Abstract: A switch module for connection between a power source and a controlled load, and a method for its operation, the switch module being testable without regard to the nature of the load, the nature of the power source, or whether the switch is actually connected to the power supply and its controlled load. The switch module has two pairs of MOS FET solid state switches, each pair connected back-to-back to allow switching of alternating current (ac) as well as direct current (dc) in either direction. Each pair of switches in the module has an associated independent power source, which is used in the preferred embodiment of the invention to supply a control signal to each switch and to supply a test current through the switch when it is closed. Test pulses invert the state of each switch momentarily and corresponding test current pulses are observed if a switch is operating properly.

Abstract: Disclosed is a vehicle identifier in the form of an antenna ball attachable and detachable from the antenna of a vehicle and including an identification mark thereon for identification of a specific vehicle from amongst a plurality of vehicles. The vehicle identifier includes two separate sections secured together about an antenna by engagement of protrusions extending from one section with apertures provided in the other section, allowing for simple attachment and detachment of the vehicle identifier to a vehicle.

Abstract: Nucleoside derivatives which contain a nucleo-base, a sugar and an amino acid backbone of the structure: ##STR1## where R' refers to the various amino acid side chains or their blocked equivalent and R refers to a nucleo-base or its blocked equivalent. The synthesis of these nucleoside derivatives proceeds by a series of steps including oxidation of the 3'-azido nucleoside derivative, coupling to a benzylated ester of an amino acid to yield the amide and hydrogenation. The adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine nucleosides with an amino acid at the 5' terminus are synthesized. From such monomers oligonucleotides can be synthesized which possess an amino acid backbone, using either solid state phase chemistry or liquid phase chemistry.

Abstract: A fuse holder assembly for a cylindrical fuse of the type including a fusible link retained in an insulative sleeve. The assembly includes first and second insulated conductors, first and second metallic terminal elements for attachment to the end of the conductors and including a receiving end for holding one end of the fuse. The assembly further includes first and second sleeves of resilient insulative material for receiving corresponding conductors in an interference fit with each sleeve being slidable along the outside surface of the conductor. A first cap of relatively rigid insulative material includes a barrel defining a cavity for receiving the first terminal element with the cap having a facing end portion and a remote end portion. The cap includes an intermediate internal ledge positioned between the end portions for abutting the fuse-receiving end of the terminal element, and a remote internal ledge positioned at the remote end portion of the cap for abutting a sleeve.

Abstract: A water resistant fuse holder for receiving a fuse of the plastic body type. The fuse holder includes a fuse body including a housing for retaining a pair of terminal elements for receiving the terminal legs of the fuse. The housing has an upper wall and a mouth extending from the upper wall and defining a cavity opening onto the leg-receiving ends of the terminal elements. The mouth terminates in an engagement surface and the mouth further includes a peripheral outer rim located adjacent the engagement surface. The fuse holder also includes a cap of resilient insulative material including a side wall defining a recess for receiving the mouth and the fuse body. The side wall has an internal ledge encompassing the recess and having an abutment surface for entering into substantially full surface engagement with the engagement surface of the mouth. The side wall further has an internal rib encompassing the recess and positioned between the ledge and the base surface of the cap.

Abstract: A multiple-redundant computer system having multiple computational devices operating in synchronism, multiple voter circuits to provide voted memory reading operations for the devices, and multiple fault detection logic for the detection of failures of the computational devices. Fault status words generated by the fault detection logic are also subject to a voted read by the multiple computational devices, thereby permitting detection of errors in the fault detection logic itself, as well as in the computational devices. The module structure of the invention also permits removal and replacement of circuit modules, each including a computational device and fault detection logic, without disconnecting power from the entire system.

Abstract: A protected digital output circuit coupled to a programmable controller, for controlling a load supplied through alternating-current (ac) power lines, including a fuse and a single controlled output switch connected in series with the load, and a pair of series-connected crowbar switches connected together across the ac power lines. The crowbar switches can be commanded closed together in the event that the output switch is commanded open but fails to open, thereby shorting the ac power lines and disconnecting the load by blowing the fuse. In routine diagnostic testing, the crowbar switches can be commanded closed separately to check their operation without blowing the fuse. A current detection circuit is used to check for current in the closed crowbar switch. A current sensor is also used to detect current through the output switch, when commanded closed for switching the load on, or for diagnostic turn-on testing when the load is disconnected.

Abstract: Circuit modules for providing digital or analog outputs from computational devices in such a manner that the components of the output circuit modules are tolerant of malfunctions in one or more of the components. In the digital output embodiment of the invention, output signals are independently derived using two voting circuits and are then applied to two switches connected in series to provide a fail-safe condition for most types of failure of the switches or the voting circuits. Two identical modules provide the ability to faithfully follow commanded on or off signals in all but a statistically small number of situations, and permit convenient replacement of a defective module without affecting output through the other module. In an analog output module, two independent voting circuits provide voted digital outputs to separate digital-to-analog converters, the outputs of which are compared to generate a validity signal that is used to control an output switch.

Abstract: A shock-reducing lamp assembly adapted for mounting on a vehicle. The assembly includes a housing defining a cavity having an open end and a lens connected to the housing enclosing the open end. An integral resilient mount includes a tubular central portion having a first end and a second end, with a pair of spaced mounting feet disposed adjacent to the first end and a second pair of spaced mounting feet positioned adjacent the second end. Each of the feet has a mounting aperture and the first pair of feet extends in a first plane and the second pair of feet extends in a second plane, with the first and second planes being spaced and being substantially parallel. The assembly further includes a metallic socket telescopically received in the central portion. The housing includes components for positioning the mount so that a lamp held in the socket is in operative relationship to the lens.

