A support shirt comprising a shirt body and a pair of shirt body sleeves positioned adjacent to an upper shirt body is provided. The sleeves are attached to the shirt body at sleeve body holes, with each of the sleeves including sleeve reinforcement regions extending at least a portion of the distance from the sleeve holes to an outer edge of the sleeves. The sleeve reinforcement regions extend substantially along a centerline extending longitudinally across the sleeves and the upper sleeve body to stabilize and provide support to the shoulders of a wearer during an upward lifting motion.

The subject matter described herein relates to a shirt or garment which covers the upper torso of a wearer. Specifically, embodiments are directed to a support shirt providing support along the chest and shoulder regions of the wearer. The support shirt can be used for a variety of sporting or work activities where support of the chest and shoulders is desired. One such application of the support shirt is a bench press shirt for support in weightlifting activities.
Bench press shirts provide an increase in the amount of weight a bench presser can lift as well as increased safety to the bench presser. Typically, bench press shirts are made of high strength materials, such as double knit polyester, canvas or denim which are designed to fit the wearer tightly. Such bench press shirts have portions covering the upper arms and chest which typically provide a taut fit during lifting. Bench press shirts can also be made of spandex type fabric and be effective for support. As distinguished from ordinary shirts or t-shirts, bench press shirts have at least one area of increased support/strength, designed to augment movement of a body part by increased strength of material and/or compression.
In a bench pressing exercise, a weightlifter lies substantially flat on his back, with arms upraised. The weightlifter lowers a weight to the chest, and then pushes it vertically upward until the arms are straight. The tautness in a typical bench press shirt provides assistance and increased support for the underlying muscles, thereby allowing the weightlifter to lift more weight.
Weightlifting shirts typically provide a peak area of support from the bench press, referred to as a "support bubble." Typically, the lifter tries to push the weight upward in line with the support bubble of the bench press shirt. Shirt and lifter do not always have the perfect peak support area, so the lifter adjusts the bar path as much as possible to meet the peak of the shirt's support bubble. Moreover, the lifter can adjust the fitting position of the shirt to match the lifter's bar path. For example, the lifter could adjust the position of the neck band of a bench press shirt, or could adjust the position of the sleeves in relation to the lifter's deltoid muscles. Lifters can also employ both techniques of adjusting the bar path in combination with adjusting the fitting position of the shirt. Moreover, such shirts often do not have shoulder reinforcement that would provide adequate support for the lifter during elevation and descent of a weight through the bar path.
Other problems exist in prior art bench press shirts. During a bench press exercise, slack exists in the material of the shirt just below the lifter's arm from the front deltoid muscle. The slack material tightens as the bar is lowered. Additionally bench press shirts may tear or shred at the shoulder seams and neck area where most the stress occurs. Thus, a problem that exists in the construction of prior art bench shirts is the lack of support across the shoulders of the wearer throughout the bar path of a bench press exercise.
Attempts have been made to provide a bench press shirt providing such support. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,383,235 relates to a shirt wherein the circumference and tightness of the area across the upper torso is less than that of the area around the waist. Other designs focus on the type of material and configuration of the compressible fabrics used across the upper chest. Such designs employ fabric or material across the shirt which fails to reinforce the front portion of the shoulder during the bench press exercise. Additionally, such designs fail to provide support to the shoulders which allows the weightlifter a full range of motion and support in shoulders and chest through the bar path. As a result, the lifter must expend additional energy to manually correct and stabilize the weight through the bar path. Therefore, a need exists for a support shirt which provides support across the shoulders and chest of the wearer through the bar path of a bench press exercise. A need also exists for a support shirt which provides support across the shoulders and chest of a wearer for a variety of sporting and work activities involving the lifting of weights or heavy objects.

Support shirt with sleeve reinforcement regions


The present invention provides a system and method for providing a coating on a self-expandable medical device, such as a stent, while avoiding the issues relating to coating damage from the delivery sheath during loading and deployment. In one embodiment, the present invention includes a constrictive coating that acts as a constrictive sheath for the stent. A cutting mechanism is mounted on the end of the delivery tube such that when the stent with the constrictive coating exits the delivery tube, the constrictive coating is cut. This releases the constriction retaining the sheath, and the stent self-expands, pressing the cut portions of the coating against the lumen wall.

Medical devices may be coated so that the surfaces of such devices have desired properties or effects. For example, it may be useful to coat medical devices to provide for the localized delivery of therapeutic agents to target locations within the body, such as to treat localized disease (e.g., heart disease) or occluded body lumens. Localized drug delivery may avoid some of the problems of systemic drug administration, which may be accompanied by unwanted effects on parts of the body which are not to be treated. Additionally, treatment of the afflicted part of the body may require a high concentration of therapeutic agent that may not be achievable by systemic administration. Localized drug delivery may be achieved, for example, by coating balloon catheters, stents and the like with a therapeutic agent to be locally delivered. The coating on medical devices may provide for controlled release, which may include long-term or sustained release, of a bioactive material. Coatings can be applied to medical devices by processes such as dipping, spraying, vapor deposition, plasma polymerization, spin-coating and electrodeposition.
Aside from facilitating localized drug delivery, medical devices may be coated with materials to provide beneficial surface properties. For example, medical devices are often coated with radiopaque materials to allow for fluoroscopic visualization while placed in the body. It is also useful to coat certain devices to achieve enhanced biocompatibility and to improve surface properties such as lubriciousness.
A conventional self-expandable (SE) stent has an expanded form when not constrained. To deliver the stent to the desired location in the body, the stent typically is compressed radially and loaded into a delivery system. A typical delivery system consists of an outer tubular sheath retaining the compressed stent. The delivery system is tracked to the region of a vessel being stented. The stent is then released from its compressed state by retracting the sheath and/or pushing the stent out of the sheath. When released from the constraint of the sheath, the stent self-expands back to its expanded form to scaffold the vessel wall.

Self-expandable stent with a constrictive coating and method of use


A method of manufacturing a quenched member includes heating a pressed intermediate article to an Ac3 transformation point of a steel sheet or higher, the intermediate article having been processed so as to have a rectangular cross-section and so as to include a terminal portion at which two terminal edges of the steel sheet are aligned with each other at a same side of the rectangular cross-section, and quenching the heated intermediate article inside a die.

For example, methods of manufacturing a hollow pipe-body from a metal plate are disclosed in the specifications of Japanese Patent No. 3114918 (Patent Document 1), Japanese Patent No. 5886325 (Patent Document 2), Japanese Patent No. 3974324 (Patent Document 3), and Japanese Patent No. 4040840 (Patent Document 4).
In the manufacturing method disclosed in Patent Document 1, a shape which is curved in a longitudinal direction is formed in a first forming process, and a pipe-shaped cross section is formed in a subsequent forming process.
In the manufacturing method disclosed in Patent Document 2, similarly to in Patent Document 1, a shape which is curved in a longitudinal direction is formed in a first forming process, and a pipe-shaped cross section is formed in a subsequent forming process. A core is used as a tool to process one longitudinal direction portion into a rectangular cross-section.
In the manufacturing methods disclosed in Patent Document 3 and Patent Document 4, in a first processing step, a wall portion with a seam is formed in a finished pipe-body. In a second processing step, an angle between one wall portion, which faces the seam, and another wall portion, which is adjacent to the one wall portion, is configured to be larger than an angle of the finished pipe-body.
In a third processing step, a protruding curved surface, which protrudes toward the outside, is formed at the one wall portion by an external force applied to the other wall portion. Then, in a fourth processing step, the protruding curved surface is deformed and flattened by an external force applied to the one wall portion, and the pipe-body in which a pair of edges contact each other closely is formed by spring-back force.

Method of manufacturing a quenched member and quenched member


Provided is a superconducting cable device including: a first superconducting cable and a second superconducting cable; an intermediate connection box which connects the first and second superconducting cables to each other; and a cooling device which causes a coolant to flow inside the intermediate connection box in a lengthwise direction of the intermediate connection box, wherein a cable connection portion for connecting the first and second superconducting cables to each other is provided in the intermediate connection box. In an uncooled state, the cable connection portion is disposed to be eccentric from a center line in the lengthwise direction of the intermediate connection box in a direction in which the coolant flows.

1. Field
This disclosure relates to a superconducting cable device, and more particularly, to a superconducting cable device which is lengthened by connecting a plurality of superconducting cables.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to maximize an electricity transmission efficiency, a superconducting cable of which the electrical resistance is very low has been developed. The superconducting cable generally includes a cable core made of a superconducting wire of which the electrical resistance is close to 0, and a double heat-insulating pipe which covers the cable core. In order to maintain the cable core which is the superconducting wire in a cooled state at its critical temperature or below, the superconducting cable has a special heat-insulating structure.
Recently, for commercialization of the superconducting cable, an effort to connect a plurality of superconducting cables so as to be lengthened has been made.
To lengthen the superconducting cable, an intermediate connection box capable of connecting the superconducting cables is used. The intermediate connection box functions as a fixed point of the superconducting cables, and inside the intermediate connection box, the superconducting cables are connected.
In order to connect the superconducting cables to each other, the cable cores of the superconducting cables that extend to the inside of the intermediate connection box are fixed to each other by soldering. In order to firmly maintain the fixed state of the connected cable cores, the connected cable cores are taped and fixed using insulating paper for superconducting cables such as polypropylene laminated paper (PPLP). Accordingly, a thick cable connection portion is formed inside the intermediate connection box.
In order to ensure the performance of the superconducting cable device which is lengthened, the position of the cable connection portion inside the intermediate connection box needs to be optimized. If the position of the cable connection portion is not optimized, for example, insulation breakdown of the cable connection portion may occur due to heat that locally invades the intermediate connection box. In addition, as the position of the cable connection portion is moved due to heat shrinkage of the superconducting cable during a cooling process, the cable connection portion comes in contact with an inner box of the intermediate connection box and is damaged.


