Abstract: An air shaft for gripping cores of rolls of paper and the like has an integral lightweight metal main shaft with axial grooves in its outside surface. Axial single sheet strips of expandable rubber are wedged in the grooves and air pressure is applied to one side. In the groove on the other side of the rubber sheet, are spacers and metal grippers, arranged in alternating fashion. The grippers are movable outwardly in response to the application of air pressure; the spacers are not. The spacers and grippers have coaxial through passages through which a flat steel ribbon extends. The steel ribbon biases the grippers to their retracted position and restricts the outward movement of the grippers to an appropriate range. An insert in the central portion of the air shaft reinforces it.

Abstract: A security system operates in response to an attempted egress through a door by a preselected person. The magnetic field of a permanent magnet is passed in a preselected spatial relation which respected a current generating device to generate a current upon the attempted egress through the door by the preselected person carrying the permanent magnet, and a security device is energized to lock the door upon the establishment of the generated current. A method of operating a security system is also disclosed.

Abstract: A separable fastener includes a fastener body having a head end and a shank nd. The head end defines a generally cylindrical open ended cavity in which a cylindrical punch is disposed. The cavity is sealed and closed by a gas generator that develops an increasing fluid pressure against the punch. The punch is restrained within the cavity by a retaining ring which yields once a preselected gas pressure is reached. The release of the punch causes it to rapidly accelerate in a short distance to impact the shank end of the fastener body. The shank end is thereby sheared from the body with the void created in the body being sealed by the impacting punch.

Abstract: Blocks are disposed in notches in a wrapper encircling a tube bundle of a steam generator, covers are disposed over a plurality of holes in blowdown pipes; the ports in the feedwater header are arranged to improve the flow of feedwater and recirculation water over the tube sheet of the steam generator.

Abstract: An electro-optical ranging system for taking rapid measurements of the distance to a moving target object, such as a rotating log whose cross-sectional configuration is to be determined prior to the performance of a processing operation thereon. An electro-optical transceiver illuminates a small portion of the target object with a narrow beam of light modulated by a reference R-F signal. Light reflected from the target object is received by a telescope in the transceiver and focused upon a photodetector for demodulation to generate a detected R-F signal. The distance to the object is then determined by measuring the relative phase of the reference and detected signals.

Abstract: A steam generator having a U-shaped tube bundle which extends upwardly from a tube sheet, a wrapper encircling the tube bundle, a preheater disposed on the cold leg portion of the tube bundle and a distribution plate disposed adjacent the tube sheet, the distribution plate having a large semicircular shaped opening disposed in the central portion of the hot leg and a T-shaped blowdown pipe disposed so that the cross of the "T" is disposed adjacent the tube sheet and the central portion of the semicircular opening in the distribution plate.