Abstract: A cooking pan includes a handle made up of a tubular stainless steel insert and upper and lower wires. The upper wire wraps around the insert and is welded at each end to the pan body. The lower wire is welded at one end to the pan body and at the other end to the insert. The wires provide three struts connecting the insert and the pan body, and are formed of a configuration and material adapted to minimize heat transfer to the insert. In this way an all-metal handle is provided which does not heat excessively in use. Preferably the insert is inclined upwardly towards the pan at an angle of 25.degree. to increase the comfort of the user.

Abstract: A crane is disclosed for use with a lifting device such as a fork lift. The crane includes a crane base which is adapted to be secured to the forks of the fork lift, and an inclined crane boom which is rigidly secured to the crane base. The upper end of the crane boom defines a guide such as a pulley, and a cable such as a chain is positioned over this guide. One end of the cable is fixedly mounted to the lower end of the mast of the fork lift, and the other end of the cable is secured to a lifting hook. This arrangement provides the important advantage that the separation between the hook and the pulley decreases as the crane is elevated by the fork lift. For this reason, the lifting height capacity of the crane is greater than the lifting height capacity of the fork lift, while the effective length of the cable remains constant. In this way, the cost and complexity of winches is avoided.

Abstract: A shape memory metal (SMM) actuator includes an SMM actuator element mounted to an end fitting. An end portion of the actuator element adjacent the end fitting is cold formed to a thickness no more than 40% of the original thickness of the actuator element. This cold formed region extends by about 5 times the diameter of the actuator element away from the end fitting. The cold formed end region remains in the austenitic state, and is therefore relatively hard and strong. For this reason, the tendency of the actuator element to break at the end fitting is reduced, even though the end fitting acts as a temperature sink and maintains the cold formed end region below the transition temperature of the SMM actuator element.