This invention relates to a method for electrowinning of titanium metal or titanium alloys from electrically conductive titanium mixed oxide compounds in the liquid state such as molten titania slag, molten ilmenite, molten leucoxene, molten perowskite, molten titanite, molten natural or synthetic rutile or molten titanium dioxide. The method involves providing the conductive titanium oxide compound at temperatures corresponding to the liquid state, pouring the molten material into an electrochemical reactor to form a pool of electrically conductive liquid acting as cathode material, covering the cathode material with a layer of electrolyte, such as molten salts or a solid state ionic conductor, deoxidizing electrochemically the molten cathode by direct current electrolysis. Preferably, the deoxidizing step is performed at high temperature using either a consumable carbon anode or an inert dimensionally stable anode or a gas diffusion anode. During the electrochemical reduction, droplets of liquid titanium metal or titanium alloy are produced at the slag/electrolyte interface and sink by gravity settling to the bottom of the electrochemical reactor forming, after coalescence, a pool of liquid titanium metal or titanium alloy. Meanwhile carbon dioxide or oxygen gas is evolved at the anode. The liquid metal is continuously siphoned or tapped under an inert atmosphere and cast into dense and coherent titanium metal or titanium alloy ingots.

Titanium metal has been produced and manufactured on a commercial scale since the early 1950s for its unique set of properties: (i) high strength-to-weight ratio, (ii) elevated melting point, and (iii) excellent corrosion resistance in various harsh chemical environments1. Actually, about 55% of titanium metal produced worldwide is used as structural metal in civilian and military aircraft and spacecraft such as jet engines, airframes components, and space and missile applications2. Titanium metal is also employed in the chemical process industries (30%), sporting and consumer goods (14%), and in a lesser extend power generation, marine, ordnance, architecture, and medical3. Titanium sponge, the primary metal form during titanium production is still produced industrially worldwide by a process invented by Dr. Wilhelm Justin KROLL4 and patented in the 1940s5. The Kroll Process consists to the metallothermic reduction of gaseous titanium tetrachloride with pure magnesium metal. However, today potential huge market such as automotive parts are still looking forward to seeing the cost of the primary metal to decrease by 50-70%. Nevertheless, this cost is only maintained high due to the expensive steps used to win the metal. Even if the Kroll's process has been improved since its first industrial introduction it still exhibits several drawbacks: (1) it is performed under strictly batch conditions leading to expensive downtimes, (2) the inefficient contact between reactants leads to slow reaction kinetics, (3) it requires the preparation, purification, and use the volatile and corrosive titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) as the dominant feed with its associated health and safety issues, (4) the process can only accept expensive natural rutile or rutile substitutes (e.g., upgraded titania slag, synthetic rutile) as raw materials, (5) the magnesium and chlorine must be recovered from reaction products by electrolysis in molten salts accounting for 6% of the final cost of the sponge, (6) the specification of low residual oxygen and iron content of the final ingot requires expensive and complex refinning steps (e.g., vacuum distillation, and/or acid leaching) of the crude titanium sponge in order to remove entrapped inclusions accounting for about 30% of the final cost of the ingot, finally (7) it only produces dendritic crystals or powder requiring extensive reprocessing before usable mill products can be obtained (i.e., remelting, casting, forging) and wastage of 50% is common in fabricating titanium parts.
For all the above reasons, since the early 1970s there is a strong commitment of the titanium industry in synergy with several academic institutes to actively pursue new routes for producing titanium metal. Research and development focus has been directed towards developing a continuous process to produce high-purity and low-cost titanium powder or ingots for metallurgical applications.
Although a plethora of alternative methods have been examined beyond a laboratory stage or have been considered for preparing titanium crystals, sponge, powder, and alloys, none have reached industrial production.
Included in those known processes were: (i) gaseous and plasma reduction, (ii) tetraiodide decomposition, (iii) calcio- and aluminothermic reduction, (iv) disproportionation of TiCl3 and TiCl2, (v) carbothermic reduction, and (vi) electrowinning in molten salts. Most were considered by the authoring National Materials Advisory Board committee (NMAB)6 panel to be unlikely to progress to production in the near future except electrowinning which seemed to be the most promising alternative route.
Actually, the extraction and preparation of pure metals from ores using an electrolytic process is well known as electrowinning. This relatively straightforward process is based on the electrochemical reduction of metal cations present in a suitable electrolyte by electrons supplied by a negative electrode (i.e., cathode, −), while at the positive electrode (i.e., anode, +) an oxidation reaction occurs (e.g., anode dissolution, gas evolution, etc.). According to the first Faraday's law of electrolysis the mass of electrodeposited metal is a direct function of quantity of electricity passed. Today among the current industrial electrolytic processes several utilize an aqueous electrolyte to electrodeposit metal (e.g., Cu, Zn, Ni, Pb, Au).
Unfortunately, aqueous electrolytes exhibit a narrow electrochemical span and are unsuitable for preparing highly electropositive and reactive metals such as titanium.
Actually, when cathodic (i.e., negative) potentials are applied to the electrode, the competitive process of the electrochemical reduction of protons occurs together with the evolution of hydrogen gas. This main parasitic reaction consumes the major part of the reduction current thereby drastically decreasing the overall current efficiency.
Despite the availability of cathode materials exhibiting a large hydrogen evolution overpotential (e.g., Cd, Hg, Pb), it has heretofore been quite impossible to electrodeposit efficiently such metals despite numerous attempts reported in the literature7 8 9 10 11.
Organic electrolytes were also tested12 13 14 but despite their wide decomposition potential limits, organic solvents in which an appropriate supporting electrolyte has been dissolved have not yet been used industrially owing to their poor electrical conductivity which increases ohmic drop between electrode gap, the low solubility of inorganic salts, their elevated cost and toxicity.
By contrast, molten salt based electrolytes were already used industrially since the beginning of the 1900s in the electrolytic preparation of important structural metals (e.g., Al, Mg), and in a lesser extent for the preparation of alkali and alkali-earth metals (e.g., Na, Li, and Be).
Actually, fused inorganic salts exhibit numerous attractive features15 16 17 over aqueous electrolytes, these advantages are as follows: (1) they produce ionic liquids having a wide electrochemical span between decomposition limits (i.e., high decomposition potential) allowing the electrodeposition of highly electropositive metals such as titanium. (2) Based on the Arrhenius law, the high temperature required to melt the inorganic salt promotes fast electrochemical reaction kinetics suitable to increase hourly yields. (3) The faradaic efficiencies are usually close to 100%. (4) Due to their ionic state molten salts possess a high electrical ionic conductivity which minimizes the ohmic-drop and induces lower energy consumption. (5) The elevated solubility of electroactive species in the bath allows to utilize high solute concentrations allowing to operate at high cathodic current densities.
Therefore, it has become clear that the most promising route for electrowinning titanium is to develop a high temperature electrolytic process conducted in molten salt electrolytes. However, despite the numerous attempts performed until today there are still no available electrolytic processes in molten salts for producing titanium metal industrially. In order to reach industrial success the new electrochemical route must solve the major issues of the energy demanding and labor intensive Kroll's process and also overcome the pitfalls that have lead to failures until today.
Actually, the electrolytic production of titanium metal has been extensively investigated with the aim of developing a continuous process to replace Kroll's process. Several attempts were made in industry.
Early work was done since 1950 by National Lead Industries, Inc. and in 1956 at the former U.S. Bureau of Mines (USBM) in Boulder City, Nev. A small pilot was built to investigate the electrowinning of titanium18 It consisted of a 12-inch cylinder vessel lined with pure iron and containing a molten electrolyte made of a mixture of LiCl—KCl approximately at the eutectic composition with TiCl2 added. Three equally spaced openings in the cell top accommodated: (i) the replaceable anode assembly, (ii) the titanium tetrachloride feed unit, and (iii) the cathode. Three slide valves combined with air-locks allowed the quick and easy introduction or removal of assemblies without contaminating the cell. The desired solute (i.e., TiCl2) was produced in-situ either by the chemical reduction of stoichiometric amount of TiCl4 with titanium metal scrap or by direct electrochemical reduction of TiCl4 at the cathode. Actually, TiCl4, a covalent compound, does not ionize and must be converted to a ionic compound such as TiCl2. The concentration was then increased by operating only the feed cathode and anode and feeding one mole of TiCl4 per two faradays of charge. In all cases gaseous TiCl4 was introduced into the bath close to the cathode with a feed nickel tube plated with molybdenum and dipped below the surface level of the melt. In order to avoid the oxidation of the newly formed Ti2+ and dragout of the dissolved TiCl4 with the chlorine evolved at the anode, a porous ceramic diaphragm made of alundum® (i.e., 86 wt. % Al2O3-12 wt. % SiO2)19 surrounded the immersed graphite anode forming distinct anolyte and catholyte compartments. The reported optimum operating conditions identified were: (1) an operating temperature above 500° C. to prevent the precipitation of solute, and below 550° C. to avoid severe corrosion of the alundum diaphragm, usually 520° C., (2) a solute content comprises between 2 and 4 wt. % TiCl2, (3) a cathodic current density of 1 to 5 kA·m−2, while the anodic current density was comprised between 5 and 10 kA·m−2, (4) a diaphragm current density of 1.5 kA·m−2. By conducting experiments with the above conditions USBM claimed that high-purity titanium was electrowon with a Brinell hardness as low as 68 HB and a current efficiency of 60%. However frequent failures of the diaphragm that became periodically plugged or loaded with titanium crystals proved troublesome. As the titanium content increased, the ceramic diaphragm became conductive and then acted as a bipolar electrode and had to be removed rapidly from the bath. In 1972, the same authors20 built a larger rectangular cell containing 226.8 kg (i.e., 500 lb.) of bath in order to assess the actual performance of two kind of diaphragm materials: (i) solid materials composite diaphragms, and (ii) loose fill materials composite diaphragms. For solid diaphragms, it was observed that alundum coated nickel screen showed little deterioration but was subject to the same current density limitations as the porous alundum diaphragm. On the other hand, cement coated nickel screens with loose fill material such as alumina was the best material in terms of strength, flexibility, resistance to corrosion, and low replacement of titanium (0.2 to 1.0 wt. %).
In 1968, Priscu21 of the Titanium Metal Corporation (TIMET) disclosed that a new electrowinning cell was patented22, designed and operated in Henderson, Nev. This electrolytic cell was a unique pilot based on a non diaphragm basket cathode type. The cell used a suspended central metal basket cathode with sixteen anodes peripheral to the basket. The central basket cathode was a cubic box with the four sides made of perforated steel plates, while the bottom and top were blind plates. Four steel rods were used in the basket to act as cathode collectors while TiCl4 was fed using a tube positioned at the center of the basket. TiCl4 was initially fed at a low rate into the center of the basket walls. This porous sidewall deposit served as a diaphragm to keep the reduced TiCl2 inside the basket while a mechanical system was provided for withdrawing the large cathode deposits into an inert-gas-filled chamber, installing a new cathode, and reclaiming the inert gas for reuse. The average valence of dissolved titanium cations was maintained very low generally no greater than 2.1 to obtain the electrodeposition of premium-grade titanium metal. TIMET claimed that later models of pilot-plants have produced up to 363 to 408 kg (i.e., 800 to 900 lb.) of titanium metal in one cathode deposit. This semi-works plant produced about 68 tonnes (i.e., 150,000 lb.) of electrolytic titanium sponge but discontinued the operation in 1968 owing of overcapacity for making sponge by Kroll's process.
Later in 1971, Hashimoto et al. have worked extensively on the electrowinning of titanium metal from its oxides or mixed oxides23 24 25. Titanium solute was introduced in a molten fluoride bath, as a solid compound such as TiO2, FeTiO3, CaTiO3, or MgTiO3. The melt chemistries tested were CaF2, MgF2, BaF2, NaF and their mixtures. The first electrolysis study was conducted at temperatures above 1600° C. with graphite anode and cathode. Only in the cases of the CaF2—TiO2 (1-10% wt.) and CaF2—CaTiO3 (10% wt.) melt systems molten titanium was obtained but largely contaminated by carbon and oxygen (2-4 wt. %). In other cases, fine titanium powder was only obtained. After the preliminary results, they focussed on the electrowinning of titanium from pure TiO2 carried out in molten salt baths made of CaF2, BaF2, MgF2, CaF2—MgF2, CaF2—NaF, CaF2—MgF2—NaF, CaF2—MgF2—NaF2, and CaF2—MgF2—SrF2 at 1300-1420°. The titanium electrodeposited in CaF2 and BaF2 baths was considerably contaminated by carbon owing to graphite electrodes. In NaF-containing fused salts such as CaF2—NaF and CaF2—MgF2—NaF, only fine powdery deposits were obtained due to simultaneous sodium reduction that occurs. In the baths of MgF2, CaF2—MgF2, CaF2—MgF2—BaF2, and CaF2—MgF2—SrF2, dendritic deposits were obtained. They pointed out that best result was obtained in the CaF2—MgF2 bath, but the purity of the deposit was not as high as that of the common grade titanium sponge required by the industry. In the third article, electrowinning of titanium was carried out in CaF2—MgF2 (50-50 wt. %) molten salt bath at 1020-1030° C. in an argon atmosphere by using a completely enclosed cell. In electrowinning from TiO2, the form of the electrodeposited metal changed from crystaline to spongelike with an increase in current density, or cell voltage, but when CaTiO3 was used, deposits were spongelike. Despite the material yield of titanium was superior to 95 wt. % it did not still meet the requirements of commercial sponge.
