Abstract: A wheeled carriage assembly for supporting a grass trimmer. The wheeled carriage assembly includes a pair of frames each having elongate front, top, and bottom portions. The top and bottom portions of each frame are spaced apart from one another with the front portion of each frame connecting associated top and bottom portions of the respective frame. The front portions of the frames are coupled together. The frames each have an elongate rear fork extending between the associated top and bottom portions of the respective frame. A ground engaging rear wheel is positioned between the bottom portions of the frame and is rotatably mounted to the rear forks of the frames. A generally J-shaped front fork is coupled to the frames between the front portions of the frames. A pair of adjacent ground engaging front wheels are pivotally mounted to the front fork. The frames each has a handle portion adjacent the associated top portion of the respective frame.

Abstract: A light emitting module is attached to one of a pair of separable U-shaped metal clamps that can fit around a weapon trigger guard. The clamps have recesses for retaining elastomeric inserts which contact the trigger guard. The inserts are of inexpensive glass-filled molded plastic rather than machined steel so that a greater variety can be provided at low cost and little value is lost by discarding those not needed for a particular weapon. The greater variety provides a better fit with little or no custom shaping and the elastomeric inserts are much easier to shape if an unusually contoured trigger guard is encountered. A slide switch passes through the clamp and is actuated by either a right or left handed user. The motion of the switch is transverse to the trigger guard and firing direction of the gun.

Abstract: A light emitting module is attached to one of a pair of separable U-shaped metal clamps that can fit around a weapon trigger guard. The clamps have recesses for retaining elastomeric inserts which contact the trigger guard. The inserts are of inexpensive glass-filled molded plastic rather than machined steel so that a greater variety can be provided at low cost and little value is lost by discarding those not needed for a particular weapon. The greater variety provides a better fit with little or no custom shaping and the elastomeric inserts are much easier to shape if an unusually contoured trigger guard is encountered. The electrical cord running to the on/off switch for the module emerges from the module in fixed relationship to the clamps and need not be removed to change the module batteries. A trigger guard mountable laser sight that is more resistant to shock and requires less ongoing adjustment to maintain light beam and boresight coincidence is obtained.

Abstract: An internally mounted light beam sight suitable for use in automatic pistols and other weapons is provided by replacing the conventional recoil spring guide rod with a hollow tube having substantially the same exterior shape and dimensions, but containing a laser beam generation module within its hollow bore. A collar surrounds the module near a first end. The collar has a part-spherical outer surface which engages a matching-spherical inner surface within the tube so that the angular orientation of the module may be adjusted by relative rotation of the two part-spherical surfaces. The collar is desirably split by one cut-through so that it may be spread apart to slip over an end of the module. The module and collar have an interlocking groove and ridge which retains the collar in place on the module. Transverse adjustment screws in the tube bear on a distal end of the module so that the angular orientation of the module may be varied with respect to the tube.

Abstract: An adjustable laser beam sight comprises a supporting plate and first, second and third serially arranged and rotationally coupled levers mounted on the supporting plate by two pivots. The first pivot rotationally couples the first lever to the supporting plate and the second pivot rotationally couples the third lever to the supporting plate. A laser beam emitting device is attached to the first lever. Rotation of the third lever, acting through the second lever, imparts a change in direction of the first lever and the laser beam. A range scale with its reference center substantially at the second pivot is provided on the supporting plate. An indicator on the third lever moves across the range scale as the third lever is moved to adjust the aim of the laser beam, thereby indicating a range setting.

Abstract: An internally mounted laser beam gun sight suitable for use in automatic pistols is provided by replacing the conventional recoil spring guide rod with a hollow tube having substantially the same exterior shape and dimensions, but containing a laser beam generation module, batteries and an on/off switch within its hollow bore. In a preferred embodiment, the hollow tube has two portions which are movable with respect to each other. A first portion contains the batteries and a second portion contains the laser module. An insulated bushing containing a central electrical contact is located between the two portions. In the preferred embodiment, the central contact forms part of an internal electrical switch which is activated by relative motion of the first and second portions of the guide tube to turn the laser beam on and off.

