Author: claimsbot

1. A multilayer metal gasket installable between opposing members having at least one fluid passage communicating therebetween which is to be sealed against leakage, said gasket comprising:
outer active layers fabricated of elastic metal plate material of predetermined material thickness and having at least one set of aligned apertures therein for surrounding the fluid passage, said active layers having at least one set of sealing bead formations surrounding said aligned apertures and including laterally opposed outer sealing surfaces of the outer active layers engageable with opposing surfaces of the members about the fluid passage, said sealing beads being elastically deformable under a predetermined compressive load exerted by the members for supporting said sealing surfaces of said active layers into sealing engagement with the members about its passage, said sealing beads having a predetermined maximum compressive load capacity beyond which said beads are subject to overcompression and permanent plastic deformation;
an intermediate metallic layer having a base portion of predetermined thickness disposed between said active layers in contacting relation therewith and defining a precompressed spacing between said sealing surfaces of said active layers; and
said intermediate layer including a stopper portion disposed radially inwardly of said apertures in said active layers defining an opening for alignment with the passage of the members and laterally opposed sealing surfaces surrounding said opening and unobstructed by said active layers, said stopper portion being cold formed to a thickness greater than the combined material thicknesses of said active and said base portion of said intermediate layer but less than said pre-compressed spacing of said sealing surfaces of said active layers and having an imparted cold-formed compressive strength exceeding said maximum compressive load capacity of said sealing beads of said active layers rendering said stopper portion incompressible during installation and operation of said gasket and thereby enabling said compressive elastic deformation of said sealing beads to achieve the desired sealing of the passage while precluding overcompression and possible damage of said beads.
2. The gasket of claim 1 wherein said stopper portion comprises a cold-formed folded over section of said intermediate layer.
3. The gasket of claim 2 wherein said thickness of said folded over stopper portion is less than twice said material thickness of said base portion of said intermediate layer.
4. The gasket of claim 3 wherein said sealing surfaces of said stopper portion protrude equally above and below opposing surfaces of said base portion of said intermediate layer.
5. The gasket of claim 4 wherein said material thickness of said intermediate layer is greater than said material thickness of each of said active layers.
6. The gasket of claim 1 wherein said material thickness of said intermediate layer is greater than said material thickness of each of said active layers.
7. The gasket of claim 1 wherein said stopper portion serves as a primary seal about the passage when installed between the members insulating said sealing beads and their associated sealing surfaces of said active layers from direct exposure to hot gases flowing through the passage.
8. The gasket of claim 7 wherein the gasket comprises an exhaust manifold gasket of an internal combustion engine.
9. The gasket of claim 1 wherein said sealing beads project outwardly of one another away from said base portion of said intermediate layer.
10. The gasket of claim 9 including transition regions of said active layers disposed radially inwardly of said sealing beads having inner surfaces thereof contacting said base portion of said intermediate layer and outer surfaces spaced laterally inwardly of said sealing surfaces of said stopper portion.
11. The gasket of claim 10 wherein said material thickness of said intermediate layer is greater than said material thickness of each of said active layers.
12. A multilayer metal gasket installable between opposing members having at least one fluid passage communicating therebetween which is to be sealed against leakage, said gasket comprising:
outer active layers fabricated of elastic metal plate material of predetermined material thickness and having at least one set of aligned apertures therein for surrounding the fluid passage, said active layers having at least one set of sealing bead formations surrounding said aligned apertures and including laterally opposed outer sealing surfaces of said outer active layers engageable with opposing surfaces of the members about the fluid passage, said sealing beads being elastically deformable under a predetermined compressive load exerted by the members for supporting said sealing surfaces of said active layers into sealing engagement with the members about its passage, said sealing beads having a predetermined maximum load capacity beyond which said beads are subject to overcompression and permanent plastic deformation;
an intermediate metallic layer having a base portion of predetermined thickness disposed between said active layers in contacting relation therewith and defining a pre-compressed spacing between said sealing surfaces of said active layers; and
said intermediate layer including a folded over stopper portion having a radially inner edge defining an opening for alignment with the passage of the members and a radially outer edge spaced radially inwardly of said apertures of said active layers presenting laterally opposed sealing surfaces surrounding said opening in such manner as to be unobstructed by said active layers for direct sealing engagement with the members about the passage, said folded over stopper portion being cold formed to provide a reduced thickness of said folded over stopper portion less than twice said material thickness of said intermediate layer and less than the pre-compressed spacing of said sealing surfaces of said active layers and an induced compressive strength exceeding said maximum compressive load rating of said sealing beads thereby rendering said folded over stopper portion incompressible during installation and operation of said gasket enabling said compressive elastic deformation of said sealing beads to achieve the desired sealing of the passage while precluding overcompression and possible damage of said beads.
