Coil

Q: Enclosed pictures are of a chair that was given to us about 40 years ago. The rocking action is controlled by coil springs on both sides. That is about all I can tell you. I hope you will be able to shed some insight as to its vintage and value.A: This platform rocker was made in the late 1800s by one of several manufacturers of furniture in the Northeastern United States. It would probably sell for $365 to $385 in good condition.Q: What is the value of a china tumbler commemorating the Silver Jubilee of King George V of England?

The Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant shut down one of its reactors Tuesday after employees at the southern Maryland facility detected problems with a control rod. Operators took the plant's Unit 1 reactor offline around 8:30 a.m. to replace one of the electrical coils connected to a control rod and test all the other control rods, said Kory Raftery, a spokesman for Calvert Cliffs. The move came after monitoring of the reactor picked up "electrical noise" in that control rod, a sign that part of the connection might have gone bad, he said.

Daniel Callahan, longtime executive director of the Southwest Baltimore community umbrella group, Communities Organized to Improve Life (COIL), died Wednesday after a heart attack. He was 65.He began working as a senior teacher in the 1970s for COIL, a coalition providing free services to drug abusers, homebuyers and renovators, senior citizens and functional illiterates. He was named executive director in 1978.Within COIL's boundaries are some of the city's poorest neighborhoods and such historic sites as the B&O Railroad Museum and the homes of H. L. Mencken, Babe Ruth and Edgar Allan Poe."

Baltimore County Police say a Towson-area church fell victim to burglars last week who took items of copper and other materials from the property. The incident occurred at Idlewylde United Methodist Church, in the 1000 block of Regester Avenue, between 2:30 p.m. Aug. 12 and 3:30 p.m. Aug. 14, according to the police report. An air conditioning unit cover and coils, and copper wire were stolen from the property. In addition to this incident, the following items were compiled from police reports from the Towson precinct.

Federal regulators are clearing the way for a Columbia-based company to compete in the field of magnetic resonance imaging technologies. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a urethral coil and a prostate micro-coil, two devices made by Surgi-Vision Inc. that the company says will help improve the clarity of MRI scans. This development has the 2-year-old company poised to market its line of internal miniaturized coils to help in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. "With a picture this clear, now you have the ability to guide the treatment with images that are microscopic, almost," said Sean Salmon, a spokesman for the company.

The Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant shut down one of its reactors Tuesday after employees at the southern Maryland facility detected problems with a control rod. Operators took the plant's Unit 1 reactor offline around 8:30 a.m. to replace one of the electrical coils connected to a control rod and test all the other control rods, said Kory Raftery, a spokesman for Calvert Cliffs. The move came after monitoring of the reactor picked up "electrical noise" in that control rod, a sign that part of the connection might have gone bad, he said.

A 20-year-old Taneytown man who once appeared to have a promising future in professional baseball was sentenced to 25 years in prison yesterday for his role in the shooting of a pizza delivery woman last winter.Corey A. Coil, 20, fought back tears while apologizing to the victim, Linda D. Bond, 48, of Frizzellburg, and asked Circuit Judge Luke K. Burns Jr. for another chance.Burns heard testimony from defense witnesses who said Coil lacked leadership and is a follower, but showed major-league potential as an amateur baseball pitcher.

Hot enough for you? Air-conditioning season is upon us. If you're lucky enough to have air conditioning, you've probably turned it on for at least a while during the past week. The phones are ringing off the hook at HVAC contractors' offices as sweaty, disappointed people find that their air conditioners stopped working over the winter. What can you do to keep from joining the ranks of those poor souls? Regular maintenance will help the equipment operate more efficiently and dependably.

A FEW YEARS ago, heat pumps were all the rage. Utility companies were promoting them, and builders were installing them in every new house. They seemed to hold out the promise of efficient heating and cooling at rates that were cheaper than other forms of electric heat, such as baseboard heaters.They're still being promoted in some places, but builders,especially in the mid-Atlantic, are touting "gas heat" in their developments.What's the truth about heat pumps?Do they work?Do they fulfill the promise?

The Jagermeister Music Tour comes screaming into Rams Head Live on Tuesday night. Grammy-nominated hard rock act Stone Sour headlines the show. Featuring Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor, Stone Sour is known for hits such as "Through Glass" and its melodic, driven style. Italian gothic metal band Lacuna Coil will also take the stage and promises a signing after every Jagermeister show. Also playing are metal and punk acts Shadows Fall and Unbroken. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tuesday for this all-ages show at Rams Head Live, 20 Market Place.

