A combination internal combustion en- gine and electrolyzer for producing hydrogen and oxygen gases from water on board a motor vehicle in order to supple- ment the gasoline fuel for the engine fur- ther includes a heat activated engine such as a Stirling engine to provide the elec- trical current necessary to decompose the water, the Stirling engine being activated directly from heat derived from the ex- haust of the internal combustion engine. The oxygen and hydrogen gases formed by the electrolysis of water are passed to the air intake of the carburetor of the in- ternal combustion engine and enable the use of a much leaner gasoline to air mix- ture to run the engine thus increasing gas mileage and reducing air pollutants formed by the internal combustion engine.

4363639

GAS TRAP FOR REMOVING ATMOSPHERIC POLLUTANTS AND METHOD OF OPERATION

Richard J Gladon assigned to Iowa State University Research Foundation Inc

A gas trap for removing pollutants from gases which includes a vertically disposed, hermetic, double bulb enclosure wherein said bulbs are connected by a restricted passageway. A bubble tube that termi- nates in a fritted lower end is centrally disposed within said enclosure and ex- tends adjacent to the bottom thereof. The enclosure is filled to approximately the midpoint of the upper bulb with pollutant reactant which removed selected pollu- tants from gases bubbled through the trap. In the method a polluted gas enters the bubble tube and exits the fritted end as bubbles which rise through the reactant solution to the restricted passageway. There, the rising gas is delayed due to the reduced cross-section of the enclosure and thus remains in contact with the reactant longer than if the flow path were unre- stricted. The additional contact time be- tween the polluted gas and the reactant allows more pollutant to be absorbed by the solution, thereby enhancing the trap- ping process. The size of the holes in the fritted material and the degree of restric- tion of the flow path are adjusted to sub- stantially prevent back pressure from oc- curring in the system which would impede the flow of the gas being treated, but still allow virtually complete absorption of the pollutant by the reactant solution.

4362387

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MEASURING VISIBILITY FROM THE POLARIZATION

PROPERTIES OF THE DAYLIGHT SKY

ROY Clark assigned to Rockwell interna- tional Corporation

2126 New Patents

A method and an optical sensing ap-

paratus (1) are disclosed for measuring

the polarizaion properties of light being

scattered in the sky to obtain an accurate indication of visibility. The intensities (I1 and 12) of two linear!y polarized compo-

nents of the daylight are measured, so that a polarization ratio (P) can be calcu- lated to provide a visibility index by which

visual quality and visual range can be determined. The present method and ap- paratus may be extended to determine

plume blight by comparing the polariza-

tion properties of light scattered by the plume with the polarization properties of

the background sky, whereby theoretical

visibility models may be validated. In an

alternate embodiment, another apparatus

(30) may be utilized with a sensing system (46) that employs polarization modula- tion techniques, so that the polarization properties of the entire sky can be mea-

sured in the ultraviolet and infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Accordingly, indications of both gas phase and particulate pollutant distribu- tions in the atmostphere can be simultane-

ously determined depending upon the

magnitude of the polarization ratio (P) in regions of atmospheric pollutant absorp- tion.

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