13. The gasket of claim 12 wherein said sealing surfaces of said folded over stopper portion protrude equally above and below opposing surfaces of said base portion of said intermediate layer.
14. The gasket of claim 12 wherein said material thickness of said intermediate layer is greater than said material thickness of each of said active layers.
15. The gasket of claim 12 wherein each of said active layers includes a transition region lying between said sealing beads and said aligned apertures having inner surfaces thereof contacting said base portion of said intermediate layer and outer surfaces spaced laterally inwardly of said sealing surfaces of said folded over stopper portion.
16. The gasket of claim 15 wherein said sealing beads project laterally away from one another outwardly of said base portion.
17. A method of making a multilayer metal gasket installable between opposing members having at least one fluid passage communicating therebetween which is to be sealed against leakage, said gasket comprising:
providing laterally opposed active layers fabricated from elastic metal plate material of predetermined material thickness and having at least one set of aligned apertures formed therein for surrounding the fluid passage of the members;
forming at least one set of elastically compressible sealing beads in the active layers surrounding the apertures and having a predetermined maximum compressive load capacity, below which the bead embossments deform elastically under load to support the sealing surfaces of the active layers in sealing engagement with the members during normal installation and operation of the gasket and above which the beads are subject to overcompression and permanent plastic deformation;
providing an intermediate metallic layer having a base portion of predetermined material thickness;
cold forming the intermediate layer material to provide a stopper portion having an inner edge defining an opening and an outer edge sized radially smaller than the aligned apertures;
arranging the intermediate layer between the active layers with the base portion supporting the sealing surfaces of the active layers at a pre-compressed spacing and with the stopper portion spaced radially inwardly of the aligned apertures to present axially opposed sealing surfaces of the stopper portion unobstructed by the active layers;
and wherein the cold formation of the stopper portion imparts a thickness to the stopper portion that exceeds the combined material thicknesses of the base portion of said intermediate layer and each of the active layers but is less than the pre-compressed spacing of the sealing surfaces of the active layers, and further work hardens the material to induce a compressive strength to the stopper portion that exceeds the maximum compressive load rating of the sealing beads to thereby render the stopper portion incompressible during normal installation and operation of the gasket enabling the sealing beads to undergo elastic deformation to achieve the desire sealing while precluding overcompression and possible plastic deformation of the beads.
18. The method of claim 17 wherein the cold formation of the stopper portion includes folding over the intermediate layer material and plastically compressing the folded over region to reduce its thickness to less than twice the material thickness of the base portion of the intermediate layer under a compressive load exceeding that which the gasket would encounter during normal installation and operation to provide a strain-induced hardness and compression load capacity exceeding the compressive load capacity of the sealing beads.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. Method for manufacture of a lightguide device, comprising:
directionally solidifying a solid body from a fluid across a solidifying interface between the solid body and the fluid, the device including a glass lightguide comprising a core and a cladding, and the lightguide containing a series of geometric perturbations for provoking mode coupling,
CHARACTERIZED IN THAT
the method comprises introduction of at least one acoustic wave in the fluid by means of an acoustic generator which is acoustically coupled with the fluid, whereby the acoustic wave introduces periodic deformations into the solidifying body, such deformations comprising said geometric perturbations.
2. Method of claim 1 in which the fluid is in contact with gaseous ambient, and in which the acoustic generator is coupled with the fluid via such ambient.
3. Method of claim 2 in which coupling is localized at a single peripheral position about the fluid, whereby the deformations are asymmetric and perturbations comprise directional bends in the device.
4. Method of claim 1 in which the fluid forms a liquefying interface with a starting body.
5. Method of claim 1, in which the fluid constitutes the draw zone intermediate the fiber and a fiber preform.
6. Method of claim 5 in which the core is of sufficient size for supporting at least two linearly polarized modes at said operating wavelength.
7. Method of claim 6 in which the device comprises a multimode optical fiber.
8. Method of claim 1 in which the series constitutes a minimum of 5 perturbations and in which perturbations are of periodicity to provoke coupling of a guided mode with a cladding mode.
9. Method of claim 1 in which at least two acoustic waves of differing frequencies are simultaneously generated in the fluid, thereby generating a composite acoustic wave and introducing a corresponding composite stream of deformations into the solidifying body.
10. Method of claim 1 in which the deformations are accompanied by surface undulations in the solidifying body, said undulations being of radially measurable magnitude in the range of 10-1000 Angstroms (\u212b).
11. Method of claim 1 in which the acoustic wave is maintained of essentially constant period during solidification of body length, whereby said geometric perturbations are of nominally constant period.

