Abstract: The relative horizontal positions of a floating marine platform and the lower end of a flexible connecting line, such as a cable, drill string, or well bore riser, suspended from the platform are determined by generating angle signals representing the instantaneous vertical slope angles of the connecting line at or near its upper and lower ends, filtering these signals to remove higher order frequencies resulting from variable forcing functions, such as surface wave induced motion of the platform, which produce no net change in the platform position, whereby the filtered angle signals represent the mean terminal slope angles of the envelope of the undulating connecting line, and combining these filtered angle signals in accordance with a predetermined position equation which compensates for phase lag between the sensor measured and true positions of the platform due to the transit time of platform motion induced stress waves or undulations along the connecting line to the lower angle sensor.

Abstract: A liquid is dispensed to a receiving surface by feeding the liquid under pressure to a dispensing orifice surrounded circumferentially by a convex toroidal boundary surface which is non-wettable by the liquid to form a liquid droplet perimetrically contacting the toroidal boundary surface in a manner which resists lateral displacement of the droplet relative to the orifice, and effecting relative movement of the receiving surface past and in wiping contact with the droplet to transfer liquid from the droplet to the receiving surface while regulating the delivery rate of liquid to the orifice to maintain the droplet. The invention is described in the context of roller bearing lubrication.

Abstract: A rotary mount for an object, such as an instrument or workpiece, has a base supporting a rotor which turns on a fixed axis relative to the base and rotatably supports, in turn, on a second rotation axis inclined to the fixed axis, a platform for supporting the object with a reference axis of the object inclined to the platform rotation axis. The rotor and platform are selectively rotatable individually and in unison in such a way as to angularly and rotatably displace the reference axis through a range of skew angles and directions relative to the fixed axis.Operatively coupled between the base, rotor, and platform are drive means for selectively driving the rotor and platform individually and in unison and angle sensing means for generating signals representing the relative angular positions of the base, rotor and platform in such a way as to permit angular positioning or pointing of the object on the platform with high resolution and driving of the object in a conical, spiral, or the other coning motion.