Abstract: An aseptic valve or sanitary valve employs a floating plug situated within a cylindrical valve housing. The floating valve plug has a head that seats against an inlet opening, and has a stem and a generally conic foot that rests upon a diaphragm formed of a flexible, food-grade membrane. An actuator below the diaphragm urges the plug up to lodge against the inlet opening, and relieves force on the membrane and plug to open the valve. Spacer arms radiate from the stem or head of the plug, to keep the plug centered in the housing.

Abstract: An aseptic valve or sanitary valve has an elongated tubular, cylindrical valve housing, with one or more top-hat diaphragms and associated valve plugs positioned transverse to the axis of the tubular valve housing. An actuator urges the stem and head of the valve plug upward so that the associated diaphragm is urged against a valve seat to close the valve. The actuator also moves these elements downward and away from the seat to open the valve. Plural valve arrangements can be joined end to end to accommodate multiple flow paths.

Abstract: An aseptic valve or sanitary valve employs a floating plug situated within a cylindrical valve housing. The floating valve plug has a head that seats against an inlet opening, and has a stem and a generally conic foot that rests upon a diaphragm formed of a flexible, food-grade membrane. An actuator below the diaphragm urges the plug up to lodge against the inlet opening, and relieves force on the membrane and plug to open the valve. Spacer arms radiate from the stem or head of the plug, to keep the plug centered in the housing.

Abstract: An aseptic or sanitary diaphragm valve has a valve body and at least one cylinder-actuated valve mechanism. A chamber is defined between a cylinder head and a plate or disk, which has a central bore or passage. A flexible diaphragm extends across the cylinder below the plate or disk. A piston within a cylinder is connected with a valve member foot portion, with a stem passing from the foot portion, penetrating the diaphragm, and passing through the bor or passage to the piston. A compression spring urges the piston to either its raised or lowered position, and air pressure may be used to lower or to raise the piston and the associated valve foot. An aperture in the cylinder can reveal a compromise of the diaphragms.

Abstract: A pressure gauge adapter for sanitary conduit accepts a standard pressure gauge with a male threaded stem. The adapter has a flange to mate with an upper flange of a tubular stub where a diaphragm is positioned to serve as fluid barrier to block process liquid from leaving, and to serve as a seal gland. A hollow cylindrical wall rises from the flange member, with a sealing flange at its upper end. An elongated piston is situated within the hollow cylindrical wall with a lower head upon the lower diaphragm, and an upper head reaching the top end of the cylinder. A cap or dome situated above the cylinder has a flange member that mates with the upper flange member of the cylinder, with an upper diaphragm therebetween. The cap defines a space above the upper diaphragm, and is filled with a transfer liquid. A threaded bore in the cap accepts the threaded stem of the pressure gauge.

Abstract: A pressure gauge adapter for sanitary conduit accepts a standard pressure gauge with a male threaded stem. The adapter has a flange to mate with an upper flange of a tubular stub where a diaphragm is positioned to serve as fluid barrier to block process liquid from leaving, and to serve as a seal gland. A hollow cylindrical wall rises from the flange member, with a sealing flange at its upper end. An elongated piston is situated within the hollow cylindrical wall with a lower head upon the lower diaphragm, and an upper head reaching the top end of the cylinder. A cap or dome situated above the cylinder has a flange member that mates with the upper flange member of the cylinder, with an upper diaphragm therebetween. The cap defines a space above the upper diaphragm, and is filled with a transfer liquid. A threaded bore in the cap accepts the threaded stem of the pressure gauge.

Abstract: An aseptic or sanitary diaphragm valve has a valve body and at least one cylinder-actuated valve mechanism. A chamber is defined between a cylinder head and a plate or disk, which has a central bore or passage. A flexible diaphragm extends across the cylinder below the plate or disk. A piston within a cylinder is connected with a valve member foot portion, with a stem passing from the foot portion, penetrating the diaphragm, and passing through the bor or passage to the piston. A compression spring urges the piston to either its raised or lowered position, and air pressure may be used to lower or to raise the piston and the associated valve foot. An aperture in the cylinder can reveal a compromise of the diaphragms.

Abstract: An adapter fits a diaphragm-type sanitary pressure gauge onto a flanged tubular stub of a sanitary conduit. A cylinder has a lower ring flange that mates with the flange of the tubular stub and an upper flange that mates with the diaphragm mounting foot of the pressure gauge. These are held together with tri-clamps, with suitable sealing glands. The interior of the cylinder is two-tiered, with a larger diameter portion above, a smaller diameter portion below, and an annular shelf or step between. A piston with a larger diameter upper portion and smaller diameter lower portion rides in the cylinder, with a seal ring in the lower portion. A hard rubber pad on the top of the piston contacts the diaphragm of the pressure gauge to transmit fluid pressure from the sanitary conduit to the gauge. A small leak detection hole through the cylinder above the seal ring reveals any leakage.

Abstract: A sanitary diaphragm valve has a valve body formed of an upper plate and a lower plate, with a flexible resilient diaphragm and a spacer between them. The margin of the diaphragm rests on a peripheral step formed in the lower plate to create a positive space between the lower plate and the edges of the diaphragm. A piston within a cylinder in the upper plate can descend to compress the diaphragm against a valve port to close the valve. The pressure of the liquid product can raise the diaphragm and the piston when control pressure is relieved from the piston.