What is claimed is:

1. A perforating punch for forming a rectangular perforation in a workpiece, comprising:
a shank of a rectangular cross-sectional shape;
first and second tips located respectively at diagonally spaced positions corresponding to two of the four corners of the rectangular cross-sectional shape;
third and fourth diagonally spaced tips located respectively at diagonally spaced positions corresponding to two of the four corners of the rectangular cross-sectional shape;
a first diagonal ridge contiguous to said first and second tips;
a second diagonal ridge contiguous to said third and fourth tips; and
an included angle setting point located at the point of intersection between said first and second diagonal ridges and positioned longitudinally of said shank to bend said first and second diagonal ridges for thereby establishing included angles at said first, second, third, and fourth tips.
2. A perforating punch according to claim 1, wherein said first, second, third, and fourth tips are disposed the same position longitudinally of said shank, further comprising:
a first shear angle setting point bending a first side ridge contiguous to said first and third tips, to establish a shear angle;
a second shear angle setting point bending a second side ridge contiguous to said third and second tips to establish a shear angle;
a third shear angle setting point bending a third side ridge contiguous to said second and fourth tips to establish a shear angle; and
a fourth shear angle setting point bending a fourth side ridge contiguous to said fourth and first tips to establish a shear angle.
3. A perforating punch according to claim 2, wherein said first, second, third, and fourth shear angle setting points are spaced from said first, second, third, and fourth tips in a direction away from said workpiece.
4. A perforating punch according to claim 2, wherein said first, second, third, and fourth shear angle setting points are spaced from said first, second, third, and fourth tips in a direction toward said workpiece.
5. A perforating punch according to claim 1, wherein said third and fourth tips are spaced from said first and second tips in a direction away from said workpiece.
6. A perforating punch according to claim 5, further comprising:
a first shear angle setting point disposed on said first side ridge contiguous to said first and third tips for bending the first side ridge in a direction to reduce a shear angle at the first tip;
a second shear angle setting point disposed on said second side ridge contiguous to said third and second tips for bending the second side ridge in a direction to reduce a shear angle at the second tip;
a third shear angle setting point disposed on said third side ridge contiguous to said second and fourth tips for bending the third side ridge in a direction to reduce a shear angle at the second tip; and
a fourth shear angle setting point disposed on said fourth side ridge contiguous to said fourth and first tips for bending the fourth side ridge in a direction to reduce a shear angle at the first tip.
7. A perforating punch according to claim 5, further comprising:
a first shear angle setting point disposed on said first side ridge contiguous to said first and third tips for bending the first side ridge in a direction to increase a shear angle at the first tip;
a second shear angle setting point disposed on said second side ridge contiguous to said third and second tips for bending the second side ridge in a direction to increase a shear angle at the second tip;
a third shear angle setting point disposed on said third side ridge contiguous to said second and fourth tips for bending the third side ridge in a direction to increase a shear angle at the second tip; and
a fourth shear angle setting point disposed on said fourth side ridge contiguous to said fourth and first tips for bending the fourth side ridge in a direction to increase a shear angle at the first tip.
8. A perforating punch according to claim 5, wherein said first and second tips have cut-off facets.
9. A perforating punch according to claim 1, further comprising flat facets formed by cutting off a convex portion including said shear angle setting point which is spaced from said first and second tips or said third and fourth tips in a direction toward said workpiece.
10. A perforating punch according to claim 1, further comprising flat facets formed by cutting off a convex portion including said shear angle setting point which is spaced from said first and second tips and said third and fourth tips in a direction toward said workpiece.

The claims below are in addition to those above.
All refrences to claim(s) which appear below refer to the numbering after this setence.

1. A self-propelled security vehicle comprising:
a main frame having a central longitudinal axis;
a first support deck positioned essentially juxtaposed in relation to said main frame;
wheels journaled on axles at opposite ends of said main frame and spaced on opposite sides of said central longitudinal axis, at least the spaced wheels at one end of said main frame being driven, the spaced wheels at the front end of said main frame being steerable;
a drive train mounted on said main frame and connected to said driven wheels, said drive train and said axles are in essentially coplanar relationship;
said drive train is located along said central longitudinal axis and at the center of the length of the distance between a front and a rear axle means;
a platform mounted to said main frame at a level substantially above said first deck and connected to said first deck;
means for mounting said platform to said main frame and said first deck comprise tubular support members, at least one of said means for mounting comprises a first vertically oriented tubular member connected to said first deck and extending upwardly to said platform, a second horizontally oriented tubular member connected to said first tubular member at one end and to said platform, a third tubular member connected to the other end of said second tubular member at one end and extending downwardly from said second tubular member and also connected to said first deck at the other end thereof;
at least one seat mounted on said platform;
vehicle controls mounted on said platform adjacent said at least one seat and constructed and arranged to communicate with said drive train and said steerable wheels; and
means mounted to said first deck and said platform to allow at least a driver access to said platform.
2. The self-propelled security vehicle of claim 1 wherein said access means for said platform comprising a plurality of steps extending from said first deck up to said platform.
3. The self-propelled security vehicle of claim 1 wherein said vehicle controls comprise a steering wheel, a throttle control, a brake control and a transmission control.
4. The self-propelled security vehicle of claim 1 wherein said means for mounting said platform to said main frame and said first deck further comprises a plurality of tubular members extending between said platform and said first deck at the front and at the rear of said platform, said tubular members at the front of said platform extend downwardly at an angle with respect to each other so as to form an \u201cX\u201d shape, and said tubular members at the rear of said platform extend downwardly at an angle with respect to each other so as to form an \u201cX\u201d shape.
5. The self-propelled security vehicle of claim 1 further comprising said spaced wheels at both ends of said main frame being driven.