Abstract: A welding system with an automatically operated helmet closes the helmet's hood, and thus its face mask, before turning on a welding electrode. The system includes an actuator with a piston that mount to the helmet's headband and hood, respectively. Only when the system detects that the mask is closed will power to the electrode be actuated. This system is controlled by a safety circuit, which the welder simply plugs the helmet into for automatic control. If the welder does not plug into the safety circuit, the system operates similar to a conventional welding system.

Abstract: An apparatus and process is disclosed for rotational molding. Rotational molding is a technique for the fabrication of parts from powdered thermoplastic material in which the thermoplastic material is placed within a hollow mold and the mold is rotated in a heated environment until the thermoplastic material fuses and coats the entire interior surface of the mold. Included in the apparatus is a holding mechanism for the mold and a power mechanism to provide the required rotational motion to the mold. The power mechanism provides for simultaneous rotation of the mold about two orthogonal axes and is displaced spatially from the holding mechanism. The holding mechanism is attached to a translating mechanism which positions the molds both internal to and external to a heating chamber such as an oven while keeping the drive mechanism external of the oven at all times.