Abstract: An internally mounted laser beam gun sight suitable for use in automatic pistols is provided by replacing the conventional recoil spring guide rod with a hollow tube having substantially the same exterior shape and dimensions, but containing a laser beam generation module, batteries and an on/off switch within its hollow bore. In a preferred embodiment, the hollow tube has two portions which are movable with respect to each other. A first portion contains the batteries and a second portion contains the laser module. An insulated bushing containing a central electrical contact is located between the two portions. In the preferred embodiment, the central contact forms part of an internal electrical switch which is activated by relative motion of the first and second portions of the guide tube to turn the laser beam on and off.

Abstract: A very compact flashlight having an external diameter and length comparable to a typical single AA cell flashlight, but with much higher emitted light intensity, is described. The flashlight fits into pre-existing mounts designed to attach AA cell flashlights to weapons (e.g., pistols) for target illumination. It is shorter than multi-cell AA flashlights and brighter than single cell AA flashlights, thereby providing better weapon target illumination without the bulk associated with prior art multi-cell units. The flashlight barrel is shaped to accommodate a bundle of, for example, three AAAA batteries arranged in a side-by-side relationship. Circuit boards located at opposite ends of the battery bundle interconnect the batteries in series so that higher voltage, higher intensity lamps can be used. Alignment means inside the barrel hold the batteries and circuit boards in a predetermined relationship to accomplish the series interconnection.

Abstract: A conventional flashlight is modified to provide greater brightness by providing an extension tube between the base cap and the body of the flashlight. The extension holds one or more additional batteries so that a higher voltage and brighter bulb can be substituted for the original flashlight bulb. In a preferred embodiment, the extension has the same outer diameter as the body of the original flashlight so that it fits in the same mounts as the original flashlight. Where the flashlight body and extension have a thin sidewall surrounding the batteries so that there is insufficient thickness available to form threads in the sidewall of the portion of the extension that mates with the body and still leave room for a battery to pass through, then the battery in the extension is spaced away from that end and a cylindrical insulated bushing with an axial electrical conductor is provided therein to make electrical connection between the battery in the extension and the battery in the body.

Abstract: Shortened shotshells having a reduced length that allows one or more extra rounds to be carried in the magazine of a standard shotgun, and having substantially the same ballistic properties as standard shotshells, are obtained by using a reduced length shell casing and replacing the standard wadding with a relatively long double cup-shaped wadding with a first cup that holds the powder and a second cup to at least partly hold the shot. The open end of the first cup extends close to the primer cap. By placing the powder within the wadding and having part of the wadding extend around the shot, the same powder and shot loads may be used with a longer wadding. The longer wadding avoids tilting or tumbling of the wadding and provides a continuous gas seal between the end of the shell case and the barrel entrance across the gap that exits as a result of using the shortened shell case in a gun chambered for a standard length shell.

Abstract: An accessory mount particularly well suited to a broad variety of weapons (e.g., Heckler & Koch firearms) comprises a plug portion that fits within the weapon accessory mounting hole and is radially expanded, e.g., by means of an interior mandrel, to provide large area, high friction, robust engagement between the plug and the mounting hole. A second portion for holding an accessory (e.g., a laser sight) is coupled to the plug by an alignment means and a hand operated screw or lock so that the accessory is easily removed and reinstalled in the same position relative to the weapon boresight without need for recalibration.

Abstract: A container rack for lockably storing and organizing containers equipped with lockable closure members, particularly bank night deposit bags with lockable zippers. A first container support having a first rod element is fixed to a base support and is adapted to lockably, slideably receive a container. A second container support having a second rod element is fixed to the base support in spaced, parallel relationship with the first rod element. Containers lockably supported by the first rod element are aligned relative to one another by the second rod element.

Abstract: A composite antenna element formed of a plurality of high modulus, high strength, low density, unidirectional graphite fibers bonded together by a flexible matrix material and formed into a tapered rod. The element is stored in a coiled configuration within a groove on the device to which it is attached and uses the strain energy stored within it during coiling to uncoil itself upon release into a vertical cantilever column on the order of eight feet high.

Abstract: A surface acoustic wave (SAW) structure is disclosed wherein a SAW device is incorporated as an exterior lamina within a composite laminate in order to temperature stabilize the acoustic device. The composite laminate is synthesized to selectively mismatch the thermal expansion characteristics of the piezoelectric material, which is the body of the acoustic device, along the axis of acoustic propagation and simultaneously approximately match the thermal expansion properties along the orthogonal axis. Compressive force is thereby applied to the acoustic device to keep the substrate length constant and thus provide an approximately zero temperature coefficient over a preferred range of temperatures.