A method for preparing a polyol useful in the formation of an isocyanate casting resin or coating composition is presented involving the reaction of an essentially C18 fatty acid mixture with a monofunctional alcohol to form a fatty acid ester mixture, forming a epoxidized fatty acid ester mixture from the fatty acid ester mixture, and reacting the epoxidized mixture with an aliphatic alcohol to form a polyol. The polyol can be further reacted with an isocyanate to form a casting resin or coating composition. The fatty acid mixture contains at least 80 percent oleic acid. Polyols prepared by this method provide good color quality and improved color stability during storage when used in the production of isocyanate casting resins and coating compositions.

1. Background of the Invention
This invention relates to the use of special polyols for the production of isocyanate casting resins and coating compositions. The polyols to be used in accordance with the invention may be obtained by reacting epoxidized fatty acid esters of monofunctional C1-8 alcohols with alcohols having a functionality of 2 to 10. According to the invention, the epoxidized fatty acid esters used are those of which the fatty acid component is based on fatty acid mixtures essentially containing 18 carbon atoms, the oleic acid content of the fatty acid mixtures being at least 80% by weight.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Casting resins are synthetic resins which are either liquid or which can be liquefied by moderate heating and which are cast into open molds and harden therein. Casting resins also include isocyanate casting resins. According to DIN 55958, isocyanate casting resins are synthetic resins which are based on aliphatic, cycloaliphatic or aromatic isocyanates and which still contain free terminal isocyanate groups. They may be cured under various conditions. For example, a one-component casting resin consists of a polyurethane prepolymer terminated by free or blocked isocyanate groups which cure under the effect of moisture, optionally accompanied by heating, for example to accelerate the reaction or to increase strength. A two-component casting resin is based, for example, on polyhydroxy compounds of branched polyesters or polyethers as the first component and on polyisocyanates as the second component. After the two components have been mixed, they cure either at room temperature or at a slightly elevated temperature. Two-component casting resins are used, for example, for encapsulating cable fittings.
According to the teaching of DE-A-43 08 097, isocyanate casting resins or coating compositions which are largely unaffected by moisture and chemicals can be produced by using ring opening and transesterification products of epoxidized fatty acid esters of monofunctional C1-8 alcohols as polyols. These products can be obtained by reacting the epoxidized fatty acid esters with alcohols having a functionality of preferably 2 to 4. According to Examples 1 to 5 of DE-A-43 08 097, an epoxystearic acid methyl ester of technical quality is used as the starting material. As known to the expert, xe2x80x9ctechnical qualityxe2x80x9d means that the fatty acid component on which the epoxide stearic acid methyl ester is based is a mixture ofxe2x80x94essentiallyxe2x80x94palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid and linoleic acid, the oleic acid content being about 70% by weight, based on the fatty acid mixture as a whole. One such fatty acid mixture has long been commercially available under the name of Edenor(copyright) TiO5 (manufacturer: Henkel KGaA).
Although the polyols according to DE-A-43 08 097 have a number of applicational advantages, they are generally pale yellowish liquids. The yellow color of these products does not present any problems where they are used in casting resins, finishing paints or coatings providing the polyols are reacted with aromatic diisocyanates. However, it does present problems where the polyols are reacted with colorless aliphatic diisocyanates. According to DE-A-44 46 877, the ring opening of epoxides is carried out in the presence of fluoroalkane sulfonic acids as catalyst. In this way, the color quality of the polyols thus produced is improved.
DE-A-40 24 364 describes a process for the production of plastic comonomers and plastics from fats and oils using unsaturated fatty acids, in which crude unsaturated fats and oils are oxidized with performic acid or peracetic acid to form epoxy or hydroxy compounds and, for the production of plastics, are subsequently reacted with difunctional or multifunctional compounds capable of reacting with epoxy and hydroxy groups to form polymers.
The problem addressed by the present invention was to provide polyols which, when used in the production of isocyanate casting resins and coating compositions, would basically show good color quality and, in addition, would show improved color stability during the storage of the corresponding isocyanate casting resins and coating compositions.
It has now surprisingly been found that the problem stated above can be solved by polyols obtainable by reacting epoxidized fatty acid esters of monofunctional C1-8 alcohols with aliphatic alcohols having a functionality of 2 to 10, the fatty acid component of the epoxidized fatty acid esters being based on fatty acid mixtures essentially containing 18 carbon atoms and the oleic acid content of these fatty acid mixtures being at least 80% by weight, based on the fatty acid mixture as a whole.
The production of the polyols according to the invention is illustrated by reaction scheme 1 below. In this scheme, the substituent R is a C1-8 alkyl group. Accordingly, the upper formula in scheme 1 represents an oleic acid alkyl ester. It contains a Cxe2x95x90C double bond in the 9,10 position of the fatty chain. This double bond is accessible to epoxidation, in which case the associated epoxidized oleic acid alkyl ester is formed, as illustrated in the second formula of scheme 1. This epoxidized oleic acid alkyl ester is then reacted with aliphatic alcohols having a functionality of 2 to 10 to form a corresponding polyol.
Now, if the special fatty alkyl group, i.e. the fatty component of the fatty acid ester, in the first formula of scheme 1 whichxe2x80x94in this particular embodimentxe2x80x94stands for an oleic acid alkyl ester, is replaced by a fatty acid mixture essentially containing 18 carbon atoms, the oleic acid content of this fatty acid mixture being at least 80% by weight, based on the fatty acid mixture as a whole, and if this transformation is correspondingly applied to the second formula of scheme 1 remembering that, on this occasion, it is not of course a fatty alkyl group, but rather an epoxyfatty alkyl group which is to be replaced, a general scheme describing the production of the polyols according to the invention would be obtained.
Accordingly, the present invention relates to the use of polyols obtainable by reacting epoxidized fatty acid esters of monohydric C1-8 alcohols with aliphatic alcohols having a functionality of 2 to 10, the fatty acid component of the epoxidized fatty acid esters being based on fatty acid mixtures essentially containing 18 carbon atoms and the oleic acid content of these fatty acid mixtures, based on the fatty acid mixture as a whole, being at least 80% by weight, for the production of isocyanate casting resins and coating compositions.
According to the invention, the polyols are produced, as mentioned above, by reacting epoxidized fatty acid esters with aliphatic alcohols having a functionality of 2 to 10. This reaction is carried out in accordance with the teaching of DE-A43 08 097 by ring opening and transesterification. Preference is attributed here to the ring opening and transesterification products with alcohols having a functionality of 2 to 7, more particularly to the reaction products with ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, oligomeric ethylene glycols, oligomeric propylene glycols, to the reaction products with glycerol, diglycerol, polyglycerol, trimethylol propane, di-trimethylol propane and/or pentaerythritol. Products such as these can be produced by known methods, the transesterification being carried out during or after the ring opening step by removing the lower alcohol from the reaction equilibrium. Ring opening and transesterification products in which the mole ratio of epoxidized fatty acid ester to the alcohol used for the reaction is 1:1 to 1:10 are preferred. Here, too, 1:1 or 1:2 adducts can be produced analogously to the opening products of epoxidized fatty alcohols.
In one preferred embodiment of the present invention, fatty acid mixtures of sunflower oil from high oleic plants are used as the fatty acid component on which the epoxidized fatty acid esters are based. The fatty acid composition of sunflower oil from high oleic plants is as follows: 80 to 95% by weight oleic acid, 2 to 12% linolenic acid, 1 to 5% stearic acid, 2 to 5% palmitic acid. All these percentages represent percentages by weight, based on the fatty acid mixture as a whole. According to the invention, particularly preferred epoxidized fatty acid esters are those of which the fatty acid component is based on fatty acid mixtures from sunflower oil from high oleic plants and in which the oleic acid content of these fatty acid mixtures is at least 85% by weight. One such oil is commercially available, for example, under the name of xe2x80x9cTrisun(copyright)xe2x80x9d from Special Vegetable Oils (SVO), Eastlake, Ohio, USA.
In another embodiment of the present invention, a so-called xe2x80x9chigh oleic, low stearicxe2x80x9d sunflower oil (hereinafter referred in short as HOLS sunflower oil) is used as the basis of the epoxidized fatty acid esters. The fatty acid composition of HOLS sunflower oil is as follows: 85 to 95% oleic acid, 2 to 8% linoleic acid, 0.5 to 2.5% stearic acid and 2 to 5% palmitic acid. Here, too, all percentages represent percentages by weight, based on the fatty acid mixture as a whole.
The present invention also relates to isocyanate casting resins and coating compositions obtainable by reacting the described polyols according to the invention with isocyanates having a functionality of 2 to 4.
Both aromatic and aliphatic monocyclic and polycyclic isocyanate compounds having the functionality mentioned are suitable for the production of the isocyanate casting resins and coating compositions according to the invention. Thus, in a first embodiment, tolylene diisocyanate or diphenyl methane diisocyanate may be used as the aromatic isocyanate. Technical diphenyl methane diisocyanate containing diisocyanates of higher functionality and having an isocyanate group functionality of greater than 2 is particularly suitable. Another suitable aromatic diisocyanate is xylylene diisocyanate. In addition, a number of aliphatic isocyanates having a functionality of 2 or more may be used. Examples include isophorone diisocyanate, tris-(6-isocyanatohexyl)-isocyanate and dicyclohexyl methane diisocyanate as cyclic aliphatic diisocyanates. Other examples are aliphatic straight-chain diisocyanates obtained by phosgenation of diamines, for example tetramethylene diisocyanate or hexamethylene diisocyanate.
In a particularly preferred embodiment of the present invention, hexamethylene diisocyanate is used as isocyanate component for the production of the casting resins or coating compositions.
Besides the polyfunctional isocyanate compounds, prepolymers may also be used in principle as isocyanate component in the two-component casting resins according to the invention. Prepolymers in this context are understood to be the adducts of polyfunctional isocyanates with polyfunctional alcohols, for example the reaction products of one of the above-mentioned aromatic or aliphatic diisocyanates with ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, glycerol, trimethylol propane or pentaerythritol. Reaction products of diisocyanates with polyether polyols, for example polyether polyols based on polyethylene oxide or polypropylene oxide, may also be used as prepolymers.
The two-component casting resins and coating compositions may additionally contain various auxiliaries which are preferably added to and mixed with the polyol. Examples of such auxiliaries include fillers. Suitable fillers are inorganic compounds that are not reactive to isocyanates, for example chalk and gypsum, precipitated silica, zeolites, bentonites, ground minerals and other inorganic fillers known to the expert. Organic fillers, especially chopped strands and the like, may also be used. Fillers which provide the casting resins with thixotropic properties are preferred.
The two-component casting resins or coating compositions according to the invention may additionally contain accelerators. Suitable accelerators are, for example, tertiary bases, such as bis-(N,N-dimethylamino)-diethyl ether, dimethyaminocyclohexane, N,N-dimethylbenzyl amine, N-methyl morpholine and the reaction products of dialkyl-(xcex2-hydroxyethyl)-amine with monoisocyanates and esterification products of dialkyl-(xcex2-hydroxyethyl)-amine and dicarboxylic acids. Another accelerator is 1,4-diaminobicyclo-(2.2.2)-octane. Non-basic substances may also be used as accelerators. Examples include metal compounds, for example iron pentacarbonyl, nickel tetracarbonyl, iron acetyl acetonate and tin(II)-(2-ethylhexoate), dibutyl tin dilaurate and molybdenum glycolate.
Besides the compounds mentioned above, the casting resins and coating compositions may contain other auxiliaries, including solvents. Suitable solvents are those which do not react with isocyanate groups, for example halogenated hydrocarbons, esters, ketones, aromatic hydrocarbons and the like. Plasticizers, flameproofing agents, retarders, dyes and antiagers of the type known in the corresponding casting resins may also be incorporated.
Up to 80% of the polyols according to the invention may be replaced by other polyols. However, the polyols to be used in accordance with the invention are preferably used unmixed.
The following Examples are intended to illustrate the invention without limiting it in any way.

