Abstract: A detector for detecting ions and/or electrons present in a resonance cell of an ICR spectrometer is disclosed. The detector which operates on the Q-meter principle is driven by an external rf oscillator capable of providing rf frequencies up to about 15MHz at an adjustable low rf signal level, e.g., below 20mV. The detector is connected across the resonance of the cell to detect ions by detecting their cyclotron frequency. Electrons are detectable by connecting the detector across the cell's trapping plates and thereby detect the electrons' trapping motion, the frequency of which is in the megahertz range.

Abstract: A photovoltaic cell array consisting of parallel columns of silicon filaments, each being doped to produce an inner region of one polarity type and an outer region of an opposite polarity type to thereby form a continuous radial semi-conductor junction. Spaced rows of electrical contacts alternately connect to the inner and outer regions to provide a plurality of electrical outputs which may be combined in parallel or in series.

Abstract: A system for remotely measuring vertical and horizontal winds present in discrete volumes of air at selected locations above the ground. A laser beam is optically focused in range by a telescope, and the output beam is conically scanned at an angle .theta. about a vertical axis. The backscatter, or reflected light, from the ambient particulates in a volume of air, the focal volume, is detected for shifts in wavelength, and from these, horizontal and vertical wind components are computed.

Abstract: A cryostat system for cooling a device to a temperature on the order of 2.degree.K or less includes a dewar, in which helium, in other than the superfluid state, is stored. Helium flows from the dewar through a heat exchanger tube and a restrictor tube, which controls the helium flow rate, into the cavity of a heat exchanger, to whose outer wall the device to be cooled is attached. A pressure regulator valve controls the pressure in the cavity to be very low, e.g., on the order of 30 Torr. As the helium exits the restrictor tube into the cavity, due to low pressure cavity, it becomes an aerosol mixture of helium gas and superfluid helium droplets at the desired temperature. The latter form a thin layer or film of superfluid helium on the inner side of the heat exchanger wall and thereby cool the device, which is attached to the wall to the desired temperature.

Abstract: An improved lightweight heat exchanger particularly suited for use in systems having low volume flow, high longitudinal gradient and high effectiveness requirements. The heat exchanger is characterized by a shell of an annular configuration, an endless plate of minimal thickness and of a substantially uniformly convoluted configuration disposed within the annular shell for defining therewithin a plurality of endless, juxtaposed passages, each having a low Reynold's number and being of an annular configuration. A pair of manifolds disposed 180.degree. apart is mounted on the shell in communication with the passages through which counterflowing fluids having different temperatures are simultaneously introduced and extracted from the passageways for thus achieving a continuous transfer of heat through the convoluted plate.

Abstract: An annular arc accelerator shock tube employs a cold gas driver to flow a stream of gas from an expansion section through a high voltage electrode section to a test section, thus driving a shock wave in front of it. A glow discharge detects the shock wave and actuates a trigger generator which in turn fires spark-gap switches to discharge a bank of capacitors across a centered cathode and an annular anode in tandem electrode sections as the initial shock wave passes through the anode section from the cathode section thereby depositing energy into the flow gas without the necessity of any diaphragm opening in the gas flow from the expansion section through the electrode sections.

Abstract: A power spectrum analysis of the harmonic content of a voiced sound signal is conducted in real time by phase-lock-loop tracking of the fundamental frequency, f.sub.o, of the signal and successive harmonics h.sub.l through h.sub.n of the fundamental frequency, measuring the quadrature power and phase of each frequency tracked, differentiating the power measurements of the harmonics in adjacent pairs and analyzing successive differentials to determine peak power points in the power spectrum for display or use in analysis of voiced sound, such as for voice recognition.

