Abstract: A landscaping adornment also having as a purpose the feeding and/or watering of small birds and animals. The device constitutes a depiction of a naturally occurring object such as a seashell or leaf and has an open containment for seed or liquid. The materials of construction render the device waterproof and weatherproof.

Abstract: A cage for arboreal animals includes two compartments, each having a hinged, latched, door. The two compartments are separated by a sliding panel to enable maintenance to be performed easily and safely, minimizing unwanted contact between hazardous animals, such as venomous snakes, for example, and the investigators or maintenance personnel. The structure is further ventilated to provide air flow from bottom to top, and could maintain a humidity level in accordance with needs of caged animals. The sides of the cage are transparent to permit simple monitoring of the reptiles as well as to meet the social needs of those animals which need visual contact with other animals in adjacent cages. This cage meets or exceeds all current Federal principles and regulations for animal housing units.

Abstract: A bird's nests comprising a box-shaped body having a roof, a hole provided at each corner of said roof, a first entrance and a second entrance provided at an upper part and at a lower part of a front side of the body, side plates fitted to both sides of the body, a slit formed under the first entrance, and a pair of guide rail rearwardly extending from both ends of the slit; a panel which has at least one divided feed bucket slidably inserted into the slit; an inner wall vertically extending from a rear surface of the front side of the body; a bottom plate mounted at a lower portion of the body; a hanging bracket provided at a rear side of the body; means for slidably fitting both sides of the body with the side plates; and a hanger for hanging the nest on trees.

Abstract: A conveyor for supporting live fowl to be inoculated, iseminated, debeaked, or to have another operation performed on them. The conveyor includes a base, a pair of spindles mounted to the base, one at each of opposite ends, and a generally horizontally-disposed moving conveyor surface supported by the base. The conveyor surface is defined by an endless web encircling the spindles and is intended to receive thereon fowl which are to have an operation performed on them. The conveyor also includes apparatus for holding each bird in a defined position on the conveyor surface, including a pair of elongated, generally-parallel members spaced upward from the conveyor surface to define a slot therebetween. The elongated members are disposed such that the vertical distance between them can be varied.

Abstract: A ventilated pet litter box for use in a closed space includes a litter receptacle, a receptacle cover, a vibration-damped exhaust fan communicating with the receptacle cover and a wall orifice attachment, and a wall orifice attachment to discharge ventilating forced-air to outside of the closed space.

Abstract: There are more than sixty million cats in the United States according to the statistics of ABI Informer. My filtering system takes advantage of the facts that (1) air that has the odor of cats in it is slightly lighter than is air that does not have cat odor in it. (2) If air having odors in it are forced to change their direction of travel, the odor containing air will give up its odors. (3) Charcoal is an ideal substance to neutralize cat odors. Air saturated with charcoal will kill fleas, or make them to somewhere else to live.

Abstract: A portable cat litter case having a bottom with upstanding walls and an interior. There is a top having walls depending from the top and an interior and an exterior. The bottom has a pair of side guards pivotally secured to the bottom walls. A pair of clips that are complementary to the side guards are provided and secured to the top interior. The clips receive the side guards when the top and the side guards are vertical. A liner bag is in the bottom and covers the side guards. Cat litter is in the bottom and the side guards can fold into the bottom and rest on the cat litter and the top can rest on the side guards. A latch locks the top to the bottom. The bottom has a handle on its exterior.

Abstract: A fan for cooling an engine is adjusted as a function of the engine speed. The fan has a hydraulic clutch in which a sliding adjustment is made as a function of the temperature of the engine coolant. The drive shaft of the hydraulic clutch is designed as a hollow shaft in which the coolant circulates. The hollow shaft also contains a thermostat which actuates the tappet of a valve in the hydraulic clutch to regulate the flow. The valve is preferably designed as a disk valve in contact with the return openings of the hydraulic clutch. In order to cool the hydraulic clutch, the pump wheel is designed as a hollow body which communicates with the liquid circulating in the hollow shaft.