Methods of preparing casting resins and coating compositions using polyols derived from high oleic acid content fatty acid mixtures


An injection molding machine includes a plasticating unit for plasticating a thermoplastic resin, and an injecting unit connected to the plasticating unit through a connecting passage to inject the plasticated resin into a mold. The injecting unit A includes a rotary pump having a suction port connected to the plasticating unit through the connecting passage and a discharge port connected to the mold. The plasticated resin is intermittently injected into the cavity of the mold through the injection port by means of the rotary pump. In the connecting passage, an accumulator is provided which reserves the resin plasticated in the plasticating unit in an amount equal to or more than the shot capacity, and feeds the resin to the rotary pump.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thermoplastic resin injection molding machine, and more particularly to an injection molding machine of which the plasticating unit and the injecting unit are provided so as to be independent of each other.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, as an injection molding machine of which the plasticating unit for plasticating a thermoplastic resin and the injecting unit for injecting the plasticated resin into a metallic mold are provided so as to be independent of each other, screw replasticating type injection molding machines have been known. In the front of the injecting plunger of the injecting unit, a chamber, called a reservoir, for reserving a resin in an amount corresponding to one shot is formed. The resin plasticated by means of the plasticating unit is fed into the chamber, and injected into the mold by moving the injecting plunger forward.
In the case of such an injection molding machine, as the molding cycle, injection, dwelling, cooling, and mold-opening-closing are repeated in that order as shown in FIG. 1A. The plasticating unit is stopped during the injection, the dwelling, and the mold opening-closing. At the same time when the cooling process is started, the screw of the plasticating unit is driven so that the resin plasticated in the reservoir is fed, and synchronously, the injecting plunger is moved backward whereby the weighing is carried out.
The term xe2x80x9cmarginxe2x80x9d means an excess time-period till the mold opening-closing is started after the cooling is completed, and is provided for the stabilization of the molding cycle. The time-period is changed correspondingly to the shot capacity.
As seen in the above-description, in the case of injection molding machines using an injecting plunger, it is required to determine optimal values with respect to the weighing and a molding pressure for each injecting molding machine and moreover, each of the molds if they are different from each other. Accordingly, the optimal values are determined by repeating the trial shot. Thus, these injection molding machines have the fault that it takes a long time to carry out the work for determining the optimal values.
Moreover, for a conventional injection molding machine, it is necessary to provide a space for a reservoir and a plunger-stroke. Thus, there has been the fault that the size of the injection molding machine is large as a whole.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a thermoplastic resin injection molding machine of which the weighing process is obviated, with which simplified, high precision injection molding is enabled, and which can be reduced in size.
To achieve the above-described object, according to the present invention, there is provided a thermoplastic resin injection molding machine which comprises a plasticating unit for plasticating a thermoplastic resin, and an injecting unit connected to the plasticating unit through a connecting passage to inject the plasticated resin into a mold through an injection port, the injecting unit including a rotary pump of which the suction side is connected to the plasticating unit through the connecting passage and the discharge side is connected to the injection port, whereby the plasticated resin is intermittently injected through the injection port by means of the rotary pump.
According to the present invention, as the injecting unit, the rotary pump is used. Therefore, the plasticated resin is discharged in one direction only, and it is unnecessary to provide the process of moving-backward, that is, the weighing process. In particular, it is unnecessary to determine an optimal value with respect to the weighing before hand, in contrast to a conventional injection molding machine. The weighing can be adjusted so as to have an optimal value only by controlling the rotation of the rotary pump. Thus, the work for repeating the trial shot to determine the optimal value can be obviated.
Further, in the case of the rotary pump, a motor, a rotary actuator, or the like may be used as a driving source. Accordingly, the driving source can be reduced in size as compared with a plunger which is reciprocated, and the necessary space can be decreased. Therefore, as a whole, the injection molding machine can be reduced in size.
As the rotary pump of the present invention, different types of rotary pumps such as a circumscribing gear pump, an inscribing gear pump, a trochoid pump, a vane pump, a screw pump, or the like can be employed. For example, when a circumscribing gear pump is used, desirably, a relatively high injection pressure can be attained, and moreover, an injection-performance is stable even at a high temperature.
For the purpose of attaining molding products of high quality, it is necessary to control the shot capacity and the injection pressure at a high precision. Conventionally, it has been necessary to determined optimal values with respect to the weighing and the injection pressure by trial shot. According to the present invention, the shot capacity can be continuously adjusted by the rotation of the rotary pump. Accordingly, molding products of high quality can be obtained by stopping the pump when the injection pressure reaches a predetermined value.
Thus, preferably, a pressure sensor is provided to detect an injection pressure in the mold, and the rotary pump is stopped when the injection pressure reaches a predetermined value. By controlling like this, the injection pressure in the mold can be controlled at a high precision, and molding products stable in qualities can be obtained.
Further, it is possible to control the injection pressure so as to have a predetermined value by no use of a pressure sensor. That is, a torque limiter may be provided on a driving shaft for driving the rotary pump to provide a slide when the torque exceeds a predetermined value. In this case, when the injection pressure exceeds a predetermined value, the torque limiter provides a slide. Therefore, even if the driving shaft of the rotary pump continues to be rotated, the injection pressure can be kept at a predetermined value. Hereupon, desirably, when the torque limiter provides a slide, the injection pressure is prevented from decreasing. As the torque limiter, means having the same function as a sliding clutch or the like are included.
When the plastication is carried out intermittently as in a conventional thermoplastic resin-injection molding machine (FIG. 1A), the plastication efficiency is ready to be reduced. Especially, for a resin having low engaging properties such as LCP, the reduction of the efficiency is remarkable.
On the other hand, according to the present invention, the weighing process is unnecessary. Therefore, it is not needed that the plastication process is synchronized with the weighing process. The plastication process can be converted to be an off-line as shown in FIG. 1B. That is, the plastication unit can be driven continuously during all the period of the molding cycle, and the plastication efficiency can be considerably enhanced. When the plastication is converted to be an off-line like this, the margin after the cooling, process is completed is unnecessary. Thus, the molding cycle can be significantly shortened as compared with the conventional one.
As described above, when the plastication unit is continuously driven, the pulsation of a resin is generated, caused by the intermittent injection of the rotary pump and the continuous supply by the plastication unit, so that stable injection can not be achieved. Accordingly, preferably, the connecting passage has the volume at which the pulsation of the resin, caused by the intermittent injection by the rotary pump and the continuous supply by the plasticating unit, can be absorbed. For example, stable injection is enabled by setting the volume of the connecting passage to be at least 100 times of the volume of the shot capacity. The qualities of molding products are enhanced.
For the purpose of absorbing the pulsation of the resin, caused by the intermittent injection by the rotary pump and the continuous supply by the plastication unit, preferably, in the connecting passage, disposed is an accumulator for reserving the resin plasticated with the plasticating unit, in the amount equal to or more than the shot capacity, and feeding the resin into the injecting unit. The accumulator has a simple structure, and is capable of reserving a large quantity of resin. Accordingly, the pulsation can be assuredly absorbed even if the shot capacity of the pump is increased.
Preferably, the accumulator is contained in the plasticating unit. That is, the plasticating unit comprises a cylinder, a screw disposed in the cylinder rotatably and movably in the axial direction, driving means for rotationally driving the screw, an accumulator chamber formed between the tip of the screw and the cylinder and being capable of reserving the plasticated resin in the amount equal to or more than the shot capacity, and actuating means for actuating the screw forward in the axial direction and feeding the resin in the accumulator, chamber to the injection unit. In this case, since the accumulator can be integrated with the plasticating unit in addition to the above-described advantage, that is, the assured absorption of the pulsation, the injection molding machine can be reduced in size. Moreover, since the plasticated resin does not stay in the accumulator chamber and is fed to the injecting unit sequentially, the deterioration of the resin is reduced. As the actuating means, a spring may be employed, or the resin in the accumulator chamber may be fed to the injecting unit by means of a pneumatic, hydraulic, or electric actuator.
According to the present invention, the rotary pump, the plasticating unit, and means for absorbing the pulsation of resin may be combined. In this case, the molding cycle can be shortened. Therefore, desirably, the present invention is applied to an injection molding machine of which the shot capacity is small (for example, 5 milliliter or less), that is, an injection molding machine of which the products quantity in a mold is small.
For the purpose of enhancing the productivity of injection molding, available are the following two methods. That is, the products quantity in a mold is increased, or the molding cycle is shortened. As to a conventional molding machine, it is necessary to synchronize the plastication with the weighing. Accordingly, the plastication can not be converted to an off-line, and the shortening of the molding cycle has a limitation. Accordingly, it has been dominant that the productivity is enhanced by increasing the products quantity in a mold, that is, by using a large-size mold. However, in the case of this method, the depreciation expense of the mold is high. In production of many kinds of products in small lots, which has been increasingly employed in recent years, there is caused the problem that the unit price of molding products is increased. Moreover, there has been the fault that since the injection pressure is increased, the required clamping force is high, and the clamping mechanism is large in size.
On the contrary, when the injection molding machine is employed with which the molding cycle is shortened, though the products quantity in a mold is small, the productivity comparable to that of a conventional injection molding machine can be assured though the mold is small in size, so that the depreciation expense of the mold can be significantly reduced. In addition, since a small-size mold having a small products-quantity in a mold is used, the injection pressure can be reduced, so that a sufficient injection pressure can be attained even by the rotary pump. Further, advantageously, the required clamping power is reduced, so that the mold-clamping mechanism, that is, the molding machine itself can be reduced in size, and the molding machine itself can be inexpensively formed.
Preferably, a nozzle is provided for the injection port of the injecting unit, and after the resin in the mold is cooled to be solidified, the rotary pump is driven reversely so that the residual pressure of the resin remaining the nozzle is removed. In this case, the resin in the nozzle can be prevented from leaking out when the mold is opened or closed.
Also preferably, a nozzle is provided for the injection port of the injecting unit, and a valve is provided to open or close the nozzle. In this case, the resin remaining in the nozzle can be also prevented from leaking out when the mold is opened or closed.