Abstract: An improved furlable antenna particularly suited for use in a celestial space environment. The antenna is characterized by an actuator comprising an elastomeric member of an annular configuration, an annular array of uniformly spaced antenna ribs rigidly affixed at the base ends thereof to said actuator and supported thereby for pivotal displacement from a deployed configuration, wherein the ribs are substantially radially extended from said actuator to a furled configuration wherein the ribs are extended in substantial parallelism with the axis of the actuator, a flexible reflecting web affixed to the ribs, and a plurality of angularly spaced bearing blocks supporting every radially extended section of the member for rotation about its own centroid.

Abstract: An aircraft-crash location transmitter tuned to transmit on standard emergency frequencies is shock mounted in a sealed circular case retained in a recess atop the tail of an aircraft by means of a shear pin designed to fail under a G-loading associated with a crash situation. The antenna for the transmitter is a metallic spring-blade having a curved cross-section and coiled like a spiral spring around the outside of the circular case, the free end of the antenna abutting the surface of the recess when the case is retained therein by the shear pin for maintaining the antenna in a furled state. A battery within the case for powering the transmitter is kept trickle-charged from the electrical system of the aircraft through a break-away connector on the case that also serves to mechanically hold-open the transmitter key until the connector separates.

Abstract: A high-resolution Fourier interferometer-spectrophotopolarimeter is provided using (i) a single linear polarizer-analyzer the transmission axis azimuth of which is positioned successively in the three orientations of 0.degree., 45.degree., and 90.degree., in front of a detector; (ii) four flat mirrors, three of which are switchable to either of two positions to direct an incoming beam from an interferometer to the polarizer-analyzer (1) around a sample cell (2) transmitted through a medium in a cell and (3) reflected by medium in the cell; and (iii) four fixed focussing lenses, all located in a sample chamber attached at the exit side of the interferometer.

Abstract: A solid state amplifier has an output transistor stage and an input transistor stage interconnected as a Darlington circuit. An interstage transistor interconnecting the collectors of the two stages of the Darlington circuit is connected with the first stage transistor in a compound configuration. When the load current furnished by the amplifier is less than a predetermined value, the output stage operates as a simple saturated switch with its base drive current flowing through the emitter-base junction of the first stage which produces no collector current because the base-emitter junction of the interstage transistor is reverse-biased. When the load current exceeds said predetermined value, the interstage transistor begins to conduct allowing the input and output stages to operate as a Darlington amplifier and diverting a significant portion of the base drive current of the output transistor back into the load.

Abstract: A method for detecting and measuring trace amounts of pollutants of the group consisting of ozone, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide in a gaseous environment wherein a sample organic solid material that will undergo a chemical reaction with the test pollutant is exposed to the test environment and thereafter, when heated in the temperature range of 100.degree.-200.degree.C., undergoes chemiluminescence that is measured and recorded as a function of concentration of the test pollutant and wherein the chemiluminescence of the solid organic material is specific to the pollutant being tested.

Abstract: Annular elastomeric bodies having intricate shapes are cast by dipping a heated, rotating mandrel into a solution of the elastomer, permitting the elastomer to creep into sharp recesses, dryng the coated mandrel and repeating the operation until the desired thickness has been achieved. A bladder for a heart assist pump in which a cylindrical body terminating in flat, sharp horizontal flanges fabricated by this procedure has been subjected to over 2,500 hours of simulated life conditions with no visible signs of degradation.

Abstract: An increase in the quantum efficiency of a III-V photocathode is achieved by doping its semiconductor material with an acceptor and nitrogen, a column-V isoelectronic element, that introduces a spatially localized energy level just below the conduction band similar to a donor level to which optical transitions can occur. This increases the absorption coefficient, .alpha., without compensation of the acceptor dopant. A layer of a suitable I-V, I-VI or I-VII compound is included as an activation layer on the electron emission side to lower the work function of the photocathode.