Abstract: A pasteurization/homogenization arrangement with regeneration brings raw milk or other liquid food product up to a few degrees below a UHT pasteurizing temperature. The product is denaturized at 175° F. so that proteins do not deposit out. The product proceeds through a product-product regenerative heat exchanger where it emerges at about 260°. Here a homogenizer serves a timing pump and avoids the need for an additional pump or flow meter for the UHT stage. The homogenized product proceeds to a water-product heater to heat the product to 280° F. The temperature differential at any reference point in the heater and the regenerative heat exchanger is below 20°, and the ratio of rate of water flow to product flow in the heater is below about 3:1. More efficient homogenization is achieved than at the conventional temperature (175° F.).

Abstract: A scale sport playing court or floor and associated equipment are provided for persons of a smaller stature or height than the collegiate or professional players of the standard-size version of the sport. Teams are selected with players' height restricted to a maximum height (e.g., 72 inches) or less. The game is played according to normal rules except that the court size, goal (or net) and ball size are reduced by a scale factor S related to the height of the smaller stature players to the average height of the professional or collegiate players. In a scale basketball game, the court size, hoop diameter, height of the hoop, distance from the free throw line to the backboard, three point arc, and other dimensions are the product of the scale factor S times the standard dimension. The scaling matches the court and equipment to the athleticism of the players.

Abstract: Self-help or do-it-yourself productions of collegiate athletic contests are generated by the originating institution, and the recorded production is sent by overnight courier to a central digital clearing house. At the clearing house the contents of the recording are loaded onto a computer processor and the video and audio channels are digitally processing to prepare the program for digital storage and retransmission. A web transmitter processor transmits the video recordings of these events to subscribers on demand over wide-band, high-speed Internet connections. The content may be edited at the clearing house. The clearing house provides a custom video player or viewer for each recorded production. The games or meets can be selected by the subscriber, which are indexed in categories including originating institution, type of event, and date of event. The events may also be webcast live or near-real-time, as well as archived.

Abstract: A standard industrial temperature gauge is adapted for a sanitary conduit that has been provided with a tubular stub for mounting the temperature gauge. A disk flange mates with an upper flange of the tubular stub. A aperture or passageway in the disk flange permits the rod probe of the temperature sensor to penetrate through it. An O-ring seal seated within the passageway seals against the rod probe. A female threaded nipple is affixed on the flange disk coaxial with the passageway. This nipple has threads to mate with the male threaded stem of the temperature gauge. A sealing gland or equivalent seal is disposed between the disk flange and the flange of the said tubular stub, so that the sanitary conduit is sealed off when a clamp is installed, removably holding the flange disk in sealed engagement with the tubular stub.

Abstract: A standard industrial pressure gauge is adapted for a sanitary conduit that has been provided with a tubular stub for mounting the gauge. A cylinder has a disk flange that mates with an upper flange of the tubular stub. A cap closes off the top of the cylinder, and a female threaded nipple is affixed on the cap over an aperture through the cap. A piston has one or a pair of O-ring seals seated on the circumferential surface of the piston, with the piston having at least a limited range of motion within the cylinder. The gauge is fitted into the threads of the nipple, and the space above the piston and through the aperture and the nipple is filled with an incompressible fluid. In one embodiment, there is a leak detector hole in the cylinder wall aligned with the space between the two O-rings.

Abstract: A pasteurization arrangement employs regeneration to bring raw milk or other liquid food product up to a few degrees below a UHT pasteurizing temperature. The product is first heated up by regeneration to about 175° F., and held at this temperature for about sixty seconds to denaturize proteins so that they do not deposit on the heat exchange walls of following stages. Then the product proceeds through a product-product regenerative heat exchanger where it emerges at about 264° and proceeds to a water-product heater to heat the product to 280° F. The water flows in counter current to the product. The temperature differential at any reference point in the heater and the regenerative heat exchanger is below 20°, and the ratio of rate of water flow to product flow in the heater is below about 3:1.

Abstract: A sanitary tank is provided with a clean-in-place agitator assembly in which the impeller portion is removably installed at the tip or the shaft or along the shaft. A shaft housing that penetrates the wall of the tank employs lip seals around the drive shaft so that cleaning fluid supplied at an inlet pipe will spray out through the interior or distal lip seal for spraying the proximal side of the impeller. The impeller is mounted on a non-round drive portion at the tip of the drive shaft, avoiding need for welding or threaded fasteners. A vertical stirrer or impeller has a square drive shaft with transverse grooves, and blades that are removably fitted into respective pairs of these grooves.

Abstract: A heat exchange system utilizing flow reducers at 180 degree bends in the tubes includes a first set of media tubes in which heating/cooling media flows, and a set of product tubes positioned concentrically within the media tubes and in which liquid product flows in a counter direction to the heating/cooling media. The tubes are arranged in a serpentine, back and forth manner, and U-shaped tubes interconnect successive pairs of product tubes to achieve the 180-degree change in flow direction. The U-shaped tubes are of a cross-sectional diameter greater than the product pipes. Tapering flow reducers extend between the opposing ends of the U-shaped tubes and the product tubes. The exit flow reducer is eccentrically formed to facilitate a smooth transition of the product from the U-shaped bend to the product tube and prevent liquid product from becoming entrapped along the bottom of the flow reducer.

Abstract: The specification discloses a liquid storage tank of the silo-type having spray cleaning apparatus for cleaning internal surfaces located in the lower portion of the tank and also cleanable venting and overflow conduits associated with the cleaning apparatus. The specification also describes a method for cleaning internal surfaces of the tank and its various conduits using spraying apparatus positioned at or near the bottom of the tank.