Thermoplastic resin injection molding machine


The hierarchical structure display device includes a hierarchical structure storing unit, a display unit, and a display control unit. The hierarchical structure storing unit stores information about a hierarchical structure of menus where each item contained in a menu is linked to a directly beneath level menu. The display control unit controls the display unit to display at least one menu in the display screen and to preserve at least a first region in the display screen for displaying titles of items contained in a menu of interest. The titles of items contained in a menu are arranged one after another in the second direction with each title extending in the first direction, and the first region has a first length in the first direction long enough to entirely visibly indicate the titles of items. When the designating unit designates items in succession while advancing to a deeper level of the menus, the display control unit controls the display unit to preserve in the display screen not only the first region but also a second region that has a second length extending in the first direction and being shorter than the first length and to display at least a part of the menus in the second region.

There has been a known conventional technique that displays names of a plurality of menus as a menu list on a display device. Each menu belongs to a corresponding layer configuring a hierarchical structure. In the menu list, the names of the plurality of menus are arranged along a line intersecting a line parallel to a width direction of a displaying means. In relation to this technique, Japanese Patent Application Publication JP2002-514328 (page 18, paragraph 3, FIG. 5)) describes a technique that, when each menu list is displayed from the left to the right of a screen sequentially from a highest layer, the screen displays a menu list of a layer requested to be displayed and a menu list of a layer immediately higher than such layer. Menu lists of a layer even higher than these layers is hidden by scrolling the screen from the right to the left.


An elastomerically cushioned cycle stem, referred to as an e-stem, connects a cycle handlebar to a cycle fork steerer tube. The e-stem has a rigid interchangeable swingarm that rotates, i.e., pivots about an axis located behind a steerer tube bore of the base. A fastener rotationally secures the swingarm to the base and clamps the base to the steerer tube. An interchangeable elastomeric block, engaged by the base and swingarm, absorbs impacts from the road or trail, as the swingarm pivots. The base sides provide interior rotational abutments to the arms of the swingarm, the abutments buttress the pivoting swingarm to provide lateral rigidity of the swingarm relative to the base. The e-stem is adjusted using a plurality of swingarm configurations to alter the stem length and offset, and using a plurality of elastomeric block properties.

Cycles typically use a stem to connect a handlebar to a cycle fork, the stem connecting the handlebar to a steerer tube of the cycle fork, the fork having an attached cycle wheel. The cycle wheel absorbs impacts from the road or trail, the impacts transmitted to a cycle rider through the forks, stem and handlebars. The prior art utilizes various stem designs to isolate and cushion the rider from said impacts including stems with linear slide designs, stems with pivoting designs at a rotation point, and stems with articulating arm designs. These designs have disadvantages including complexity, weight, steering vagueness due to lack of lateral rigidity, and fixed stem geometry, i.e., offset lengths and angles. A simple solution is needed to provide an adjustable stem that absorbs vertical impacts and has lateral rigidity for accurate steering.
An inventive elastomeric stem is disclosed, the stem has a base rigidly attached to the steerer tube, the base has a rotationally connected swingarm, in other words a pivoting swingarm. The swingarm has a handlebar mount to receive and secure the handlebar. The swingarm pivots and rotates about a horizontal transverse axis located behind the stem. The rearward pivot location permits the use of base side facets that abut swingarm inner facets to buttress against lateral movement of the pivoting swingarm thereby providing lateral rigidity. An elastomeric block is engaged by the base and the swingarm thereby fixing an original rotational position of the swingarm relative to the base. The elastomeric block is deformed by and cushions the swingarm rotation relative to the base when an external impact force is applied. The buttressed and cushioned swingarm of the e-stem provides a laterally rigid connection between the fork and handlebar mount while absorbing road impacts and vibrations transmitted from a wheel of the cycle fork to the steerer tube.


The present inventors analyzed genes involved in plant disease resistance. As a result, they discovered the transcription factor gene OsWRKY45, which is induced in leaf blades of rice plants by activating the systemic acquired resistance (SAR) that plants inherently have, i.e., by treating rice plants with benzothiadiazole (hereafter may be abbreviated as BTH), which is an agent thought to induce disease resistance in plants. It was further discovered that rice blast disease resistance and rice bacterial leaf blight resistance were markedly improved by reintroducing the gene into rice plants and constitutively expressing it.

