Abstract: Apparatus for the drying of sludges and other fouling feed materials. A rotary screw type indirect heat exchanger is provided having at least one screw member. The screw member includes a helical-shaped flight having a helix angle of about 10 degrees or less and a surface roughness of about 63 micro-inches or less. Means are provided for rotating and heating the screw member and for spreading feed material onto the screw member. The apparatus operates at heat transfer rates and for a time period sufficient to reduce the moisture content of the feed material without requiring mechanical cleaning of feed material foulants from the screw member.

Abstract: An end stop for restraining the motion of a pallet in a cargo loading system, such as might be employed in an aircraft. A pair of similar left and right-hand pieces are removably mounted in a track or mounting channel having alternate lip and cutout portions. Each of these members has a main body portion having an elongated tension lug extending normally along the bottom edge thereof and a plurality of shear lugs directly above the tension lugs and extending substantially parallel thereto, such lugs being spaced from each other along the longitudinal extent of the main body. Each body portion further includes an overhanging restraining arm extending along the top edge of the body in a direction substantially normal to that in which the shear and tension lugs extend, a stop plate extending downwardly from the inner edge of the restraining arm in a direction normal thereto and a sloped shoulder which extends outwardly from the bottom edge of the stop plate towards the bottom edge of the body portion.

Abstract: A side guide for a cargo loading system for use in loading cargo-loaded pallets into a vehicle, such as an aircraft. The side guide assembly is removably mounted in a track or channel assembly having alternate cutout portions and lip portions. The side guide assembly includes a frame on which rollers are mounted and a side guide portion suitable for receiving the edge of a pallet, a plurality of such assemblies being employed for restraining such pallet against other than slidable motion on the rollers. The frame assembly has tension lug means extending outwardly and normally from the bottom edge thereof, and shear lug means extending therefrom normally and in an opposite direction to the tension lug means. The frame further has an opening formed on the end of an arm extending therefrom.

Abstract: A roller rail assembly for a cargo loading system for loading cargo-loaded pallets into a vehicle, such as an aircraft. The roller rail assembly is removably mounted in a track or channel assembly having alternate cutout portions and lip portions. The roller rail assembly includes an elongated rail member which has a tension stud extending substantially normally from the main body of the assembly along the bottom edge thereof, and a support shoulder extending from the main body of the assembly substantially normally thereto above the tension stud and in a substantially opposite direction thereto. Mounting blocks and axles are provided for rotatably mounting pairs of rollers on the main body of the assembly, the rollers being positioned on opposite sides of the track for rotation on an axis substantially normal to the longitudinal axis of the track. The rail is removably supported in the track with the tension stud fitted underneath the lip portions of the track.

Abstract: There is herein described an electrical switch which is manually or mechanically moved from one position to another in order to change the electrical conductivity between one or more of its terminals and one or more of the other of its terminals, the invention including a unique member that is deformed by the manipulation of an actuation member and that toggles into a stable and less deformed configuration to make the desired electrical contacts.

Abstract: A component, versatile pushbutton actuated electrical switch capable of breaking one electrical circuit prior to establishing a further, different electrical circuit on successive actuators of a plunger ratchet mechanism, wherein a pair of spaced contact terminals are supported on opposite sides of a moveable contact. One of the contact terminals includes a plurality of attached portions defining a generally dog-leg configuration, wherein the portions extend in at least one plane lying generally across the line of travel of said moveable contact, with the portions having longitudinal axes forming a sufficient angle to one another with respect to the plane or planes whereby one of the portions, while bending causes torsional strain in at least one of the remaining portions of the contact terminal.

Abstract: An automobile carrier is disclosed for use on two standard air cargo pallets to carry four automobiles. The carrier for two automobiles is affixed across two pallets with one automobile over the other, and the carrier for the other two automobiles is affixed across the pallets beside the first. The carrrier can be dismantled for shipping back to the starting point. Upon erecting the carrier for reuse, a variety of adjustments can be made for mixing automobile sizes on the top and bottom. These adjustments also keep the combination of any four automobiles within the dimensional limits of the pallets, the aircraft door opening and the ground equipment.

Abstract: A weatherproof cover for an opening in a cargo container comprising a flexible curtain secured across the top of the opening by a header, rails secured to the sides and bottom of the opening with flanges extending away from the opening, and a cable in a tunnel sewed into the periphery of the curtain which overhangs the rail flanges. One end of the cable is secured to the header on one side, and the other end is secured to a sheave in a ratchet assembly on the other side of the header. The ratchet assembly is used to pull the cable tight against the rails under their flanges. A fitting on the curtain comprised of a hub and a sheave is provided at each lower corner for the cable. The hubs of the curtain fittings are placed over posts on gussets at the lower corners of the container opening. Diagonal cables in tunnels sewn in back of the curtain reinforce the curtain and the container itself.

Abstract: A cargo pallet lock for use in vehicles such as aircraft, trucks, ships and the like, as a means to secure load supporting members or pallets to accommodating floor structures in the vehicles and includes a pallet restraint member with a T-shaped head which is pivotally mounted in a lock housing structure detachably positioned on a vehicle's floor structure, the restraint member being biased in a pallet-engaging elevated position and including a unitary latch-release mechanism for releasably and automatically locking the restraint member in either its elevated or retracted configurations.