A ring laser gyro system having at least one fixed mirror, and two movable mirror assemblies, for causing a pair of laser beams to counter-rotate therebetween, including amplitude control circuits and a phase control circuit for causing the movable mirror assemblies to sinusoidally oscillate at the same amplitude and frequency, but 180.degree. out of a phase with one-another, to substantially eliminate lock-in.

Ring laser gyros (RLG) have been used as inertial rotation sensors for several years. A typical RLG may include three or more mirrors arranged in a triangular or square configuration for reflecting a laser beam causing the laser beam to rotate. First and second laser beams propagate in opposite directions (clockwise and counterclockwise). The RLG has a nominally zero beat frequency between the two beams when the RLG is not rotating. Rotation of the RLG about its input axis causes the effective path length to increase for the beam traveling in the direction of rotation, and to decrease for the beam traveling opposite to the direction of rotation. A beat frequency representative of the frequency difference between the beams results, which is indicative of the angular velocity of the RLG.
A major problem in ring-laser gyros is the phenomenon of lock-in. Lock-in occurs if the input angular velocity falls below a critical value, known as the lock-in rate, .OMEGA..sub.L, causing the gyro to cease providing a useful output because the frequencies of the two oppositely directed travelling waves (E.sub.1, E.sub.2) in the cavity lock together. A typical known method for overcoming the effect of lock-in is to "dither" the gyro. The dither is an auxiliary input angular velocity, which is applied to the gyro in addition to the external angular velocity that the gyro is required to measure. The dither angular velocity is a periodic or almost periodic signal having an average value of zero. The amplitude of the dither input is selected so that the sum of the external angular velocity and the dither velocity are well above the lock-in rate during most of the dither cycle.
The most common technique of supplying the dither angular velocity in the current generation of ring-laser gyros is called "body dither" whereby the gyro block is mounted on a torsional spring assembly so that it is free to move angularly relative to the case of the instrument. The block is set into oscillation, the amplitude of which is maintained by means of an automatic gain control (AGC). However, body dither is undesirable in that the spring assembly requires power to keep it in motion, occupies excess space, and adds unwanted weight. Moreover, the instantaneous angular motion of the gyro block may be too large to permit mounting thereon of the accelerometers required for an inertial navigation system. In addition, the injection of mechanical noise into the dither motion, necessary for the elimination of lock-in, leads to noise, known as random walk, thereby limiting the accuracy of the RLG. Also, the motion of the gyro block may induce an effect known as "coning" in which the input axis of the instrument traces out a cone in space which may require the use of high speed compensating computations to determine the true angular velocity.
Many attempts have been made in the prior art to overcome lock-in in RLG systems. A number of such prior systems will now be briefly described.
In Killpatrick, U.S. Pat. No. 3,323,650, a bias system for a laser gyroscope is shown for preventing lock-in of the two beams at low rotational rates when the frequency difference between the beams is small. The laser gyroscope is mechanically oscillated with respect to the base of the laser gyroscope, to cause the relative rotation rate between the beams to be higher than that at which lock-in occurs. The gyroscope is oscillated about its input axis for maintaining an input rate higher than the lock-in rate. Another feature disclosed is the use of optical means for preventing lock-in, wherein a Faraday medium is used to bias the frequency of the two laser beams. Accordingly, through either mechanical or optical biasing, the frequency difference between the counter rotating laser beams is maintained for a majority of the time for avoiding lock-in of the beams.
Hutchings et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,752,586, teaches a method and apparatus for minimizing frequency locking of a ring laser gyroscope at low rotation rates. The counter rotating beams are frequency modulated in phase opposition to one another with a plurality of signals with mutually different frequencies, and with each of the signals having a predetermined modulation index, whereby the modulation indices of the signals are adjusted for minimizing frequency locking.
Dorsman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,099,876, teaches in a ring-laser gyro the use of a dual phase-coded controller for controlling a three-terminal duo-mode bimorph device having a translational control mode terminal and a torsional control mode terminal pair. The controller includes two mutually phase-coded and selectively biased AC reference signal generators, and a duo-mode differential amplifier interconnecting the signal generators to the bimorph device for dithering each mode of the duo-mode bimorph in response to a mutually exclusive one of the reference signals. The amplifier further includes a control input coupled to one of the two sources of a bipolar control signal for control of a mutually exclusive mode of the duo-mode bimorph device. The control system is a closed loop control system for insuring constant correction of any errors occurring in the system.
Hutchings U.S. Pat. No. 4,281,930 shows a ring laser gyro in which piezoelectric elements are used to mechanically dither each mirror in a phase relationship of 360.degree./number of mirrors. The mirrors are also oscillated at the same frequency. In this manner, lock-in is substantially prevented. Hutchings et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,762 and Egli U.S. Pat. No. 4,592,656 also slow ring laser gyros with dither mechanisms.
Curby et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,597,667, discloses an apparatus and method for providing dither control for a multiplicity of ring laser gyros to minimize lock-in and coning errors. The ring laser angular rotation sensors are dithered in an intermittent manner such that a plurality of such sensors having substantially identical natural dither frequencies are periodically energized for dithering in response to the amplitude of dither for a particular sensor, for minimizing lock-in. The use of mechanical dithering is disclosed for preventing lock-in. Electrical dithering is accomplished through the use of a Faraday cell in this latter embodiment. The driving voltage is turned on and off, whereby turn on is accomplished when the current decreases below a predetermined amplitude, and turned off when the current increases above a predetermined amplitude. In this manner, the lock-in band of each ring laser rotation sensor is reduced. Coning effects of low rotation rates or frequencies between three-ring laser angular rotation sensors are avoided through use of mechanical dithering. In an alternative embodiment, lock-in is also avoided by frequency or phase modulating the bias drive voltages in a Faraday cell.