In crop production, there is a steady demand for stable production of high quality plants and reduction of pesticide dependency. To that end, researchers are actively improving, breeding, and developing plants resistant to pests and pathogenic bacteria through useful plant biotechnologies, such as plant cell fusion and recombinant DNA techniques. Transformed plants resistant to herbicides (Patent Document 1), viruses (Patent Document 2), and pests (Patent Document 3) have been already produced using recombinant DNA techniques. Furthermore, several species of transformed plants resistant to plant pathogenic bacteria, such as the following, have been produced: a transformed plant showing resistance to a pathogenic filamentous fungus, produced by introducing a gene encoding an enzyme that inactivates a toxin produced by the pathogenic filamentous fungus (Non-patent Document 1); a transformed plant showing resistance to at least one pathogenic bacterium, produced by introducing a gene encoding an anti-bacterial protein derived from an insect (Patent Document 4); a transformed plant resistant to complex diseases, produced by introducing a gene derived from Brassica rapa L. var. perviridis) (Patent Document 5); a method for producing a plant resistant to multiple diseases using the thionine gene (Patent Document 6); and a method for producing a plant resistant to complex diseases using an acidic thaumatin-like protein gene (Patent Document 7). However, it is generally accepted that disease resistance obtained by introducing a single resistance gene is not sufficiently effective. Furthermore, some of the introduced genes have harmful effects on the growth, fertility and such of transformants, thereby hindering their practical application.
WRKY transcription factors have been reported to be involved in disease resistance of dicotyledons such as Arabidopsis (Non-patent Documents 2 to 7). In every case hitherto reported on Arabidopsis overexpressing the WRKY transcription factor genes, undesirable characters such as dwarfism, morphological abnormality, and leaf necrosis are reported (WRKY6: dwarfism, reduced apical dominance, leaf necrosis; AtWRKY18: growth inhibition, dwarfism, seed reduction; WRKY70: morphological abnormality, dwarfism). Furthermore, the WRKY transcription factors form a superfamily (about 100 members in rice), which is structurally classified into three groups. Some WRKY transcription factors have been suggested to be involved in morphogenesis and secondary metabolism apart from disease resistance, and each WRKY transcription factor is thought to have an individual function (Non-patent Document 8). The OsWRKY genes of rice have been reported to be involved in ABA-responsive gene expression in aleurone layer; however, the function of these genes in the context of disease resistance is not disclosed in this report (Non-patent Document 9). To date, there have been no reports on the improvement of plant disease resistance by an OsWRKY gene of rice.
Prior art references related to the present invention are listed below.    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Kokai Publication No. (JP-A) H2-186925 (unexamined, published Japanese patent application)    [Patent Document 2] JP-A H4-330233    [Patent Document 3] JP-A H3-247220    [Patent Document 4] JP-A H7-250685    [Patent Document 5] JP-A 2004-329215    [Patent Document 6] JP-A 2003-88379    [Patent Document 7] JP-A 2003-199448    [Non-patent Document 1] Windhovel, U., Geiges, B., Sandmann, G. and Boger, P. (1994) Expression of Erwinia uredovora Phytoene Desaturase in Synechococcus PCC7942 Leading to Resistance against a Bleaching Herbicide. Plant Physiol. 104, 119-125.    [Non-patent Document 2] Kalde, M., Barth, M., Somssich, I. E. and Lippok, B. (2003) Members of the Arabidopsis WRKY group III transcription factors are part of different plant defense signaling pathways. Mol. Plant. Microbe Interact. 16, 295-305.    [Non-patent Document 3] Li, J., Brader, G. and Palva, E. T. (2004) The WRKY70 transcription factor: a node of convergence for jasmonate-mediated and salicylate-mediated signals in plant defense. Plant Cell 16, 319-331.    [Non-patent Document 4] Robatzek, S., and Somssich, I. E. (2002) Targets of AtWRKY6 regulation during plant senescence and pathogen defense. Genes Dev. 16, 1139-1149.    [Non-patent Document 5] Yu, D., Chen, C. and Chen, Z. (2001) Evidence for an important role of WRKY DNA binding proteins in the regulation of NPR1 gene expression. Plant Cell 13, 1527-1540.    [Non-patent Document 6] Chen, C. and Chen, Z. (2002) Potentiation of developmentally regulated plant defense response by AtWRKY18, a pathogen-induced Arabidopsis transcription factor. Plant Physiol. 129, 706-716.    [Non-patent Document 7] Asai, T., Tena, G., Plotnikova, J., Willmann, M. R., Chiu, W. L., Gomez-Gomez, L., Boller, T., Ausubel, F. M., and Sheen, J. (2002). MAP kinase signaling cascade in Arabidopsis innate immunity. Nature 415, 977-983.    [Non-patent Document 8] Eulgem, T., Rushton, P. J., Robatzek, S., and Somssich, I. E. (2000). The WRKY superfamily of plant transcription factors. Trends in Plant Sci. 5, 199-206.    [Non-patent Document 9] Xie, Z., Zhang, Z. L., Zou, X., Huang, J., Ruas, P., Thompson, D. and Shen, Q. J. (2005) Annotations and Functional Analyses of the Rice WRKY Gene Superfamily Reveal Positive and Negative Regulators of Abscisic Acid Signaling in Aleurone Cells. Plant Physiol. 137, 176-189.

Improving disease resistance in plants by introducing transcription factor gene

National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences


A printing apparatus to make a number of copies of a printed material on which an image is formed according to print data stored in a removable memory medium is provided. The printing apparatus includes an interface to which the removable memory medium is connected so that the print data stored in the removable memory medium is inputted to the printing apparatus, a printable number detecting system, which is configured to detect a number of copies of the printed material to be made being stored in the removable memory medium, a printing system, which is configured to make the printed material, and a controlling system, which is configured to control a total of the number of copies of the printed material to be made by the printing system.

1. Technical Field
Aspects of the present invention relate to a printing apparatus, and more specifically, a printing apparatus capable of printing print data stored in a removable storage medium and a computer usable medium to control a number of copies to be printed by the printing apparatus.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, a printing apparatus capable of printing an image according to print data stored in a removable storage medium such as a USB (universal serial bus) memory, which is inserted into a USB interface of the printing apparatus, is known. In such a printing apparatus, the print data can be printed directly as the USB memory having the print data is inserted into the USB interface, and no user instruction is required.
As the USB memory is not required to be connected to a PC (personal computer) in order to obtain the print data to print, in case that additional copies of a printed material are urgently required during a meeting, for example, the user can obtain the copies promptly and easily by inserting the USB memory into the USB interface of a nearest printing apparatus if the user has the print data prepared in the USB memory.

Printing apparatus, computer usable medium, and controlling method therefor


A heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration system includes a heat transfer fluid circulation loop configured to circulate a refrigerant therethrough, a purge gas outlet in operable communication with the heat transfer fluid circulation loop and at least one gas permeable membrane having a first side in operable communication with the purge gas outlet and a second side. The membrane includes a plurality of pores of a size to allow passage of contaminants through the membrane, while restricting passage of the refrigerant through the membrane, and further restricting passage of a vapor phase corrosion inhibitor through the membrane. A purge unit is in operable communication with the second side of the permeable membrane configured to receive a purge gas from the permeable membrane.

This disclosure relates generally to chiller systems used in air conditioning systems, and more particularly to a purge system for removing contaminants from a refrigeration system.
Chiller systems such as those utilizing oil-free low pressure compressors may include sections that operate below atmospheric pressure. As a result, leaks in the chiller system may draw air into the system, contaminating the refrigerant. This contamination degrades the performance of the chiller system, and further may cause corrosion of internal components of the chiller system. To address this problem, existing low pressure chillers include a purge unit to remove contamination. The purge unit is typically an additional vapor-compression unit connected to the chiller system to remove the contaminants.
Further, many systems utilize a vapor phase corrosion inhibitor (VPCI) as an additive in the refrigerant to prevent corrosion of the internal components. The vapor phase corrosion inhibitor also aids in lubrication of compressor bearings. In many systems, the vapor phase corrosion inhibitor present in the condenser vapor may be purged with the air and moisture contaminants at the purge unit, thus reducing the concentration of vapor phase corrosion inhibitor in the system and subsequently increasing corrosion risk to the internal components.


