Abstract: A mirror heating system includes a sheet heater, sized and adapted to cover most of the back of the mirror surface, that can be mounted on the wall or other flat surface before the mirror is put into place. The system is designed so that, despite the needed electrical connections, the front and rear surfaces of the heating system remain essentially planar and parallel.

Abstract: A truck trailer or similar bulk storage area is heated by providing electrical resistance heaters in longitudinally-extending metal ducts extending from and to a short distance below the floor level. Electrical sheet resistance heaters are attached to the underside of the metal plate forming the duct top, each duct is placed between a longitudinally-extending pair of wooden floor boards, and a pair of ducts are placed side-by-side near each edge of the trailer bed or floor of the storage area.

Abstract: An electrical resistance device includes a conductive metal pattern carried on an insulating surface. A portion of the conductive metal pattern includes a two-dimensional array of areas devoid of conductive material ("voids") within a mesh of conductive material. Typically, the voids are hexagonal and are arranged such that the adjacent edges of adjacent hexagons are parallel to each other and spaced apart a distance not more than about 0.10 in. The hexagonal voids typically are arranged so that the centers of sets of three adjacent voids lie on the corners of equilateral triangles.

Abstract: An electrical heater, to be powered from an automotive-type cigarette lighter socket, includes a heating element, a plug configured to be inserted into the cigarette lighter socket, and a pair of conductors permanently connecting the heating element to the plug. The plug has a flat substrate and a pair of conductors mounted on the substrate. An electrical plug, for a lighter socket of the kind having an inner wall of a predetermined diameter and a pair of electrical contacts, includes a flat assembly having a flat dielectric base having a width corresponding to the predetermined diameter, and a pair of flat conductors attached to the base for touching the pair of electrical contacts in the socket.

Abstract: An electrical heater, to be powered from an automotive-type cigarette lighter socket, includes a heating element, a plug configures to be inserted into the cigarette lighter socket, and a pair of conductors permanently connecting the heating element to the plug. The plug has a flat substrate and a pair of conductors mounted on the substrate. An electrical plug, for a lighter socket of the kind having an inner wall of a predetermined diameter and a pair of electrical contacts, includes a flat assembly having a flat dielectric base having a width corresponding to the predetermined diameter, and a pair of flat conductors attached to the base for touching the pair of electrical contacts in the socket.

Abstract: An electrical heater including a semi-conductor pattern (e.g., colloidal graphite ink) printed on a substrate. A conductive ink (e.g., a silver ink) is deposited on the semi-conductor pattern. The conductive ink migrates into the semi-conductor material, provides a superior electrical contact between the conductor (e.g., the silver ink) and the underlying semi-conductor material (e.g., the semi-conductor graphite ink), and essentially eliminates interface resistance. In some embodiments, the semi-conductor pattern is printed on one side of a woven cloth substrate and the conductive ink is printed on the other side.

Abstract: Heating devices, in which a semi-conductor pattern is carried on an insulating surface and a pair of spaced apart electrodes are electrically connected to the semi-conductor pattern, are characterized in that the semi-conductor pattern in at least one heating area of the device defines a two-dimensional array of areas that are devoid of semi-conductor material ("voids") within a continuous "mesh" of semi-conductive material. Preferably, the voids are hexagons arranged with the sides of adjacent hexagons parallel to each other, the centers of adjacent hexagons are at the corners of equilateral triangles, and the overall direction of current flow in the device is not parallel to any of the sides of the triangles.

Abstract: An electrical heater including a semi-conductor pattern (e.g., colloidal graphite ink) printed on a substrate. A conductive ink (e.g., a silver ink) is dposited on the semi-conductor pattern. The conductive ink migrates into the semi-conductor material, provides a superior electrical contact between the conductor (e.g., the silver ink) and the underlying semi-conductor material (e.g., the semi-conductor graphite ink), and essentially eliminates interface resistance. In some embodiments, the semi-conductor pattern is printed on one side of a woven cloth substrate and the conductive ink is printed on the other side.

Abstract: The heater includes a paper or plastic substrate on which is printed a semi-conductor pattern (typically a colloidal graphite ink) having (a) a pair of longitudinal stripes extending parallel to and spaced apart from each other and (b) a plurality of identical bars spaced apart from each other and extending between and electrically connected to the stripes. A metallic conductor (typically copper stripping) overlies each of the longitudinal stripes in face-to-face engagement therewith, and the conductors are held in tight engagement with the stripes by a sealing layer that overlies the metallic conductors and is sealed, at opposite sides of the semi-conductor stripe associated with the particular metallic conductor, to portions of the substrate that are free from the printed semi-conductor pattern.

Abstract: A flat, multi-cable assembly is provided by laminating a multiplicity of flat tinned-copper strip conductors between a pair of organic plastic insulating sheets, both of which adhere tightly to each other but at least one of which is not adhered to the copper strip conductors. The copper strip conductors are typically parallel to and spaced-apart (not less than about 1/8 inch) from each other, and the distance between adjacent conductors is typically about equal to (or a major fraction of) the width of the conductors. One of the conductors includes a plurality of electrically isolated portions each of which is electrically connected to a respective one of the other conductors. The latter connections are provided by a plurality of conductor connecting patterns carried on one of the plastic insulating sheets (typically printed thereon using a conductive graphite, nickel or silver ink).

