The United States of America As Represented by the Administrator of the

The Boeing Company

Other

United Technologies Corporation

United States of America As Represented by the Administrator of Nasa

Jack Lee Weeks

Peter A Oelgoetz

Richard M Poorman

Douglas M Todd

Harry F Schramm, Jr

Donald L Roxby

A multi-functional hammock assembly for providing user comfort and enjoyment may include first and second elongated rectilinear poles, a hammock, and first and second sleeves slidably positioned about the bottom ends of the first and second poles. The hammock assembly may further include at least one accessory and a mechanism for effectively anchoring the at least one accessory to the first and second poles. The assembly may further include a mechanism for synchronously rotating at least one of the first and second sleeves and the first and second poles about a centrally registered longitudinal axis passing through the one pole to thereby conveniently assist a user to penetrate the one sleeve into a ground surface.

Hammock assembly and associated method

A fluid flow nozzle is formed by a plurality of adjacent L-shaped channels forming successive channel pairs. Each channel has a linking member joined to a radial member. Each linking member is welded to an adjacent linking member forming a contiguous surface of linking members. Each radial member is oriented approximately perpendicular to a first side of the contiguous surface. A circumferentially enclosed chamber is formed on a second side of the contiguous surface. Each radial member is laser welded to a jacket at a distal end of each radial member. The jacket is oriented approximately parallel with the contiguous surface and separably spaced from the contiguous surface by the radial members. Each radial member forms one of a plurality of flow chambers between its adjacent radial member, the jacket and the contiguous surface. The flow chambers advantageously contain fluid in the event of a radial member rupture.

Advanced L-channel welded nozzle design

There is provided an apparatus for forming a weld joint between abutting ends of first and second tubular members. The welding apparatus includes a support ring defining an aperture therethrough. The support ring has first and second sides defining a channel therebetween. The first and second sides of the support ring define a plurality of supports spaced about the circumference of the support ring, each of which defines a gripping surface for contacting at least a portion of the exterior surface of a corresponding tubular member to thereby secure the abutting ends of the first and second tubular members at least partially within the aperture of the support ring. The welding apparatus includes at least one friction stir welding tool, which is movably and rotatably mounted within the channel defined by the support ring and projects toward the abutting ends of the first and second tubular members. In one embodiment, the welding apparatus includes a drive assembly and a motor in operable communication with the drive assembly for moving the rotating friction stir welding tool about the abutting ends of the first and second tubular members to thereby form the weld joint.

Method and apparatus for friction stir welding tubular members

An apparatus for applying permanent markings onto products using a Vacuum Arc Vapor Deposition (VAVD) marker by accelerating atoms or molecules from a vaporization source onto a substrate to form human and/or machine-readable part identification marking that can be detected optically or via a sensing device like x-ray, thermal imagining, ultrasound, magneto-optic, micro-power impulse radar, capacitance, or other similar sensing means. The apparatus includes a housing with a nozzle having a marking end. A chamber having an electrode, a vacuum port and a charge is located within the housing. The charge is activated by the electrode in a vacuum environment and deposited onto a substrate at the marking end of the nozzle. The apparatus may be a hand-held device or be disconnected from the handle and mounted to a robot or fixed station.

Vacuum ARC vapor deposition method and apparatus for applying identification symbols to substrates

An apparatus and method for friction stir welding a seam in a hollow container from the inside. The apparatus includes a weld head convertible between a retracted state to an expanded state. The retracted weld head fits through an opening in the container and then expands to enable formation of the weld. The weld head includes a frame and a least one friction stir welding spindle convertible between a retracted position adjacent the frame and an expanded position away from frame. The container may be a pressure vessel tank, with a circular weld being formed between a tubular mid-section and a hemispherical end cap. Desirably, multiple friction stir welding spindles that expand into a common plane are provided, and relative rotation between the weld head and container forms the circular seam. Force balance arms intermediate adjacent friction stir welding spindles expandable to contact the interior of the container may also be provided to help maintain the position of the weld head. Means for rotating the spindles such as a motor may be provided in the frame. An external anvil hoop may be provided surrounding the seam being welded for further backing support for the internal friction stir welding spindles. Cameras adjacent each weld member monitor the weld process, and may provide visual positioning aids.

Friction stir welding of containers from the interior

A process for forming a thin metal coating on a substrate wherein a gas stream heated by an electrical current impinges on a metallic target in a vacuum chamber to form a molten pool of the metal and then vaporize a portion of the pool, with the source of the heated gas stream being on one side of the target and the substrate being on the other side of the target such that most of the metallic vapor from the target is directed at the substrate.

Enhanced vacuum arc vapor deposition electrode

A method and apparatus for vapor deposition of a thin metallic film utilizing an ionized gas arc directed onto a source material spaced from a substrate to be coated in a substantial vacuum while providing a pressure differential between the source and the substrate so that as a portion of the source is vaporized the vapors are carried to the substrate. The apparatus includes a modified tungsten arc welding torch having a hollow electrode through which a gas, preferably inert, flows and an arc is struck between the electrode and the source. The torch, source and substrate are confined within a chamber within which a vacuum is draw. When the arc is struck, a portion of the source is vaporized and the vapors flow rapidly toward the substrate. A reflecting shield is positioned about the torch above the electrode and the source to ensure that the arc is struck between the electrode and the source at startup. The electrode and the source may be confined within a vapor guide housing having a duct opening toward the substrate for directing the vapors onto the substrate.

Vacuum vapor deposition

A gas/arc electrode for use under vacuum conditions wherein a first housing encloses a second housing, with an end of the second housing extending through an opening in the first housing and having therein an outlet orifice. Provisions are made for circulating a coolant through the first housing to surround and cool the second housing. An electrical current and a gas, such as argon, as passed through the second housing, with the current flowing through a narrow stream of the ionized gas flowing through the outlet orifice to a workpiece to be treated. The second housing forms a chamber which has a cross sectional area, in a plane perpendicular to the direction of gas flow, of at least ten times the cross sectional area of the outlet orifice such that a gas pressure can be maintained in the chamber to reduce erosion of the chamber walls.

Growing community of inventors

Scottsboro, AL, United States of America

Jack Lee Weeks