A chalk line device for marking straight lines in construction applications. The chalk line device includes a housing with a pair of separable sections and a pair of openings. Each of the sections has a sidewall, a pair of opposite ends, and a pair of side edges extending between the ends. A divider panel may optionally be positioned between the sections of the housing to separate the housing into a pair of compartments. A first spool may be rotatably disposed in one compartment, and a second spool may be disposed in the other compartment. In one optional embodiment, a single spool, is located in the housing and an endcap with a pointed tip is mounted in the cap. The pointed tip may be retractable.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to chalk line boxes and more particularly pertains to a new chalk line device for marking straight lines in construction applications.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of chalk line boxes is known in the prior art. More specifically, chalk line boxes heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art includes U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,126,637; 2,589,500; 5,212,875; 5,063,681; 4,660,291; and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 339,044.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new chalk line device. The inventive device includes a housing with a pair of separable sections and a pair of openings. Each of the sections has a sidewall, a pair of opposite ends, and a pair of side edges extending between the ends. A divider panel is positioned between the sections of the housing to separate the housing into a pair of compartments. A first spool is rotatably disposed in one of the compartments of the housing. A second spool is rotatably disposed in another of the compartments of the housing. Each of the spools has a quantity of line wrapped therearound. A pair of handles are mounted to the spools and positioned outside the housing. The handles permit external rotation of the spools.
In these respects, the chalk line device according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of marking straight lines in construction applications.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of chalk line boxes now present in the prior art, the present invention provides a new chalk line device construction wherein the same can be utilized for marking straight lines in construction applications.
The general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a new chalk line device apparatus and method which has many of the advantages of the chalk line boxes mentioned heretofore and many novel features that result in a new chalk line device which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by any of the prior art chalk line boxes, either alone or in any combination thereof.
To attain this, the present invention generally comprises a housing with a pair of separable sections and a pair of openings. Each of the sections has a sidewall, a pair of opposite ends, and a pair of side edges extending between the ends. A divider panel is positioned between the sections of the housing to separate the housing into a pair of compartments. A first spool is rotatably disposed in one of the compartments of the housing. A second spool is rotatably disposed in another of the compartments of the housing. Each of the spools has a quantity of line wrapped therearound. A pair of handles are mounted to the spools and positioned outside the housing. The handles permit external rotation of the spools.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception, upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientists, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application. The abstract is neither intended to define the invention of the application, which is measured by the claims, nor is it intended to be limiting as to the scope of the invention in any way.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a new chalk line device apparatus and method which has many of the advantages of the chalk line boxes mentioned heretofore and many novel features that result in a new chalk line device which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by any of the prior art chalk line boxes, either alone or in any combination thereof.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new chalk line device which may be easily and efficiently manufactured and marketed.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a new chalk line device which is of a durable and reliable construction.
An even further object of the present invention is to provide a new chalk line device which is susceptible of a low cost of manufacture with regard to both materials and labor, and which accordingly is then susceptible of low prices of sale to the consuming public, thereby making such chalk line device economically available to the buying public.
Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new chalk line device which provides in the apparatuses and methods of the prior art some of the advantages thereof, while simultaneously overcoming some of the disadvantages normally associated therewith.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new chalk line device for marking straight lines in construction applications.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new chalk line device which includes a housing with a pair of separable sections and a pair of openings. Each of the sections has a sidewall, a pair of opposite ends, and a pair of side edges extending between the ends. A divider panel is positioned between the sections of the housing to separate the housing into a pair of compartments. A first spool is rotatably disposed in one of the compartments of the housing. A second spool is rotatably disposed in another of the compartments of the housing. Each of the spools has a quantity of line wrapped therearound. A pair of handles are mounted to the spools and positioned outside the housing. The handles permit external rotation of the spools.
Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide a new chalk line device that features two different colors of chalk in the separate chambers. This permits a user to redo a bad snap by using the other color. This is particularly useful when the two lines are very close together.
Even still another object of the present invention is to provide a new chalk line device that eliminates the need to carry two chalk line boxes, one with a plumb bob to do vertical lines, and another with a hook to do diagonal lines. Rather, a hook may be attached to one line and a plumb bob to the other.


A sewing machine includes a looper formed with a thread hole, a looper shaft holding the looper, and a thread pipe fixed to the looper shaft. The thread pipe includes a thread inserting port at one end and a thread discharging port at the other end. The sewing machine further includes a nozzle from which air is sprayed toward the thread inserting port, a switching mechanism operable to disconnect the looper from the looper shaft when the looper is at a front position, and a moving member which moves the looper to a rear position when the looper is disconnected from the looper shaft by the switching mechanism. When the looper is disconnected from the looper shaft and is moved to the rear position, the thread discharging port matches the thread hole, and the thread inserting port becomes close to the nozzle.

There is a threading device in which compressed air is sprayed onto a thread inserting port of a thread pipe, guiding a lower thread toward a thread hole of a looper, to insert the lower thread into the thread hole of the looper through the thread pipe by an air flow (see, e.g., Japanese Patent No, 2865470).
When the looper, which swivels back and forth, is at a front position, an upper thread is usually being caught by the looper. When inserting the lower thread into the thread hole of the looper in this state, it is cumbersome to pull away the upper thread passing through the looper or to consider the order of threading.
In a looper mechanism disclosed in the Japanese Patent No. 2865470, moreover, the looper is swiveled interlockingly with a rotation of a main shaft (a lower shaft) which serves as a driving shaft. Thus, in order to prevent the threading work from being hindered by a movement of the looper, it is necessary to stop and keep the looper at a predetermined position when inserting the lower thread into the looper.
Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 14, an operator of the sewing machine has to manually operate a locking mechanism for locking the main shaft by one hand while rotating the main shaft so as to find a phase of the looper (i.e., a rotating angle of the main shaft) that matches the locking mechanism by the other hand. In other words, when inserting the lower thread into the thread hole of the looper, it is necessary to use both hands. Thus, there is a problem that the operations are cumbersome.


Casting of non-ferrous metals, especially aluminum and magnesium, can have problems with erosion, in which molten metal contacts the mold or core surfaces during the pouring process, resulting in the sand being dislodged. Binder systems addressing this issue often use bisphenol F epoxy resin. A binder system is provided in which a major portion of the epoxy resin component is a bisphenol epoxy resin that has been modified by incorporating oxazolidone rings into an epoxy backbone of the bisphenol epoxy resin, especially a bisphenol A epoxy resin. The modification is preferably achieved by reacting the diglycidyl ether of the bisphenol with a methylene diphenyl diisocyanate.

The applicant has been long interested in the issues arising in the molten metal casting industry when non-ferrous metals are being poured. One of the problems is "erosion," which occurs when molten metal contacts the mold or core surfaces during the pouring process, resulting in the sand being dislodged at the point of contact. Erosion is believed to occur because the binder lacks sufficient heat resilience to maintain surface integrity until the pouring process is complete. The result of erosion is that loose sand is carried into the mold cavity by the liquid metal. This creates sand inclusions and weak areas in the casting. A dimensional defect is also created on the surface of the casting from sand loss into the metal.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,723,401, owned by the applicant, describes epoxy-acrylate binders that are used in molten metal casing and the problems of these binders with regard to erosion. The particular epoxy-acrylate binder systems of interest are used in the "cold box" process. In this well-known process, a foundry mix is prepared by mixing an appropriate refractory aggregate with a binder. After forcing the foundry mix into a pattern, a vapor is passed through the foundry mix, causing it to cure and provide a foundry shape useful as a mold or core. A typical vapor used is sulfur dioxide (SO2), which may be diluted with another gas, typically nitrogen. A typical epoxy-acrylate binder system, contains an epoxy resin, a multifunctional acrylate, a hydroperoxide, a silane coupling agent, and optional diluents. The binder is mixed with an aggregate (typically sand). The molding mixture thus produced is compacted into a pattern to give it a specific shape. When the sulfur dioxide is blown into the pattern, it reacts with the hydroperoxide to form acid and free radicals. The generated acid cures the epoxy resin and the generated free radicals cure the multifunctional acrylate. The mixture is instantaneously hardened to result in the desired shape and can be used immediately in a foundry core and/or mold assembly.
As cited in U.S. Pat. No. 7,723,401, foundries have historically resorted to the use of refractory coatings. Core and mold assemblies or parts thereof are dipped into, flowed or sprayed with a slurry consisting of a high melting refractory oxide, a carrier such as water or alcohol, and thixotropic additives. When dried on a mold or core surface, the coating very effectively prevents erosion, in most cases. The problem with this approach is that the coating operation is messy, adds complexity to the sand casting process, and requires expensive gas fired, microwave, or radiant energy ovens to dry the wash onto the core surface. When the core and/or molds are heated during the drying process, the strength of the organic binder-to-aggregate bond weakens significantly. This results in problems handling the hot cores and reduction in productivity due to distortion or cracking of the core or mold.
Commercially-available epoxy-acrylate binder systems that provide very high hot strength, tensile strength and erosion resistance are available. However, many of these systems have at least one high-cost component.
It is, therefore, a desirable and unmet need in the prior art to reduce the cost of the epoxy-acrylate binder system while maintaining or improving the erosion resistance provided thereby.

Erosion resistant foundry shapes prepared with an epoxy-acrylate cold-box binder


Methods for extracting and compressing an inert gas from an exhaust gas of an engine relate to providing an inert gas processing system including a multi-stage gas compressor to receive the exhaust gas from an exhaust gas processing system, a cooling and extraction system to receive the exhaust gas from each stage of the multi-stage gas compressor and remove liquids from the exhaust gas, and a controller to monitor operation of the inert gas processing system. The methods include processing the exhaust gas before each stage of the multi-stage gas compressor to clarify the inert gas in the exhaust gas, processing the exhaust gas after each stage of the multi-stage gas compressor to clarify the inert gas in the exhaust gas and compressing the inert gas processed for export from the inert gas processing system.

