Abstract: The device comprises a conveyor for displacing the containers to be tested in translation in relation to a tunnel-shaped fixed enclosure and comprising internally a heating means. This heating means is constituted by a plurality of infrared lamps each of which is protected by a casing having a side transparent to the radiation emitted. An automatic monitoring device checks that each container entering the tunnel leaves it after a given advance of the conveyor, otherwise a safety device is triggered. The device can be used for testing the mechanical strength of pressurized containers of the aerosol can type on a continuous production line.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for exercising or testing the strength of muscles in the lower trunk of the human body. The patient or exerciser is seated with his pelvis and legs fixed against movement and with his head, arms and upper back fixed relative to a movement arm which extends above the seat and is mounted for pivotal movement relative to the seat about a horizontal axis. While the movement arm is in a predetermined position, the patient applies a force through the upper back to the movement arm to stress the muscles of the lower trunk, and the strength of these muscles is measured. To exercise these muscles, the movement arm is moved by a force exerted by the upper back against a bias of a resistance weight to lift the weight, and then the force is released to lower the weight and the process is repeated. A compound weight system is employed to allow precise weight adjustment to suit the strength of the exerciser.

Abstract: A force sensing apparatus comprising:a plate-like strain producing body;a central portion disposed integrally at a center of the body and having higher rigidity than the body;a peripheral portion disposed integrally along a periphery of the body and having higher rigidity than the body; anda plurality of sensing elements formed on a surface of the body and having an electric resistance variable in accordance with a deformation thereof in order to simultaneously sense mutually orthogonal X, Y and Z axial components of an external force applied to the body via the central portion or the peripheral portion, the sensing elements being on the same plane.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for delivering a particulate sample to an analyzing device such as a flame or plasma spectrometer, which provides relatively uniform, continuous and controlled delivery of a sample and allows sample changing without disrupting the operation of the analyzing device.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for conducting various experiments on skin samples under simulated in vivo conditions. The apparatus includes, in one embodiment, a platform for supporting the skin sample over a chamber containing liquid at a controlled temperature. An activating probe is attached to the surface of the skin sample and is activated in a predetermined manner. The probe is also used to measure the resulting deformations of the skin sample to determine the visco-elastic properties of the skin under various temperature and humidity conditions. The apparatus also includes an access part for applying selected topical solutions to the skin sample. In another embodiment, the apparatus includes additional elements for enclosing the air space above a skin sample and for measuring the transepidermal water loss through the sample.

Abstract: Reduced T2 decay is achieved through use of at least one asymmetrically truncated RF nutation pulse and an asymmetrically sampled NMR RF response with missing asymmetric data being supplied by complex conjugate synthesis.

Abstract: Sample intended to be examined under the microscope which comprises a board having a performation provided with a covering and embedded in resin. A checking device, of which the cylindrical rod has a diameter just less than that of the perforation, is inserted into the latter.

Abstract: A differential pressure transmitter, a pneumatically operated square root extracting device therefor and methods of making the same are provided, the transmitter comprising a unit for producing an output pneumatic signal from a pneumatic source in relation to the air velocity pressure of air flowing in a passage, a unit that senses the difference between the total pressure and the static pressure of the air flowing in the passage, and a unit for extracting the square root of the air velocity pressure of the air from the pneumatic output signal as the pneumatic output signal is being produced so that the pneumatic output signal is substantially linear with respect to the air velocity of the air flow in the passage whereby the transmitter comprises a linear air velocity transmitter, the unit for extracting the square root comprising a cam having a cam face that defines at least part of the involute of a circle.

Abstract: A method and logger apparatus for analyzing mud returns to determine the presence of formation hydrocarbons. The logger takes a gas sample from a gas trap formed in the mud return line, purges it of all non-helium gases either by condensing them or chemically reacting them out of the sample. The sample is then fed into a special helium mass spectrometer that identifies how much of each helium isotope (.sup.3 He and .sup.4 He) is present. This data is then fed to a correlator/computer and an isotope ratio calculated and monitored. A significant increase in this ratio is indicative of the presence of formation hydrocarbons. The computer uses additional input to track the sample vs its original downhole location to enable proper identification. The method and apparatus are particularly useful with oil-based drilling fluids.

Abstract: Formation strength and other measurement while drilling parameters are combined in a formation volumetric analysis which produces not only the traditional volumetric components of clay volume, mineral volume, total porosity, and water filled porosity, but also, in shaley formations, an excess or overpressure porosity. The overpressure porosity is then utilized to generate an indication of pore pressure which in turn is used in the drilling process as an aid in determining the lowest optimal drilling mud weight for most efficient drilling without incurring excessive risks of a blowout arising from an overpressured formation.

Abstract: A detecting apparatus using ultrasonic waves comprises a sensor unit and a signal processing unit for processing a reception signal sent from the sensor unit to output a detection signal. These units are connected by a cable having three core wires. A power supply signal, an ultrasonic transmission signal and operation indication signal are multiplexed to the first core wire and transmitted from the signal processing unit to the sensor unit. An ultrasonic reception signal and a temperature detection signal are multiplexed to the second core wire and transmitted from the sensor unit to the signal processing unit. The third core wire is used to connect the grounding levels of both units.

