Abstract: The mechanical knot for ropes is a device to replace the time-honored metal hook and the conventional knots now used on tow and hoist ropes, and also tethering ropes. The device comprises a length of pipe or tube with an elongated slotted portion or portions in the walls, or a base plate with an elongated slot in it, and with right angle shoulders, each of which has a hole in it. Several methods of manufacture may be used in forming the device from various appropriate materials, including, but not limited to, milling, casting, extruding and bending. Strain on the rope secures the mechanical knot in place. When tension is relaxed, the rope can be easily untied. Should the rope break under strain, it will snap free of the mechanical knot device instantly, thus permitting the device to drop free from the rope. When it is desired to use a rope without the mechanical knot, it simply is slid off the rope.

Abstract: A guard-guide device for protecting the hands of the operator of vertical sweet corn cutters and for keeping cutting knives properly aligned. The device comprises an overlapping set of guards and guides attached to the two halves of a sweet corn cutter to be spaced above and outward from the opposed half-round knives of the cutter. The half-round knives of the sweet corn cutter are mounted on top of flexible legs attached to a metal base or can be stamped from a single piece of metal. As corn is pushed down between the knives the natural outward taper of the cob causes the metal legs to move outward. The overlapping guards also expand outward at the same time and in so doing keep the metal knives aligned at 180 degrees to each other for perfect cutting of corn kernels. As the downward thrust of the corn ear is completed the overlapping guards keep the operators fingers from coming into contact with the sharp cutting edges.

Abstract: The steel knot for ropes is a device to replace the time-honored metal hook and conventional knots used on tow and hoist ropes, and also tethering ropes. The device comprises two appropriately spaced rounded metal rings held together in proper relation to each other by 2 or more metal bars or similar connectors. To use the device, a rope is inserted through the rings and is then wrapped around the intended load. The end of the rope is then tucked between the device and a pushed-out portion of the rope. Next, either an overhand knot is tied in the end of the rope, or the rope end is wrapped around the device once again, and again tucked in between the pushed-out portion and the steel device. Tension on the rope secures the device in place. When pressure is relaxed the rope is easily untied. Should the rope break under stress, it will pull out of the steel piece immediately, thus permitting the steel device to drop free of the rope.

Abstract: A device for controlling the brush in a remote-controlled chimney sweeping system. The device comprises a frame secured to the flue and extending above the flue for supporting and retaining the brush in alignment therewith and generally centered thereover. A flexible cable is provided for operating the brush from a remote position, whereby the brush may be lowered down the flue and then drawn back up the flue from a convenient operating position remote from the top of the flue. Alternate control devices are used to channel direction of the cable. One such device is a two-sided flange mounted atop the frame, with sets of bolts through the flange forming a race in an arc shape. The second device is a fabricated top plate with an arc made of tubing.

Abstract: A full-season rain gauge for outdoor or partial outdoor installation comprises basically a weather-resistant vertically elongated panel, a season-height freeze-proof plastic tube fixed thereto, a shorter single-rain short-time-period plastic rain-gauge tube detachably mounted on the upper end of the season-height tube, and a one-season weather-resistant chart removably and replaceably positioned beside said tubes for recording thereon accumulated dated rainfall amounts and for subsequent side-by-side positioning to provide a successive-seasons profile graph. The shorter tube is removable after each rainfall or e.g. at weekly intervals. Its contents are then poured into the season-height tube, and the water height therein is marked and dated on the chart. The rain collector can be mounted at an elevated outdoor location and can be connected indoors to the rain gauge proper by a small flexible hose.