Methods for generating inert gases (such as, nitrogen gas streams or of primarily nitrogen gas stream in combination with other inert gases, such as carbon dioxide, are used in many different industrial applications. For example, an inert gas or an inert gas mixture can be used to prevent instantaneous combustion or explosive ignition, in limiting corrosion and oxidation (for example, as in inert gas blanketing), in semi-conductor manufacturing processes, or in specialized heat treating applications.
Inert gases can be used for inerting the ullage in large oil tanks or other types of containers employed to store or deliver combustible fluids. In these cases, an inert gas or an inert gas mixture is used to fill the head space in the tanks prior to filling or during off-loading of the tanks. This precaution is employed to prevent combustion or explosions within the tanks due to the initial presence or influx of air during the filling and/or emptying process.
Inert gases have been used to facilitate the removal of crude oil from semi-depleted oil wells. Injection of the inert gas into these wells causes some of the gas to dissolve within the residual oil reserves due to substantial overpressure created by the gas deep within the wells. The subsequent increase in reservoir pressure and/or reductions of well fluid column weight while flowing is capable of bringing large quantities of additional oil to the surface. In other cases, multiple inert gas injection sites, surrounding a centralized non-pressurized extraction site, may be simultaneously pressurized with an inert gas or mixture of inert gases. In this scenario, circumferential gas pressure alone will tend to force residual quantities of subsurface oil to flow to the surface region of a well through the centralized non-pressurized extraction site.
In order for a gas to be used as an inert gas in applications where the prevention of combustion and/or oxidation is critical, the oxygen content in the inert gas must be sufficiently reduced to a level that will not sustain fire or explosion. For example, inert gases having oxygen contents of less than about 2.0 percent by volume are preferred for inerting the head space in oil tankers.
High purity, cryogenic grade liquid nitrogen, which can be vaporized to produce high purity gaseous nitrogen, is usually about 99.99 percent pure (at least). This grade of nitrogen is typically employed in various inerting processes, including some of the applications already mentioned herein.
Cryogenic grade liquid nitrogen is generally made in large air separation plants, transported in the liquid state to a point of use location, and employed either directly as a liquid or as a gas after vaporization. Argon is another type of inert gas which is produced and employed similarly. The generation, transportation, and vaporizing of high purity cryogenic grade inert gases is very costly.
Some existing methods utilized to produce inert gas on-site entail conventional membrane systems employed to produce gaseous nitrogen from air. These kinds of systems typically produce gaseous nitrogen onsite with purity levels on the order of about 90 to 93 percent by volume. However, these systems are quite expensive due to high energy requirements and achieve relatively low nitrogen gas flow rates at high purity production levels.
An alternative way to produce an inert gas stream is through the combustion of an organic fuel. For example, the product gas stream produced as a result of any combustion process involving the burning of gasoline, diesel fuel, or natural gas in the air generally contains high levels of nitrogen, some carbon dioxide, and small amounts of oxygen, carbon monoxide, and water vapor.
The carbon dioxide and water vapor impurities are relatively inert, thus are not objectionable in many subsequent uses of the inert gas. For most applications, the oxygen level is low enough at process discharge to be used as an inert gas. If necessary, water vapor can be removed (typically, by two phase separators, adsorption, or by a membrane permeation technique).
A need exists to efficiently produce inert gases with simple on-site methods, thus avoiding high transportation costs associated with delivery to point of use locations.
A need exists to reduce the high costs associated using current on-site methodologies to generate inert gases due to high energy requirements, and to achieve higher nitrogen gas flow rates at high purity production levels without compromising safety concerns.
The embodiments meet these needs.
The present embodiments are detailed below with reference to the listed Figures.

Method to generate inert gas from exhaust gas on-site


A sealed reservoir cap for attaching to a bottle includes an annular part slidably received into another annular part to define an enclosed reservoir there between that is closed off by a punchable seal.

The present writing relates to the field of beverages, and more specifically to a simplified chambered bottle cap that can store and dispense the cap's contents into a bottle containing a fluid. The present cap differs considerably from the following prior art: TW M289049, U.S. Pat. No. 7,249,690 and U.S. Publication No. 2005/0211579.
Bottled beverages, including water, soda, and juices, comprise a multibillion dollar industry worldwide. The primary container used for the storage and sale of such beverages is the plastic bottle. Plastic bottles have gained such widespread use for a variety of factors, including low cost, light weight, ease of use, and durability. Plastic bottles are usually closed at the top with a plastic cap, usually with a type of safety seal. The cap can be removed by twisting or flipping to expose the beverage inside the bottle. Often such caps comprise a movable valve such as a sports bottle cap, which allows a person to seal the bottle and to use the valve as a drinking aid similar to a straw.
Water-soluble drink mixes are in widespread commercial use. Often in tablet or powder form, these mixes allow consumers to create beverages by simply adding water. The consumer measures the indicated or desired amount of mix to water in order to produce a beverage. Such mixing is impractical with common plastic water bottles, as it is difficult to introduce a powder through a narrow opening. It may be easier to do this in the home (with the use of a small funnel), however, but it is quite difficult when traveling or during outdoor activities such as hiking. Furthermore, such "on the go" mixing requires that the consumer carry a separate bottle and drink mix. It is also easy to incorrectly measure the amount of water or drink mix and thus create a beverage that is either too concentrated or diluted.
It is well known in the art that beverage additives such as vitamins, nutrients, and other supplements are volatile when suspended in liquids such as water. The potency of such beverage additives decreases over time in water. As a result, beverage manufactures must "over fortify" such beverages by adding additional vitamins, nutrients, and other supplements to ensure a minimum potency level at consumption or expiration. This causes additional raw material expenses for beverage producers, significantly shortens beverage shelf life, and leaves consumers uncertain of the potency or nutritional value of such beverages.
The general concept of a bottle or container top comprising a storage reservoir for a beverage additive is well known in the art. Various means have been described in the art, however each suffers from one or more undesirable aspects, all of which the instant device has been designed in an attempt to overcome.
A first deficiency in the art is that such caps often comprise reservoirs of such shapes which comprise barriers or cavities which block the flow of additives into the bottle, resulting in waste and additional effort by the consumer to utilize all of the components of the beverage. It is further possible that some of the additives or the fluid can remain in the cap after discharge, thus resulting in a beverage that is too weak, or in the case of medication or nutrients, the incorrect dose or strength.
A second deficiency in the art is that such caps generally comprise separate reservoir compartments, thus requiring additional costs and materials for product.
A third deficiency in the art is that such caps generally comprise cutting or piercing devices which are of a complicated structure or operation. This increases the cost of production of the cap, and in some cases, the cutting or piercing devices are dangerously sharp.
A fourth deficiency in the art is that such caps generally comprise insufficient or non-existent tamper resistant features, exposing the beverage additive and/or fluid to tampering.
A fifth deficiency in the art is that such caps often comprise excessively large tamper resistant features which require substantially more materials to produce. This increases the amount of waste product and increases the costs of production.
A sixth deficiency in the art is that such caps often comprise insufficient mechanisms for preventing the premature release of contents of reservoir into the beverage, thus increasing the risk of prematurely adding the beverage additives to the fluid in the bottle.
A seventh deficiency in the art is that such caps often comprise large mechanisms for preventing premature release, increasing the bulk and cost of production of the cap.
An eighth deficiency in the art is that such caps generally comprise missing or inadequate systems for preventing water from leaking out through the cap when agitated, such as through transport, shaking or inadvertent mixing;
A ninth deficiency in the art is that such caps generally comprise more than two component pieces for the cap, which significantly increases the complexity and cost of producing, assembling, and using the bottle cap.
A tenth deficiency in the art is that such caps generally comprise a separate reservoir which must be pierced, which renders the cap design more complicated (and thus more expensive to build and assemble).
An eleventh deficiency in the art is that such caps generally are not intended to be capped when bottled, thus not available for long term storage/transport, requiring separate purchase and transport, and thus cannot be placed on bottle long term.
A twelfth deficiency in the art is that such caps generally comprise parts of the bottle cap mechanism which are designed to fall into the fluid, creating a choking and safety hazard as the beverage is consumed.
A thirteenth deficiency in the art is that such caps often require significant physical effort (e.g., strength or a mechanical device such as a bottle opener) to remove the cap.
A fourteenth deficiency in the art is that such caps generally do not comprise a seal between cap and bottle, thus providing a beverage which is easier to tamper with or otherwise adulterate.
A fifteenth deficiency in the art is that such caps generally comprise plunger/piercing mechanism which must break through a difficult seal, requiring significant force by the user to release the contents of the cap into the fluid container. This is unsuitable for weaker individuals such as children or the elderly.
The present writing describes embodiments that are hoped to overcome many if not all of these deficiencies in the art, and include the following additional features heretofore not disclosed in the art.
The present writing presents a reservoir bottle cap with a simplified design, relying upon only two pieces for a combined cap, reservoir, piercing mechanism, and safety seals. This simplified design requires substantially fewer raw materials in producing the cap, and is less complicated to assemble. Both of these factors reduce the cost of production for a reservoir bottle cap. Furthermore, the cap described in the present writing is likely easier for the consumer to use than the caps of the current art.
The cap of the present writing utilizes a combination reservoir and piercing mechanism, reducing the number of components required for assembling a final bottle cap.
A further achievement of the cap of the present writing is the utilization of three separate seals and/or locking mechanisms, which attempt to prevent tampering of the beverage additives and fluid as well as premature release of beverage additives into the fluid. The first is a combination pull tab lock/seal on the exterior surface of the cap, which holds the piercing mechanism in place, thus preventing its removal or accidental engagement of the piercing mechanism/reservoir. The second seal is located at the base of the bottle cap on the exterior surface of the bottle which prevents the cap from being removed prior to use. The third seal is located at the base of the bottle cap in the interior of the bottle, which prevents accidental discharge of the stored beverage additives, and protects them from spoilage by contact with the fluid or other environmental factors. Other caps known in the art comprise only one or two seals (including ones which can be accidentally broken or even resealed in a manner to disguise prior opening), thus allowing the bottle to be easily tampered with or the contents to be adulterated. The lock seal of the cap described in the instant writing makes it almost impossible to engage the plunger without removing the lock seal. Other caps known in the art require the user to apply more force to engage the mechanism to release the contents of the reservoir.
A further aspect of the cap of the instant writing is that the reservoir and piercing mechanism do not create cavities or empty areas where the stored material (or fluid from mixing/agitation) can remain lodged. This allows for additional ease of use (less vigorous shaking/mixing is required) and more accurate dosing of components stored in the reservoir.
The cap of the present writing further discloses a structure which is intended to prevent fluid from leaking up through the bottle cap. This structure differs from the current art, which generally requires that additional materials are utilized to form a type of wedge. When depressing the plunger on such devices, the plunger needs to be forced into a locked position to prevent fluid leaking up through the cap. The cap of the instant writing utilizes a method which requires significantly less force, yet results in a complete fluid barrier in the cap.