Abstract: A bearingless flowmeter having a ring rotor disposed in a vortex chamber having a plurality of jets spaced circumferentially around the chamber has the ring rotor unbalanced thereby producing a single wobble mode of rotation.

Abstract: There is a controller connected to a plurality of probes via a transmission line. The controller provides a command signal including a probe identifier signal and a probe data signal. Each probe includes a plurality of different sensors, each providing one or more status signals on a plurality of probe data channels. Each probe also includes a comparator for comparing the probe identifier signal to a local probe address, a multiplexer responsive to the data signal for selecting one of the data channels, and a switch responsive to the comparator to provide the selected data signal to the controller when the identifier signal correlates with the local probe address.

Abstract: A detunable coil assembly for an NMR imaging system has a cylindrical cage coil comprising two spaced-apart conductive end loops with a plurality of conductive segments extending between the loops. A grounded shield is disposed around the cage coil. Each of the end loops is coupled to the shield by four switchable impedance circuits that are equidistantly spaced around the loop. Each impedance means includes a coaxial cable having a length equal to one-quarter the wavelength of the resonant frequency of the cage coil with the central conductor coupled at one end to the cage coil and the other conductor connected to the shield. A PIN diode terminates the other end of the coaxial cable. A voltage supply provides potentials for alternately forward and reverse biasing the PIN diode.

Abstract: A system of coils is disclosed for the production of imaging by nuclear magnetic resonance of gradients Gx and Gy. The system of coils is disposed on the outer surface of a straight cylinder of revolution of axis Oz and radius R. The coils include four patterns of conductor wires which are pairwise symmetrical with respect to a center O and pairwise symmetrical with respect to the vertical plane xOy. Each pattern has three arcs participating in the production of the gradient which is required. That is, two outward arcs are located close to the center O at respective distances h.sub.1 and h.sub.2 from plane xOy and a return arc is spaced further from the center O and is located at a distance H.sub.3 from the plane xOy. Each arc has three section a, b and c, with the two end sections a and c having the same length being traversed by a current which has one-half the intensity of the current passing through the central section b.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for measuring cell adhesion with each other or with surfaces wherein a fluid containing a suspension of the cells is accelerated from a first velocity lower than a second velocity whilst flowing through a measuring chamber a surface of which constitutes a substratum to which adhesion of the cells is to be measured, and the distance along the substratum to which the cells adhere for a known initial flow rate is measured.

Abstract: An apparatus for and method of calibrating a fluid meter having an output transformable into a series of digital pulses, where each pulse represents a certain volume of liquid through the meter that changes as a result of meter wear and/or component failure. A microprocessor controlled bidirectional prover tube having a calibrated volume is provided in the dispenser housing for operation once during each of a predetermined number of dispensing events. The digital pulses are accumulated during dispensation of the calibrated volume of fluid through the prover, and a calibration factor is automatically calculated and applied to the digital pulses prior to being supplied to an electronic display unit for accurate computation and display of the volume of liquid through the meter. A four-port, two-position valve is actuated prior to the beginning of each dispensing event by the microprocessor to reverse flow through the prover tube.

Abstract: A device for automatically sampling liquids includes a reversible gas powered motor driving a reversible pump. There are included in lines supplying the driving gas to the motor control devices which cause the gas to drive the motor and the pump in one sense for a predetermined period of time to purge the pump and subsequently to drive the motor and the pump in the opposite sense to draw a sample of the liquid. The motor preferably has two inputs. During the initial period of time the driving gas is connected to the first input driving the pump in the first sense. Subsequently the control devices remove the supply from the first input and connect it to the second input driving the pump in the opposite sense for a predetermined period of time and then stopping the motor. The control device is then reset so that upon the following actuation of the motor it is driven again in the one sense.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for measuring the ratio of incondensables in steam or other gaseous mixture. The mixture is led from a condenser through a transparent tube exposed to a light beam having a diameter approximately equal to the inside diameter of the tube, such that the beam is reflected by incondensable bubbles in the mixture but not by condensed droplets. A photoelectric sensor assembly is located in position to receive the light beam. The trajectory of the beam, and hence the signal from the sensor, is determined by whether the beam is intercepted by an incondensable bubble or a condensed droplet.

Abstract: An improved method and apparatus for taking soil percolation tests. In the preferred embodiment the apparatus comprises a threaded shaft; a plurality of marking discs that can be selectively positoned along the shaft at predetermined gradations; a positioning brace that overlies the shaft for securing the shaft in vertical alignment; a mounting disc affixed near a base end of the shaft that becomes flush with the soil when the shaft is inserted into a percolation test hole; and a receiving disc near a top end of the shaft for receiving the positioning brace as it straddles the test hole.