Abstract: An internal combustion engine comprising an engine block defining a cylinder bore and including an exhaust passage communicating with the cylinder bore, a cylinder liner which is housed in the cylinder bore and which includes an exhaust port communicating with the engine block exhaust passage, and structure on one of the engine block and the cylinder liner for permitting one of the engine block and the cylinder liner to expand adjacent the exhaust port.

Abstract: An engine air cleaner inlet tube for bringing air from outside the engine compartment of an automotive vehicle to the engine includes an entry section with a generally hemispherical chamber for bringing air drawn from outside the engine compartment, a venturi section having a circular configuration coupled to and extending radially from the hemispherical chamber, and an exit section coupled to the venturi section, with the exit section being adapted for connection with an air cleaner system.

Abstract: A vehicle has an internal combustion engine, and a throttle flap and an idling fill level regulator communicating with the internal combustion engine. An apparatus for controlling an opening degree of the idling fill level regulator includes a regulating apparatus for regulating the opening degree of the idling fill level regulator under certain operating conditions, and a control apparatus for controlling the opening degree of the idling fill level regulator over an entire operating range in accordance with memorized control values as a function an opening degree of the throttle flap and a motor speed. The regulating apparatus supplies control signals in an idling motor speed governing range, being superimposed on control values of the control apparatus.

Abstract: A load adjustment device having a control element (11) which can act on a setting member (12), determines the output of an internal combustion engine, and cooperates with a driver (3) which is coupled to an accelerator pedal (1). In addition, the driver can be moved by an electric setting drive (15), having a desired-value detection element (7) associated with the driver and an actual-value detection element (13) which cooperates with said desired-value detection element and acts on the electric setting drive. The electric setting drive is adapted for control by an electronic control device (14) as a function of the values detected. In order to assure a movement of the control element which is free of reaction on the driver upon control of the electric setting drive, a switch clutch (10) is provided in accordance with the invention between driver and control element.

Abstract: A knock generation control system for engines has a knock sensor for detecting a knocking phenomenon occurring in an engine, a representative value detecting unit for detecting representative values V from output signals of the knock sensor which are effective for the detection of a knock, a standard deviation detecting unit for detecting a quantity SGM corresponding to a standard deviation of a frequency distribution of logarithmic conversion values lV of the representative values V, a cumulative percentage point detecting unit for detecting a value V.sub.P of a cumulative percentage point of the frequency distribution, a knock decision level setting unit for setting a knock decision level V.sub.KD in accordance with the detected quantity SGM and the detected value V.sub.P, a knock detecting unit for detecting generation of a knock in accordance with the representative values V and the knock decision level V.sub.

Abstract: In order to make the quantity of fuel in a cylinder approach a requested value with high accuracy, the characteristic of fuel transport is employed by use of a model in which all injected fuel adheres onto walls of the intake manifold and then a part of the fuel adhering to the walls is sucked off into the cylinder. By use of a respective model for each cylinder, the quantity of fuel injected into each cylinder is independently controlled so that the quantity of fuel in the cylinder is established to be a requested value.

Abstract: An internal combustion engine includes a feedback control system for effecting feedback control in order to enrich the air-fuel ratio during acceleration. A distinction device is provided for distinguishing the fuel in use by the internal combustion engine, and includes a control arrangement which distinguishes that the fuel in use is heavy gravity fuel when feedback signals sequentially produced by the feedback control system indicate that the air-fuel ratio has remained lean for at least a predetermined time after acceleration has been attempted.

Abstract: A fuel control system for an engine has a fuel injector which injects fuel into an intake manifold of the engine. A fuel injector controller determines the amount of fuel to be injected from the fuel injector so that the sum of the amount of the direct delivery part of the injected fuel which is directly fed to a combustion chamber of the engine from the injector and the amount of the drawn part fuel which has adhered to the well surface of the intake manifold, evaporates and then flows into the combustion chamber is a target amount of fuel to be actually fed to the combustion chamber and causes the fuel injector to inject the target amount of fuel.