Abstract: A glass sheet is suspended from a series of tongs which grip the upper margin of the sheet and apply individual forces at the gripping locations at least some of which have components acting out of the plane of the sheet. The magnitude and direction of each of said forces is selected to ensure that the suspended sheet, when at forming temperature, adapts towards a predetermined curved shape. The sheet may be bent with the forces acting at the gripping points before and/or after bending, and the sheet adopts the required curved shape when it is sufficiently stiffened to be influenced by the remanent forces applied at the gripping points.

Abstract: In a method of heating a glass sheet which is moved on a conveyor which contacts one face of the sheet, anticlastic bending of the sheet is caused, and the stable anticlastic shape of the sheet is determined such that the sheet is arched away from the conveyor transversely of the sheet with respect to the conveying direction and with the sheet having a reverse curvature along its longitudinal extent so that the leading and trailing edges of the sheet are bent away from the conveyor. This reduces the contact between the contacted surface of each glass sheet and keeps the leading edge of each sheet clear of the conveyor. Anticlastic bending of the sheet is caused by producing a temperature differential between the central area and at least a part of the periphery of the sheet, for example, by heating said part of the periphery.

Abstract: Thermally toughened glass sheets of thickness 2.5 mm to 4.0 mm for use as motor vehicle side or rear windows, are produced by quenching producing an average central tensile stress in the range 62 MN/m.sup.2 to 44.0 MN/n.sup.2. At least one gas jet is directed at the glass sheet to augment toughening stresses and produce at least one strip-shaped region of more highly toughened glass. The central tensile stress in the strip-shaped region is in the range from 2 MN/m.sup.2 to 5 MN/m.sup.2 greater than the average central tensile stress in the glass sheet. There are major and minor principal stresses in the strip-shaped region acting in the plane of the glass sheet. The difference between the major and minor principal stresses is in the range 5 MN/m.sup.2 to 25 MN/m.sup.2.

Abstract: A method of thermally toughening a glass sheet in which the glass sheet is advanced through a quenching station and subjected to a localized gas flow. The localized gas flow is pulsed at a repetition frequency related to the speed of advance of the glass through the quenching station. The toughened glass sheet so produced has a distribution of regions of more highly toughened glass interspersed with regions of lesser toughened glass.

Abstract: A method of thermally toughening a glass sheet in which the glass sheet is advanced into a flow of quenching gas directed towards at least one surface of the sheet to induce overall toughening stress in the glass sheet. The advance of the sheet relative to the quenching gas flow is terminated, either by halting the sheet in the flow or by moving the outlets providing the flow with the sheet, so that at least one surface of the sheet is subjected to localized gas flows. The toughened glass sheet so produced has a distribution of regions of more highly toughened glass interspersed with regions of lesser toughened glass.

Abstract: A substantially uniform, transparent, electrically conducting, metal oxide film (e.g. of indium/tin oxide) can be deposited on to a substrate such as glass of large lateral dimensions, e.g. a windscreen for an aircraft or a land vehicle, by low-pressure reactive sputtering from a cathode of the metal, using an atmosphere of oxygen and another gas or gases (preferably an inert gas) at reduced pressure, by providing access for the sputtering atmosphere to penetrate into the whole of the working space between the cathode and the substrate so as to maintain a substantial degree of uniformity in the oxygen concentration in the working space. Access for the atmosphere may be provided by means of passages extending through the cathode assembly, by dividing the cathode assembly into parallel strips separated by gaps, and the atmosphere may be supplied direct to the working space through such gaps. Relative movement is effected between the cathode assembly and the substrate, e.g.

Abstract: Thermally toughened glass sheets of thickness 2.5 mm to 3.5 mm, for use as motor vehicle side or rear windows, are produced by differential quenching producing a distribution of regions of more highly toughened glass interspersed with regions of lesser toughened glass. The average central tensile stress is in the range 62 MN/m.sup.2 to 53 MN/m.sup.2, and there is a distribution of areas in which the principal stresses acting in the plane of the glass sheet are unequal. The principal stress difference in some of the areas is at a maximum in the range 8 MN/m.sup.2 to 25 MN/m.sup.2, the major principal stresses in adjacent areas in which the principal stress difference is a maximum are in different directions, and the distance between the centers of such adjacent areas is in the range 15 mm to 30 mm.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are disclosed for depositing transparent electrically-conductive metal oxide coatings or films, e.g. of indium/tin oxides, on non-conducting substrates, such as glass. The substrate may be a windscreen or window for an aircraft, on which the film provides an electrical resistance heating means for de-misting or de-icing. The film is reactively sputtered from a cathode assembly formed of substantially parallel strips of the metal, which is oscillated back and forth in a direction perpendicular to the length of the strips and substantially parallel to the substrate. Control of the thickness of the deposited film over the area of the substrate, e.g. for producing uniform heating over an irregular coated area of the substrate, is effected by bringing different effective areas of the cathode assembly over different parts of the substrate, by masking the cathode strips or by using a series of cathode strips which are tapered or which differ in width from one another.

Abstract: A shock-reducing lamp assembly adapted for mounting on a vehicle. The assembly includes a housing defining a cavity having an open end and a lens connected to the housing enclosing the open end. An integral resilient mount includes a tubular central portion having a first end and a second end, with a pair of spaced mounting feet disposed adjacent to the first end and a second pair of spaced mounting feet positioned adjacent the second end. Each of the feet has a mounting aperture and the first pair of feet extends in a first plane and the second pair of feet extends in a second plane, with the first and second planes being spaced and being substantially parallel. The assembly further includes a metallic socket telescopically received in the central portion. The housing includes components for positioning the mount so that a lamp held in the socket is in operative relationship to the lens.