Abstract: A portable phone includes a handset and a data projection system configured to form a visual image of data, such as caller waiting ID data, on a viewing surface viewable by a user during a two way conversation. The handset also includes a speaker, a microphone, conventional phone circuitry and a keyboard. The data projection system is configured to receive signals from the phone circuitry, to generate a pattern representative of the data, to process the pattern into a mirror image of the visual image, and to project the mirror image from a bottom end surface of the handset. The projection system includes an electro optic system for generating the pattern, and an optics system for projecting the mirror image onto the viewing surface.

Abstract: A fluid display cover assembly comprising a sealed container coupled to a cover such as a notebook cover. The container has a light-transmissive front, and encloses a fluid comprising a gas, a liquid, or a plurality of gases and/or liquids. There also can be solid objects within the container. The cover can include a cutaway section replaced by the container. Displays within the container, on the cover, or below the cover can be visible through the front of the container.

Abstract: A convenient compact telephone cord with a special coil diameter and a much smaller relaxed retracted length reduces sagging, occupies less space, and is much more attractive than conventional saggy telephone cords. The user-friendly high performance telephone cord has a core of electrical conductors which are insulated by primary insulation and are encased within an insulating jacket to meet or exceed national and international telephone standards and requirements. In the preferred form, the primary insulation comprises polypropylene and the insulating jacket comprises polyurethane and most preferably a blend of polyurethane and ethylene vinyl acetate. Desirably, the telephone cord comprises a modular retractile telephone cord with at least one modular plug. The attractive space-saving telephone cord can be used with handsets, headsets, vehicle phones, modems, and computers.

Abstract: A rotary connector, for preventing the tangling of a telephone cord, comprises a housing carrying within it a female modular connector. Also located within the housing is a sub-assembly comprising a spindle and a connector member which engages a shank of the spindle. The sub-assembly comprises structure for electrically connecting a plurality of peripheral spindle rings to one end of a cable extending from within the connector member outwardly to a male modular connector remote from the housing. The spindle rings are engaged by wipers electrically connected to contact elements on the female modular connector, which carries the wipers. The housing and the female modular connector rotate as a unit relative to the sub-assembly.

Abstract: An embodiment of a rotary connector assembly, permanently connected to a telephone cord, is attachable to a telephone handset. The assembly prevents tangling of the cord. The assembly includes a spindle partially enclosed within a cylindrical bearing and in mutually rotatable relation therewith. The spindle mounts external conducting rings engaged by wipers mounted on a guide element in turn mounted on a base member which also mounts the cylindrical bearing. Structure is provided to retain all the elements of the assembly in place to facilitate attachment to the handset as a single, integral unit.Another embodiment of a rotary connector assembly removably engages a telephone handset within the interior thereof. A latch element, depressible to disengage the assembly from the handset, is normally inaccessible from the exterior of the handset, and structure is provided to enable depression of the latch element.

Abstract: A rotary electrical connector for a telephone or the like comprises a spindle assembly and a housing mounted in rotating relation to each other. A first male or female connector element is fixed to the spindle assembly, and a second male or female connector element rotates with the housing. Electrical contact elements extend from the first connector element and engage rings disposed in peripheral grooves of a spindle body. The rings are electrically connected to the second connector element by conducting elements extending through channels or grooves in the spindle body or in holders carried by the spindle body. Another embodiment of spindle assembly has flat planar conducting elements embedded therein. Methods for producing various embodiments are disclosed.

Abstract: A rotary electrical connector apparatus for receiving and transmitting electrical energy. The apparatus comprises a hollow housing having opposite ends and a centrally located longitudinal axis of rotation and each opposite end has an opening. A spindle has a first section and a second section. Means on the housing and spindle cooperate to mount the spindle and housing for rotation about the longitudinal axis independently of each other. A plurality of electrical conducting means through the spindle rotate with the spindle. Each of the electrical conducting means comprises a first portion contiguous to the outer surface of the spindle's first section and a second portion extending longitudinally through the spindle's second section. A plurality of electrical contact means each having opposite ends is mounted for rotational movement with the housing. Means at one end of each electrical contact means engage the contact means with electrical energy receiving means.