Abstract: This invention relates to a fuel injection apparatus for an internal combustion engine, and more particularly to an improved control arrangement for a fuel injection arrangement. In accordance with the invention, an arrangement is disclosed for determining the mass of air taken into the engine crankcase chamber by calculating an average intake air mass which is based not on pressure measurements taken upon each crankshaft rotation individually, but on the arithmetical mean of such pressure measurements taken during a plurality of crankshaft rotations. Thus, a fuel injection control system is achieved which senses differences in crankcase pressure and which eliminates the effects of abnormal changes in crankcase pressure due to effects other than the amount of air inducted.

Abstract: An insulated coil (20) of wire (23) of a prescribed length and number of turns is positioned to surround a linearly-extending portion of a metal or plastic fuel conduit (10) associated with an internal combustion engine or conduit transporting a burner gas to a stove burner or furnace. The coil core (22) may be electrically conductive wire which is surrounded by electrical insulation or liquid electrolyte (31) contained in plastic tubing (30) which tubing is coiled around the fuel conduit (10). The use of the device is shown to increase the miles per gallon of fuel performance of an auto and to improve combustion emissions. In gas burner applications, the number of days of use from a standard volume gas cylinder has been substantially increased when the device is used.

Abstract: An internal combustion engine has a channel member such as a plenum chamber or cylinder head or the like with an inlet receiving air and fuel to form an air-fuel mixture and with a pair of outlets furnishing the air-fuel mixture to respective cylinders or groups of cylinders or to respective cylinder intake valve openings of two-intake engine cylinders or the like. A heating device mounted on the channel member has a heat-exchange surface which intercepts the air and fuel from the inlet to heat and fully vaporize the fuel to form the air-fuel mixture and also to divide the fuel mixture between the two outlets for furnishing the fuel mixture to the individual cylinders, groups of cylinders or intake valve openings.

Abstract: The invention relates to ignition circuit monitoring in an internal combustion engine, where a sensor signal is generated in the course of each ignition by an ignition current sensor (5), which is supplied via a pulse shaper (6) to a memory unit (7). An ignition computer (4) reads out the contents of the memory following each ignition or each sensor signal and resets the memory unit (7) prior to the next ignition. Thus, when the sensor signal is missing, the ignition computer (4) detects the lack of ignition and an appropriate control signal is made available for control actions.

Abstract: An acoustical lens for focusing ultrasonic energy having a transducer, a curved focussing lens and a voltage generator coupled with the transducer. The transducer is comprised of an array of piezoelectric crystal elements. The focussing lens has a concave upper surface and a planar bottom surface allowing the array of piezoelectric elements to be coupled to the bottom surface of the array. The piezoelectric elements receive voltage from the voltage generator and transmit an energy ray through the focussing lens producing a focussed energy beam.

Abstract: A hydraulic breaker includes a piston which is designed in the five-staged configuration including a first stage, a second stage, a third stage, a fourth stage and a fifth stage. The second stage is dimensioned to have a largest diameter, the fourth stage is dimensioned to have a larger diameter and the first stage, the third stage and the fifth stage are dimensioned to a same smallest diameter, respectively. A piston reversing chamber, a low pressure hydraulic chamber in which low pressure is normally present for the piston, a low speed pilot chamber for driving the piston at a low speed, a high speed pilot chamber for driving the piston at a high speed and a high pressure hydraulic chamber in which high pressure is normally present for the piston are sequentially formed in the space between the piston and the inner wall surface of a cylinder.