An apparatus and method for providing image primitives, such as edge polarity, edge magnitude, edge orientation, and edge displacement, and derivatives thereof, for an object are described. The data are obtained substantially simultaneously and processed in parallel such that multiple objects can be distinguished from one another in real time.

Digital-based optical imaging systems generally project and capture image data on a two-dimensional array of photodetector elements, such as a charge-coupled detector. The image data is then sequentially shifted into a host processor for image information extraction one pixel at a time, and image reassembly. Often multiple layers of image processing functions are performed in sequence to extract image information.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for parallel extraction of optical image information, without first sampling the captured image.
Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus and method for extraction of optical image information which is insensitive to changes in lighting conditions and contrast.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description that follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Cooperative optical-imaging sensor array


A base station exchanges session communications with a UE during a communication session, receives a location request for a device location of the UE, determines an amount of delay time associated with the session communications of the UE, and submits a query to a database system for a location of a wireless repeater to which the UE is connected, wherein the query includes an identifier of the base station and the amount of delay time associated with the session communications. The database system processes the identifier of the base station and the amount of delay time associated with the session communications to identify and return the location of the wireless repeater to the base station. The base station receives the location of the wireless repeater from the database system and transfers the location of the wireless repeater in response to the location request for the device location of the UE.

Wireless communication systems typically include wireless access nodes which provide access to communication services for wireless communication devices over wireless links. A typical wireless communication system includes systems to provide wireless access across a geographic region, with different wireless coverage areas associated with individual wireless access nodes. The wireless access systems exchange communications between wireless communication devices, service providers, and other network elements. The communications typically include voice calls, data exchanges, web pages, streaming media, text messages, and other communication services. In Long-Term Evolution (LTE) communication systems, a wireless communication device is referred to as User Equipment (UE), while a wireless access node is called an enhanced Node B (eNodeB).
In some geographic areas, such as rural or remote locations, it is impractical or not cost effective to install eNodeB base stations to provide coverage to a small number of users. In such situations, wireless repeaters may be employed to relay communications between the UE devices and a serving eNodeB, thereby expanding the coverage footprint of the network. However, due to the unobtrusive design goal of wireless repeaters, which are intended to operate transparently to the UE and backend location systems, the UE and other network systems currently have no way to tell the difference between whether the UE is attached directly to an eNodeB tower or to a remotely located wireless repeater. Thus, when the location of a UE device is needed, such as for location-based commercial services or emergency services, the use of wireless repeaters distort the returned location if the eNodeB tower that is ultimately serving the UE is used to estimate the location of the UE, particularly when the eNodeB is located a great distance from the UE device and the repeater to which the UE is attached.
Overview
A method of operating a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) communication system to facilitate device location determinations is disclosed. The method comprises, in an LTE base station, exchanging session communications with a User Equipment (UE) device during a communication session, wherein the LTE base station is attached to one or more wireless repeaters. The method further comprises, in the LTE base station, receiving a location request for a device location of the UE device. The method further comprises, in the LTE base station, determining an amount of delay time associated with the session communications of the UE device. The method further comprises, in the LTE base station, submitting a query to a database system for a location of a wireless repeater to which the UE device is connected, wherein the query includes an identifier of the LTE base station and the amount of delay time associated with the session communications. The method further comprises, in the database system, processing the identifier of the LTE base station and the amount of delay time associated with the session communications to identify the wireless repeater to which the UE device is connected, and returning the location of the wireless repeater to the LTE base station in response to the query. The method further comprises, in the LTE base station, receiving the location of the wireless repeater from the database system and transferring the location of the wireless repeater in response to the location request for the device location of the UE device.
A Long-Term Evolution (LTE) communication system facilitates device location determinations. The LTE communication system comprises an LTE base station and a database system. The LTE base station is configured to exchange session communications with a User Equipment (UE) device during a communication session, wherein the LTE base station is attached to one or more wireless repeaters, receive a location request for a device location of the UE device, determine an amount of delay time associated with the session communications of the UE device, and submit a query to a database system for a location of a wireless repeater to which the UE device is connected, wherein the query includes an identifier of the LTE base station and the amount of delay time associated with the session communications. The database system is configured to process the identifier of the LTE base station and the amount of delay time associated with the session communications to identify the wireless repeater to which the UE device is connected and return the location of the wireless repeater to the LTE base station in response to the query. The LTE base station is further configured to receive the location of the wireless repeater from the database system and transfer the location of the wireless repeater in response to the location request for the device location of the UE device.
A computer apparatus to operate a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) base station to facilitate device location determinations comprises software instructions and at least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing the software instructions. The software instructions are configured, when executed by the LTE base station, to direct the LTE base station to exchange session communications with a User Equipment (UE) device during a communication session, wherein the LTE base station is attached to one or more wireless repeaters, receive a location request for a device location of the UE device, determine an amount of delay time associated with the session communications of the UE device, and submit a query to a database system for a location of a wireless repeater to which the UE device is connected, wherein the query includes an identifier of the LTE base station and the amount of delay time associated with the session communications. The software instructions are further configured to direct the LTE base station to receive the location of the wireless repeater from the database system and transfer the location of the wireless repeater in response to the location request for the device location of the UE device, wherein the database system is configured to process the identifier of the LTE base station and the amount of delay time associated with the session communications to identify the wireless repeater to which the UE device is connected and return the location of the wireless repeater to the LTE base station in response to the query.

Device location determination when attached to one or more wireless repeaters


Techniques for application code obfuscation are disclosed. In one embodiment, the techniques may be realized as a method including receiving application code and testing data associated with the application; automatically generating obfuscated application code from the received application code; automatically testing the obfuscated application code by running the obfuscated application code and inputting at least the recorded inputs from the testing data while recording associated outputs; in response to determining that the associated outputs from automatically testing the obfuscation code do not match the testing data outputs, modifying the obfuscated application code and automatically testing the modified obfuscated application code against the testing data; and, in response to determining that outputs from automatically testing the modified obfuscated application code match the testing data outputs, transmitting the modified obfuscated application code as a successful obfuscation of the application.

Anti-tampering protection has become increasingly important in the mobile space, as several tools exist to decompile and reverse engineer applications. One approach to combat reverse engineering is to obfuscate the application code and code flow combined with checksum code to detect tampering. After code obfuscation, the application code needs to be retested to ensure that the code transformation has not damaged the application. For a cloud service obfuscator, this retesting will normally require that the customer submit their application and then rerun their tests on the obfuscated application. If any issues are found, the application needs to be resubmitted for obfuscation with notes about what code to avoid obfuscating.
In view of the foregoing, it may be understood that there may be significant problems and shortcomings associated with current techniques for remote obfuscation.


A vented hatch coaming for a covered hopper car permits unloading without opening the hatch cover. The vented hatch includes an opening in the coaming for the passage of air. Preferably, a housing is positioned adjacent the ring opening to exclude contaminants and, where extraordinary sanitation is required, a filter element.