Later in 1973, the Dow Chemical Company in a close working relationship with the HOWMET group (i.e., subsidiary of the French Pechiney Ugine Kuhlmann (PUK) Group) founded the D-H Titanium Company for producing continuously high-purity electrolytic titanium at Howmet's plant in Whiteall, Mich.26. Cell design, operating procedure, metal quality, proposed production, and economic projections have been described by Cobel et al.27. The technology was based on the cell designed in the previous work done at Dow Chemical by Juckniess et al28. Actually, a major cell improvement in the D-H Titanium design was the fabrication of a metal screen diaphragm that was electroless-plated with cobalt or nickel to give the required electrical and flow characteristics. The cell operated at 520° C. under argon atmosphere with LiCl—KCl—TiCl2 (ca. 2 wt. % TiCl2) as molten salt electrolyte. TiCl4 was fed continuously into a pre-reduction cathode compartment where reduction to dichloride TiCl2 takes place at a separate feed cathode within the cell. Final reduction to metal was continuously done on separate deposition cathodes. The cathodes were periodically removed hot and placed into a stripping machine under inert atmosphere. Metal-working cathodes were individually pulled, stripped, and replaced in the cell, in an argon atmosphere, by a self-positioning and automatically operated mechanical device. A sealed, argon-shielded hopper containing the titanium crystals and entrained electrode was cooled before being opened to discharge its contents. Crystalline metal and dragout salts were crushed to ⅜-inch size and leached in dilute 0.5 wt. % HCl solution. Then the spent solution was neutralized with a mixture of Li2CO3 and KOH in a ratio equivalent to that used in the electrolyte. Dragout of electrolyte varied with the titanium crystal sizes to about 1 kg per kg of fine titanium for coarse washed metal. Dragout was dried and passed over a magnetic separator, and metal fines were removed by screening to about 80 mesh (177 μm). They claimed that the sponge produced exhibited both a low residual oxygen, nitrogen, iron and chlorine content, had a Brinell hardness of 60 to 90 HB and excellent melting characteristics. According to Cobel et al.29, the direct current required for electrowinning (17.4 kWh/kg) appears to be only about half that required for the Kroll process. Although titanium sponge of apparently satisfactory purity was claimed to be produced in relatively small pilot-plant cells with a daily titanium capacity of up to 86 kilograms per day, the electrowinning of titanium was far from an industrial scale.
Unfortunately, in Dec. 30, 1982, according to American Metal Market, the expenses for completing the joint program and the economic climate at that time have forced the dissolution of the D-H Titanium Company. With the breakup each company (i.e., Dow and Howmet) Dow has continued some research and development work on the electrolytic process but without success while Howmet apart having patented some work done in France30 31 has later focused in the metals fabrication area.
In 1985, the Italian company Elettrochimica Marco Ginatta S.p.A. (EMG) owned by the Italian scientist and businessman Marco Vincenzo Ginatta claimed a new electrowinning process32 inspired from the previous attempts33. This new upgraded process for the electrolytic preparation of titanium uses always the dissolution and cathodic reduction of titanium tetrachloride in an electrolyte made of alkali or alkaline-earth metal halides and the electrodeposition of the dissolved titanium cations. The process was supported by RMI Titanium, and the company built a pilot plant. Ginatta claimed that the current production capacity of this plant reached 70 tonnes per year in 198534. Unfortunately, in 1990 RMI closed the plant owing to inability to solve "engineering issues".
Later, in the period 1997-2000 Kawakami et al.35 have proposed an electroslag remelting process. The main idea was to avoid common dendritic electrodeposits by producing the electrodeposited titanium metal in its liquid state. Direct electrowinning of liquid titanium metal was the investigated techniques by using a direct current Electro-Slag Remelting (i.e., DC-ESR) apparatus. A small scale DC-ESR unit of 110 mm inner diameter was operated in d.c. reverse polarity mode, where a graphite rod was used as anode and a steel or a copper base-plate was used as cathode. The used slag was CaO—CaF2—TiO2 mixture. The current was approximately 1.5 kA. Under certain experimental conditions, some amount of titanium was electrodeposited in the metal pool. From the view point of heat balance, the sufficient heat was supplied by Joule heating in a molten slag phase. It can be seen from the published results that unfortunately most of the deposit was obtained as TiC and the current efficiency for the reduction was only 1.5%.
In 1999, the process was improved36, the current efficiency for the reduction was up to 18% with a larger distance between the electrodes. Some amount of titanium was electrodeposited on the base-plate though its state changed with the electrolytic condition. Pure titanium metal pieces were obtained in the solidified salt after the run with the bigger electrode distance. It was concluded that the electrowinning of liquid titanium metal by the present process was possible if sufficient heat to form a metal pool can be supplied at the bigger distance between the electrodes. The DC-ESR process was patented in 1988 and reconducted in 2000, and then recently presented at ECS meeting37.
The idea to use a molten pool of titanium was also recently claimed by Ginatta Torino Technology (GTT) who patented a new process for electrowinning titanium based on the recovery of the molten metal using a pool of liquid titanium as cathode like for aluminium38.
The main idea of Ginatta is to avoid common dendritic electrodeposits by producing the electrodeposited titanium metal in the liquid state such as for aluminium. Nevertheless, the process which operates at 1750° C. still needs to convert the expensive titanium dioxide to the titanium tetrachloride and the dissolution of the feedstock into a molten salt electrolyte made of CaCl2—CaF2 and containing calcium metal Ca.
Recently in 2000, based on early results obtained by Fray, Farthing, and Chen39 40 at the Dept. of Materials Science of the Cambridge University, early trials were conducted and patented41 42 at the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) at Farnborough (Hampshire, U.K.). A new company British Titanium (BTi) has been formed to commercialize the newly discovered process43 that the scientific litterature has dubbed the Cambridge's or FFC's Process. The process claims the electrochemical deoxidation of solid titanium dioxide that was originally applied for refining titanium metal by Okabe et al. in 199344 45 46. The inventors have demonstrated at the laboratory scale that the reduction reaction proceeds at 950° C. from a cathode made originally of solid TiO2 while oxidation of oxygen anions occurs at the graphite anode with evolution of carbon dioxide. Pure calcium chloride (CaCl2) was selected as molten salt electrolyte owing to its high solubility for oxygen and excellent migration transport properties for oxygen anions. According to inventors, the process for the production of pure titanium metal consists of the following sequences of operations. The pure titanium dioxide powder is mixed with an appropriate binder to form a past or slip, and cast into a rectangular shape cathodes using one of the techniques common in the ceramic industry, such as rolling or slip casting. The green cathode will be then fired in an air kiln to initiate sintering in order to produce a solid ceramic material. After sintering the shapes give solid cathodes. Reduction of titanium occurs in an enclosed electrolytic cell with inert gas filling. The cell is designed for continuous operation with cathodes at different stages in their cycles being inserted and removed through an automated air lock. By controlling the cathode potential, oxygen can be removed from titanium dioxide allowing to leave behind a high purity metal which is morphologically similar to the Kroll's sponge. The cell voltage is roughly 3 V, which is just below the decomposition voltage of CaCl2 (3.25 V at 950° C.), avoiding chlorine evolution at the anode but Well above the decomposition voltage of TiO2 (1.85 V at 950° C.). Sufficient overpotential is necessary to reduce the oxygen content of the titanium metal. The inventors claim that stoichiometric mixture of other metal oxides with TiO2 into the original cathode are also concurrently reduced to metal leading to the possibility to produce also titanium alloys although the microstructure is different. The process has been demonstrated in a bench-scale reactor (i.e., 1 kilogram per day). The Cambridge's process claimed that it overcomes several of the issues encountered by its predecessors but however there are several important pitfalls to be overcome in scaling-up the process for a future commercial development. Primarily, it has an extremely low space time yield, i.e., mass of titanium produced per unit time and cathode surface area. This is related to the slow diffusion kinetics of oxygen across the layer of solid titanium metal at the cathode/electrolyte interface. Actually, several hours are required to completely reduce a porous pellet made of sintered TiO2 and huge cathode surface areas are needed to compensate. Secondly, since the waste CaCl2 can be only removed from the titanium by water leaching after the completion of the reaction it is strictly a batch process. Finally, it requires expensive preparation of titanium dioxide pellets as feedstock itself produced from tetrachloride and a preliminary preparation to render the feedstock conductive is needed.
Also in 2000, Sharma47 proposed the calciothermic reduction of pure titanium dioxide with a zinc-calcium alloys performed in a molten salt mixture of CaCl2—CaF2 at 800° C. Titanium powder was later recovered from the Zn—Ti alloys formed by vacuum distillation which is highly energy demanding.
In 2001, Fortin48 proposed another process for obtaining titanium metal from ilmenite using a so-called 'shuttle-alloys'. The process which comprises two consecutive steps requires expensive materials and some having environmental issues for an industrial process and is also energy demanding.
In 2001, Pal et al. from Boston University suggested a new way for electrowinning reactive metals including titanium using a solid oxide membrane (SOM) process49. The patented method consists to electrolyse a molten salt electrolyte containing the cations of the metal to electrodeposit at the cathode using a porous gas diffusion anode separated from the high temperature melt by a solid ionic membrane capable of transporting the anionic species of the electrolyte to the anode50 51. Nevertheless, this process did not use the electrochemical deoxidation of a cathode and no mentions is made to use SOM as a unique electrolyte immersed into a molten titania slag acting as liquid cathode material.
Heretofore, no processes described in the prior art have proven to be satisfactory or gained industrial acceptance. None of the prior art processes directly use inexpensive titanium feedstocks such as crude titania slag for producing electrochemically titanium metal and alloys. Actually, plenty of crude titania slag is produced industrially by the carbothermic reduction of hemo-ilmenite or ilmenite ore concentrate with anthracite coal into an electric arc furnace (EAF) such as those produced industrially by Québec Iron & Titanium Inc. (QIT) in Canada or by Richards Bay Minerals in South Africa. Indeed, titania slag exhibits a semiconductive behavior and hence it can be used without any treatment and additives as an electrode material. Its good electronic conductivity ranging from 10 S·m−1 for the bulk solid at room temperature until 1.21×104 S·m−1 for the melt above its liquidus temperature is related to the sub-stoichiometric titanium oxides it contains. These oxides exhibit the typical Andersson-Magneli crystal structure52 having the global chemical formula TinO2n−1, with n an integer at least equal to 4 (e.g., Ti4O7, Ti5O9, Ti6O11). Actually, these oxides exhibit in their pure state at room temperature an electrical resistivity sometimes even lower than that of pure graphite (e.g., as low as 630μΩ·cm for Ti4O7).
Highly pure form of these titanium oxides were first suggested as electrode material by Hayfield53 from IMI and are now produced and commercialized under the trade name Ebonex®54 by the British company Atraverda Ltd.55.
First experimental trials performed at RTIT to deoxidize electrochemically solid titania slag with calcium chloride as electrolyte at 950° C. indicated that the process works but only produces a thin and brittle layer of titanium-iron alloy at the slag/electrolyte interface. The overall electrochemical reaction corresponds to the carbothermic reduction of titanium dioxide with the following reaction scheme:TiO2(sol.)+C(sol.)=Ti(sol.)↓+CO2(gas)↑
The experimental results demonstrated that the electrochemical reaction exhibits both an extraordinarily high specific energy consumption and extremely low space time yield. These poor performances were attributed mainly to the newly formed titanium metal layer at the slag/electrolyte interface that impedes proper mass transfer by diffusion of oxygen anions. In other words, as soon as a thin layer of solid titanium is produced, the process is "choked" and proceeds little further. Deoxidizing at higher temperatures up to 1350° C. was also achieved but despite improved performance the process remained unsatisfactory for a profitable industrial process.
Thus, there remains an important need for an improved deoxidizing process for titanium oxide containing compounds.