Abstract: A heater including a substrate having semiconductor bus stripes along each edge of one face. The semiconductor stripes are connected by a plurality of identically oriented bars. The bars include a feeder segment at each end and a divided segment connecting the feeder segments. The feeder segments are spaced 1/4 inch apart. The divided segment is divided into equally spaced heating elements, each having a width equal to the width of the space between adjacent heating elements. The width of each heating element is 1/16 inch.

Abstract: A jar or bottle lid or cap remover or opener comprising only two conical members, i.e. a relatively hard outer pressure cone and an inner elastomeric insert, and a space between the two.

Abstract: An electrical heating device comprises a substrate, a pair of parallel, spaced apart elongated conductors extending longitudinally of the substrate, and a semi-conductor pattern carried on the substrate and electrically connected to and extending between the conductors. The semi-conductor pattern produces a thermal image for an infrared target. In some embodiments, the thermal image is irregular or circular in shape and the semi-conductor pattern includes a plurality of transversely-spaced bars having relatively wide portions outside, and relatively thin portions within, the area producing the thermal image.

Abstract: A sheet heater including a substrate, a semi-conductor pattern (typically of colloidal graphite) having a pair of spaced-apart conductor contact portions and a heating portion extending between and electrically connected to the contact portions, and a pair of conductors one of which overlies and engages each of the contact portions. Each of the conductors is wider than the respective underlying contact portions of the semi-conductor pattern, and includes a pair of longitudinally-extending strip portions with a central portion including a plurality of longitudinally-shaped openings therebetween. The strip portion at one edge of the conductor overlies and engages a respective contact portion; and a sealing layer of insulating material overlies the respective conductor and is sealed to the substrate along the edges of the conductor and through the longitudinally-spaced openings.

Abstract: A system in which a substrate having a number of longitudinally-extending patterns thereon is slit along longitudinally-extending parallel lines intermediate the patterns so that a longitudinally-extending portion between each pair of patterns may be removed. The substrate, with the portion(s) removed, is then guided between plastic sheets, and the plastic sheets are sealed to each other along the area from which the substrate portion(s) has been removed and along the outside edges of the substrate. The substrate is aligned relative to the slitter using a system that includes a fixed guide roll the axis of which is parallel to and spaced from the slitter and a second guide roll mounted so that its axis is rotatable relative to the axis of the fixed roll in a plane parallel to and about an axis perpendicular to the axis of the fixed guide roll.

Abstract: The heater of the present invention includes a paper or plastic substrate on which is printed a semi-conductor pattern (typically a colloidal graphite ink) having (a) a pair of longitudinal stripes extending parallel to and spaced apart from each other and (b) a plurality of identical bars spaced apart from each other and extending between and electrically connected to the stripes. A metallic conductor (typically copper stripping) overlies each of the longitudinal stripes in face-to-face engagement therewith, and the conductors are held in tight engagement with the stripes by a sealing layer that overlies the metallic conductors and is sealed, at opposite sides of the semi-conductor stripe associated with the particular metallic conductor, to portions of the substrate that are free from the printed semi-conductor pattern.

Abstract: An electrical heating device comprises a substrate, a pair of parallel, spaced apart elongated conductors extending longitudinally of the substrate, and a semi-conductor pattern carried on the substrate and electrically connected to and extending between the conductors. The semi-conductor pattern produces a thermal image for an infrared target. In some embodiments, the thermal image is irregular or circular in shape and the semi-conductor pattern includes a plurality of transversely-spaced bars having relatively wide portions outside, and relatively thin portions within, the area producing the thermal image.

Abstract: An electrical heating device comprising a substrate having an upper insulating surface, a semi-conductor pattern carried on the insulating surface, and a pair of metallic conductors mounted in face-to-face engagement with said semi-conductor pattern. The semi-conductor pattern includes a pair of spaced connector portions and at least one heating portion extending between and electrically connected to each of said connector portions, the connector portions have a electrical conductivity greater than that of said heating portion, and each of the metallic conductors is in face-to-face engagement with a respective one of said connector portions and has an area that is less than that of said respective one of said connector portions and an area:perimeter ratio greater than D/20 wherein D is the major dimension of the respective conductor portion.

Abstract: A heated pipe assembly, particularly useful with plastic pipe, which comprises a pipe having an electrically insulating, longitudinally-extending outer surface, a pair of conductors extending longitudinally of the outer surface generally parallel to and spaced from each other, an organic plastic sheet wrapped circumferentially around the outer surface of the pipe, and a semi-conductor pattern carried on a radially-facing surface of the sheet. The semi-conductor pattern comprises a plurality of generally axially-spaced semi-conductor strips and, between adjacent strips, a portion of the plastic sheet that is free from the semi-conductor pattern. The stripes are on the same side of the sheet as the conductors, and each stripe is in electrical contact with both conductors.