Did You Know...
...that several people are credited with the invention of the flush toilet? Most people have heard of Thomas Crapper (1837-1910), the sanitary engineer who invented the valve-and-siphon arrangement that made the modern toilet possible. Another claimant to "the throne" was British inventor Alexander Cumming who patented a toilet in 1775. Then there's a nameless Minoan (a native of ancient Crete) who lived 4,000 years ago who supposedly was ahead of his time and created the first flush toilet!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 5315113 | Scanning and high resolution x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and imaging An instrument for surface analysis includes a gun for selectively focusing an electron beam on an anode spot, or rastering the beam across an array of such spots, to generate x-rays. A concave monochromator focuses an energy peak of the x-rays to a specim... | 05/24/1994 |
| 5218262 | Apparatus for retaining an electrode by a magnetically shielded magnet In an electrode assembly, an electrode holder has a forward end thereof affixed coaxially to an electrode tip. An attachment member is affixed to the holder rearwardly of the electrode. A retaining assembly includes an outer cup component, an inner cup co... | 06/08/1993 |
| 5218428 | Optical transmittance apparatus for fluids An optical transmittance apparatus has a pair of reference channels of glass rods and a pair of sample channels containing sample fluid. A beam splitter and mirror pass a first portion of an incident beam through an ingoing reference channel, and a second... | 06/08/1993 |
| 5213301 | Suspension system for isolating vibrations A suspension system for isolating a platform from external vibrations includes spring assemblies suspending the platform. In each spring assembly an elongated outer coil spring is suspended at an upper end thereof from a support structure. A tube is dispo... | 05/25/1993 |
| 5184525 | Mechanism for positioning a carrier A mobile component carrier in an instrument includes a disk with a scalloped periphery. A larger bearing and a smaller bearing are mounted on a support structure. The larger bearing has a radius greater, and the smaller bearing has a radius less than that... | 02/09/1993 |
| 5173742 | Double beam detector system for liquid chromatography A double beam detector system for liquid chromatography includes a light source and slits to effect two beams of radiation symmetrical to an optical axis and focused through a common point. A concave reflective dispersion grating is disposed on the optica... | 12/22/1992 |
| 5148986 | High pressure thermal spray gun A high velocity thermal spray gun includes a nozzle member injecting an annular flow of combustible mixture at high pressure into a constricted gas cap. An outer flow of air is injected adjacent to the gas cap wall. Powder is fed axially from the nozzle m... | 09/22/1992 |
| 5145293 | Powder pickup device with extended life A powder pickup device has a tube formed of an elastomeric tube wall with an orifice therein receptive of powder from a vessel so as to direct powder into a carrier gas in a central passage in the tube. A tubular shell supports the tube and has an apertur... | 09/08/1992 |
| 5140005 | Ceramic superconductive powder A superconductive oxide powder is produced by a method comprising spray drying a slip to form agglomerates, feeding the agglomerates sequentially through a first and a second oxygen supported combustion flame for fusing the fine particles in the agglomera... | 08/18/1992 |
| 5131611 | Method and apparatus for reactionless rotation An object mounted on a carrier constitute a rotationally free system such as a telescope on a space vehicle. A separation vector is directed from the center-of-mass of the carrier to the center-of-mass of the object. The object is rotated through a select... | 07/21/1992 |
| 5126205 | Powder of plastic and treated mineral A thermal spray powder is formed of granules of a silicon aluminum alloy each having bonded thereto discrete particles of a neoalkoxy zirconate type of organo-zirconate. A modified polyester powder may be blended with the mineral granules, in which case t... | 06/30/1992 |
| 5122182 | Composite thermal spray powder of metal and non-metal Two constituent powders of a powder blend for thermal spraying are in the form of composite particles containing subparticles of nickel alloy and benoite for clearance control coatings. The composite particles are formed by spray drying. In one embodiment... | 06/16/1992 |