Method for electrowinning of titanium metal or alloy from titanium oxide containing compound in the liquid state


A method and apparatus for time-based charging for viewing content from a broadcast-multicast service (BCMCS) at a mobile station of a wireless communication system is disclosed. A count value (SKCount) is determined based upon the number of generated short-term keys (SK) that are used to decrypt particular content from the BCMCS. The amount of time the particular content is viewed at the mobile station may be determined as a function of the count value (SKCount) and the period (SKPeriod) between the generation of the short-term keys. This provides information about a user's actual content view time since the short-term key is needed to view the particular content broadcast to the mobile station.

1. Field
The present invention relates generally to communications, and more specifically, to a method and apparatus for charging for information services in a wireless communication system employing a broadcast-multicast communication service (BCMCS).
2. Background
Broadcast-multicast services (BCMCS) provide point-to-multipoint communication service in a wireless communication system to a plurality of mobile stations that receive the broadcast data through a wireless communication medium. The broadcast data (i.e., content) transmitted by the wireless communication system to the plurality of mobile stations may include, but need not necessarily be limited to, news, movies, sporting events, and the like. The specific type of content transmitted to the mobile stations may include a wide array of multi-media data, such as text, audio, picture, streaming video, etc. The content is typically generated by a content provider and is broadcast to the mobile stations that subscribe to the particular service over a broadcast channel of the wireless communication system.
The broadcast content is typically encrypted and decrypted through several levels of encryption and decryption to provide at least some level of assurance that unauthorized users will not be able to decrypt the content to which they are not entitled (i.e., content that is not subscribed to by the user of the mobile station). To enable the encryption and decryption of the broadcast content, the broadcast-multicast service employs the use of encryption keys.
A long-term encryption key, commonly referred to as a broadcast access key (BAK), is provisioned into the memory of the mobile station by the broadcast-multicast service. A short-term key (SK) is derived from the broadcast access key BAK and a random number SKRAND. The content is encrypted with the short-term key SK, and is broadcast over the air to the mobile station by the wireless communication system along with the random number SKRAND. The mobile station computes the short-term key SK from the random number SKRAND and the broadcast access key BAK, and decrypts the received content using the short-term key SK for presentation of the content to the mobile station's user.
Typically, the user of the mobile station is charged for the broadcast content upon receipt of the broadcast access key BAK. Therefore, regardless of whether or not the user is actually viewing the broadcast content from the broadcast-multicast service, the user is charged upon receipt of the broadcast access key (BAK). When the user is charged for broadcast content that he or she is not currently viewing, the user is burdened with these additional expenses incurred unnecessarily.
The present invention is directed to overcoming, or at least reducing the effects of, one or more problems set forth above.

