Abstract: A vacuum package tester is capable of providing data by which the internal pressure and volume of residual gas of a flexible wall vacuum package exposed to atmospheric pressure may be calculated. A container partially filled with liquid is surrounded by a deformation-absorbing enclosure. A vacuum pump reduces the pressure in the head space above the liquid, thereby causing a submerged package to expand. Pressure gauges record the respective pressures in the head space when the package expands by first and second known volumes. From this data, the internal pressure and volume of residual gas of said package, when exposed to ambient pressure and temperature, may be calculated. In use, the invention also performs an improved method.

Abstract: Apparatus for measuring the permeability of a material to passage of a fluid includes a pressure regulator for varying the pressure of a supplied fluid, a pair of jaws which may be clamped onto the material specimen, a solenoid valve arranged between the regulator and the jaws, and a collapsible container arranged to be inflated with such fluid as may pass through the clamped specimen during the test. The permeability of the test specimen is determined in terms of the length of time needed for a known volume of such fluid to pass through the specimen, when fluid at a test pressure is applied to a unit area thereof. The apparatus may further include a pressure switch arranged to sense an inflated condition of the container, and a timer to disable the apparatus until sufficient time has been provided to enable the container to return to its deflated condition. In use, such apparatus performs an improved method of measuring the permeability of the material to passage of such fluid.

Abstract: Apparatus for heat sealing a thermally-sensitive material to a substrate material includes a frame, and a pair of internally heated shafts mounted fast on the frame. A roller member is rotatably mounted on each shaft, and is arranged to be heated by the heating element within the shaft. The rollers are rotated in opposite angular directions so that an object interposed at the nip will be translated therebetween. The facing peripheral portions of each roller member have a sinusoidal cross-section, with the peaks of one roller member being aligned with the valleys of the other. The roller members are spaced from one another to provide a degree of frictional resistance with the materials to be bonded together. The cross-sectional configuration in the roller members serves to provide a plurality of ribbon-like seals between the materials, without propagating a bubble as such materials are passed between the roller members.

Abstract: A laryngeal prosthesis for a post-laryngectomy patient includes a control valve, a fitting, and a conduit operatively communicating the control valve and fitting. The control valve has a housing defining a chamber therewithin. The housing is provided with a tracheal opening adapted to communicate with the patient's trachea through a tracheal fistula, a diversion opening, and a control opening surrounded by an internal seat. A flapper is arranged within the housing to move toward and away from the seat. The fitting includes an inlet opening and an outlet opening adapted to communicate with the patient's hypopharynx through a hypopharyngeal fistula. The conduit communicates the diversion opening with the fitting inlet opening. The prosthesis enables the patient to inhale, exhale and cough through the control opening, and to speak alaryngeally by selectively diverting exhaled air from the tracheal fistula to the hypopharyngeal fistula.