Stjern et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,918, teaches the use of low-Q assemblies for a plurality of laser gyro-dither motors. Drive signals of randomly varying frequency are utilized for dithering the gyros. The frequency modulated dither varies the lock-in rate of the gyro to reduce lock-in effects. The modulating system includes a sine wave generator and a generator for producing a periodic signal having a frequency different from the frequency of the sine wave, whereby the sine wave and the periodic signal are combined for providing the drive signal, with the dither means being responsive to the drive signal for imparting dither motion to the gyroscope.
Wirt, U.S. Pat. No. 4,779,985, discloses a dither suspension for a ring laser gyroscope. A mechanical structure for the dither suspension is disclosed.
Sewell, U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,658, teaches a system for obtaining a correction signal in a dithered ring laser gyroscope, whereby the correction signal is stripped of any components of the dither signal. In this manner, errors due to the dither signal and the control signal supplied by the ring laser gyro are substantially eliminated through such removal of the dither component.
Benoist, U.S. Pat. No. 4,801,206, teaches a ring laser gyroscope system. In column 3, lines 28-32, it is indicated that "one approach to reducing lock-in error is to superimpose a random signal upon the amplitude of the dither driving amplifier. However, the superposition of a random signal on the dither driver produces other substantial errors." It is recognized that the natural resonant frequency of the dither flexure varies with temperature, and that it is desirable to drive the dither flexure at its natural resonant frequency in order to make the most efficient use of the dither energy. The use of a dither drive controller monitoring the resonant frequency of the dither flexure at any given time, and thereby adjusting the dither frequency in order to maintain the frequency of the dither signal at the resonant frequency for optimizing the dithering function, is described. A hinge is required to "dither" the mirrors.
Hoo, U.S. Pat. No. 4,807,999, teaches a ring laser gyroscope that includes two laser sources and a common ring resonator. Two frequency tracking servos are included for peaking the intensity of the clockwise and counter clockwise propagating light beams. A first dither signal generator is used in conjunction with the first laser source, and a second dither signal generator is used in association with the second laser source for providing dithering.
In Lim et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,824,252, two independent feedback control systems are used for individually altering the lasing path of the ring laser angular rate sensor for minimizing lock-in. One or more mirrors defining the lasing path are dithered and positioned by independent feedback control systems for providing two degrees of freedom for controlling the lasing path.
Benoist, U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,615, teaches a system for correcting random walk errors induced by rate reversals in a dithered ring laser gyroscope. In column 3, lines 28-30, it is indicated that "typical practice is to superimpose a random signal upon the amplitude of the dither driving amplifier". The system generates an accumulated correction in software for each transversal of the lock-in region of the ring laser gyroscope. Heterodyne signals and individual beam intensity signals are utilized for providing the accumulated correction information. The method of the invention includes the step of determining the magnitude of coupling between the counter rotating beams, and further includes detecting changes in the direction of the dither oscillations, measuring the intensities of the two beams, and forming a sum signal from the measured intensities. A Heterodyne signal is formed that is indicative of the beat frequency produced by interference between the counter rotating beams, whereby the sum signal is demodulated with the heterodyne signal. In this manner, the degree of coupling between the beams is determined.
Upton, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,574, teaches the use of a retro-reflector external to the closed-loop path of a ring laser system for redirecting energy of one of the counter rotating beams into the direction of travel of the other counter rotating beam, for substantially reducing lock-in effects.
Sewell, U.S. Pat. No. 4,898,469, describes a system for removing a dither signal from the output signal of a dithered ring laser system.
To avoid the problems of body dither, Ljung et al., as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,410,274 and 4,410,276, teaches a mirror dither concept called "Doppler Mirrors". In the Doppler mirror, instead of dithering the entire gyro body, only two of the mirrors on the RLG are dithered. As discussed in these patents, and in a technical paper entitled "Reduction of Beam Coupling In a Ring-laser Gyro by Doppler Shifting of The Scattered Light" by R. A. Patterson, B. Ljung, and D. A. Smith in SPIE, Vol. 487, pp. 78-84, 1984, the lock-in effect is minimized, or entirely canceled when the oscillatory motions of the two mirrors are exactly equal and opposite, and when the amplitude of the oscillation is at one of the first order Bessel nulls.
As shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,410,274 and 4,410,276, the Doppler mirror concept was applied to a gyro with a triangular light path. The concept, however, is not limited to a triangular light path. The application to a gyro with a square light path is described in Martin U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,683, wherein it is shown that the effect described in the earlier patents by Ljung et al. is achieved by moving two adjacent mirrors of the four that determine the light path. The motion of each of the two moving mirrors must be equal in magnitude and opposite in sign to that of the other.
To achieve the proper Doppler mirror effect, it is essential that the motion of the two moving mirrors have exactly the correct amplitude, and be 180.degree. out-of-phase. The systems described in the earlier patents listed above, however, are open loop systems. In such systems, an external oscillator provides a reference signal which each of the mirrors is required to track, one with zero phase shift and the other with 180.degree. of phase shift. Although Martin's U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,683 teaches the use of a feedback control system to maintain the amplitude of the oscillation, no means is provided to maintain the desired phase relation. It has been shown that even a small deviation of phase from the ideal 180.degree. will result in excessive "residual lock-in", .OMEGA..sub.RL. Hence a gyro using the drive system described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,683 does not operate reliably.
Another problem with the use of an external oscillator as the source of the reference motion is that this motion may be difficult for the mirrors to achieve owing to their mechanical construction. Since the mirrors have a natural resonance frequency, they will move most readily at their frequency of resonance, which should thus be chosen as the frequency at which the mirrors should be vibrated to achieve the "Doppler Mirror" effect. However, the resonant frequency of the mirrors will not be constant because of temperature and other similar effects. Thus, with an external oscillator as a reference signal, it will not be possible to maintain the motion of the mirrors at resonance.