Method and apparatus for time-based charging for broadcast-multicast services (BCMCS) in a wireless communication system


An apparatus is disclosed for cutting an end of a belt and for clinching belt fasteners to the cut belt end. The apparatus includes a clamp for clamping the belt and a knife carriage driven across the belt to cut the belt end wtih a knife on the carriage. A line of belt fasteners mounted in a comb are then pressed against the belt by a roller which is mounted on a roller carriage for travel across the line of belt fasteners. Preferably, a single, detachable, manual driver or handle is used to drive the knife carriage and the roller carriage.

The present invention relates to belt-lacing machines for clinching hook or C-shaped belt fasteners to a belt end.
Lacing machines to secure hook belt fasteners, such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,958, to the end of a belt have been known and utilized for many years. These machines include manual lacers, that is hand operated, with multiple anvil arrangements, as well as hydraulically operable lacers. The multiple-anvil, press-type lacing machines require movement of the belt through the lacing machine or movement of the lacing machine along the length of a belt to secure the belt fasteners. The multiple-anvil lacing machines are frequently bulky and heavy, and consequently they are not readily portable for use in awkward, remote or hard-to-negotiate sites.
Belt lacing machines of the multiple-anvil type are illustrated by the apparatus shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,044,074-Tebb et al., wherein a multiple anvil apparatus is coupled to a hydraulic operator. This structure, either with or without the hydraulic operator, is a cumbersome and bulky apparatus, which is not readily portable to a remote site for repair and maintenance of a belt. Other multiple-anvil type apparatus utilize a single anvil. However, they require indexing of the anvil apparatus along the belt end for clinching of the individual fasteners to this belt end. This single-indexing operation is slow, cumbersome and wearying to the operator, as it may encompass the actuation of a dual-handle apparatus for the clinching of each fastener.
Earlier belt lacing machines similarly applied a single fastener to a belt end with each stroke of the machine.
Indicative of this type of apparatus is the structure disclosed and taught in U.S. Pat. No. 1,740,180-Larsen, wherein a sleeve of hooks or fasteners may be applied to a belt end by a machine that is operable by a crank and lever apparatus. However, this early structure is not readily portable for usage in a confined environment, and does not lend itself to rapid application of fasteners to a wide belt.
Belt lacing machines are frequently lighter, more compact and more easily operable apparatus than the stand-alone belt-fastener devices with larger bases and frames. A known belt lacer utilizes a pair of rollers that are operable along a secured belt end, which belt end is maintained in this position during the application of belt fasteners thereto. Belt fasteners may be of the stamped metal plate kind of open-jaw, C-shaped fasteners or may be wire, open-jaw, C-shaped fasteners each of which has opposed pointed jaw ends, which are pressed into the conveyor belt end to form a U-shaped clamp with an eyelet to receive a coupling hinge pin for mating with similar fasteners on the opposite end of the conveyor belt and for subsequent coupling by a hinge pin inserted through the mated eyelets. In the belt-lacing machines, the lacing rollers are held in a roller-head assembly and the gap distance or separation between the roller circumference is adjustable to provide for variations in belt thickness, and more importantly, to provide the user with the opportunity to control the depth to which the pointed ends of the fasteners are pressed into the belt. That is, several roller passes or strokes may be used to sink the pointed ends into the belt to the desired depth to finally secure and clinch the fasteners in the belt end.
Belt lacing machines, that are compact and lightweight for portability, are useful in remote locations including on-the-job sites, and find particular application in field-like operations. Therefore, portability and ease of use are vital characteristics for a roller lacer, which is utilized in a remote location, or removed from a permanent location. Further, the belt ends being repaired or having new fasteners applied are frequently required to be cut to square the leading edge for application of the fasteners. The belt ends may be marked with a line for cutting by a cutting machine, which line may be applied by methods known in the art. A problem may occur that the belt being worked upon may have a width greater than the width of roller lacer and it is desirable that the belt lacer be able to be used with belt widths greater than the belt lacer width.
Preferably, the belt lacers will be relatively lightweight so as to be portable and small so as to be used in cramped quarters in field locations and will be low in cost to be competitive with other belt lacers of the prior art.


A method of making a non-clogging porous fibrous mass is disclosed. The fibrous mass comprises intimately blended first and second groups of staple fibers having different tack points and longitudinal stress-free shrinkages. The fibrous mass is fed into and pulled through a heat bonding and shaping die and cut to a desired length. Specific ratios of weight percent to fiber denier and differences between the longitudinal stress-free shrinkages of the groups of fibers are utilized in order to render the bonded fibrous mass non-clogging.

FIG. 1 shows an air-scenting device 1 of the Prior Art. As shown therein, it comprises a container or bottle 2 made of glass, non-reactive and non-absorbent plastics or metal. Container 2 is filled, at least partially, with a free-to-flow liquid mass 3 of an air-scenting liquid which may be a water-base, oil-base and/or solvent-base liquid. A wick 4 is placed into container 2, usually in a substantially vertical orientation, and is partially immersed into liquid mass 3. Wick 4 is usually guided/surrounded by a guide/spacer 5 through the neck 9 of container 2. An air pressure equalization vent or hole 6 is provided in order to maintain the same air pressure inside of and outside of container 2. A cap 7 is used for covering the top portion of wick 4 and sealing container 2 at sealing closure 8. Upon removing cap 7, the air-scenting liquid, contained within the pores of wick 4, evaporates into the ambient air and scents the ambient air accordingly. Optionally, the top portion of wick 4 may be heated in order to accelerate the rate of evaporation of the air-scenting liquid. Also, optionally, a fan-type air blower is used for the same purpose of increasing the rate of evaporation of the air-scenting liquid.
Because of sealing closure 8, no leakage or spillage occurs while transporting air-scenting device 1 and prior to removing cap 7. On the other hand, some liquid may accumulate in space 10 between cap 7 and wick 4 which might contact the hand of the user of device 1 or drip on the floor upon removing cap 7. Since a majority of air-scenting liquids have skin and/or eye irritating effects, extra care must be exercised by the user of device 1. Also a dripping/dripped liquid, especially on a tile floor, may present a slipping and falling hazard to persons stepping on it or walking on it.
The air-scenting device of the present invention overcomes the above mentioned drawbacks of prior art air-scenting devices by containing no free-to-flow air-scenting liquid mass. Another drawback of the prior art air-scenting devices, which are designed to operate similarly, is that they can perform only in a substantially vertical orientation with the free-to-flow air-scenting liquid mass at the bottom of container 4. Also, when turned upside down, device 1 tends to drip liquid 3, through vent 6, when the ambient temperature rises. The air-scenting device of the present invention overcomes these drawbacks and does not drip or leak any air-scenting liquid regardless of its orientation relative to the direction of the gravitational acceleration force.
FIG. 2 shows another air-scenting device 20 of the prior art. As shown therein, it comprises an initially sealed container 21 having a container lid 22 and a thin pierceable (i.e., may be pierced) membrane 23. Container 21 contains free-to-flow air-scenting liquid mass 24. As shown in FIG. 2, an air gap 21a exists between the planar top surface of liquid mass 24 and lid 22. Container 21 is surrounded with a wick 25, usually in the form of a sleeve which may be made of a fibrous material such as paper or a textile material or a sintered plastics particles. As shown in FIG. 2, the assembly of container 21 and wick 25 are placed into external cup 26. Cup 26 has a trough or basin 27 which is impermeable and has a height 29, as shown in FIG. 2, and membrane piercing tip 26a and an aperture zone 28. Upon pushing membrane 23 against tip 26a and thereby piercing membrane 23 liquid 24 flows out of container 21 into basin 27 and rises to level 29a which, by design, is lower than height 29. As a result of liquid 24 flowing out of container 21 into basin 27 the air pressure in air bubble 21a becomes lower than the surrounding atmospheric pressure and flow of liquid 24 stops. As air-scenting liquid gets absorbed by wick 25, it evaporates into the ambient air and scents the surrounding air. Also, as the level of air scenting liquid in basin 27 gets lower, due to continuous wicking and evaporation, a certain low level 29b is reached where, similar to what occurs in a bottle-type water bubbler, an air bubble escapes through punctured membrane 23 into the interior of container 21 in order to re-establish a new pressure equilibrium between the interior of container 21 and the surrounding atmospheric pressure. Similar to device 1, shown in FIG. 1, air scenting may, optionally be accelerated by the use of a fan-type blower.
Some of the drawbacks of air-scenting devices of the type shown n FIG. 2 are that spillage occurs when the device is tilted and therefore, these devices must be kept vertically oriented once membrane 23 is pierced. Also, when the ambient temperature increases, the air pressure in air space 21a increases and additional liquid flows from container 21 into basin 27, overflows beyond level 29, and drips below the entire device.
The above description of prior art air-scenting devices is hereby incorporated in this present invention disclosure for the purpose of incorporating portions of it in future Continuation-in-Part patent applications and/or in future amendments of claims.
The air-scenting device of the present invention overcomes all of the above-mentioned drawbacks while providing a long lasting duration of scenting the ambient air at a nearly linear rate of releasing air freshening liquid into the surrounding environment.

