Abstract: A shoe can be tied using only one hand if provided with a tying aid in the form of a generally T-shaped unit comprising a leg having two laterally extending ears. The leg is secured between rows of eyelets on the opposed flaps of the shoe by one or more of the lengths of lace extending across the gap between the flaps. The lengths of shoelace that would otherwise be tied in a bow are instead wrapped around the ears of the tying aid in alternating fashion, preferably twice around each ear, in a manner similar to the manner in which a mooring line is secured to the cleat of a boat.

Abstract: A shoe can be tied using only one hand if provided with a tying aid in the form of a generally T-shaped unit comprising a leg having two laterally extending ears. The leg is secured between rows of eyelets on the opposed flaps of the shoe by one or more of the lengths of lace extending across the gap between the flaps. The lengths of shoelace that would otherwise be tied in a bow are instead wrapped around the ears of the tying aid in alternating fashion, preferably twice around each ear, in a manner similar to the manner in which a mooring line is secured to the cleat of a boat.

Abstract: Slow cooking over solid fuel in an enclosed barbeque pit is carried out by the use of an electronically controlled impeller which directs a flow of air toward the fuel. The duty cycle of the impeller is controlled by an electronic controller which is responsive to the internal temperature of the food and to the temperature of the pit atmosphere. As the internal temperature of the food increases, the temperature of the pit atmosphere gradually decreases.

Abstract: Slow cooking over solid fuel in an enclosed barbeque pit is carried out by the use of an electronically controlled impeller which directs a flow of air toward the fuel. The duty cycle of the impeller is controlled by an electronic controller which is responsive to the internal temperature of the food and to the temperature of the pit atmosphere. As the internal temperature of the food increases, the temperature of the pit atmosphere gradually decreases.

Abstract: A valve comprises an assembly of elastomeric elements confined in a cylindrical space, with one end of the assembly engageable with a valve seat at one end of the cylindrical space. The valve is constructed to provide three successive converging and diverging sections in the fluid flow path, the intermediate section being provided by the valve element and seat. The restrictions exerts a choking for maintaining pressure in a steam system when the valve is used as a steam trap. A rigid, abrasion-resistant element, may be incorporated into one of the elastomeric elements, and a thermally responsive wax may be incorporated into one of the elements to alter its expansion characteristics. A plunger may be incorporated into the valve to exert a force on the elastomeric elements, allowing adjustment of the degree of subcooling when the device is used as a steam trap.

Abstract: A freeze protection plug has latching balls engageable bayonet-fashion with grooves in a fitting. The balls are normally held in engagement with the grooves by a cam, but move inward to release the plug from the fitting when the cam is moved by a thermal actuator carried by the plug. The balls are retained in tapered openings in the wall of the plug to reduce jamming. Helical ramps in the grooves permit the use of a strong, reliable plug ejecting spring, and make manual insertion of the plug easy. Insertion is aided by the ribs of a plastic cap, which facilitate manual grasping and rotation of the plug. A paint shield ring prevents failures resulting from paint bridges adhering both to the plug and to the fitting. A unitary molded lanyard with two oval loops prevents loss of the plug. The seal on the plug is located on the liquid system side of the latching balls and isolates moving parts from the liquid system, and is of small diameter.

Abstract: A fisherman's release clip comprises a unitary molded clip body consisting of two parts. One part is an eye in the form of a snap hook having a resilient gate allowing it to be readily engaged with a line or cable but configured to prevent unintentional disengagement. The other part is a pair of fingers that are connected by a molded living hinge, and extend in side by side relationship. An adjusting screw is used to vary the spacing between the fingers, and gripper sleeves are removably fitted onto the fingers to grip a line extending between the sleeves. The release clip can be used in a variety of modes including outrigger, downrigger, flat line and kite fishing, and also in fishing utilizing hydrofoils, downplanes, weights and floats.

