Abstract: A grease applicator for the threaded joint section of a drill shaft of a blasthole drill. The grease applicator has a grease applicator head movable to an application position adjacent the threaded section of the drill shaft by an applicator drive. The drive extends the applicator head to and extracts the applicator head from the application position. When the applicator head is at the application position, a propelling device for moving grease through the applicator head into engagement with the threaded section is activated to apply the grease to the threaded section. To distribute the grease over the threaded section, the applicator head may have a shape partially surrounding the threaded section. The threaded joint section is vertically positioned in the path of movement of the grease applicator head and the applicator head is extended by the applicator drive along a path toward the threaded section.

Abstract: A latching automatic dual battery switch employs a first comparator to determine that a condition requiring engagement of a secondary battery exists. For example, a primary battery voltage is below a predetermined threshold, current drawn from the primary battery exceeds a predetermined threshold or ambient temperature is below a predetermined threshold. Engagement of an ignition switch is detected and used to clock the output of the comparator to a trigger circuit. The trigger circuit activates the triggerable switch on the leading edge of a signal generated by the detector circuit to connect a secondary battery or power source in parallel with the primary power source. The trigger circuit is leading edge activated so that conditions immediately prior to engagement of the ignition switch determine if the secondary battery is engaged. This avoids engaging the secondary battery as a result of a load surge dragging down the voltage after activation of an ignition switch.

Abstract: A voltage monitor and method enables the monitoring of a DC input voltage. The input voltage is continuously scanned and compared to a predetermined threshold. The result of the comparison is periodically stored in a shift register along with previous scan results. When a predetermined number of stored scan results indicate an out of range input voltage, a digital output changes state to provide indication of the abnormal condition.