Abstract: The present invention provides a device for use in preparing lighted briquettes in the tray of a barbecue which comprises a rectangular sheet of bendable fire resistant material suitably a metal such as aluminum having a plurality of spaced holes extending over the surface thereof of said sheet in the operative condition of the device being in the form of a bent hollow open-ended cylinder and in the storage condition thereof being in substantially flat form said sheet being changeable from the operative condition to the storage condition by bending of the sheet to the essentially flat form and said sheet being changeable from the storage to the operative condition by bending of the sheet to the hollow cylindrical form.

Abstract: An ocular pressure-reducing device is used to compress the eyelids over the eyeball to help eliminate lymph and/or fluids in the eyelid and orbit, which have been injected or may have accumulated naturally, and which reduces intraocular pressure without primary pressure on the cornea. The device is a hollow bulb which is attached to an elastic band or other mechanism for accommodating placement around a patient's head. An indentation in the base of the bulb has a radius and a curvature such that the indentation fits over the cornea thereby preventing excessive pressure on the cornea. The bulb has a given wall strength which allows it to invaginate between 10 mmHg and 60 mmHg over a narrow range of pressure, thereby further preventing an excessive pressure application on the eye. The invaginated bulb presses against the lids and orbital structures to facilitate removal of fluids in these structures.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a splint suitable for immobilizing a leg of an animal such as a dog or a cat. The splint of the present invention can be easily adjusted to the length of the leg of the animal. The splint has holes therethrough which engage the underlying bandage to prevent the splint from slipping and which allow for ventilation of the splinted area. The splint is transparent, which allows viewing the bandage or limb without removing the splint.

Abstract: An inhalator device includes a housing in which an ultrasonic atomizer is disposed. A device delivers a medication to the ultrasonic atomizer. A mouthpiece is disposed downstream of the ultrasonic atomizer in flow direction of the medication defining a space between the ultrasonic atomizer and the mouthpiece. The housing has an air inlet opening formed therein communicating with the space downstream of the ultrasonic atomizer.

Abstract: A portable suction device for removing fluids blocking aspiration of a patient is disclosed. The device has a housing formed of a soft, but durable, material, a vacuum pump for generating suction, a battery pack for powering the pump, and a fluid container. A tube communicates the pump with the container to evacuate it, and another tube connects the evacuated container with the fluids blocking aspiration of the patient. The housing has a container support integrally attached thereto for supporting the container outside of the housing. The means for supporting is a non-rigid material like that of the housing, and has a closed cell material disposed in the non-rigid material for absorbing shocks to the container.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for facilitating the respiration of a patient are disclosed which are particularly useful in treating mixed and obstructive sleep apnea and certain cardiovascular conditions, among others, by increasing nasal air pressure delivered to the patient's respiratory passages just prior to inhalation and by subsequently decreasing the pressure to ease exhalation effort. The preferred apparatus includes a patient-coupled gas delivery device for pressurizing the patient's nasal passages at a controllable pressure, and a controller coupled with the delivery device having a pressure transducer for monitoring the nasal pressure and a microcontroller for selectively controlling the nasal pressure. In operation, the controller determines a point in the patient breathing cycle just prior to inhalation and initiates an increase in nasal pressure at that point in order to stimulate normal inhalation, and subsequently lowers the nasal pressure to ease exhalation efforts.

Abstract: A vent cycle indicator for a suction catheter formed by a sleeve connected between a collar having a wiper seal and a crosspiece. The suction catheter includes a vacuum connection member having a normally closed valve. A catheter tube is connected to the vacuum connection member and extends through the collar and crosspiece. The crosspiece is for connection to a ventilator such that during ventilation the indicator sleeve expands and contracts during the inspiration and expiration cycles. The protective sleeve may be provided between the collar and the vacuum connection member to keep the catheter tube enclosed.