Abstract: A mixing valve receives water through a first inlet. The water is rotated by vanes in a first direction to produce a vortex. The water exits though an open end of a slidable tube, where it flows radially outward because of its rotational motion. The tube is axially movable by an actuator located near the open end of the tube, and the tube therefore acts as a steam shut off valve. Steam enters through a second inlet adjacent the open end of the tube, and is directed by vanes in an oppositely rotating vortex and radially inward by a conical surface just beyond the end of the tube. The steam and water mix at a location just beyond the end of the tube, and heated water exits through an axial opening which surrounds the actuator. The temperature of the water is regulated by the actuator.

Abstract: A poly (vinyl chloride) with longitudinal ribs formed on its inner wall by extrusion is slit helically to provide a strip that can be wound around a plurality of strands of fishing leader or other material, or used as a fish hook protector or as a spacer in a fishing lure. The ribs provide the tubing with an iridescent appearance for high visibility and also enhance the gripping ability of the tubing. Alternatively, and especially in the case of a thin walled tube, the ribs can be separated from one another manually to form the skirt of a fishing lure.

Abstract: A freeze protection plug has latching balls engageable bayonet-fashion with grooves in a fitting. The balls are normally held in engagement with the grooves by a cam, but move inward to release the plug from the fitting when the cam is moved by a thermal actuator carried by the plug. The balls are retained in tapered openings in the wall of the plug to reduce jamming. Helical ramps in the grooves permit the use of a strong, reliable plug ejecting spring, and make manual insertion of the plug easy. Insertion is aided by the ribs of a plastic cap, which facilitate manual grasping and rotation of the plug. A paint shield ring prevents failures resulting from paint bridges adhering both to the plug and to the fitting. A unitary molded lanyard with two oval loops prevents loss of the plug. The seal on the plug is located on the liquid system side of the latching balls and isolates moving parts from the liquid system, and is of small diameter.

Abstract: A thermally expansible composition is provided as well as method of making the composition and actuators and other devices employing the composition. The composition comprises a mixture of silicone elastomer and a thermostatic wax, polymer, alloy or alloy mixture that melts below 400.degree. F. The composition is moldable by any common technique, may be handled at room temperature without heating or refrigeration and can be easily contained in an actuating device without seals other than an anti-extrusion closure seal. This composition can be used in actuators without seals or return springs or other reconsolidating means.

Abstract: A combined safety shower and eyewash station utilizes steam to heat water in a heat exchanger. Cool water is combined with heated water from the water outlet of the heat exchanger by a temperature-regulated mixing valve. If the water at the water outlet of the heat exchanger becomes too hot, some of the water is fed to the steam inlet of the heat exchanger. This makes it easy for the mixing valve to regulate water temperature even though the shower uses water at a much higher rate than does the eyewash station. Steam is fed to the heat exchanger through a steam valve which is opened automatically when a demand for warm water is sensed by a pressure-drop flow sensor. An overtemperature responsive actuator overrides the demand sensor to shut off the steam. A steam trap at the inlet of the steam valve eliminates cold condensate so that the apparatus is able to deliver warm water substantially immediately upon demand.

Abstract: A personal cooling apparatus comprises a harness constructed of perforated tubing to provides air circulation over the body of a wearer. The tubing has at least one fin adjacent the perforations to enhance the induction of flow of ambient air by gas escaping through the perforations. The tubing is extruded and has an footing strip formed on it to maintain it in a specific position and to permit the tubing to be attached to the interior of a garment. The effect is to create, at each perforation, a small fan, and the harness thereby circulates air against the skin of the wearer. The tubing can be sewn onto the inner or outer surface of a lightweight garment.

