Abstract: A combination check and relief valve assembly especially designed as a manifold attachment to the exhaust port of a blower and which adapts to the blower's exhaust to maintain pressure within the manifold to a certain range. The combination valve features a manifold having an inner channel which connects to the discharge port of the blower via an inlet port, a check valve assembly having a spring-loaded ball disposed for periodic operative engagement with the inlet port for the prevention of backflow of the fluid discharge and a relief valve assembly mounted in a side channel of the manifold for releasing and venting the fluid discharge through a relief vent port upon an excessive pressure buildup. The relief valve includes a spring-loaded plunger which opens and closes the relief vent port. The combined effect of the two valves helps to maintain the pressure in the manifold to a set adjustable desired range.

Abstract: The invention relates to a threaded bearing housing and a side channel blower incorporating the same wherein the threaded bearing housing is installed on the outer casing element of the side channel blower. The bearing housing supports the outer ring of the blower's bearing. The bearing housing location is adjustable radially and along the axial axis of the side channel blower. These adjustments provide a variable positioning of the rotating components of the side channel blower. This adjustment reduces the necessary assembly tolerancing and allows the impeller's blade and the channel between the casing elements in which it rotates to be properly spaced apart for easy and facile installation and efficient operation.

Abstract: A silencer assembly especially designed for attachment to the exhaust port of vacuum pumps and which adapts to the pumps pressure changes to regulate the outlet flow. The silencer features a perforated housing having an inner channel which connects to the discharge port of the vacuum pump and a valve assembly having a spring-loaded ball for dynamically regulating the fluid flow through the perforated housing. Once the pressure of the flow from the pump is high enough to compress a spring by pushing on a rubber ball which acts as a valve, a channel opens inside the silencer and the air can be vented through the radially distributed perforations on the housing. As the air escapes, the noise caused by the flow is reduced.

Abstract: An O-ring and a side channel blower employing an O-ring for providing a gap-free, air-tight seal of the blower channel and side-by-side pressure and vacuum ports. The O-ring includes a generally circular, main O-ring have two free ends for sealing a majority of the blower impeller channel, and two relatively smaller O-rings, each of which is attached to an opposite one of the free ends of the main O-ring and are spaced apart in a side-by-side manner and are connected to one another by a bridge member. The small O-rings are configured and dimensioned so that one of the small O-rings serves to seal the vacuum port of the blower and that the other of the small O-rings serves to seal the pressure port of the blower, with the two small O-rings and bridge member and free ends of the main O-ring arranged to create a generally spectacle-like shape.

Abstract: A silencer for vacuum pumps which allows only for unidirectional flow and which reduces the noises caused by the air discharged at the exhaust of said pump. The silencer features baffles to divert and disrupt the flow and an umbrella check valve to ensure the unidirectionality of the discharge flow.

Abstract: An oil-water separation system for separating water from the oil of a vacuum pump used in maple sap extraction and returning filtered oil to the vacuum pump, includes a vacuum pump having an oil inlet port and an oil outlet port, an oil-water separator for separating water from oil having an inlet for receiving a waste water-oil mixture from the vacuum pump oil outlet port, a first outlet for returning filtered oil to the oil inlet port of the vacuum pump and a second outlet for removing water from the system.

Abstract: A protective housing for an alligator clip and the ends of electrical cables used for high amperage applications, which includes a relatively rigid, non-electrically conductive hollow housing defining an interior chamber configured and dimensioned to accommodate and fully enclose an alligator clip therewithin and having openings at opposite ends thereof which open onto the interior chamber therein to allow and accommodate one or more electrical cables to be inserted into and through the openings of the opposite ends of the housing to permit coupling thereof within the housing chamber with the alligator clip. The hollow housing is openable to allow for insertion and removal of an alligator clip and has an opening therethrough communicating with the internal chamber thereof. A non-electrically conductive button movably is mounted in the opening in the housing for reciprocal movement generally into and out of the chamber for opening and closing the alligator clip.

Abstract: A noise abating impeller having a disc-shaped central hub and a plurality of blades extending radially outward from the central hub. The blades are symmetrically arranged in quadrants around the central hub and within two alternating quadrants, each blade is spaced an increasing distance apart from a prior adjacent blade and within the other two alternating quadrants, each blade is spaced a decreasing distance apart from a prior adjacent blade. The impeller also has a dividing rib located along the entire outer peripheral edge of the central hub and located along the center of the blades dividing each blade into a first blade half and a second blade half. The first blade half is offset from the second blade half.