Abstract: A rate responsive pacemaker and a pacing method for optimizing the pacing decay curve after a period of increased activity. The pacing method includes the steps of selecting a set of predetermined achievement criteria such as an achievement rate and an achievement time interval. The achievement rate is selected between an upper pacing rate and a first pacing switch rate threshold. The pacing method then determines whether the achievement criterion has been met. If the achievement criterion has been met, then the decay time constant of the decay curve changes from a first value to a second value, as the pacing rate drops below the first pacing switch rate threshold. A second pacing switch rate threshold lower than the first pacing switch rate threshold is then selected, and, if the achievement criteria have been met, then the decay time constant of the decay curve is modified from the second value to a third value, as the pacing rate drops below the second pacing switch rate threshold.

Abstract: A system for determining the value of a compositional parameter of blood, including a sensor for producing a signal related to the value of the compositional parameter. A computer analyzes the signal and produces an output representing the value of the compositional parameter of blood. There is a delayed response in the system such that the signal has a time-varying waveform that varies from an initial value to an equilibrated value. The equilibrated value is predicted by detecting the occurrence of an inflection point and then computing an estimate of the equilibrated value based upon the assumption that the waveform varies exponentially from the inflection point to the equilibrated value.

Abstract: In the ultrasonic bone testing apparatus disclosed herein, a pair of ultrasonic transducer assemblies are brought into contact with opposite sides of a patient's foot and each of the transducer assemblies includes, as an acoustic waveguide, a liquid filled bladder. The foot engaging end of each bladder is formed as a laterally projecting rounded cone so that, as the transducer assemblies are brought into contact with the foot, air is progressively and totally excluded from an enlarging area of contact. One or both of the transducer assemblies can be scanned with a small circular motion so that a variety of locations of the patient's foot can be sampled and the response can be analyzed.

Abstract: A method of measuring blood flow through tissue in a region of interest including the steps: injecting an ultrasonic tracer into the blood upstream of the region of interest and also upstream of a specified reference region; utilizing the tracer-produced echo intensity function to compute: (i) the mean transit time of the tracer through the region of interest; and (ii) the blood volume within the region of interest; and dividing the results of computation (ii) by computation (i) to produce a quantitative measurement of the blood flow through the tissue in the region of interest.

Abstract: A flexible disposable ultrasound transducer sheath for medical diagnostic instruments comprises a core having a central opening aligned to a core axis and contoured and dimensioned in cross section in correspondence with the cross section of a standard instrument shaft where the transducer is to be removably applied. A piezoelectric layer of flexible polyvinylidene fluoride is formed over the core and a first electrically conductive gold layer electrode is sandwiched between the piezoelectric layer and the outer core surface. A second conductive layer is formed over the piezoelectric layer and includes a plurality of conductive gold strip electrodes aligned with the axis of the core, the strips being separated one from the other circumferentially. The transducer, when driven with electrical pulses, is an ultrasound emitter. As a receiver, the transducer converts returning echoes into electrical signals. Alternative embodiments include inflatable balloons over the transducer or as an element of the transducer.

Abstract: A pressure transducer compensation system for compensating an offset and adjusting the sensitivity of the pressure transducer to a predetermined level. A reusable cable (160) connected to a pressure monitor (14) is intended for use with a plurality of disposable pressure transducers (12). In one embodiment, a connector (150) of the reusable cable includes a CPU (70), which determines the offset and self-heating errors of the pressure transducer during the first 30 seconds it is energized, stores the corrections in its internal memory and compensates the output signal produced by the pressure transducer for those errors and for variations in ambient temperature. A gain-set resistor (56) is included in a male modular phone plug (202) of a disposable cable that is integrally connected to the pressure transducer, and is used by the compensation circuit to control the signal produced by the pressure transducer, compensating for the characteristic sensitivity of the device.

Abstract: An automatic sphygmomanometer for measuring the blood pressure of a subject based on Korotkoff sounds is adapted to analyze the transition of the pulse signal amplitude of a detected cuff pressure signal, set a range in which systolic blood pressure of the subject is capable of residing and a range in which diastolic blood pressure of the subject is capable of residing, and evaluate, based on appearance and disappearance of the Korotkoff sounds, whether the blood pressures that have determined reside in the set ranges. Preferably, the sphygmomanometer is provided with two amplifying/filtering circuits and two discriminating circuits using threshold values suited to each of the frequency characteristics of Korotkoff sound signals in the vicinity of the systolic and diastolic blood pressures. This improves the precision with which each blood pressure is determined.

