Abstract: A ground fault circuit breaker has line and neutral bus bars extending through the center apertures of two laterally spaced toroidal coils to form the primaries of ground fault sensing transformers. The bus bars have flat center sections extending between the two coils parallel to the coil end faces and offset laterally by flat laterally extending legs at each end which are bent transverse to the end faces of the coils and extend through the coil apertures in flat confronting relation. The leg on one end of the neutral bus bar has a terminal portion bent into a plane parallel to the center section with a crimp at the end for attachment to a neutral pigtail.

Abstract: An automatic feeder module for a mail sorting system including a cabinet having first and second ends and an upper planar surface, a conveyor belt having an upper run travelling along the upper surface of the cabinet, a drive plate linearly driven along the conveyor belt at the same speed as a conveyor belt and having a forward side and a rearward side, means for driving the conveyor belt and the drive plate at the same speed, and a singulator assembly including pick-off means against which a stack of mail is pressed by the drive plate and the conveyor belt, and a stack pressure switch for turning the driving means on and off to maintain a predetermined stack pressure against the pick-off means.

Abstract: A fluid valve has a valve body with a valve seat for receiving a valve disc to close the valve. The valve seat is iron or steel. The valve disc is made of zirconium and has a zirconium oxide layer on disc surface which seats against the valve seat when the valve is closed. The valve has remained in a corrosive service for over six months where the original iron valves not having an oxide coated zirconium disc only lasted a few days.

Abstract: A crack propagation test specimen has a base metal and a clad metal. The base metal has an upper surface and a bottom surface with a hole extending from the bottom surface toward the upper surface. The cladding metal is supported on the upper surface of the base metal and has a first slot cut therethrough which is in fluid flow communication with the hole in the base metal. A second slot is cut in the cladding metal adjacent to the first slot for receiving a wedge. The first slot and the second slot define a wall which closes over the first slot when a wedge is forced into the second slot to simulate a hairline crack. A mechanically deformed metal sample is disposed in the hole in the base metal to simulate a stressed base metal supporting a cladding metal subject to hairline cracking.

Abstract: An overspeed trip system for a steam turbine. A pressure switch is installed at the discharge of an oil pump that is driven by the rotor shaft and that rotates at the same speed as the rotor. The discharge pressure of the oil pump is proportional to the rotational speed of its impeller. When the pressure switch senses that the oil pump discharge pressure exceeds a predetermined value, thereby indicating that the rotor has reached an overspeed condition, it activates a solenoid operated valve that causes oil to be dumped from the line supplying control oil pressure to a throttle valve actuator. The throttle valve is spring loaded to close so that when the oil is dumped, the throttle valve closes, thereby effecting a turbine trip.

Abstract: A high performance steam turbine vane having a novel airfoil shape. The pressure surface of the airfoil has a substantially straight region proximate the trailing edge that provides the airfoil with adequate thickness to prevent distortion during forging. The novel shape on the suction surface is such that a first region of the suction surface downstream of the gauging point is essentially straight. Traveling in the upstream direction, the first region is followed by a second region that has a large amount of curvature. The second region is followed by a third region that has a lower curvature than the second region. The third region is followed by a fourth region of constantly increasing curvature that increases to a curvature greater than the curvature of the second region. The fourth region is followed by a fifth region, ending at the leading edge, of essentially constant large curvature that includes the maximum curvature throughout the suction surface.

Abstract: A tracking system for predicting the incidence of threat signals having at least one beam at a predetermined location in space in which a receiver detects the incidence of the threat signals at the predetermined location, a tracker cooperates with the receiver to predict the detection of threat signals by the receiver, and a controller condenses threat signals from harmonically related beams of a pulse group detected by the receiver and controls the predictions of the tracker in response to the characteristics of the condensed threat signals.

Abstract: A fiberoptic delay line architecture for generating multiple replicas of an input RF signal with variable replica-to-replica time resolution is provided in which the required hardware is kept to a minimum. A series of cascaded binary fiberoptic segment delay lines is used in which each cascaded binary fiberoptic segment delay line has an equal and defined number of segments but variable minimum time resolution. The minimum time resolution of each cascaded binary fiberoptic segment delay line increases by a multiple of two compared to the prior cascaded binary fiberoptic segment delay line. In this manner, the required number of segments and switches increases in a log.sub.2 .times.log.sub.2 relationship as the number of desired replicas and possible replica-to-replica delay values increases.

Abstract: A nuclear reactor plant is provided in which the reactor coolant system contains a dissolved solution of enriched boric acid. The boron-10 to boron-11 atomic isotope ratio of the enriched boric acid solution is greater than 19.8:80.2 at the start of the reactor core cycle. The nuclear reactor plant design provides for minimal mixing between the reactor coolant solution containing the enriched boric acid solution and the natural boric acid solution used during refueling operations.