| 5118941 | Apparatus and method for locating target area for electron microanalysis Target area on a specimen surface is located in an electron microanalyzer system that includes an electron energy analyzer and an analyzer detector. An electron gun impinges a rastering beam of incident electrons across the surface, a secondary electron d... | 06/02/1992 |
| 5098196 | Circuit for heating and sensing with a single element A circuit for differential calorimetry includes a pair of resistance elements in a bridge circuit. Separate DC heating currents are effected in each element by high impedance current sources. An AC voltage is applied to the bridge. In measuring AC differe... | 03/24/1992 |
| 5099116 | Optical device for measuring displacement In optical device for measuring displacement an optical grating is formed of alternating transparent and opaque stripes having equal widths. The grating is in an aperture plane with the stripes parallel to a central plane that is perpendicular to the aper... | 03/24/1992 |
| 5079043 | Method for spraying a coating on a disk In a method to spray a coating of uniform thickness onto a spinning disk, a point is located spacially on the spinning disk at a distance from the center equal to about half of a spray stripe width plus half of the disk radius. The spray stream is moved i... | 01/07/1992 |
| 5077481 | Optical probe for measuring light transmission of liquid An optical probe is for measurement of light transmission of liquid. A tubular housing three equally configured legs defining three arcuately spaced openings in the housing wall. A solid cylindrical member formed of glass or fused silica has a flat transp... | 12/31/1991 |
| 5074469 | Wire pistol The invention relates to a wire pistol comprising a wire feed mechanism including a wire feed pulley rotated by a DC motor and a counterpulley for biasing the wire into engagement with the feed pulley. It is an object of the invention to provide a wire pi... | 12/24/1991 |
| 5066533 | Boron nitride membrane in wafer structure and process of forming the same A laminated structure includes a wafer member with a membrane attached thereto, the membrane being formed of substantially hydrogen-free boron nitride having a nominal composition B3 N. The structure may be a component in a mechanical device fo... | 11/19/1991 |
| 5059095 | Turbine rotor blade tip coated with alumina-zirconia ceramic A rotor blade is for a gas turbine engine having a plurality of rotor blades and a substantially coaxial shroud encompassing the tips of the blades. A ceramic layer is bonded to the blade tip, the ceramic layer consisting of a combination of aluminum oxid... | 10/22/1991 |
| 5056886 | Optical switching device An optical switching device includes a first optical fiber terminating in a first window, and a plurality of second optical fibers each terminating in a corresponding second window. A concave mirror is selectively positionable with conjugate foci located ... | 10/15/1991 |
| 5049450 | Aluminum and boron nitride thermal spray powder A composite thermal spray powder for abradable coatings is formed as homogeneously agglomerated particles. Each agglomerated particle consists of pluralities of subparticles of boron nitride and subparticles of aluminum or aluminum alloy bonded with an or... | 09/17/1991 |
| 5044860 | Analysis of organic material This invention relates to apparatus for quantitatively analyzing a gaseous mixture for its components. A predetermined volume of a gaseous mixture of combustion products component is collected in a gas mixer up to a preselected pressure. A portion of the ... | 09/03/1991 |
| 5032724 | Multichannel charged-particle analyzer A charged-particle energy analyzer includes a hollow axisymmetrical body with an annular opening therein receptive of input electrons from a cylindrical mirror analyzer, the electrons having a distribution of electron energies and a range of electron traj... | 07/16/1991 |
| 5023804 | Method and apparatus for comparing spectra In a method and a system for analyzing spectral data including a spectrophotometer and a spectral detector, a data station receives first transmittance spectrum data points and has a file register containing second transmittance spectrum data points. The ... | 06/11/1991 |
| 5014916 | Angular gas cap for thermal spray gun A gas cap for a thermal spray gun has a passage therethrough including an entrance channel, an exit channel, and an intermediate channel connecting between the entrance and exit channels. The entrance channel is cylindrical on an entrance axis, and the ex... | 05/14/1991 |