System for substantially eleminating lock-in in a ring laser gyroscope

Kearfott Guidance and Navigation Corporation


Microwave apparatus for measuring the blood flow rate in a patient's blood vessel includes an intravascular catheter having proximal and distal ends and containing an inner coaxial cable forming a first antenna and an outer cable coaxial with the inner cable and forming a second antenna, the first antenna extending axially beyond the second antenna a selected distance. The apparatus also includes a control unit including a microwave transmitter, a microwave receiver and a processor controlling the transmitter and receiver. A diplexer is connected between the first and second antenna and the control unit to couple signals from the transmitter to the second antenna but not to the receiver and to couple signals from the first antenna to the receiver but not to the transmitter. The transmitter transmits microwave pulses to the first antenna which heat blood around that antenna. When the heated blood volume flows to the second antenna this is detected at the receiver which produces a detect signal. The processor measures the time interval between each pulse a subsequent detect signal and divides that time interval into the axial distance between the two antennas to compute the flow rate.

There are many instances when it is desirable or necessary to know the rate of flow of blood through a particular blood vessel of a patient for diagnostic purposes and in preparation for a surgical procedure. This flow rate may vary due to various factors such as the patient's blood pressure, presence of arthroscopic plaques which may partially occlude a blood vessel, etc.
The conventional method of measuring blood flow utilizes so-called thermodilution. An intravascular catheter carrying a temperature sensor such as a thermister or thermocouple is introduced into the pulmonary artery. Then saline is injected into the right atrium or ventricle to allow proper mixing of saline in the blood. Sometimes the saline is a room temperature but more often it is at a lower temperature, e.g. 4 C to increase the temperature difference from the patient's normal core temperature. The distance from the point of saline rejection to the sensor in the catheter is known more or less. Each time a saline bolus is injected, a clock is started to measure the time it takes for that bolus to flow to the sensor which thereupon emits a signal to stop the clock. The flow rate is determined by the dividing that fixed distance by the measured time interval.
In some situations, it may not be desirable to inject saline solution into the patient's blood stream. This is particularly so for neonatates whose blood volume is small. In addition, the distance between the point of saline injection and the sensor is not always known exactly. Those prior flow rate measuring devices which utilize temperature sensors such as thermisters and the like are also disadvantaged in that the sensors are not particularly sensitive and require recalibration because their thermal resistive characteristics may change over time.