Abstract: A fishing release clip comprises a body and a stem fastened respectively to opposite ends of an outrigger line on a sportfishing boat. An individual fishing line is retained in a hook shaped element on the body of the clip by a pin which forms part of the stem. The stem is held in its line-retaining position by a set of detent balls which surround a pin having an annular groove. The grooved pin is spring-loaded by a coil spring, the compression of which can be adjusted by a micrometer-type thimble. When a fish strikes at the bait on the end of the fishing line, the force exerted by the fishing line on the release clip causes the outrigger line to pull the pin so that it moves against the spring force until the groove comes into register with the detent balls, whereupon the balls move into the groove and allow the stem to move to release the fishing line. The release clip can also be opened, in a similar way, by manual force exerted on the outrigger line.

Abstract: A temperature-responsive valve comprises a pair of wax-filled thermal actuators connected in series and set to expand at different temperatures respectively at the high and low limits of a temperature range. In one version, a valve element is movable by the actuators through an orifice form one side thereof to the other, closing the orifice when in an intermediate position, and opening the orifice when one actuator expands and when the other actuator contracts. The actuators are both in contact with the fluid controlled by the valve in the first version. In a second version, one of the actuators is isolated from the controlled fluid and responsive to the ambient temperature. In a third version, the valve is a snap-action valve, in which the series actuators operate a cam which normally holds latching balls in a projecting condition in which they engage a detent to hold the valve element closed.

Abstract: For freeze protection of a water line, a T fitting in the line is provided with a removable threaded bushing having a plug with radially projecting balls which engage J-shaped slots in the bushing to provide a bayonet joint. The plug is released when freezing conditions threaten by retraction of the balls in response to movement of a cam inside the plug by a thermal actuator also inside the plug.A check valve in the T fitting is closed automatically when the threaded bushing is removed.Modified versions include a plug having dual actuators in series, a plug combined with a flanged bushing for use in freeze protection of a compressor head, a plug combined with a valve to provide a snap-action drain valve with a more easily replaceable actuator assembly, and a plug using a water-filled glass vial as an actuator. A building protection system and a locomotive coolant system both use freeze protection devices in accordance with the invention.

Abstract: A workstation for computer-aided design comprises an L-shaped main support frame having a monitor support panel which is both tiltable and slidable fore and aft. Connected between the horizontal elements of the L-shaped support frame is a secondary support frame carrying a digitizer support and a keyboard support. The keyboard support is forward and below the level of the digitizer support. The digitizer support is slidable fore and aft on the secondary frame, and the secondary frame itself is slidable fore and aft, and forwardly tiltable, relative to the main support frame. The main support frame rests on nylon feet, which are slidable on a table top. A centrally located foam pad is connected to the main support frame through a swivel mechanism, and is in compression and in frictional engagement with the table top, so that the workstation can be swivelled about a vertical axis, but translational movement is prevented.

Abstract: In a freeze protection valve, a wax actuator is situated in a heat-conductive housing to which heat is conducted from the liquid system being protected. The housing prevents the actuator from triggering the valve to its opened condition while the liquid system is hot, but permits a rapid response when the liquid system is cool. In a snap-action freeze protection valve, the actuator is carried by the valve stem, and heat is conducted from the valve body to the valve stem through a sleeve through which the valve stem slides. The actuator moves a cam within the valve stem which operates a ball-type latch. The latch holds the valve in the closed position until the actuator releases the latch.Also disclosed is a remote-controlled valve operating mechanism which uses an electrically heated wax actuator to effect valve closure.

Abstract: A freeze protection valve can be reset under cold ambient conditions without the need for artificial heating of the valve's temperature sensor. An auxiliary latch is used to hold the valve element closed. The auxiliary latch is automatically released as the primary latching mechanism of the valve becomes operative upon an increase in temperature of the liquid system served by the valve. Release of the auxiliary latch is effected by virtue of a small downward movement of the valve stem resulting from a camming action inherent in the operation of the valve's primary latch.In one version of the valve, a simple, drop-away key temporarily holds the valve stem down until the primary latch becomes operative. In another version, the valve stem is reset remotely through a bowden wire, and the resetting mechanism automatically engages an auxiliary latch.