General Electric Company

Donald G Webster

Kenneth Scott Kump

Richard Aufrichtig

Farshid Farrokhnia

Holli Ruddell

An alignment button for easy resealing of zipper bags is provided. One or more alignment buttons facilitate closure of resealable storage bags possessing zipper lock, zip fastener, or press seal closures, such as sandwich bags and plastic food storage bags. Each alignment button has a raised feature and a corresponding socket feature on opposing sides of the bag's seal or closure. When the two parts of each alignment button are pressed together, the socket feature captures an apex part of the raised feature and aligns opposing tracks of a zipper lock or seal for easy closure. One of more of the alignment buttons may be manufactured as an integral feature of the seal or closure, or may be located in a line or pattern, above or below the seal or closure. Likewise, multiple alignment buttons may be placed above and below the seal or closure in a pattern.

Resealable zipper bag alignment button

Protective guard for a stay-tab beverage can

Modular interchangeable phantoms for multiple x-ray systems are provided. A variety of x-ray phantoms may be interchangeably inserted into a modular phantom carrier. Once a phantom has been inserted into the carrier, the phantom is locked to the carrier by either at least one rotating fastener or a plastic ring with at least one fastening pin. The carrier is then inserted into an x-ray system and x-rays are transmitted through the phantom. The phantom carrier also includes an interior mesh allowing measurement of the resolution non-uniformity of the x-ray system. Three phantoms for use with the modular phantom carrier are presented. Each phantom includes a number of sub-phantoms useful in the determination of various parameters of the x-ray system. These sub-phantoms include a step-intensity sub-phantom for measuring the dynamic range and linearity of the x-ray system, a contrast detail sub-phantom for measuring the contrast of the x-ray system, a mesh sub-phantom for measuring the resolution non-uniformity of the x-ray system, and a resolution sub-phantom and a coupon sub-phantom both for measuring the Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) of the x-ray system. The phantoms also preferably include a lead perimeter ring attached near the perimeter of each phantom to aid in the orientation and positioning of the phantom as well as lead line segments or fiducials separating or outlining various sub-phantoms.

Growing community of inventors

Sprague, WA, United States of America

Donald G Webster