Apparatus for measuring intravascular blood flow


An alignment tool for use in inspecting a ring gear of a gearbox. The ring gear includes an outer surface and a plurality of gear teeth extending radially inwardly from the outer surface. The alignment tool includes a support member that extends between a leading edge and a trailing edge. The support member is removably mountable to the ring gear outer surface such that the leading edge is oriented substantially parallel to a forward surface of the ring gear. A guide member extends outwardly from the support member. The guide member includes a guide edge that is oriented with respect to a centerline of a gear tooth.

The subject matter described herein relates generally to wind turbines and, more particularly, to an alignment tool for use with a wind turbine inspection tool.
At least some known wind turbine towers include a nacelle fixed atop a tower. The nacelle includes a rotor assembly coupled to a generator through a shaft. In known rotor assemblies, a plurality of blades extend from a rotor. The blades are oriented such that wind passing over the blades turns the rotor and rotates the shaft, thereby driving the generator to generate electricity.
Because many known wind turbines provide electrical power to utility grids, at least some wind turbines have larger components (e.g., rotors in excess of thirty-meters in diameter) that facilitate supplying greater quantities of electrical power. However, the larger components are often subjected to increased loads (e.g., asymmetric loads) that result from wind shears, yaw misalignment, and/or turbulence, and the increased loads have been known to contribute to significant fatigue cycles on the gearbox assembly and/or other components of the wind turbine.
At least some known wind turbines include an electric generator and a gearbox each positioned within the nacelle. The electric generator is coupled to the gearbox with a high speed shaft. At least some known gearbox assemblies include a ring gear assembly that engages a gear assembly to facilitate transferring rotational energy from a low speed rotor shaft to a high speed shaft that rotatably drives the generator to facilitate producing electrical power. Over time, the ring gear assembly may become worn. As the ring gear assembly becomes worn, the gearbox assembly becomes less effective in transferring rotational energy to the generator. In at least some known wind turbines, visual inspection of the interior of the gearbox is used to find large defects such as missing sections of the gear teeth, however, the distance between the gearbox assembly and the generator is such that access to the ring gear to perform the interior inspection is limited. As such, visual inspection of the interior of the ring gear is time-consuming and causes increased downtime and expense to perform the inspection.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a system and method capable of monitoring the gearbox assembly that does not require visual inspection of the interior of the ring gear assembly.

Alignment tool for use with a wind turbine inspection system and methods of assembling same


A method for manufacturing a pair of jaw members configured for use with an electrosurgical forceps is provided. One or more pairs of seal plates are stamped from a sheet metal. The seal plates are positioned into respective mold cavities. An insulative substrate is introduced into the respective mold cavities. The insulative substrate is allowed to harden in the respective mold cavities to form respective jaw housings with seal plates secured thereto. The jaw housings are removed from the respective mold cavities to form a pair of jaw members.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an electrosurgical instrument and, more particularly, to a method of manufacturing jaw members configured for use with an electrosurgical forceps.
2. Description of Related Art
Electrosurgical forceps are well known in the medical arts. For example, an electrosurgical endoscopic forceps is utilized in surgical procedures, e.g., laparoscopic surgical procedures, where access to tissue is accomplished through a cannula or other suitable device positioned in an opening on a patient. The endoscopic forceps, typically, includes a housing, a handle assembly including a movable handle, a drive assembly, a shaft and an end effector assembly attached to a distal end of the shaft. The endoscopic forceps may utilize both mechanical clamping action and electrical energy to effect hemostasis by heating the tissue and blood vessels to coagulate, cauterize, seal, cut, desiccate, and/or fulgurate tissue. In particular, the jaw members operably communicate with the drive assembly to manipulate tissue, e.g., grasp tissue, and the jaw members have respective seal plates secured to the jaw housing of the respective jaw members to seal tissue.
Manufacturing the jaw members of the end effector, typically, is a complex and lengthy process. In particular, the intricate components of the jaw members are, initially, machined and, subsequently, assembled. As can be appreciated, this adds to the overall costs of the manufacture of the endoscopic forceps.

Method of manufacturing an electrosurgical instrument


A circuit arrangement including a voltage supply device, which has an output, and that provides a variable supply voltage, a supply-voltage-controlled clock generator, which is coupled to the output of the voltage supply device, and that provides a system clock signal having a variable effective system clock frequency, a circuit section having a supply terminal, which is coupled to the output of the voltage supply device, and a clock input, which receives the system clock signal, and a regulating device that determines a supply-voltage-dependent supply current value and detects the extent to which the supply current value lies within a predetermined current value range, and which is coupled to the voltage supply device such that the supply voltage is regulated based on whether the supply current value lies within the predetermined current value range.

