There is disclosed a Bramah lock suitable for use on a safe-deposit box or an armored door in which the bolt of the locking mechanism is actuatable by bars which are disposed in serially arranged sets extending through the door to a keyhole and co-operable by abutment so that displacements of the bars relatively adjacent to the keyhole are not transmitted to bars relatively remote therefrom. An externally toothed gear coaxially of the barrel is operatively disposed between the barrel and the bol...

Here is disclosed a method of manufacturing building blocks filled with a cured aminoplast resin foam by forming a curable foam, presenting the cavity to and in sealing relationship with one end of a delivery pipe for the foam and injecting the curable foam through the delivery pipe into the cavity until a back pressure is developed in the delivery pipe. Apparatus for manufacturing the building blocks is also described.

Apparatus for slicing tobacco bales comprising a plurality of parallel sharp prongs or lances (1) which can be moved to penetrate the bale (7) in a horizontal plane while the bale is supported on a lift device (14). A retractable pusher (9) is arranged to be movable parallel to the prongs so as to separate the slice from them after cutting and has downwardly dependent sharpened teeth (10) attached to its lower edge so as to extend between the prongs.

This invention relates to vibratory machines such as grinding machines. A machine 10 has a vibratory unit 13 which is connected to a separate motor 12 by a flexible drive 14. The drive rotates a shaft 23 carrying eccentric weights 25,26 and the resultant gyratory movement is transmitted directly to a vibratory plate 16 through bearings 24. The amplitude vibration can be altered by adjusting the relative position of the weights.

An optical assembly 7, 8 providing an optical relay of a borescope 1 has a plurality of lenses 7 spaced apart by tubular spacers 8 through which the optical path extends. The spacers 8 include formations 9, 10 and 11 for connecting adjacent spacers and for housing the lenses 7 such that the spacers 8 and the lenses form a self supporting assembly. The optical assembly 7, 8 locates in a window tube 19 located within a tubular shaft 2 with a fibre optic bundle 16 occupying a duct 17 formed between...

Postal franking apparatus in which both semi-permanent and variable information to be printed onto an envelope is stored electrically in a memory and is read out to form printing control signals for controlling a thermal printer containing thermally activable inking means at a printing station into which the envelope is placed. The thermal printer is in the form of an elongate conductive plate having a large plurality of electrical connections along its length to which are fed the printing contr...

Dispensable sanitary towels for storage in a container dispenser having a wall defining a slot area through which the towels are dispensed, the towels being imbued with one or more substances selected from the group consisting of disinfectants, deodorizers and detergents, and folded lengthwise and traversely, the traversed fold providing two horizontally superposed layers the edges of which are offset from each other, wherein the towels are capable of being stacked independently in the container...

Immunogenically active fragments of hepatitis B surface antigen, which are a glycoprotein of molecular weight about 28,000 (gp 28) and a protein of molecular weight about 23,000 (p 23), obtained by known methods by treatment of surface antigen with detergent, are prepared in micelle form substantially free from detergent. The micelles are at least as immunogenic as the unfragmented antigen from which they are derived and are useful in the preparation of hepatitis B vaccine. The detergent is remo...

An abrasive wheel assembly, preferably an abrasive cut-off wheel, includes a plurality of segments, each of which comprises an embedded fixing or securing plate, preferably metal, that is inserted to a certain degree into the segment and has a projecting rim part securable to a circular blade. The segment further comprises a core material, e.g. glass fiber, that extends over the total height of the segment.

A folding backrest of a wheelchair has two attendant handles fixed to upper tubes hinged to vertical lower tubes so as to be turnable into lowered positions. Supported on the upper tubes are respective cams turnable rearwardly by an attendant about a horizontal axis and in opposition to springs, from positions in which they bear against horizontal pins fixed at the rears of the lower tubes and maintain the upper tubes in their raised positions, into positions which allow them to be lowered past ...