A mechanical pencil includes an advancing mechanism and a slider both incorporated in a main body. The advancing mechanism has a chuck and a chuck ring (collar for fastening the chuck) for holding a lead, so as to advance the lead. The slider is slidable relative to the main body and has a lead guide and a lead friction member. The lead friction member is to friction with the lead and is made of thermoplastic elastomer.

A mechanical transducer is disclosed which includes a converter having a plurality of elongate flexible elements, which are joined together at their opposite ends and spaced at intervals around a longitudinal axis of the transducer. The opposite ends of the converter are displaceable toward and away from each other along the axis, which displacement is accompanied by a bowing or straightening of the elongate elements. Thus, an axial force applied to the converter will be converted to a radial fo...

A mechanical jack comprising a base with wheels attached thereon for moving the jack, a primary arm of which an end is pivoted on the base so as to be rotatable with respect to the base, a secondary arm of which an end is pivotally mounted approximately on the middle of the primary arm so as to be rotatable with respect to the primary arm, and a threaded rod threadingly connecting between the free ends of the primary and secondary arms so that when the threaded rod is rotated, the free ends of t...

A harvesting apparatus harvests produce or the like off the ground. The apparatus includes a plurality of collection modules pivotably mounted within a supporting frame, each module being permitted a degree of vertical movement and resting, in use, on the ground; and a produce conveyor which delivers produce collected by the collection modules to a discharge point. Each collection module comprises a brush which sweeps, in use, produce encountered on the ground and a grill which directs collected...

A mechanical jack comprising a base, on which a fixed frame is fixed. The fixed frame is substantially up-standing, slightly inclining toward one side with a supporting frame attached thereon to maintain the fixed frame in its inclined position. A moveable frame with one end thereof pivotally attached on the fixed frame is rotatable with respect to the fixed frame about the pivot. A threaded rod, which has a threaded portion engaging with an inner-threaded block pivotally mounted on the other en...

A mechanical component consisting of solid bodies which are mobile relative to one another under a variable frictional force and are separated from one another by a fluid organic mass, characterized in that the change in frictional force is induced by phase transitions between different thermotropic liquid-crystalline phases or between a thermotropic liquid-crystalline phase and an isotropic phase.

A mobile, self powered and power steered gurney is provided including an elevatable and laterally tiltable support structure from which patient support structure is supported for adjusted shifting laterally of the gurney between a first position superposed over the support structure and an extended position projecting outwardly of one side margin of the support structure. The patient support structure incorporates a conveyor structure which is operative to convey a patient laterally of the suppo...

A mechanical tensioner for elongating and relaxing a stud having an axis and arranged in an object, comprises at least two parts including a first part connectable with the stud and a second part connected with the first part, and a friction element which cooperates with at least one of the parts so as to change a coefficient of friction between the parts so that one of the parts has a higher coefficient of friction than another part and when a force is applied to at least one of the parts in a ...

The invention provides a sleeve for a cartridge-mounted mechanical seal, the sleeve being formed from two connected-together metallic components. The first component is made from a material having a relatively high chemical resistance, the second from a material having a relatively lower chemical resistance. The arrangement of the components is such that, in use as part of a seal, the sleeve has only its first component in contact with the fluid whose escape is being sealed. Such a sleeve is eas...

A power driven mechanical toothbrush is disclosed. A replaceable toothbrush head member has tuft blocks retained generally therewithin and extending laterally outwardly from the a cam shaft. Each tuft block has at least one tuft of bristles, usually four, secured within the tuft block and extending upwardly therefrom. Each of the bristles has a distal end at a distance from its tuft block, and the bristles in each tuft are generally parallel to each other. The toothbrush head member is adapted t...