Abstract: An electric soldering iron having an elongated handle with an electric heating element attached therein and including a removable tip member located to receive heat from the heating element and a holding member to hold the tip relative to the heating element is improved by forming said heating element as an elongated flat blade heating element having a elongated flat planar heated surface. The heating element is so located in the handle to extend outwardly from the handle. The tip member includes a body having an elongated flat planar heat transfer surface which fits against the planar heated surface of the heating element and receives heat therefrom. The tip member further includes an operative tip extending away from the remainder of the tip member. A retaining tube detachably secured at one end to the handle fits over the heating element and tip member and except for its operative tip and maintains them in a fixed relationship with respect to each other and to the handle.

Abstract: A medical instrument including a cautery portion for use in performing an anterior capsulotomy during extracapsular cataract extraction surgery. A substantially rigid stem portion is connected between the cautery portion and a handle portion, and is provided with bends to facilitate maneuverability of the cautery portion and to avoid substantial interference with the surgical field of vision by the handle portion. An electrical path is defined through the handle portion and stem portion to the cautery portion so as to permit electrical current to be supplied to the cautery portion so as to rapidly heat same to a burning temperature so as to burn a circle in the anterior lens capsule of the eye during surgery. The stem portion and handle portion are covered with an electrically-insulative material.

Abstract: An electric soldering iron includes an electric heating element mounted on an elongated stem rigidly secured in cantilever fashion at one end to a casing having a pistol grip handle. A soldering bit surrounds the heating element in spaced relation thereto for receiving heat essentially by radiation therefrom and is supported on one end of a protective tube resiliently mounted at its other end to the casing independently of the stem. A vibrator elastically mounted in the casing is coupled to the protective tube for vibrating the soldering bit at a frequency of 10-100 Hz without effecting vibration of the heating element. The handle is provided with a magnet for maintaining the soldering iron in an upright position on a stand comprising an iron plate adapted to be secured to a surface by vacuum cups. The soldering iron is provided with an adjustable light for illuminating the work area and an electronic heater control for regulating the soldering bit temperature.

Abstract: A collapsible electric curling iron includes an elongated hollow handle open at one end and an elongated, generally cylindrical heat conductive housing mounted on the handle for movement between an operative use position where the housing extends out of the handle through the open end and an inoperative storage position where the housing is confined within the handle. A cap on the inner end of the housing cooperates with a collar and guides on the handle to prevent side-to-side or "rocking" movement of the housing in a direction transverse to the longitudinal axis of the handle during movement between the operative and inoperative positions. The housing has a longitudinal bore, generally polygonal in transverse cross section, which accommodates a thin planar electric heating element placed diagonally across the bore and having side edges engaged in diametrically spaced corners of the bore.

Abstract: A solder extractor includes a tubular heater and removable tip carrying front unit having a rear cowl of heat insulating material and a relatively oblique rear unit including a tubular handle of heat insulated material and having a front portion with longitudinal outer ribs telescoping the cowl and separably secured thereto by screws. A transparent solder receiver tube is separably housed in the handle and its front end releasably engages a seal plug carried by a conveyor tube extending from the heater bore and its rear end is sealed by a tube coupling carrying closure member which is releasably locked to the handle member. A cooperating window in the cowl and handle permit continuous viewing of the juncture of the tip extension and the solder receiver tube. The handle has a longitudinal channel which slidably houses an electric cable connected to the heater and permits the handle to be slid rearwardly on the cable when the handle is detached from the cowl.

Abstract: A hand-held, trigger-actuated gun heats solder to be removed from a workpiece and sucks the molten solder from a hollow tip through a small-diameter suction tube into a larger-diameter chamber from which it may be removed at intervals through a discharge tube. The tip placed in contact with the solder is heated by a heater of the type used in soldering irons. A cylinder communicates with the chamber in such manner that solder is not drawn into the cylinder. The piston in the cylinder is actuated either by a solenoid energized when the trigger is pulled or by a mechanical linkage connected to the trigger.

Abstract: An electric soldering iron is disclosed incorporating a front end to provide a heated working tip, the elongate, somewhat cylindrical structure of the tip defining an annular groove to receive a ring for retaining engagement with a threaded collar. The portion of the front end remote from the tip terminates in a radial-flange fastener structure which is affixed to the ends of a pair of elongated handle members that mate together to define a somewhat symmetrical handle, having an irregular internal passage for anchoring the cord (energizing electrical conductors) and relieving stress. As disclosed, a pair of sliding collars are disposed on the handle members for locking the assembly together. One of the collars (adjacent the front end) is internally tapered and defines ridges to engage the handle members so as to provide air spaces for heat shielding and insulating the handle. The handle defines corners as a result of a triangular sectional configuration to inhibit rolling from a rest position.

Abstract: A miniature thermal wire stripper having a pair of heater elements in the form of hollow tubes each with a heater coil disposed therein and affixed to a pair of spring loaded handles for contacting and subsequently melting through thermal (e.g. thermoplastic) insulation about a wire from which insulation is to be stripped. A pair of wire stripping clamping members in the form of blades respectively attached to the hollow tubes have semi-circular recesses in the clamping edge thereof. In one embodiment, the circuit for the heater elements is completed through the blades so that the blades are heated only when held together in contact with each other or with the wire being stripped. In another embodiment the implement resembles a pair of tweezers having particularly shaped blades at the operative end which are configured to serve the purpose of the particular function for which the implement is designed.

Abstract: A solder removing bit for use in melting solder by heat of the bit and for removing the solder by suction includes an elongated suction pipe having a suction bore extending therethrough with the pipe having an open end serving as an inlet to the bore. A tubular metallic bit surrounds the open end portion of the pipe and a tubular electric heater surrounds the bit. The end of the heater is spaced from the end of the bit to define a work contacting end portion on the bit. The end portion of the bit is provided with a coating of fused silica or porcelain enamel to render the end portion of the bit electrically insulative.

Abstract: In an electrical soldering iron having a soldering tip which is heatable to a predetermined operating temperature by means of an electrical heater element and in which electrical heating and control circuits are provided to supply electric current to the heater element in response to predetermined changes in temperature of the soldering tip an electrically conducting sensing element is operatively connected with the soldering tip having a resistance which varies directly with changes in its temperature. The heating circuit has a controlled rectifier as a switch and the control circuit is adapted to regulate said controlled rectifier to open and close the heating circuit in response to a predetermined change in the resistance of the sensing element. The control circuit includes a bridge circuit in which a bias compensating diode is connected to compensate for bias of the controlled rectifier.