Method of making a non-clogging porous fibrous mass for air scenting


Disclosed is a chain wheel mounting structure adapted to rotatably mount a chain wheel onto a wheel bracket by a support pin. An attaching hole having a taper hole and a threaded hole larger in diameter than and coaxial with the taper hole is formed horizontally on the wheel bracket. Further, the support pin having at one end portion thereof a taper portion corresponding to the taper hole is inserted into the attaching hole so as to protrude a terminal end portion thereof for rotatably fitting the chain wheel, and the support pin is pressed in the axial direction by a stopper bolt threaded into the threaded hole so as to bring the taper portion into close proximity to the taper hole.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a chain wheel mounting structure in fork lifts and, more particularly, relates to a chain wheel mounting structure improving a front visual field from the driver's seat.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a conventional fork lift, a two-side supported structure as shown in FIG. 4 or a cantilever structure as shown in FIG. 5 has conventionally been used as the chain wheel mounting structure. In the two-side supported structure of FIG. 4, two pairs of wheel brackets 24a are welded to the lower surface of a chain beam 23 which connects piston rods 22 of left and right lift cylinders 21 to each other, and a support pin 25a for rotatably supporting a chain wheel 26 is fitted horizontally into each pair of wheel brackets 24a in a manner capable of being pulled out therefrom. Such a two-side supported structure is disclosed for example in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Application No. 2-64590.
Further, in the cantilever structure shown in FIG. 5, a wheel bracket 24b having a support pin 25b fixed thereto by means of welding or integrally formed thereon is welded to the lower surface of a chain beam 23 which connects piston rods 22 of left and right lift cylinders 21 to each other. A chain wheel 26 is then mounted in a manner rotatable with respect to the support pin 25b. Such a cantilever structure is disclosed for example in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 62-255395.
In the case of the two-side supported structure, however, a distance L1 from the lift cylinder 21 to the center of a lift chain 27 is larger due to the fact that two wheel brackets 24a are provided in each pair, whereby a chain pitch L2 between the left and right lift chains 27 becomes smaller.
Further, in the case of cantilever structure shown in FIG. 5, the distance L1 from the cylinder 21 to the center of the lift chain 27 must be provided large enough to make possible attachment/detachment of the chain wheel 26 with respect to the support pin 25b. As a result, the chain pitch L2 between the left and right lift chains 27 becomes smaller.
Specifically, in a fork lift of the free lift or semi-free lift having an extent of freedom L for lifting/lowering a load without raising the total height of the mast, there is a restriction that the wheel bracket 24a, 24b must be provided on the lower surface of the chain beam 23. For this reason, in the cases of both two-side supported structure and one-side supported structure as described, the lift chain 27 is present at an inner position distant from the lift cylinder 21 as a member obstructing the visual field. There is thus a problem that the front visual field is narrower comparing to a standard type fork lift in which the lift chain may be positioned relatively close to the lift cylinder by providing a wheel bracket having a support pin facing inward, on the back surface of an inner mast.
It should be noted that, when easiness of pulling out the support pin 25a is considered in the case of the above-described two-side supported structure, loose fitting is required between the support pin 25a formed of a parallel pin and the pin hole on the wheel bracket 24b into which the support pin 25a is inserted. Accordingly, if such loose fit is applied to the one-side supporting structure, the support pin 25a sloped with respect to the pin hole is brought into partial contact with the pin hole, and the stress is concentrated to that portion where breaking may occur. Thus, the one-side supported structure based on fitting method has not been employed for the reason of strength as described.
In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a chain wheel mounting structure of fork lift which is effective in improving the front visual field.

Chain wheel mounting structure in forklift

Kabushiki Kaisha Toyoda Jidoshokki Seisakusho


This invention relates to a mechanism employing fluid under pressure, comprising: a stator; a rotor; a device for assembling the rotor with respect to the stator, effecting relative rotational assembly of these two elements about a geometrical axis, and ensuring axial holding of said two elements in position, in the two opposite directions, parallel to said geometrical axis; a reaction cam fast with a first of said elements; cylinders made in the second element and disposed radially with respect to said geometrical axis; and pistons mounted in said cylinders and abutting on said cam. According to the invention, the assembly device is constituted by a single bearing which comprises: two rolling tracks made directly on an extension of the reaction cam itself, and on an extension of the element itself in which the cylinders are made, respectively; rolling members disposed between the tracks, capable of abutting on these two tracks so as to ensure axial holding of the rotor with respect to the stator. One application is the production of a compact hydraulic motor.

FR-A-2 533 965, for example, already discloses a mechanism employing fluid under pressure, such as a hydraulic pump or motor, comprising: a stator; a rotor; a device for assembling the rotor with respect to the stator, such that these two elements rotate relatively about a geometrical axis and said two elements are maintained axially in position, in the two opposite directions parallel to said geometrical axis; a reaction cam fast with a first of said two elements; cylinders arranged in the second of these two elements and disposed substantially radially with respect to said geometrical axis of rotation; and pistons mounted to slide in said cylinders and bearing on said cam.
Constant research has been carried out with regard to these known mechanisms, motors or pumps, with a view to reducing their space requirement, both radial and axial. However, such research has been limited to a certain extent, as the designers, up to the present time, have had to provide at least two sets of bearings in order to ensure rotational assembly and axial holding of the rotor with respect to the stator. Such bearings are either mixed, each of them producing both part of the rotational assembly and part of the axial holding, or each being of one type, one of the bearings producing rotational assembly, and one or more other bearings effecting axial holding.
It is an object of the present invention to propose a novel bearing arrangement which considerably reduces the axial and radial space requirement of said mechanisms, whilst conserving at least the same endurance and having mechanical aptitudes (fatigue strength, recovery of moments) at least equal to those of the known mechanisms.

Mechanism employing fluid under pressure provided with a rotor, a stator and a device for assembling these two elements


A wafer-scale package structure in which a circuit board for rearranging electrode pads of a wafer is laminated on the wafer integrally. The circuit board can be divided into individual chip-size packages (CSPS) and which includes a layer of polyimide resin, and connection between the wafer and the circuit board is performed by solder bump, while the circuit board is stuck on the wafer with an adhesive.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wafer-scale package structure for rearranging and packaging electrode pads in a lump and in the form of a wafer, and a circuit board used in such a wafer-scale package structure.
The present application is based on Japanese Patent Application No. Hei. 10-202227 which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
With miniaturization and realization of high-performance in electronic equipments in recent years, semiconductor devices constituting the electronic equipments and multilayer printed-wiring boards mounted with the semiconductor devices have been required to be small and thin and to have high performance and high reliability. Under such conditions, packages have been miniaturized, and semiconductor devices which are substantially as large as chips and called chip-size packages (CSPs) have been developed. Various methods have been proposed for the chip-size packages, but usually, chips subjected to dicing are packaged individually one by one. For example, often used is a method in which fine electrode pads on each chip are rearranged in the form of a grid and sealed with resin or the like.
However, since chips cut out of a wafer are packaged individually one by one, the above-mentioned method has problems that the productivity deteriorates, the cost increases, and so on.

Wafer-scale package structure and circuit board attached thereto


A light source comprises a lamp house including a source lamp for emitting illumination light in a certain direction and heat sinks for cooling the source lamp, a base member for holding the lamp house and moving the lamp house to adjust the optical axis of illumination light the source lamp emits, and an optical axis adjustment mechanism operation unit lying outside the lamp house to be manipulated from the side of the lamp house and driving the optical axis adjustment mechanism.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light source, or more particularly, to an optical axis adjustment mechanism for moving a lamp house to adjust an optical axis of illumination light a source lamp emits.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a light source for supplying light to a fiberscope, an optical axis of illumination light to be emitted is adjusted so that light will be supplied in an optimal state to an intended region (back end surface of a light guide for a fiberscope). Specifically, the optical axis of illumination light to be emitted is adjusted to coincide with the intended region, so that the illumination light will be emitted toward the intended region. In general, an art of moving a lamp house and an art of moving an optical block made up of condensers, a diaphragm adjustment mechanism for adjusting an amount of light, and a light guide receptor for a fiberscope are known for adjusting an optical axis of illumination light.
For instance, an art based on a feed screw mechanism has been proposed as the art of moving a lamp house in Japanese Utility Model Unexamined Publication No. 57-110815.
To be more specific, as shown in FIG. 1, a feed screw mechanism 2 made up of a feeder 2a, a coupling 2b for moving the feeder 2a vertically, and a gear 2c for turning the coupling 2b, is placed below a lamp house 1. The gear 2c of the feed screw mechanism 2 is manipulated from vertically to rotate. Thereby, the feeder 2a is moved vertically via the coupling 2b. Then, the lamp house 1 is moved to adjust a optical axis vertically.
When an optical axis is moved vertically or horizontally and thus adjusted, a lamp house should, preferably, be moved while being held horizontal so that the optical axis will not be displaced in a direction other than the moving direction and varied its orientation. However, according to the aforesaid prior art of moving a lamp house, when a feed screw is used, a backlash of the screw causes the lamp house to waver and makes it hard to move the lamp house vertically while keeping it horizontal. Then, use of a large-diameter feed screw is conceived to cope with this problem. However, use of a large-diameter feed screw generally causes parts to become unusable, thereby increasing cost.
When the lamp house is moved vertically to adjust the optical axis, the feed screw mechanism placed below the lamp house must be vertically manipulated. Therefore, the housing of the light source must be uncovered to adjust the optical axis.
On the other hand, according to an art of moving an optical block to adjust an optical axis, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a base member 6 joined with the bottom of an optical block 5 is screwed to a base 8 having a guide axis 7 via springs 9. The screws 10 are loosened to move the base member 6 vertically. Thereby, the optical block 5 is adjusted vertically and secured at an appropriate position by tightening the screws 10.
Even when the optical block is moved to adjust the optical axis, the optical block should preferably be moved while being kept horizontal so that the orientation of the optical axis will not vary. However, according to the foregoing art of moving the optical block to adjust the optical axis, the center of gravity of the optical block and the center of the base member joined with the bottom of the optical block do not lie on the same vertical axis. Therefore, the base member rubs against the contact surfaces on the right and left of the base and the guide axis, causing a jerk. This makes it hard to move the optical block vertically and smoothly while keeping it horizontal.

