Abstract: A convertible wheelchair is provided along with a separable lift module for engaging and elevating the convertible wheelchair to a selected elevation. A coupling assembly is operative associated with the lift module and adapted to extend therefrom to where the coupling assembly attaches to the convertible wheelchair. In one embodiment, the coupling assembly comprises a three-point attachment that results in the wheelchair being connected to the coupling assembly and hence the separable lift system at three points. Once coupled to the lift system, the convertible wheelchair, with a patient supported therein, can be raised to a selected elevation. Thereafter, the wheelchair can be converted from a chair configuration to any one of several examination configurations.

Abstract: A load carrying structure having a selectively rigid or flexible characteristic includes a thermoplastic material (7) having a softening temperature above the operating temperature range of the load carrying structure, and a heating arrangement (8) provided to selectively heat the thermoplastic material to above its softening temperature. During normal operation, the thermoplastic material is in a rigid state and the overall load carrying structure is rigid to the prevailing loads. By activating the heating arrangement to heat the thermoplastic material to at least its softening temperature, the thermoplastic material and therewith the load carrying structure becomes flexible so that it may be deformed to a different configuration by applying a deforming load.

Abstract: An ergonomically shaped exterior contour of a vehicle interior handle area, support area, or resting area is provided. The contour is formed by a flexible shaped element filled with an electro-rheologic fluid to which an electrical circuit operable from the interior is connected to reduce or increase the internal friction of the fluid to accommodate changes in shape of the contour.

Abstract: A stiff elongated hollow structural member has a double-walled structure in the shape of a tube made of an interior tube which has an annular cross-section and an exterior tube which has a different cross-section, in a concentric arrangement. The interior and exterior tubes bound a hollow space filled with an incompressible liquid. Responsive to pressure increases in the liquid, the exterior tube in the elastic material range is bendingly deformable in the direction of a ring-circular cross-section or to a ring-circular cross-section. This hollow structural member can be used as an adjustable stiffness torsion member such as a vehicle steering shaft. Another disclosed adjustable stiffness hollow structural member includes a flat plate facing a corrugated plate to form a hollow space for the incompressible liquid. Increases in pressure of the liquid forces the corrugated member to a more flattened configuration.

Abstract: An optical fiber coupling assembly is mounted on the back of a repeater module so that when the repeater is slid into a rack near which an optical fiber frame plug is mounted, the optical fibers of the frame plug are laterally captured at an orientation angle by tapered grooves in an alignment receptacle of the coupling assembly and progressively urged so as to be precisely positioned near repeater optical fibers or semiconductor devices. A spring loaded construction automatically decreases the orientation angle to zero so that the fibers rest in the whole length of the grooves. The assembly additionally slides the fibers relative to the grooves and into abutment with the fibers or devices to which they are being coupled.

Abstract: A directional optical waveguide coupler and power tap is disclosed for use with optical fibers or planar-form optical waveguides. Abutted to the end of a cladded optical transmission waveguide is a section of a second optical waveguide comprising a core surrounded by a cladding layer, the core having a smaller cross-sectional area than the core of the transmission waveguide. In the present arrangement, light energy propagating in the core of the second waveguide towards the transmission waveguide is coupled into the core of the transmission waveguide at the point of abuttment, whereas light energy propagating in the core of the transmission waveguide towards the second waveguide is coupled into both the core and cladding layer of the second waveguide at the point of abuttment.

Abstract: There is disclosed a variety of arrangements for tapping a portion of the signal power from an optical fiber waveguide without requiring that the fiber be terminated or broken. Power is coupled out of the fiber waveguide, which typically includes an inner core surrounded by a lower refractive index outer cladding, by disposing a dielectric body in a coupling relationship with an intermediate length of the fiber from which all or most of the cladding has been removed or, alternatively, which is bent to cause a portion of the power to radiate out of the inner core into the outer cladding of the fiber. The dielectric body couples power out of the fiber provided its index of refraction is approximately equal to, or greater than, that of the fiber cladding material. The power coupled out by the dielectric body is converted to a representative electrical signal by a photodetector disposed adjacent to the dielectric body.

Abstract: Phosphorous acid is produced from PCl.sub.3 and water in an apparatus, the essential parts of which include a reactor and an evaporator, which are connected together by means of a conduit running from the bottom of the reactor to the head of the evaporator. The evaporator communicates with the lower end of a separator of which the upstream end terminates in an off-gas outlet. More particularly, the downstream end of the evaporator is connected to a stripping column which is provided with an off-gas outlet opening into the off-gas outlet associated with the evaporator.

Abstract: There is disclosed an arrangement for tapping signal power from an optical fiber waveguide without requiring that the fiber be terminated or broken. An intermediate length of a fiber waveguide from which all or most of the outer cladding has been removed is sandwiched between first and second dielectric bodies, each illustratively in the form of a circular disk. The first body, which serves to couple optical power out of the fiber, is formed of a relatively compliant dielectric material, such as a soft plastic, having an index of refraction approximately equal to, or greater than, that of the outer cladding of the fiber. The second body is formed of a relatively hard dielectric material, such as a glass or hard plastic, having an index of refraction less than that of the first body. The two dielectric bodies and the fiber are placed in a specially designed holder and forced together so that the fiber deforms the first body providing a large area of contact therewith.