This invention relates to railroad cars, and more particularly to protecting covered hopper cars from vacuum failure during unloading.
A covered hopper cars typically has partitions dividing the car into separate compartments, with each compartment having one or more openings for loading the car. The openings are typically defined by a coaming which extends upward on the top wall of the car, and may comprise, e.g., elongated rectangular openings or circular hatches. Where vacuum discharge gates are employed, materials are typically unloaded by applying a vacuum conveying line to a nozzle at the bottom of each compartment. The primary air flow for the vacuum line comes from outside the car, but the displacement of the lading creates a vacuum within the car, requiring venting of the car. If the partial vacuum is not relieved, it can reach a point where the car's body is damaged. Failure to vent the vacuum also reduces the efficiency of the unloading process. Where gravity or gravity pneumatic gates are employed, similar problems exist.
In the past, venting during unloading to prevent vacuum failure has commonly been achieved by opening at least one hatch cover on each compartment. However, this is somewhat inefficient in that it requires workers to climb to the top of the car to manually open each hatch. Venting may also be required after cleaning. If a compartment is cleaned with hot water or steam and the hatch is closed and sealed before the car interior has cooled to ambient temperature, subsequent cooling may result in a temperature differential sufficient to cause inward buckling of the walls of the car.
In recent years, two alternatives have been explored for venting of covered hopper cars: vents on the end walls of the cars and vented hatch covers. Each approach has problems.
Among the problems that must be addressed in providing a commercially viable vent in a hatch cover or end wall are removal of contaminants from the airflow during unloading, and physical access for maintenance. If filters or screens are used over the vents, sufficient physical access must be provided to enable railroad personnel to change or maintain them without undue difficulty. Consideration must also be given to the railcar's exposure to high winds, and high rates of airflow relative to the hatch covers during travel. Precipitation, dust, and other particles may be driven into the cars, contaminating the cargo, absent adequate filtration, particularly during conditions of high winds, rain, snow or other inclement weather.
Another problem that must be addressed by any venting solution for cars where high standards of purity apply, such as cars carrying plastic pellets, is preventing retention of any lading material. Retention of even a small quantity of a load in a vent, hatch cover or other component of a railcar may result in contamination of a subsequent load of a different material.
Vented hatch covers have not generally included filters capable of preventing fine particulates from contaminating the cargo. Accordingly, separate filters have generally been used to cover the openings underneath the vented hatch covers. These filters are similar in configuration to shower caps, with elastic being provided to hold them in place to cover the hatches after the covers have been raised. A significant disadvantage of these filters is that they must be removed when loading material into the car interior, and may have to be replaced with each load. It has been difficult to provide a commercially viable alternative due at least in part to the difficulties in providing a filter arrangement which can provide required volume flow rate during unloading without violating overhead clearance requirements, and which can be easily changed or serviced. Limited space is available adjacent the hatches, so bulky filter arrangements cannot be used. However, if the cross-section of the airflow path through a filter element is not large enough, the pressure drop across the filter element may be unacceptably high and cause inward buckling of the railcar sidewalls in response to vacuum build-up in the railcar interior.
Additional problems with vents in the end walls of covered hopper cars are that they provide airflow only to the end compartments, and due to difficult access, are very likely not to be maintained, thereby endangering the car body when the filter becomes clogged. Some structure may be required to support workers conducting maintenance. In the past, small breather holes of about 1 in. diameter have been provided on the ends of covered hopper cars carrying cement. These cars do not have seals between their interior compartments. A piece of angle or other protective structure is welded to the wall adjacent the hole to shield it from rainwater. Small breather holes have also been provided in hatch coamings, in conjunction with wire mesh to exclude insects. The breather holes permit sufficient airflow to compensate for changes in ambient temperature, but do not permit sufficient airflow to replace displaced cargo volume. Also, many cars have sealed interior compartments which cannot be vented by end wall vents.
There is a need in the industry for an improved commercially viable means to enable unloading of covered hopper cars which avoids the need to open the hatches during unloading, and which avoids contamination of the cargo both during vacuum discharge and at other times.


A method and apparatus of signaling radio resource allocation in a wireless communication system includes establishing groups of mobile stations which monitor a shared group scheduling bitmap; transmitting a group scheduling bitmap to the mobile stations, wherein the group scheduling bitmap contains a mobile station presence bitmap and an SDMA bitmap, wherein the SDMA bitmap is used to divide the group members into two or more subgroups; and transmitting packets to the mobile stations or receiving packets from the mobile stations using the radio resource which is derived from the value indicated in the group scheduling bitmap.

In wireless communication systems, for a given bandwidth, it is desirable to maximize capacity. To maximize capacity, it is known to use multiple antenna techniques such as spatial division multiple access (SDMA), wherein two or more spatially separated mobile stations share the same radio resource. The base station allocates the same radio resource to the mobile stations and employs different effective antenna patterns to transmit the data for each of the mobile stations. Such techniques increase the spectral efficiency of the wireless communication system.
The allocation of radio resources to the mobile stations has a corresponding control channel overhead. If this overhead is not carefully managed, the overhead becomes prohibitively large and limits the capacity of the wireless communication system. This is particularly true for applications, such as voice over internet protocol (VoIP), that require the periodic delivery of small packets.
It is known to use group scheduling to minimize the control channel overhead associated with the delivery of VoIP packets. In group scheduling, a group of mobile stations monitor a shared control channel to determine their respective allocation from a set of shared radio resources, wherein the shared control channel typically contains a bitmap comprising at least one bit for each mobile station. The mobile stations monitor their respective bit of the bitmap to determine if one of the shared radio resources have been allocated by the base station, and determine which of the shared radio resources have been allocated based on the number of mobile stations, with smaller bit positions in the bitmap, that have been allocated a radio resource.
Unfortunately, this group scheduling scheme does not currently handle multiple mobile stations sharing the same radio resource, which occurs for SDMA systems. Thus, there is a need for increasing the number of VoIP users by using spectrally efficient techniques such as SDMA, while efficiently controlling the control channel overhead using group scheduling.

Method and apparatus for sharing a group resource in a wireless SDMA system


Methods and apparati are provided for use in determining “Squared Weil pairings” and/or “Squared Tate Pairing” based on an elliptic curve, for example, and which are then used to support cryptographic processing of selected information. Significant improvements are provided in computing efficiency over the conventional implementation of the Weil and Tate pairings. The resulting Squared Weil and/or Tate pairings can be substituted for conventional Weil or Tate pairings in a variety of applications.

As computers have become increasingly commonplace in homes and businesses throughout the world, and such computers have become increasingly interconnected via networks (such as the Internet), security and authentication concerns have become increasingly important. One manner in which these concerns have been addressed is the use of a cryptographic technique involving a key-based cipher. Using a key-based cipher, sequences of intelligible data (typically referred to as plaintext) that collectively form a message are mathematically transformed, through an enciphering process, into seemingly unintelligible data (typically referred to as ciphertext). The enciphering can be reversed, allowing recipients of the ciphertext with the appropriate key to transform the ciphertext back to plaintext, while making it very difficult, if not nearly impossible, for those without the appropriate key to recover the plaintext.
Public-key cryptographic techniques are one type of key-based cipher. In public-key cryptography, each communicating party has a public/private key pair. The public key of each pair is made publicly available (or at least available to others who are intended to send encrypted communications), but the private key is kept secret. In order to communicate a plaintext message using encryption to a receiving party, an originating party encrypts the plaintext message into a ciphertext message using the public key of the receiving party and communicates the ciphertext message to the receiving party. Upon receipt of the ciphertext message, the receiving party decrypts the message using its secret private key, and thereby recovers the original plaintext message.
The RSA (Rivest-Shamir-Adleman) method is one well-known example of public/private key cryptology. To implement RSA, one generates two large prime numbers p and q and multiplies them together to get a large composite number N, which is made public. If the primes are properly chosen and large enough, it will be practically impossible (i.e., computationally infeasible) for someone who does not know p and q to determine them from knowing only N. However, in order to be secure, the size of N typically needs to be more than 1,000 bits. In some situations, such a large size makes the numbers too long to be practically useful.
One such situation is found in authentication, which can be required anywhere a party or a machine must prove that it is authorized to access or use a product or service. An example of such a situation is in a product ID system for a software program(s), where a user must hand-enter a product ID sequence stamped on the outside of the properly licensed software package as proof that the software has been properly paid for. If the product ID sequence is too long, then it will be cumbersome and user unfriendly.
Additionally, not only do software manufacturers lose revenue from unauthorized copies of their products, but software manufacturers also frequently provide customer support, of one form or another, for their products. In an effort to limit such support to their licensees, customer support staffs often require a user to first provide the product ID associated with his or her copy of the product for which support is sought as a condition for receiving support. Many current methods of generating product IDs, however, have been easily discerned by unauthorized users, allowing product IDs to be generated by unauthorized users.
Given the apparent ease with which unauthorized users can obtain valid indicia, software manufacturers are experiencing considerable difficulty in discriminating between licensees and such unauthorized users in order to provide support to the former while denying it to the latter. As a result, manufacturers often unwittingly provide support to unauthorized users, thus incurring additional and unnecessary support costs. If the number of unauthorized users of a software product is sufficiently large, then these excess costs associated with that product can be quite significant.
New curve-based cryptography techniques have recently been employed to allow software manufacturers to appreciably reduce the incidence of unauthorized copying of software products. For example, product IDs have been generated using elliptic curve cryptographic techniques. The resulting product IDs provide improved security. Curve-based cryptographic techniques may also be used to perform other types of cryptographic services.
As curve-based cryptosystems grow in popularity, it would be useful to have new and improved techniques for performing the computations associated with the requisite mathematical operations. Hence, there is a continuing need for improved mathematical and/or computational methods and apparati in curve-based cryptosystems.

Squared Weil and Tate pairing techniques for use with elliptic curves