Current-saving operation is striven for in digital circuit arrangements operated in clocked fashion. In this case, the processing speed associated with the system clock is intended to be as high as possible without exceeding a predetermined maximum average current consumption of the circuit arrangement. The maximum permissible average current consumption results for example due to design dictates or on account of a standardization. A circuit arrangement with a microprocessor used in a smart card is just one example of a circuit arrangement having a predetermined maximum permissible average current consumption.
A circuit arrangement comprises a multiplicity of circuit sections which interact during operation. Circuit sections may be formed for example as a memory, as an arithmetic unit or as logic elements. Since it is usually the case that not all of the circuit sections are operated simultaneously, some circuit sections are switched on and off or have a variable current consumption, the average current consumption of the circuit arrangement varies during operation.
In order to ensure that a predetermined current consumption, also referred to as current limit, is not exceeded, the constant system clock frequency with which the circuit arrangement is clocked can be reduced to an extent such that under the worst possible operating conditions, which depend inter alia on the temperature and the processing, the current limit is not exceeded. Through operation with the current limiting frequency determined in this way, the current limit is on no account exceeded. A disadvantage is that the current consumption approximately reaches the current limit only under the worst possible conditions. The average current consumption is usually far below the current limit.
A further approach for ensuring the current consumption below the current limit and for operating the system with higher system clocking unless the worst possible conditions occur is adaptive clock masking out.
In each clock cycle, a process step is processed in a circuit section within the time duration predetermined by the pulse width. The supply voltage is provided for processing purposes. The processing is accompanied by the charge reversal of parasitic capacitances. The charge reversal has to be effected within the predetermined pulse duration. Consequently, a shorter pulse duration requires a higher supply voltage.
In the case of clock masking out, individual clock cycles are suppressed so that the effective system clock frequency decreases. Effective system clock frequency is to be understood to mean the average system clock frequency, depending on the pulses of the clocking signal which occur on average. Since, in the case of clock masking out, time segments with pulses at a clock frequency are followed by time segments in which no pulses are output, the effective system clock frequency is lower than the clock frequency. The length of the individual pulses is not changed by the clock masking out.
A disadvantage of the method described above is that the constantly high supply voltage is accompanied by an inefficiently high current consumption, since the latter is proportional to the supply voltage.

Circuit arrangement and method for operating a circuit arrangement


A silencer device is installed into the discharge pipe of a centrifugal compressor by first installing a channel shaped frame in the discharge pipe and then sliding the silencer device into the frame to be contained for operational use. The orientation and placement of the frame and its contained silencer device is parallel with the direction of flow to thereby reduce the resulting pressure drop, and it is placed near a turn in the discharge pipe such that the sound will tend to be reflected from the discharge pipe to cause multiple passes through the silencer device and thereby enhance its absorptive performance. The absorptive material within the silencer device is protected from erosion by a surrounding cloth bag composed of a fine weave Nomex material.

