal shoulder against which the removable wall is seated. The latter has an annular recess extending about its periphery in which there is disposed an O-ring, adapted to sealingly engage the housing wall adjacent the shoulder and thus effect a watertight seal therewith. The removable wall is connected to the fixed end wall by means of draft screws and sealing nuts, the screws having spacers which mount two printed circuit boards in spaced relation with one another inside the housing. The removable end wall also carries at its outer side two concentric, conductor tubes on feed-through insulators, constituting a probe whose conductive or capacitive characteristics vary according to whether the tubes are submerged or dry.

Abstract: A gauging apparatus for monitoring the height or level of liquid contained in a storage tank or the like. The apparatus comprises a probe device in the form of an elongate piece of insulating material carrying a first plurality of spaced-apart conducting members disposed along the length thereof, and a second plurality of conducting members disposed adjacent the members of the first plurality and forming multiple capacitors therewith, respectively. The insulating material, as well as the members carried thereby, are covered by a coating of insulating resin such that they are sealed against physical contact with the liquid being monitored. Detector means including amplifiers and indicators are provided for sensing which members of the first plurality are submerged in liquid at any particular time. The detector means responds to changes in the dielectric of the capacitors as they successively become submerged to provide indications of the liquid level in the tank.

Abstract: A liquid level gauge for monitoring the height of liquid in a storage tank or the like. The gauge comprises an upright conducting probe adapted to be immersed in the liquid in the tank, and an upright series of electrodes closely adjacent the probe. The latter is adapted to be excited from a source of a.c. voltage generated by an astable multivibrator. Each of the electrodes is connected to the input of an amplifier through a rectifier circuit. The amplifiers are of the digital comparator type and have output terminals respectively connected by means of summing resistors to an electrical indicator such as a milliammeter, which provides an indication of the number of amplifiers being driven to full output at any particular time. The arrangement is such that each of the electrodes constitutes one plate of a capacitor, the other plate being formed by the single upright conducting probe. When a particular electrode is above the level of fluid in the tank, the magnitude of the a.c.