Abstract: Sets of flanges are attached to sets of beam ends projecting from a major modular assembly jig structure made of three intersecting sets of unmachined box beams welded together. From each surface of the welded structure a number of beam ends project outwardly, and such members, owing to the weld method of construction, are approximately parallel, are spaced from each other approximately to conform to a predetermined pattern, and terminate approximately in a common plane.Flanges are attached to such beam ends in such manner that the outer surfaces of the flanges are accurately coplanar and are accurately spaced from one another according to the predetermined pattern. Each flange consists of a pad, a collar surrounding the beam end and partially receiving its terminal portion to leave a gap between beam end and pad, and various connecting members.

Abstract: A number of traveling-wave, slow-wave maser structures, containing active maser material but absent the typical ferrite isolators, are immersed in a nonuniform magnetic field. The microwave signal to be amplified is inserted at a circulator which directs the signal to a slow-wave structure. The signal travels through the slow-wave structure, being amplified according to the distance traveled. The end of the slow-wave structure farthest from the circulator is arranged to be a point of maximum reflection of the signal traveling through the slow-wave structure. As a consequence, the signal to be amplified traverses the slow-wave structure again, in the opposite direction (towards the circulator) experiencing amplification equivalent to that achieved by a conventional traveling-wave maser having twice the length. The circulator directs the amplified signal to following like stages of amplification. Isolators are used in between stages to prevent signals from traveling in the wrong direction, between the stages.

Abstract: A solar-powered pump particularly suited for intermittently delivering a stream of water. The pump is characterized by a housing adapted to be seated in a source of water having a water discharge port disposed above the water line of the source, a sump including a valved inlet port through which water is introduced to the sump, disposed beneath the water line, a displacer supported for vertical reciprocation in said housing, an air passageway extended between the vertically spaced faces of the displacer, a tipple disposed adjacent to the water discharge port adapted to be filled in response to a discharge of water from the housing, and a line so interconnecting the tipple and the displacer that the displacer is moved upwardly in response to a filling of the tipple and moved downwardly once water is discharged from the tipple.

Abstract: A myocardium wall thickness measuring transducer comprises a circular beam of high compliance and an elongated spike which extends in the plane in which the beam is disposed. The spike is connected at one point to the beam while a working end of the spike to which a barb is attached, extends through an opening in the beam at a substantially diametrically opposite point. The beam portion, surrounding the opening, is free to move or be displaced relative to the spike. A sensitive strain gauge is bonded to the beam to sense changes in the tension thereof. The working end of the spike is inserted through the epicardium into the myocardium so that the spike and the beam are in a plane substantially perpendicular to the epicardium at the point of insertion. The spike is inserted, to a depth at which a minimal beam deforming force is applied by the myocardium to the beam portion surrounding the opening.

Abstract: Helium in the superfluid state has been found to emit copious amounts of radiation in the ultra-violet region when excited by an electron stream. Conventional laser action using mirrors is impossible in superfluid helium because there are no mirrors that will reflect VUV radiation. By utilizing the well known method of "distributed feedback" the superfluid helium can be made to lase. By setting up a standing wave in superfluid helium that has a wavelength equal to, or harmonically related to, half the wavelength of the photon radiation chosen to be emitted as laser radiation by the superfluid helium, the need for end mirrors to produce reflection of the laser radiation is eliminated and reflection occurs instead at the wavefronts of the standing wave. The photons leave the superfluid helium at right angles to the standing wave as coherent radiation having a very high intensity.

Abstract: Disclosed is a circular computer and system for determining the sun angle relative to the horizon from any given place and at any time. The computer includes transparent, rotatably mounted discs on both sides of the circular disc member. Printed on one side of the circular disc member are outer and inner circular sets of indicia respectively representative of site longitude and Greenwich Mean Time. Printed on an associated one of the rotatable discs is a set of indicia representative of Solar Time. Printed on the other side of the circular disc member are parallel lines representative of latitude between diametral representations of North and South poles. Elliptical lines extending between the North and South poles are proportionally disposed on the surface to scale Solar Time in hours. Printed on the other associated one of the rotatable discs are parallel lines representative of sun angle and a perpendicularly arranged sun elevation line.