Several thousand inventions result each year from the aeronautical and space research supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The inventions having important use in government programs or significant commercial potential are usually patented by NASA. These inventions cover practically all fields of technology and include many that have useful and valuable commercial application. NASA inventions best serve the interests of the United States when their benefits are available to the public. In many instances, the granting of nonexclusive or exclusive licenses for the practice of these inventions may assist in the accomplishment of this objective. This bibliography is published as a service to companies, firms, and individuals seeking new, licensable products for the commercial market. The NASA Patent Abstracts Bibliography (NASA PAB) is a semiannual NASA publication containing comprehensive abstracts and indexes of NASA-owned inventions covered by U.S. patents and applications for patent. The citations included in NASA PAB were originally published in NASA's Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports (STAR) and cover STAR announcements made since May 1969. For the convenience of the user, each issue of NASA PAB has a separately bound Abstract Section (Section 1) and Index Section (Section 2). Although each Abstract Section covers only the indicated six-month period, the Index Section is cumulative covering all NASAowned inventions announced in STAR since May 1969. Thus a complete set of NASA PAB would consist of all published issues of the Abstract Section and the most recent issue of the Index Section. The 402 citations published in this issue of the Abstract Section cover the period January 1972 through June 1972. The Index Section contains references to 2202 citations covering the period May 1969 through June 1972. ABSTRACT SECTION The Abstract Section is divided into 34 subject categories (See Table of Contents for scope note of each category) under which are grouped appropriate NASA inventions. Each entry in the Abstract Section consists of STAR citation accompanied by an abstract and a key illustration taken from the patent or application for patent drawing. Entries are arranged in subject category in order of the ascending NASA Accession Number originally assigned in STAR to the invention. The range of NASA Accession Numbers within each issue is printed on the inside front cover. Abstract Citation Data Elements: Each of the abstract citations has several data elements useful for identification and indexing purposes, as follows: NASA Accession Number Subject Category Number NASA Case Number Inventor's Name |