Optical axis adjustment mechanism for a light source


A flash apparatus and related systems and methods of use are disclosed herein. The apparatus includes a housing having a generally concave reflector, and a light source disposed within the reflector. A handle can be engaged with the housing and/or the light source to facilitate manual positioning and repositioning of the light source relative to a photographic apparatus remote from the housing and/or an object to be photographed. A synchronization device is in communication with the light source and the photographic apparatus for causing the light source to emit a flash of light when the photographic device is actuated. A modifier can also be engaged with the reflector for modifying the emitted flash of light. In a portable system, various interchangeable reflectors, modifiers, and light sources can be provided. Power sources for the light sources and a stand engageable with the handle can also be included.

Conventional flash photography techniques typically utilize camera-mounted speed lights, or similar flash devices, strobe lights, or other types of lighting, that are configured to flash upon actuation of the camera. In combination with various studio lights, such as strobes, and light modifiers, such as soft boxes and other types of reflection of ambient lighting, desired light and shadow affects can be created when photographing an individual, couple, group, or an object.
Extremely precise creation and manipulation of light and shadow, and manipulation of the physical wrapping quality of light, can dramatically enhance the quality of photographs. However, such techniques typically require bulky and expensive equipment, are often restricted to studio use, and typically require at least two individuals to position and operate the equipment effectively. When performing event photography or other types of photography outside of the studio, it has been desirable to increase the portability and ease of handling for the required equipment by minimizing or eliminating remote lighting, and instead mounting increasingly complex light sources directly on a camera, enabling a photographer to maneuver and acquire photographs quickly. Alternatively, it is possible, though often undesirable, to transport cumbersome photography equipment to a job site and to work with one or more assistants to set up, position, and reposition the equipment between photographs, which constitutes a labor-intensive and time consuming endeavor, and requires a significant quantity of time to reconfigure equipment between photographs. Moreover, in an attempt to approximate studio quality, it is possible to use several on-camera types of portable flashes, or speed lights, off of the camera, thereby reducing bulk.
A typical photographic flash apparatus includes a tubular light bulb, mounted within a curved, trough-shaped reflector, which is secured to a camera housing and oriented to emit a flash of light in the direction that the camera lens is facing. Some existing flash apparatuses enable the bulb to be positioned such that the flash of light is emitted in a direction other than into the eyes of the subject or that which the lens is facing, for illuminating the target with indirect, or reflected light, rather than direct light, and thereby reducing the possibility of red-eye. Attachable to or integral with many flash apparatuses are a variety of diffusers and other modifiers usable to affect the emitted light and the manner in which the light interacts with the object to be illuminated.
One of the drawbacks of existing camera-mounted flash apparatuses is that the greater portability and simpler nature of such an apparatus usually results in a diminished quality of light. Quality of light is crucial for acquiring photographs having a high degree of clarity and precise graduation of color and shading. A high quality of light is especially critical when producing black and white images, which require a clear graduation of grayscale and precise use of light and shadow to obtain a valuable image.
The quality of light provided by a flash bulb can depend on the length of the bulb filament, the shape of the bulb, which affects the spread of the light produced, and the intensity of the flash, which can be affected by the power requirements and capacity of the bulb. The emitted flash can then be affected by the shape and type of reflector used, the orientation of the bulb in relation to the reflector, and any diffusers or other modifiers placed between the bulb and the object to be illuminated. Additionally, the interaction between the flash and the illuminated object can be affected by the distance between the object and the light source, the position of the light source relative to the object and relative to the camera, and the power or intensity emitted by the light source.
A conventional camera-mounted flash apparatus is typically very limited regarding the spread, intensity, and quality of the light provided. Further, a camera-mounted flash apparatus is normally integral with a single choice of reflector. Also, a camera-mounted flash apparatus is limited regarding the positioning of the flash relative to object to be photographed and relative to the direction from which the photograph is acquired. While remote flash devices can be used in lieu of, or in addition to a camera-mounted flash apparatus, a studio quality remote flash device or strobe is typically expensive, bulky, time consuming to set up, position, and reposition, and an assistant is normally required to manipulate and/or move the remote devices between uses.
Handheld flash devices have been utilized to obtain certain desired light and shadow effects, however existing handheld flash devices have lacked sufficient power and flexibility to compete with the preferred camera-mounted speed lights and large, non-portable light apparatuses. Existing handheld flash devices have failed to overcome the drawbacks of camera-mounted flash devices and cumbersome, less portable equipment without sacrificing the advantages of their more common camera mounted speed-light counterparts. For example, a hand held light that is attached to the camera on an L-bracket, or alternately, is used as a flash gun but without interchangeability with respect to a reflector and bulb creates no opportunity to enhance the quality of the light. It has been advantageous for the bracket to balance the camera with respect to the flash, and the photographer could support the weight of the camera with one hand—thereby sharing the weight between the hands. The known devices were never designed to be flexible, but rather to be attached to the side of the camera to primarily avoid red eye.
A need exists for a flash apparatus that can be manually positioned and repositioned relative to both the object to be illuminated and the angle between the light source and the object to be illuminated, for rapidly and efficiently, minimizing the downtime and necessary reconfiguration between illuminations. The spontaneous capture of images with a higher, studio quality of light creates new photographic possibilities, especially given the high importance and time sensitivity of maintaining rapport with a human subject.
A further need exists for a system for manual manipulation of flash photography that is flexible. It is desirable to provide flexibly that incorporates interchangeable reflectors, light sources, modifiers, and/or power sources, while retaining sufficient portability to enable a single individual to transport, set up, position, and reposition the system with a minimum of time between illuminations.
A need also exists for a flash apparatus that can provide a superior quality of light compared to conventional camera-mounted flash devices. It is desirable to overcome the drawbacks of the conventional alternatives by enabling creative and effective positioning and repositioning of light when time is a limiting factor that would prevent conventional preparation and methods.
A primary feature of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and system that brings studio quality lighting to handheld devices.
It is a feature of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and system to improve the quality and efficacy of portable flash devices.
It is a feature of the present invention to provide an apparatus and system that provides an illumination source that creates a higher quality graduation of grayscale in the ultimate photograph. The higher quality grayscale is affected due to the light being "wrapped around" the subject being illuminated. Particularly, the apparatus and system of the present invention does not just flood the area with flat light, but rather, provides light having an intensity that provides softer shadows on the subjects being illuminated. The softer shadows are provided due to the "wrap-around" effect of the light provided. Particularly, the wrap-around effect of the present invention provides more shades of gray when capturing the image of the illuminated subject. The light provided by the present invention isolates the subject being illuminated, without flooding the illuminated frame or area with light, thereby resulting in a far less "flat-looking" photograph.
Another feature of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and system having a high intensity of light to achieve more shades of gray. It is not unusual to have to distinguish between the subject being illuminated and the background. This dichotomy between background and subject is typically a problem, but is especially advantageous with the present apparatus and system providing for softer, yet more distinguishable, shadows on the illuminated subject.
An unexpected feature of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and system for enhancing and refining the shadows associated with the subject being illuminated. It is known in the art to use ring lights to eliminate the shadows associated with the illuminated subject. The prior art is prolific with examples of using a ring light on the end of a lens of a camera to illuminate and eliminate the shadows associated with the illuminated subject. However, the present invention provides the unexpected result of using a ring light to enhance and refine the shadows. The present apparatus and system provides for isolated lighting with respect to the subject being illuminated. The isolated lighting provides that the shadows and graduations are better defined, not eliminated.
The present invention provides for quality, speed, flexibility, duration and consistency. The quality is provided with respect to the use of the specific type of bulb, i.e., the ring light. The speed and flexibility is provided by a battery system that provides consistent power for the rapid capture of illuminated objects up to and until the time the battery system terminates itself. The present system provides for multiple backup cells that are independently arranged so that each illumination is provided power from an independent backup cell. Such a configuration provides for increasing the illumination or frame rate associated with digital cameras and other equipment. Further, the battery system provides for duration of charge that is consistent and predictable. Each pre-charged backup cell or bank is sequentially discharged to provide a uniform and highly effective flash.
The present invention meets these needs.


Streamer and method for deploying the streamer for seismic data acquisition related to a subsurface of a body of water. The method includes a step of releasing into the body of water, from a vessel, a body having a predetermined length together with plural detectors provided along the body; a step of towing the body and the plural detectors such that the plural detectors are submerged; and a step of configuring plural birds provided along the body, to float at a predetermined depth from a surface of the water such that a first portion of the body has a curved profile while being towed underwater.