This invention relates generally to centrifugal compressors and, more particularly, to silencer devices to be located in the discharge pipe of a centrifugal compressor.
Centrifugal compressors, of the type which are used for large air conditioning systems, have a number of included components which create sound and vibration that radiates from the compressor and attached components including the motor, gearing, condenser and evaporator shells and the discharge line. In addition to design considerations that tend to minimize these sounds, it is common practice to reduce the sounds by way of external, surface-applied, lagging materials or the addition of internal discharge line silencers (i.e., an acoustically absorptive material such as fiberglass, mineral fiber, or Dacron) which are placed in the discharge line of the compressor. Such an absorptive material is inherently exposed to the flow of compressed fluid through the compressor and, if not protected, tends to be eroded. For example, fiberglass absorbing material that is commonly used is generally quite brittle, and does not hold up well to the movement that it normally encounters in compressor operation unless it is properly preloaded in compression.
One means of protecting the fiberglass absorbing material from erosion is the use of a protective material on either side thereof to stabilize the absorptive material against movement. For example, a perforated metal may be sandwiched on either side of the fiberglass material for that purpose, and screens and fiberglass cloth structures may also be added. However, it has been found that fiberglass cloth also tends to break down, with its particles then entering the system in an undesirable manner. Further, as the erosion of the fiberglass cloth proceeds, it will eventually allow the movement of compressed fluid through the holes of the perforated material to act directly on the enclosed absorptive material and cause it to erode as well. This problem of erosion is further complicated by the requirement that the material for both the absorptive elements and the protective elements be compatible with the refrigerant and lubricant in which they are necessarily immersed.
The usual approach for installing a silencer device in the discharge pipe of a compressor is by rigidly securing the entire assembly to the inner side walls of the discharge pipe by welding or the like. Because of the relatively small size of the discharge pipe and the desirability for placement of the silencer in axial location within the pipe, the accessibility is severely limited to thereby complicate the process. Further, when welding is performed in close proximity to the absorptive material within the silencer device, as is usually required, the absorptive material may be damaged by the resulting heat.
Rather than installing the silencer device directly into the discharge pipe, another approach is to remove a portion thereof and install a complete replacement section comprising a pipe-like structure with the silencer device installed therein. Such a unit has customarily been attached by way of mating flanges. Such an approach is therefore relatively expensive, involving both extensive expenditures of time and material.
In order to obtain the desired performance characteristics in a silencer device, it has often been found necessary to provide a relatively thick absorptive pad in the discharge line.
So as to not unduly restrict the flow that would otherwise occur from such a thick pad and its protective elements, a bulbous structure is often provided around the silencer device to thereby reduce the pressure drop thereacross. This, of course, adds substantial expense to the system.
One of the known approaches for eliminating erosion is to preload the absorptive material so that it is less susceptible to movement or vibration when exposed to the flow and pressure conditions encountered in normal compressor operation. This preloading of the material may be accomplished by compressing it in the framework of the silencer structure. This has been accomplished, for example, by installing the fiberglass material into the framework and then, after compressing the framework appropriately, permanently maintaining this compressed position by the use of welding, fasteners, or the like. This process can be time consuming and expensive and can easily result in variable degrees of compression in the absorptive material. Further, it makes it difficult, if not impossible, to replace the fiberglass elements without discarding and replacing the entire silencer framework.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved centrifugal compressor silencer apparatus and method of installation.
Another object of the present invention is the provision in a centrifugal compressor silencer for reducing erosion of the absorptive element.
Yet another object of the present invention is the provision in a discharge line silencer of a centrifugal compressor for protecting the absorptive material from erosion.
Another object of the present invention is the provision for installing a silencer into a discharge pipe in an easy and efficient manner.
Still another object of the present invention is the provision for installing a silencer into a discharge pipe without risk of damaging the absorptive material wihin the silencer device.
Yet another object of the present invention is the provision for economically installing a silencer device in such a manner as to obtain desired performance characteristics.
These objects and other features and advantages become more readily apparent upon reference to the following description when taken in conjunction with the appended drawings.


Disclosed herein are methods and systems of utilizing sequencing reads for detecting and quantifying the presence of a tissue type or a disease type in cell-free DNA prepared from blood samples.

Unlike traditional biopsies involving invasive surgery, the liquid biopsies utilize only blood samples obtained with minimal invasiveness. Blood is the only biological material that has contact with almost all human organs (including tumors and inflammatory tissues) through the human circulation system. Therefore, the blood carries a large amount of valuable information and disease signs with regard to the status of many organs. For example, in the blood plasma, cell-free circulating DNAs (abbreviated as cfDNAs), the degraded DNA fragments released from apoptotic or necrotic cells in many organs, are regarded as the mixture of DNAs from many normal tissue cells and diseased cells (e.g., cancerous tumor cells). Therefore, they are one of the best sources for blood-based cancer diagnosis and have recently become of major interest for blood-based cancer diagnosis.
However, DNA fragments from diseased cells often constitute only a small portion of the cfDNA samples, especially at an early stage of the disease. As such, sequencing information representing diseased DNA is often drowned out by sequencing information representing normal DNA. What is needed are methods and/or systems for selectively and sensitively deciphering sequencing information relating to diseased DNA.
Early detection and identification of cancer are highly desired. Traditionally, identification of cancer involves invasive tissue biopsy procedures. There exist no method or apparatus to provide accurate screening and identification of tissue-of-origin of cancer with non-invasive method when the cancer is in an early stage.
Early detection of cancer-before it has had a chance to metastasize-presents the best strategy for increasing cancer survival. Recently, cancer detection using cell-free DNA (cfDNA) from blood has attracted significant interest due to its non-invasive nature. However, tumor cfDNA levels are very low in most early-stage and many advanced stage cancer patients (Bettegowda et al., 2014; Newman et al., 2014). Therefore, the major challenge in cfDNA-based early cancer diagnostics is how to identify the tiny amount of tumor cfDNAs out of total cfDNAs in blood. The mainstream approach to address this challenge is mutation-based, i.e., using targeted deep sequencing (>5,000× coverage), combined with error-suppression techniques, to call cfDNA mutations in a small gene panel (Bettegowda et al., 2014; Newman et al., 2014; Newman et al., 2016). While this approach provides a sensitive way to monitor cancer recurrence when the mutations are known, a small gene panel could not serve diagnostic purposes because mutations can be wide-spread and very heterogeneous, even in the same type of cancer (Burrell et al., 2013; Tumer et al., 2012; Greenman et al., 2007; Schmitt et al., 2012). However, enlarging the gene panel, while maintaining the sequencing depth, is cost-prohibitive. Therefore, there remains the challenge of detecting the trace amount of tumor cfDNA using a different approach, namely, using the cfDNA methylation patterns.
This disclosure discloses different embodiments of machines, apparatuses, computer products, and methods for screening cancers and identifying the tissue-of-origin of cancer cells using blood samples drawn from patients when the cancer is in an early stage.

