Abstract: An apparatus used in the treatment of spinal fractures and scoliosis. A threaded rod carries 2 or more sleeves, each sleeve surrounding a portion of the rod and slideable along the entire length of the rod. Each sleeve engages a hook to interconnect the rod with the hook. The hook includes a base for engaging the sleeve. The base has a bore therethrough which receives the sleeve, and a slot is located parallel to and communicating with the bore. The slot has a width which is greater than the diameter of the rod and less than the outside diameter of the sleeve so that the rod can be placed into the slotted base of the hook and held in position by the sleeve which is slipped over the rod and into the bore. A projecting hook portion is integrally connected with the base and is used to engage the bone of the spinal column. A locking system in the form of threaded nuts engages the rod securing the position of the sleeve so that the entire hook assembly may be held in place with respect to the rod.

Abstract: A device for controlling the curvature of an end section in an endoscope is provided with tension control members for regulating the tensions in the actuating wires and adjustment members for defining the maximum movement of the end section. The end section is connected by two wires extending through a flexible pipe to a manual operating section. The manual operating section has a knob by means of which a pinion gear is rotated. The pinion gear meshes with two parallel rack gears. The two wires are respectively connected to one of the ends of each of the two rack gears by means of the tension control members. Each tension control member includes a wire stopper secured to a corresponding wire end and a wire control cylinder engagable with the wire stopper but allowing the wire stopper to be freely movable within the wire control cylinder when the wire is slack. The wire control cylinders are threaded onto bolts extending from the rack gears.

Abstract: An improved turnbuckle assembly comprising a one-piece generally tubular stamped clip and a nut member mounted to a first axial end of said clip for rotative motion relative thereto is provided. The other axial end of said clip is adapted to receive and retain the end of a flexible cable, such as a multi-strand metallic brake cable, having an enlarged ring or sleeve member permanently attached thereto. The improvement comprises providing a multiplicity of axially extending slits in the first axial end of the stamped clip which allows the bearing area for retaining the nut member against axial forces to be increased while permitting relative ease of assembly. Preferably, the bearing areas will comprise circumferentially extending radially raised ribs having a surface thereof extending radially inwardly toward said first axial end of said clip.

Abstract: Bolster re-enforcement systems, applicable both to new and existing bolster designs, provide for pre-stressing the bottom bolster center plate region utilizing lugs transmitting tension forces in opposition to the stress pattern applied to the center region of the bolster as the result of vertical loading associated with normal operating conditions.

Abstract: A tensioning linkage which includes a pair of flexible elements each having an end secured to threaded elements which are threaded into opposite ends of a turnbuckle sleeve. The turnbuckle sleeve carries a weight which opposes rotation of the turnbuckle sleeve about its longitudinal axis in a direction of rotation which causes the threaded elements to unthread in the sleeve. Each of the flexible elements carries an attachment plate at its end opposite the end to which the threaded element is secured.

Abstract: An adjustable coupler is on opposite ends of a cable for securing a pre-established tension in the cable. Such pre-adjusted tension is effected by conventional tensioning mechanism applied between a pair of nuts threaded on opposite ends of the cable. The coupler itself involves an elongated turnable coupling body which spans ends of the cable and in which a first nut is threaded in one of its ends and a second nut is threaded in its other end. The first nut is engageable with abutment means on one of the cable ends inside of the coupling unit. The second nut is threaded on both the cable and in the coupling body and is secured to the coupling body such that turning of the coupling body results in its movement about the axis of the cable to cause the first nut to engage the abutment means at which time the coupler is then adjusted to maintain the pre-adjusted tension. Thereafter the tensioning mechanism may be removed.

Abstract: An improved aligning device for machines, in which a support body supporting a machine pedestal is guided in a threaded portion of a base body anchored to or in the ground, and is penetrated centrally by a tension rod, the support body and the tension rod being interconnected through an entrainment device, and the support body being arranged to be vertically adjusted also with the machine placed thereon.

Abstract: A container lashing system for fastening shipboard containers is provided having a rigid elongated lashing bar with at least one generally ball shaped end and at least one securing fitting having a corresponding generally ball shaped socket with a keyhole shaped opening admitting the ball shaped end and adjacent portion of lashing bar into the socket for securing the end in the socket.

Abstract: This invention relates to an improved pivotal coupling in which the rotational connection between the two coupling parts is defined by a cylindrical portion on one coupling part having a plurality of axially spaced circumferential grooves formed on the outer wall thereof and engaged by a plurality of complementary ridges formed on the inner wall of a bore formed in the other coupling part to contain the two parts against relative axial movement without restricting rotational movement therebetween.

Abstract: An improved drive system is described for use in coupling a drive means to a driven element. The system includes a novel drive rod with threadedly connected portions which permit an adjustment of the drive rod length with an independent adjustment of a spring loaded coupling for permitting the rod to shorten when the driven member encounters an obstruction which exerts more than a predetermined obstructive force on the drive system. The drive rod is useful, for example, in operating an article transfer machine such as one having an oscillating egg transfer head. The drive rod length adjustment adjusts the end positions of the path of motion of the transfer head. The adjustable spring loaded coupling in the drive rod permits a temporary interruption in the movement of the driven head preventing injury to the operator or damage to the machine where an operator's hand or some other object inadvertently enters the path of the transfer head.

Abstract: Facia plates are mounted on building structures through the agency of a suspension element in the form of a length of flexible wire rope (cable) with an externally-threaded sleeve at each end. One sleeve is threaded into a mating sleeve in the facia plate and the other is adjustably engaged with an element capable of hooked engagement with means on the building structure. This adjustable engagement allows for variation of the effective length of the rope.

Abstract: A stretching screw comprising two attachment sections arranged for displacement relative one another and having a stop means arranged in the second attachment section so as to prevent turning movements of said second attachment section relative to said first attachment section upon displacement of said sections relative to one another. The stretching screw is self-locking and may be easily adjusted with one hand with the aid of e.g. a spanner.