Abstract: An implantable device assists in the diagnosis of myocardial ischemia of a human heart and includes a plurality of electrodes and a like plurality of sense amplifiers for generating an electrogram for each of the electrodes. A digital to analog converter reads the voltage magnitudes of the electrogram ST segments which are then stored in a memory. An implantable receiver/transmitter is arranged to transmit the magnitudes of the electrogram ST segments to a nonimplanted external receiver.

Abstract: Disclosed is a test strip for measuring tear production. The test strip comprises a generally flat sheet material having one end rounded to be semi-circular shaped and being printed with a folding line along which said strip is bent prior to the measurement operation. The test strip is further printed with graduation marks and a scale for indicating the amount of absorbed tear. In a preferred embodiment, provided at either one or both corners of the end opposite to the rounded end is a mark indicating that the particular test strip is used for measuring one of either the left or right eye. The sheet material is preferably made of filter paper. The test strip has no notched portion which would weaken the sheet material and yet may be folded precisely along the fold line prior to use. The graduation marks and scales printed on the test strip enable easy measurement of the length of the portion wetted by tear fluid.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for monitoring the location of a fetus in a birth canal during labor. The conductors of a fetal monitor probe, such as a fetal heartbeat monitor electrode, are marked with calibration means corresponding to predetermined distances from a babyward end of the probe. The babyward end of the probe is attached to the baby. During labor, the position and progress of the fetus in the birth canal may be inferred by observing the calibration means relative to the outer end of the birth canal.

Abstract: A system to block ears to suppress or attenuate sound from entering the ears includes ear blocking structures which are movable between a first position which does not completely block the auditory canals of the user, and a second position which causes the auditory canals to be substantially blocked. An actuator is connectable to the ear blocking members and moves the ear blocking members to the second position upon instruction. The instruction is created by the user causing a switch to be closed signaling the actuator to operate. The ears are semiautomatically blocked without the requirement of the user to manually insert an earplug into the ear, or place an ear cup over the ear.

Abstract: Filter cigarettes are mass-produced in a machine wherein parallel groups of coaxial plain cigarettes and filter plugs are moved at right angles to their axes through a first station wherein their components are connected to each other by uniting bands, thereupon through a second station wherein the resulting filter cigarettes of double unit length are severed midway across their filter plugs to yield pairs of filter cigarettes of unit length which advance in two rows and are mirror images of each other, and through a third station wherein the filter cigarettes of one row are turned end-for-end and placed between successive non-inverted filter cigarettes. The mutual spacing of groups, filter cigarettes of double unit length and/or of filter cigarettes of unit length is reduced at least once, preferably twice, namely the first time between the first and second stations and the second time at the third station.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a smokable article which is intended to permit the smoker to avoid the condensates usually present in the smoke while retaining the taste experience familiar from conventional cigarettes; this is achieved in that a sheet-like carrier element coated with an aroma-carrying material and having a low thermal capacity is brought into direct thermal contact with a heat source comprising a hollow cylindrical combustion element having at least one passage therethrough wherein said passage is separate and distinct from the hollow portion; in the pauses between draws a cavity serves as collecting container or reservoir for the aromatic substances developed which can be inhaled in the next draw by the smoker.

Abstract: A smoking material that comprises a dried preparation of Laurus nobilis or Nelumbo garetin or their combination, particularly including their leaves. This smoking material can be used alone or in combination with various herbal extracts, honey and can be combined into mixtures with smoking tobacco, if desired. It is made by a process in which plant parts, particularly the leaves, are roasted for at least about eight hours at a temperature of about 100.degree. C. to 120.degree. C. The smoking material, when smoked, is similar in taste to tobacco, but has extremely low concentrations of the harmful components present in tobacco and, in particular, is free of nicotine and its metabolites.