Cell-free DNA methylation patterns for disease and condition analysis

The Regents of the University of California


A boiler includes an enclosure having at least a supply for fuel and oxidizer and at least a supply for a SNCR reagent. The supply for the SNCR reagent includes at least a regulation valve for the SNCR reagent. The boiler includes at least a sensor for measuring information indicative of the NOx concentration over at least one given enclosure cross section. The boiler includes a controller connected to the at least a sensor and to the at least a regulation valve. The controller regulates the SNCR reagent supply according to the measured information indicative of the NOx concentration.

Combustion of fossil fuel causes NOx emissions. NOx negatively impact the environment, for example by generating smog and acid rain. NOx emissions must thus be counteracted.
A number of technologies exist to counteract NOx emissions, these include:
combustion control systems for low NOx emissions;
selective catalytic reduction technology (SCR). This technology provides for supply of a reagent in the combustion gas and its reaction with NOx at a temperature between 300 and 400° C. and in the presence of a catalyst to convert NOx into N2 and water;
selective non-catalytic reduction technology (SNCR).
This technology provides for a reagent supply into the combustion gas and its reaction with NOx at a temperature between 800-1000° C. to convert the NOx into N2 and water. In this case, no catalyst is provided.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,681,536 discloses a lance for injecting air and a reagent for SNCR into a boiler.
US 2005/0 051 067 discloses a boiler with burners and nozzles for overfire air injection (i.e. injection of a part of the combustion air in the furnace above the burner belt to enhance primary NOx reduction). A reagent for SNCR is supplied together with the overfire air into the furnace.
WO 02/04349 discloses to inject overfire air and a SNCR reagent into a boiler, and contacting the combustion gas with the overfire air and SNCR reagent to decrease the concentration of nitrogen oxides therein. The reagent is provided in an aqueous solution or powder which is injected into the furnace with the overfire air.
The known technologies imply a large reagent consumption and thus large costs associated to the reagent.


This invention provides a highly concentrated licorice polyphenol preparation with high bioavailability. Further, this invention is intended to maintain high transparency of a composition without deterioration of the indigenous properties of an aqueous substance, even when such composition is added thereto. Such licorice polyphenol preparation comprises a hydrophobic licorice extract comprising licorice polyphenol as a primary component, medium-chain fatty acid triglyceride, and polyoxyethylene sorbitan fatty acid ester, and the ratio of the total weight of the hydrophobic licorice extract and medium-chain fatty acid triglyceride to the weight of polyoxyethylene sorbitan fatty acid ester is between 1:1 and 1:10.

Licorice is known as a crude drug, and a primary component of its water extract, i.e., glycyrrhizin (glycyrrhizinic acid), has excellent pharmacodynamic actions, such as anti-inflammatory action, antitumor action, and antiallergic action. Thus, it has been extensively used for food, medical supplies, cosmetics, and other applications. Since the glycyrrhizin is approximately 200 times sweeter than sucrose, it has been used as a sweetener.
Hydrophobic components of the licorice, which are extracted from the licorice or a residue of a licorice water extract with an organic solvent or the like, exhibit many useful actions, such as antioxidant action, antibacterial action, enzyme inhibitory action, antitumor action, antiallergic action, or antiviral action. Such hydrophobic components of the licorice, however, are not substantially dissolved in water or common oil, and are likely to be solidified and colored in the state of an organic solvent extract. Due to such unstable properties, use of such components is difficult.
Such difficulty has been overcome by, for example, a method wherein a fat solvent comprising an oil-soluble fatty acid ester of a polyhydric alcohol in an amount of at least 10% thereof is mixed with a hydrophobic licorice extract (WO 03/084556). However, it has been difficult to dissolve such fat composition comprising hydrophobic components of the licorice in an aqueous substance.
JP Patent Publication (kokai) No. 2-204417 (1990) discloses the preparation of an oil-in-water emulsion composition from a solution of a hydrophobic licorice flavonoid in medium-chain fatty acid triglyceride in the presence of an emulsifying agent. This invention, however, is intended to realize water dispersibility and not transparency or acid resistance.
JP Patent Publication (kokai) No. 2003-176233 proposes a composition comprising a licorice oil extract and polyglycerin lauric acid ester.
WO 2005/011672 discloses concentrated milk involving the use of a fat composition comprising hydrophobic components of licorice and fatty acid ester of glycerin as an emulsifying agent. This concentrated milk, however, is a non-transparent emulsified product and thus is not considered to be adequate for applications that require transparency.
Furthermore, EP 1249230 discloses that an administration of an oil-soluble substance to the body in a microemulsion preconcentrate form enhances the rate of systemic absorption. In this technique, the microemulsion preconcentrate means a solution of a lipophilic substance in an emulsifying agent, which forms a microemulsion. The microemulsion preconcentrate is an auto-emulsified preparation that forms submicron-order microemulsions upon contact with an aqueous medium.