| 5013883 | Plasma spray device with external powder feed The front face of the nozzle of a plasma spray device has a shallow annular recession therein. The recession is bounded inwardly by an extended portion of the nozzle, outwardly by a ring member and rearwardly by an inner surface. The ring member has there... | 05/07/1991 |
| 5013528 | Analysis of organic material Apparatus is disclosed for quantitatively analyzing a gaseous mixture for its components. A predetermined volume of a gaseous mixture of combustion products component is collected in a gas mixer up to a preselected pressure. A portion of the mixture is di... | 05/07/1991 |
| 5006321 | Thermal spray method for producing glass mold plungers Manufacture of glass mold plungers utilizes a thermal spray gun having combustion chamber with an open channel for propelling combustion products into the ambient atmosphere at supersonic velocity. The method comprises injecting into the chamber a combust... | 04/09/1991 |
| 4999225 | High velocity powder thermal spray method for spraying non-meltable materials A method for producing a dense and tenacious coating with a thermal spray gun including a nozzle member and a gas cap. The gas cap extends from the nozzle and has an inwardly facing cylindrical wall defining a combustion chamber with an open end and an op... | 03/12/1991 |
| 4997318 | Apparatus for continuously conveying a powder in a gas flow An apparatus for continuously conveying a powder in a gas flow has a configuration of the bottom end of the supply reservoir in the form of a funnel-shaped guide surface converging towards a pointed end. This surface is intersected by a vertically extendi... | 03/05/1991 |
| 4985683 | Circuitry for measuring phase difference between two oscillatory signals In an electrical circuitry a sinusoidal wave to and an associated wave with the same frequency are represented by square waves which are combined to form pulsed time signals representing a phase difference for each half cycle. A pair of analog switches ar... | 01/15/1991 |
| 4985626 | Quadrupole mass filter for charged particles A mass filter for charged particles includes a cylindrical conductive housing at ground potential and an array of linear conductors arranged in parallel in the housing and divided equally into four subarrays. The conductors of each subarray lie in one of ... | 01/15/1991 |
| 4969938 | Fluid connector for microdevices A microdevice assembly includes a miniature fluid processing device of silicon with a fluid orifice therein. A high-silica glass attachment member sealed to the device has an aperture with a narrow portion aligned with the orifice and a conical portion wi... | 11/13/1990 |
| 4969993 | Chromatographic instrument with command sequencing A liquid chromatographic instrument includes specimen vessels in randomly designated locations. An automatic sampler sequentially samples specimens from selected vessels based on instructions from a set of command instruction lines. A detector module meas... | 11/13/1990 |
| 4964568 | Shrouded thermal spray gun and method A powder or wire thermal spray gun, useful for spraying a low oxide coating of oxidizable material, comprises a nozzle member with a nozzle face, and a gas cap extending from the nozzle member and having an inwardly facing cylindrical wall defining a comb... | 10/23/1990 |
| 4961207 | Synchronization of digital signals with alternating current A circuit for synchronizing digital signals with alternating current includes a first counter that repetitively starts a first counting sequence at a predetermined phase point in each AC line cycle and effects the sequence at a high frequency rate thereby... | 10/02/1990 |
| 4945945 | Check valve assembly for corrosive fluids A high pressure check valve assembly includes a ceramic cage loosely fitted into the bore of a body so as to leave at least a partial clearance between the cage and the body. A passage through the cage includes a retaining section adjacent a fluid inlet e... | 08/07/1990 |
| 4935040 | Miniature devices useful for gas chromatography Laminated wafers with channels formed therein define a plurality of gas chromatographic columns in a body, with substantially minimal connecting channels between an injector and a detector. One or more of the columns at a time is selected by valve to be r... | 06/19/1990 |
| 4935596 | Shutoff detector for unstable plasma or combustion flame A plasma flame apparatus capable of self-extinguishing in the event of an unstable plasma discharge includes an inductively coupled plasma torch for producing a plasma flame which will have an acoustical signal characteristic of an unstable plasma dischar... | 06/19/1990 |