Abstract: In a wig, a wig base is made of an artificial skin and/or a net. A plurality of hairs are planted to an outer convex surface of the wig base. The hairs are inconspicuous in color with respect to the wig base, at root areas of the hairs which are planted to the wig base. Thus, knots of the hairs planted to the wig base are inconspicuous so that there is provided a natural hairline.

Abstract: A compact case has a lid which forms a joint with an associated base when the lid is in its closed position relative to the base. A magnetic sealing mechanism positively seals substantially the entire length of the joint. The magnetic sealing mechanism can also function to releasably and moveably secure cosmetic product containers and cosmetic implements and accessories to the compact case.

Abstract: A face shield for protecting a person's face from hair spray and the like has a sheet of thin flexible transparent material of planar generally quadrilateral shape which is of sufficient dimension to cover the face of a user and an elongate narrow rectangular support handle which is secured vertically to the sheet intermediate the side edges thereof and extends a distance above and below the bottom edge of the sheet. The handle is of sufficient rigidity to strengthen the sheet in a vertical plane to prevent it from bending about a horizontal axis. The sheet is sufficiently thin such that it may be selectively cut by a scissors or similar implement to substantially fit and provide adequate protection for various facial shapes and sizes and to provide a top edge to closely conform to the shape of the hair line of the user.

Abstract: Apparatus for washing bottles, in which a transfer conveyor define an endless loop belt between an inlet end and outlet end. A plurality of cups are carried along the endless loop. An inlet elevator adjacent the inlet end supplies a quantity of bottles in an open end down orientation to the cups. Fluid injectors are movably mounted on the conveyor to position a nozzle into each open end down oriented bottle to supply fluid to inside of the bottles. An outlet elevator is adjacent outlet end for removing bottles from the apparatus in an open end up orientation.

Abstract: A surface cleaning device utilizing a pressurized flow of cleaning fluid from opposite ends of a rotatable shaft disposed under a generally cylindrical shallow housing, said nozzles being disposed at transverse angles to the elongate axis of said rotatable shaft such that the thrust created by discharge of cleaning fluid therefrom causes rotation of said rotatable shaft and thus cleaning action on a surface to be cleaned. In operation, the pressurized flow of cleaning fluid is passed through a swivel connection associated with the housing and into the rotating arm/nozzle apparatus. The cleaning fluid discharging from the discharge nozzles creates a thrust, and the angle of inclination of the discharge port of the nozzles relative to vertical creates a thrust and hence self-rotating motion to the nozzle/rotating arm apparatus.

Abstract: The invention relates to a collapsible umbrella having at least one pair of anopy rod parts (1,2), which extend alongside one another and are guided so as to be displaceable on one another, within each linkage of the canopy-supporting linkage frame. One of the canopy rod parts (2) is composed of wire, and guided on the other rod part (1) by means of a bight (2e) of the wire which embraces the other rod part and is formed with hooks (2f,2g) which can be spread to allow the bight to be fitted transversely on the other rod.

Abstract: In an umbrella cover, in which each of a plurality of short connector cylinders has its diameter gradually decreased, inner protuberances are provided at the inner circumferences of the small diameter sides or ends and outer protuberances are provided at the outer circumferences of the large diameter sides or ends of the cylinders. The cylinders are concentrically fitted to each other, and each of the adjacent connector cylinders receives the inner protuberance of an inner connector cylinder. Each of the connector cylinders is provided at its inner surface adjacent to its large diameter end, with abutting protuberances projected in a circumferential direction. Additionally, at small diameter positions, spaced apart from each of the abutting protuberances by a predetermined amount, each of the connector cylinders is provided with a plurality of latching protuberances projected along a circumferential direction.