1. Technical Field
Embodiments of the subject matter disclosed herein generally relate to methods and systems and, more particularly, to mechanisms and techniques for acquiring seismic data.
2. Discussion of the Background
During the past years, the interest in developing new oil and gas production fields has dramatically increased. However, the availability of land-based production fields is limited. Thus, the industry has now extended drilling to offshore locations, which appear to hold a vast amount of fossil fuel. Offshore drilling is an expensive process. Thus, those engaged in such a costly undertaking invest substantially in geophysical surveys in order to more accurately decide where to drill in order to avoid a dry well.
Marine seismic data acquisition and processing generate a profile (image) of the geophysical structure (subsurface) under the seafloor. While this profile does not provide an accurate location for the oil and gas, it suggests, to those trained in the field, the presence or absence of oil and/or gas. Thus, providing a high resolution image of the subsurface is an ongoing process for the exploration of natural resources, including, among others, oil and/or gas.
During a seismic gathering process, as shown in FIG. 1, a vessel 10 tows an array of acoustic detectors 12. The array of acoustic detectors 12 is disposed along a body 14. Body 14 together with its corresponding detectors 12 are sometimes referred to, by those skilled in the art, as a streamer 16. The vessel 10 may tow plural streamers 16 at the same time. The streamers may be disposed horizontally, i.e., lying at a constant depth z1 relative to a surface 18 of the ocean. Also, the plural streamers 16 may form a constant angle (i.e., the streamers may be slanted) with respect to the surface of the ocean as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,992,992, the entire content of which is incorporated herein by reference. FIG. 2 shows such a configuration in which all the detectors 12 are provided along a slanted straight body 14 making a constant angle α with a reference horizontal line 30.
With reference to FIG. 1, the vessel 10 may also tow a sound source 20 configured to generate an acoustic wave 22a. The acoustic wave 22a propagates downward and penetrates the seafloor 24, eventually being reflected by a reflecting structure 26 (reflector R). The reflected acoustic wave 22b propagates upwardly and may be detected by detector 12. For simplicity, FIG. 1 shows only two paths 22a corresponding to the acoustic wave. However, the acoustic wave emitted by the source 20 may be substantially a spherical wave, e.g., it propagates in all directions starting from the source 20. Parts of the reflected acoustic wave 22b (primary) are recorded by the various detectors 12 (the recorded signals are called traces) while parts of the reflected wave 22c pass the detectors 12 and arrive at the water surface 18. Since the interface between the water and air is well approximated as a quasi-perfect reflector (i.e., the water surface acts as a mirror for the acoustic waves), the reflected wave 22c travels back towards the detector 12 as shown by wave 22d in FIG. 1. Wave 22d is normally referred to as a ghost wave because this wave is due to a spurious reflection. The ghosts are also recorded by the detector 12, but with a reverse polarity and a time lag relative to the primary wave 22b. The degenerative effect that ghost waves have on bandwidth and resolution of seismic measurements are known. In essence, interference between primary and ghost arrivals causes, among other problems, notches, or gaps, in the frequency content of the data recorded by the detectors.
The traces may be used to determine the subsurface (i.e., earth structure below surface 24) and to determine the position and presence of reflectors 26. However, the ghosts disturb the accuracy of the final image of the subsurface and for at least this reason, various methods exist for removing the ghosts, i.e., deghosting, from the results of a seismic analysis.
The streamer configuration illustrated in FIG. 2 is considered to provide a more accurate data acquisition then the configuration illustrated in FIG. 1. One reason for this difference is the fact that for each reflector, a time gap between the detection of the primary and ghost reflections becomes greater, the further the detector 12 is from the source 20, due to the slanted disposition of the detectors, thus facilitating deghosting.
However, the slanted streamer shown in FIG. 2 has the following limitation, which makes it impracticable. Current streamers have a typical length on the order of 6 to 10 km. Using a slanted streamer as suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 4,992,992, e.g., with a slope of 2 degrees relative to the horizontal line 30, would lead to a depth of about 280 m for the last detector, while in reality current marine detectors are designed to operate in water depths up to about 50 m. Thus, for current streamers, the approach proposed in the '992 patent would require detectors to be located in water depths beyond their current capabilities, thus resulting in detectors failure or the impossibility to provide the detectors at those depths.
In order to accurately locate deep reflectors, high-frequency acoustic waves are not suitable on account of the high attenuation they undergo during their propagation. Thus, low-frequency acoustic waves are desired to be present in the spectrum recorded by the detectors. Therefore, an octave is desirable to be gained in the low-frequency range of the traditional methods, thereby increasing the conventional bandwidth of 5-40 Hz to, e.g., a bandwidth of 2.5-40 Hz. To gain the extra octave, it is possible to increase the depth of the streamer. However, it is not sufficient to give priority to low-frequencies since high-frequencies are needed to estimate precisely the velocity model of the surface layers. Also, the signal-to-noise ratio should be improved for low-frequency acoustic waves without deteriorating it for the high-frequency acoustic waves.
Therefore, although a slanted streamer may partially extend the above-discussed bandwidth due to the constant depth increase of the detectors relative to the surface of the water, additional limitations exist in the approach proposed by the '992 patent, as further illustrated below.
FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate the simulated effect of ghosts on the frequency spectrum (herein referred to as "effective spectrum") corresponding to a shallow reflector (disposed at a depth of about 800 m) for a slanted streamer after stacking (stacking is a process in which different traces corresponding to the same common point are added together to reduce noise and improve overall data quality). In other words, spectra 34 and 38 correspond to different depths of the detectors with no ghosts while spectra 36 and 40 correspond to the same different depths of the detectors but with ghosts. These spectrum simulations are for a streamer having the first detector placed at a depth relative to the surface of the water of about 7.5 m and about 15 m. It is noted that relative values of the amplitudes of the frequencies are plotted against the frequencies in FIGS. 3 and 4. In both of the ghost free simulations (34 and 38), the last detector on the slanted streamer is placed at a depth of about 37.5 m relative to the water surface. The ghost free simulated spectra (curves 34 and 38, respectively) neglect the ghost effect, i.e., represent an "idealized" situation in which the presence of ghosts has been artificially removed from the simulation, so as to show the deficiencies of the conventional data acquisition methods. The effective spectra 36 and 40 are calculated without artificially removing the effect of the ghosts. As clearly shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the two spectra 34 and 36 of the first configuration have different shapes as the effective spectrum 36 includes less energy for the low-frequencies (lower than about 10 Hz) and high-frequencies (higher than about 60 Hz) as compared to the ghost free simulated spectrum 34. As the final image of the subsurface is sensitive to the low- and high-frequencies, two spectra that have these portions different from each other are considered to be different and thus, the data corresponding to the effective spectrum 36 does not produce an accurate final image of the subsurface.
An advantage of increasing the depth of the first detector is to minimize the effect of swell noise, e.g., noise produced by swells at the surface of the water. The swell noise is known to mainly affect detectors close to the surface of the water. A simulated spectrum 38 for this situation and a corresponding effective spectrum 40 are shown in FIG. 4. However, even for this case, the effective spectrum 40 shows a notch at about 45 to 50 Hz that corresponds to a detector having a depth of about 15 m.
For a reflector at a depth of about 15 m, the data recorded by the detectors relatively close to the seismic source may have an overriding influence in stacking as the distant receivers make a less important contribution. Therefore, for a shallow reflector, mostly the recordings of the detectors positioned in the head portion of the streamer (closest to the vessel) are used. This means that the depth dynamics of the detectors, which determine the diversity of the notches, are insufficient for good quality ghost elimination.
As can be seen from the above summarized illustrative discussion, a substantial disparity at low- and high-frequencies of the spectrum are still present when using streamers with a constant slant, which results in a poor final image of the subsurface. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide systems and methods that avoid or significantly reduce the afore-described problems and drawbacks of the conventional systems.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and device to acquire seismic data


A belt guiding mechanism, for example for a child vehicle seat, which is suitable for guiding a belt extending through the belt guiding mechanism and locking said belt against movement. The belt guiding mechanism comprises a cam that is capable of pivoting movement relative to a bearing surface, said belt being movable in a tensioning direction and in the opposite direction through a passage present between said cam and said bearing surface. The cam is pivotable in a direction towards the bearing surface for locking the belt against movement. The cam is connected to a sleeve that can be positioned against a person's shoulder, in which sleeve the belt is slidably accommodated.

The invention relates to a belt guiding mechanism suitable for guiding a belt extending through the belt guiding mechanism and locking said belt against movement, which belt guiding mechanism comprises a cam that is capable of movement relative to a bearing surface, said belt being movable in a tensioning direction and in the opposite direction through a passage present between said cam and said bearing surface, which cam is movable in a direction towards the bearing surface for locking the belt against movement.
The invention also relates to a child vehicle seat provided with such a belt guiding mechanism.
With such a belt guiding mechanism as known from European patent EP-B1-0 173 726, which is used in a vehicle, the belt is movable in the tensioning direction for tensioning the belt firmly against a person seated in the vehicle. The belt is movable in the opposite direction of the tensioning direction so as to allow slight forward movement of said person.
If said forward movement is caused by the vehicle suddenly decelerating or colliding, relatively large forces are exerted on the person and consequently by the person on the belt, as a result of which the cam is moved in a direction towards the bearing surface. This causes the belt to be clamped down between the cam and the bearing surface, so that the belt is locked against movement in the opposite direction of the tensioning direction.
In case of such a collision, one end of the belt is furthermore locked against movement in the opposite direction of the tensioning direction in an automatic belt retractor.
A drawback of the known belt guiding mechanism is the fact that said locking of the belt is effected both as a result of the operation of the automatic belt retractor and as a result of the belt being locked against movement between the cam and the bearing surface. The belt that moves through the belt guiding mechanism is relatively smooth so that the belt can readily be rolled up in the automatic belt retractor. A drawback of such a relatively smooth belt is that the belt will fairly easily slide off the shoulder of a person seated in the vehicle, for example. In case of a collision, a person's shoulder will first move relative to the belt before the belt is moved in the opposite direction of the tensioning direction and locking of the belt can take place.

Belt guiding mechanism and child vehicle seat