Patent for a boiler scraper and cleaner. This invention is designed to remove incrustation and sediment that collects on the bottom of boilers. Illustration included.

Patent for a couch-bed, which can be folded out into a single or double bed or have a reclining back on the couch. It also has a shelf pullout for use as bedside table that is stored in the bottom of the couch.

Patent for a can cover. Illustration included.

Patent for "carriages or other vehicles, and more particularly to that portion of a vehicle which is known as the 'prop stump or stop,' which usually projects outward on each side of the vehicle-body at the rear end of the seat for support of the vehicle-hood props when the hood or top is lowered." (lines 9-16). Includes instructions and illustrations.

Patent for improved functions of bath-brushes, with instructions and illustrations.

Patent for a collapsible crate. Illustration included.

Patent for a churn. Illustration included.

Patent for a new and improved churn. This design consists "[i]n combination with the standard and bracket, the hinged arm having [a] bearing, oscillating driving-wheel, belt, belt-tightening wheels, dasher-wheel, and socket" (lines 94-98). It facilitates churning.

Patent for a new and improved trip-gear for power-presses. This design "consists in providing the lever connected with an ordinary reversible gearing with a cord and weight, so that when in its normal position and not in use the small friction-wheel will not come in contact with either face of the large friction wheel. The upper end of the press is provided with a notched metallic plate connected with the reversing-lever, so that when the follow-block in its upward passage passes the said plate the lever will be released, and, falling back into its normal position by the press, is immediately stopped" (lines 24-36).

Patent for an improved fumigator that's primary purpose is to kill insects within corn storage units without damaging either the corn or the building. Illustration included.

Patent for improvement of andirons, to accommodate fuel or sticks of wood and to burn either wood or coal fuel. Includes illustrations.

Patent for a combination wrench that combines a sliding-jaw wrench with a tallow box, hammer, nail claw, horseshoe-pick, plow-paddle, and screwdriver.

Patent for a boring-drill that can be manufactured cheaply. It provides sufficient space for the casing to follow it in order to prevent the walls from caving in. The patent includes instructions and illustrations.

Patent for an envelope "whereby the cutting device acts as a partial ejector for the letter" (lines 12-13), including illustrations and instructions.

Patent for "certain new and useful improvements in process of and apparatus for sizing or classifying comminuted material according to the size of the particles of the material" (lines 13-16), including illustrations and instructions.

Patent for car replacer. It is an improvement to "what is called a 'frog' or a 'shoe'." The invention involves "two frogs or shoes which are used together" and are used "in such a way as to replace a car truck. . ." (Ledbetter)

A thermionic converter having an emitter, a collector, and a source of cesium vapor is provided, wherein the source of cesium vapor is differentially heated so that said source has a hotter end and a cooler end, with cesium vapor evaporating from said hotter end into the space between the emitter and the collector and with cesium vapor condensing at said cooler end. The condensed cesium vapor migrates through a porous element from the cooler end to the hotter end.

A method and apparatus are disclosed for the direct conversion of energy by thermovoltaic energy conversion having first and second tubesheets, at least one photon emitter plate secured to and extending from the first tubesheet, at least one cold plate secured to and extending from the second tubesheet, a plurality of thermovoltaic cells disposed along oppositely disposed exterior surfaces of the cold plate, and means cooperating with the tubesheet for maintaining a vacuum between the photon emitter plate and the cold plate.

A method is provided for determining the fission heat flux of a prime specimen inserted into a specimen of a test reactor. A pair of thermocouple test specimens are positioned at the same level in the holder and a determination is made of various experimental data including the temperature of the thermocouple test specimens, the temperature of bulk water channels located in the test holder, the gamma scan count ratios for the thermocouple test specimens and the prime specimen, and the thicknesses of the outer clads, the fuel fillers, and the backclad of the thermocouple test specimen. Using this experimental data, the absolute value of the fission heat flux for the thermocouple test specimens and prime specimen can be calculated.

A power controller device which uses a voltage-to-frequency converter in conjunction with a zero crossing detector to linearly and proportionally control AC power being supplied to a load. The output of the voltage to frequency converter controls the reset input of a R-S flip flop, while an 0 crossing detector controls the set input. The output of the flip flop triggers a monostable multivibrator controlling the SCR or TRIAC firing circuit connected to the load. Logic gates prevent the direct triggering of the multivibrator in the rare instance where the reset and set inputs of the flip flop are in coincidence. The control circuit can be supplemented with a control loop, providing compensation for line voltage variations.

A thermovoltaic energy conversion device and related method for converting thermal energy into an electrical potential are disclosed. An interference filter is provided on a semiconductor thermovoltaic cell to pre-filter black body radiation. The semiconductor thermovoltaic cell includes a P/N junction supported on a substrate which converts incident thermal energy below the semiconductor junction band gap into electrical potential. The semiconductor substrate is doped to provide a plasma filter which reflects back energy having a wavelength which is above the band gap and which is ineffectively filtered by the interference filter, through the P/N junction to the source of radiation thereby avoiding parasitic absorption of the unusable portion of the thermal radiation energy.

A nuclear reactor core fuel element is composed of nanophase high temperature materials. An array of the fuel elements in rod form are joined in an open geometry fuel cell that preferably also uses such nanophase materials for the cell structures. The particular high temperature nanophase fuel element material must have the appropriate mechanical characteristics to avoid strain-related failure even at high temperatures, in the order of about 3,000 F. Preferably, the reactor type is a pressurized or boiling water reactor and the nanophase material is a high temperature ceramic or ceramic composite. Nanophase metals, or nanophase metals with nanophase ceramics in a composite mixture, also have desirable characteristics, although their temperature capability is not as great as with all ceramic nanophase material. Combinations of conventional or nanophase metals and conventional or nanophase ceramics can be employed as long as there is at least one nanophase material in the composite. The nuclear reactor so constructed has a number of high strength fuel particles, a nanophase structural material for supporting a fuel rod at high temperature, a configuration to allow passive cooling in the event of a primary cooling system failure, an ability to retain a coolable geometry even at high …

A method is presented for improving the priming specificity of an oligonucleotide primer that is non-unique in a nucleic acid template which includes selecting a continuous stretch of several nucleotides in the template DNA where one of the four bases does not occur in the stretch. This also includes bringing the template DNA in contract with a non-unique primer partially or fully complimentary to the sequence immediately upstream of the selected sequence stretch. This results in polymerase-mediated differential extension of the primer in the presence of a subset of deoxyribonucleotide triphosphates that does not contain the base complementary to the base absent in the selected sequence stretch. These reactions occur at a temperature sufficiently low for allowing the extension of the non-unique primer. The method causes polymerase-mediated extension reactions in the presence of all four natural deoxyribonucleotide triphosphates or modifications. At this high temperature discrimination occurs against priming sites of the non-unique primer where the differential extension has not made the primer sufficiently stable to prime. However, the primer extended at the selected stretch is sufficiently stable to prime.

Disclosed are transition metal electrodes for electrochemical cells using gel-state and solid-state polymers. The electrodes are suitable for use in primary and secondary cells. The electrodes (either negative electrode or positive electrode) are characterized by uniform dispersion of the transition metal at the nanoscale in the polymer. The transition metal moiety is structurally amorphous, so no capacity fade should occur due to lattice expansion/contraction mechanisms. The small grain size, amorphous structure and homogeneous distribution provide improved charge/discharge cycling performance, and a higher initial discharge rate capability. The cells can be cycled at high current densities, limited only by the electrolyte conductivity. A method of making the electrodes (positive and negative), and their usage in electrochemical cells are disclosed.