The Jagermeister Music Tour comes screaming into Rams Head Live on Tuesday night. Grammy-nominated hard rock act Stone Sour headlines the show. Featuring Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor, Stone Sour is known for hits such as "Through Glass" and its melodic, driven style. Italian gothic metal band Lacuna Coil will also take the stage and promises a signing after every Jagermeister show. Also playing are metal and punk acts Shadows Fall and Unbroken. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tuesday for this all-ages show at Rams Head Live, 20 Market Place.

How much is a good night's sleep worth? How about $4,500? Michael Zippelli, chief executive officer of Jessup mattress maker Dormia Inc., is betting on it. He believes people would be willing to pay more for his beds, which are made from viscoelastic memory foam rather than coils or springs, if they gave them a try. "If you get a good night's sleep, you'll have a good day," he said. The Jessup manufacturer's business is growing, thanks to increasing interest in high-end bedding, whether it be traditional innerspring mattresses or "specialty bedding" made from foam or latex.

If Al Gallegos has his way, every man, woman and child will one day walk with a spring in their steps and a satisfied smile on their faces. The spring will come attached to the heel of a strange, space age-looking shoe Gallegos wants to sell you. And the smile, well, that will come once you put on the shoe, says the 73-year-old inventor of the Z-CoiL line of pain-relief footwear. Z-CoiLs first hit the shelves four years ago in New Mexico, and since then, the shoes have become something of a cult item.

Tiny platinum coils inserted into ruptured brain aneurysms are more effective in many cases than surgery in preventing disability and death, according to a study published today. Doctors said yesterday that the coils offer an exciting therapy for aneurysms, which kill more than 20,000 people annually in the United States alone. They can be inserted without cutting into brain tissue and subjecting patients to quite as much risk. "This is really a profound change in neurosurgery," said Dr. Kieran Murphy, an interventional radiologist who treated patients in the study at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Hot enough for you? Air-conditioning season is upon us. If you're lucky enough to have air conditioning, you've probably turned it on for at least a while during the past week. The phones are ringing off the hook at HVAC contractors' offices as sweaty, disappointed people find that their air conditioners stopped working over the winter. What can you do to keep from joining the ranks of those poor souls? Regular maintenance will help the equipment operate more efficiently and dependably.

Federal regulators are clearing the way for a Columbia-based company to compete in the field of magnetic resonance imaging technologies. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a urethral coil and a prostate micro-coil, two devices made by Surgi-Vision Inc. that the company says will help improve the clarity of MRI scans. This development has the 2-year-old company poised to market its line of internal miniaturized coils to help in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. "With a picture this clear, now you have the ability to guide the treatment with images that are microscopic, almost," said Sean Salmon, a spokesman for the company.

A Taneytown-area teen accused of shooting a Pizza Hut delivery woman in February because he needed money for the movies lost a legal battle yesterday to have his confession suppressed.Circuit Court Judge Luke K. Burns Jr. rejected defense arguments that Edward Sible, 18, was too intoxicated to understand his rights before police questioned him.Minutes later, Corey A. Coil, one of four co-defendants, pleaded guilty in the attempted armed robbery of the delivery woman, Linda D. Bond, 47, who was wounded in the incident.

In the Region Mercantile completes its acquisition of Bank of Fruitland Mercantile Bankshares Corp. said yesterday that it has completed its acquisition of the Bank of Fruitland in a stock swap valued at $36 million. The acquisition beefs up Baltimore-based Mercantile's presence along the Eastern Shore. Bank of Fruitland had $135 million in assets at the end of September and operated seven branches, four of them in Salisbury. The bank has been merged into Mercantile's Peninsula Bank, which has 30 offices on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

In the Region Mercantile completes its acquisition of Bank of Fruitland Mercantile Bankshares Corp. said yesterday that it has completed its acquisition of the Bank of Fruitland in a stock swap valued at $36 million. The acquisition beefs up Baltimore-based Mercantile's presence along the Eastern Shore. Bank of Fruitland had $135 million in assets at the end of September and operated seven branches, four of them in Salisbury. The bank has been merged into Mercantile's Peninsula Bank, which has 30 offices on Maryland's Eastern Shore.

HESPERIA, Calif. -- It's not exactly that the aborigines of Australia's Western Desert have forgotten how to build traditional earth houses. It's just that it's been a while, and besides, they've heard about some new architectural ideas for using nature-friendly building materials.Sandbags, for instance.A half-dozen village leaders from the Ngurawanna community, in the Pilbara region of the great Outback, were on a walkabout of sorts this month at a seminar put on at Iranian-born architect Nader Khalili's Cal-Earth Institute.