Abstract: A method of detecting a component gas of a gaseous mixture, and apparatus implementing the method, is disclosed. The method includes passing the mixture through a fixed-phase separator to produce an effluent in which the components are consigned, in ordered [time-related] fashion, to predetermined portions of the effluent. That portion of the effluent containing the component gas to be detected is monitored to produce a measurement indicative of the quantity of the component gas in the mixture.

Abstract: Apparatus for processing a composite noise signal containing sonic and ultrasonic components generally in a frequency range of about 20 Hz-100 KHz to make audible both components of the signal includes a heterodyne circuit operable in response to a rectangular wave local oscillator signal to produce output signals which are within the frequency range of human hearing.

Abstract: A transducer unit comprised of a pair of transducers coupled together in a manner such that the offsets, drifts and the like of the circuit elements of one transducer are opposed by and cancelled out by the circuit elements of the other transducer. The transducers can be in the form of Wheatstone bridges and each of the branches of the bridge contains a circuit element of each transducer, respectively, the circuit elements of the branches of the transducer unit being in opposition to each other so as to cancel out the effects due to temperature, acceleration, aging and the like.

Abstract: A sensor for use on the front end of a flexible, resilient probe for use in an underground duct of the type which contains one or more current-carrying cables. The sensor is provided with a signal generating device for detecting a particular operating condition of a cable in the duct when the sensor moves through the duct adjacent to the cable. In one embodiment of the sensor, acoustical signals are sensed by a crystal when such acoustical signals originate from a leak in the pressurized sheath surrounding the cable. In another embodiment of the sensor, a coil senses the magnetic field surrounding the cable so that electrical shorts occurring in the cable can be monitored. In a third embodiment of the sensor, a heat detector is provided so that the sensor can detect hot spots in a duct.

Abstract: A circuit having a transducer which normally provides a non-linear output as a function of a stimulus to which the transducer is responsive. The circuit is provided with a feedback resistor from at least one of a pair of output terminals coupled to the transducer, and the feedback resistor is coupled to the power input of the transducer. Any change in the output voltage will cause a current change through the transducer, and this current change has a linearizing effect on the output voltage. The circuit is especially adapted for use with a Wheatstone bridge having a power amplifier coupled to the input thereof and a differential amplifier coupled to the output thereof. In such a case, a pair of feedback resistors couple the output terminals of the differential amplifier with the input terminals of the power amplifier.

Abstract: A differential amplifier suitable for use with a transducer network, such as a Wheatstone bridge, for measuring small signal voltages while eliminating common mode voltage contributions applied to the input of the amplifier. A potentiometer is connected across the output terminals of a pair of amplifiers whose positive input terminals receive the common mode voltage components and induced signal voltages from the transducer network. The shiftable terminal of the potentiometer is connected to the negative input terminals of one of the two amplifiers and adjusted to control the gain of the amplifier pair. The output signals of the differential amplifier are proportional to the induced signal voltages and devoid of the common mode voltage.

Abstract: A duct probe having a coaxial cable is provided to advance a microphone through an underground or other duct containing a cable in a pressurized sheath for sensing fluid leaks in the sheath. The coaxial cable is embedded in a resilient fiberglass rod of one-piece construction. The rod is sufficiently flexible so that it can be wound onto and unwound from a reel having a cage-like configuration. A stationary base is provided to rotatably mount the reel, and the base is provided with a length measuring device responsive to the movement of the duct probe as it is unwound from the reel so that the distance by which the duct probe penetrates a duct can be determined. At the outer end of the rod, a microphone is mounted for sensing the sounds caused by a fluid leak in the pressurized sheath in the duct.