Abstract: A sealed electric motor assembly suitable for use in a hostile environment, such as high temperatures, high pressures or in atmospheres containing toxic or corrosive gases. The motor assembly is especially adapted for use with a blower assembly. The stator windings are protected from the hostile environment by hermetically sealing them between the cylindrical housing for the motor and a thin metal canister secured tightly against the inner wall of the housing. Also disclosed are arrangements for removing heat from the motor during its operation. Service life of the electric motor of this invention is greatly increased as compared to conventional motors when operated in a hostile environment.

Abstract: A passive containment cooling system for a nuclear reactor containment vessel. Disclosed is a cooling water distribution system for introducing cooling water by gravity uniformly over the outer surface of a steel containment vessel using an interconnected series of radial guide elements, a plurality of circumferential collector elements and collector boxes to collect and feed the cooling water into distribution channels extending along the curved surface of the steel containment vessel. The cooling water is uniformly distributed over the curved surface by a plurality of weirs in the distribution channels.

Abstract: A composite material having a fiber system embedded in a host matrix material. The fiber system has a protective reaction barrier around the embedded fibers to prevent deleterious chemical or mechanical reaction between the fiber and matrix. The fiber coating is applied by immersion of the fiber system into an alkoxide solution of the desired oxide precursor with controlled immersion and withdrawal rates with subsequent drying, heating to convert to a pure oxide state, and where required, post processing, to convert the oxide coating to a carbide or nitride, for example.

Abstract: A microprocessor used in solid state products has multiple interrupts and a single read only memory (ROM) masked for two or more product programs. The logic state of an input pin is set to select the appropriate program. If there is an error in one program or it becomes obsolete, the microprocessor does not have to be scrapped, but can be used to execute the other (another) product program. Separate interrupt selection routines for each interrupt, addressed from a common interrupt vector table, direct program execution to an interrupt branch table for the product indicated by the input pin. The product branch table contains addresses for the interrupt service routines for the selected product. The product programs are first separately linked with the interrupt branch table for the corresponding product.

Abstract: A pair of lock links straddling and pivoted on the same pin as the latchable cradle of a circuit breaker follow the toggle device of the breaker either by riding on the toggle knee pin or through a pin which bears against the edges of the toggle arms. The lock links have extensions which engage the handle yoke to prevent the handle from being moved to the off position when the circuit breaker contacts are welded closed causing the toggle device to remain erected.

Abstract: An optical agglutination assay device for detecting cocaine. The device includes a hollow reaction cell defining a generally planar liquid receiving reaction chamber having a thickness which is insufficient to diminish the intensity of a ray of light passing through an aqueous reaction system in the chamber in a first direction transversely of the plane of the latter. The device also includes a pusher assembly for delivering an aqueous agglutination reaction system and an unknown substance suspected of containing cocaine into the chamber. The agglutination system is such that agglutination is inhibited in the presence of cocaine. The device also includes an optical transmitting and receiving unit aligned with the reaction cell for measuring the intensity of light reflected from the chamber as a measure of the occurrence of agglutination in the reaction system.

Abstract: Insulating barriers for flat, confronting C-shaped bus bars with facing, depending end portions are integrally formed with a pair of confronting C-shaped insulating members conforming to the shape of the bus bars and joined by a pair of projections extending between and electrically insulating the facing, depending end portions from each other. Preferably, the insulating barrier is formed with flat linear sections joining the confronting C-shaped members which are then folded to form the projections. The C-shaped insulating members have edge extensions covering the edges of the bus bars. Grippers formed integrally with the edge extensions snap under the bus bars to secure the insulating members in place.

Abstract: An adjustable height table having a top that can be vertically adjusted to various heights by a pair of telescoping legs and a counterbalance weight mechanism which includes a weight box and weights that can be easily added or removed by the user depending on the weight carried by the table top. A locking mechanism including a spring-urged threaded half nut and a stationary threaded rod enables the table top to be locked in place once a desired height is achieved.

Abstract: An acoustic resonator filter having at least one of electronically variable center frequency and bandwidth has a shunt coupling consisting of an inductor and voltage variable capacitor matrix. A pair of acoustic resonators each having a parallel inductor are connected to each other and to the shunt coupling network. One of a pair of voltage variable capacitor matrixes each having a center frequency command input voltage is connected to each acoustic resonator and an associated inductor. This circuit can be extended to provide more selectivity and attenuation.

Abstract: An inverter apparatus for a battery-powered vehicle drive which is selectively operable in either a normal drive mode or an alternative battery-charging mode. In the drive mode, the inverter functions to invert DC from the vehicle's on-board storage batteries to a polyphase AC to power the vehicle drive motor. In the battery-charging mode, the inverter draws charging current from an external energy supply source and supplies it to the battery as a DC charging current. The apparatus is usable with external energy supply sources varying widely in voltage and frequency.