A tape supply-side hub, a tape take-up-side hub and a magnetic tape wound onto the tape supply-side hub are included inside a mainframe case. A leader tape fixed onto the tape take-up-side hub and one end of the magnetic tape are connected via a splicing tape. The other end of the magnetic tape is wound onto the tape supply-side hub, and the magnetic tape and the tape supply-side hub are directly connected with adhesive agents. A wound tape layer wounded onto the tape supply-side hub in the fully wound state is composed of a non-recording layer on the winding leader side composed of a specified amount of the wound tape layer and a recording layer continuing to the non-recording layer. The feeding limit position of the magnetic tape in the tape supply-side hub is set to be in the vicinity of a boundary between the non-recording layer and the recording layer.

The present invention relates to a tape cartridge for use as a backup medium for computer data, and more particularly relates to a two-reel-type tape cartridge (DDS series) including a tape supply-side hub and a tape take-up-side hub placed inside a mainframe case.
In the two-reel-type tape cartridge, respective end portions of the magnetic tapes are connected to hubs through leader tapes. In most cases, the magnetic tape and the leader tape are connected via a splicing tape, and the winding leader of the leader tape is fixed by a tape clamp mounted on the peripheral face of the hub. In such conventional tape connection structure, it is inevitable to have slight steps in a mounting portion of the tape clamp and in a bonding portion of the splicing tape. The shapes of these steps are transferred to the magnetic tape and thereby deforms the magnetic tape, which contributes to occurrence of dropout at the time of read/write access to recording signals.
In order to prevent such transfer of shapes to the magnetic tape, it has been proposed to directly connect the winding leader of the magnetic tape or the leader tape to the hub without use of the tape clamp and the splicing tape. For example, in Japanese Patent Publication No 2002-25218 A (particularly seeing paragraph No. 0022 and FIG. 6), a cylinder-shaped buffering portion is formed around the peripheral face of the hub, and a leader tape is bonded to the peripheral face via adhesive agents. In Japanese Patent Publication No. H06-195930 A (particularly seeing paragraph No. 0011 and FIG. 1), a magnetic tape end on which adhesive agents were applied in advance is bonded to the peripheral face of the hub, and further the tape end is bonded to a leader portion of the magnetic tape. In Japanese Patent Publication No. H05-334843 A (particularly seeing paragraph No. 0008 and FIG. 1), the winding leader of a leader tape is directly bonded to the hub.
In Japanese Patent Publications Nos. 2002-25218 A and H05-334843 A, the leader tape is bonded to the hub directly or through a buffering portion, which makes it possible to prevent shapes from being transferred when the tape end is secured with use of a tape clamp. However, it is necessary to connect the leader tape and the magnetic tape through the splicing tape, which makes it impossible to prevent the transfer of shapes caused by a step by a thickness of the splicing tape. Contrary to this, in Japanese Patent Publication No. H06-195930 A, the magnetic tape is directly bonded to the hub, thereby making it possible to avoid an influence by the splicing tape. However, a large tape tension acts on the magnetic tape in the state that the magnetic tape is all fed, which causes a problem with durability in long-term use. In addition, the tape end is bonded and fixed to the leader portion of the magnetic tape, and therefore it is unavoidable for the winding leader to have a step by the thickness of the tape.
While the tape cartridge as the object of the present invention has a signal recording density and a read/write speed (data transfer rate) for recording signals remarkably higher than those of general tape cartridges, enhancement in computer hard disc capacity has been promoting a demand for tape systems offering read/write access to a larger amount of backup data at a higher speed as well as tape cartridges supporting the tape systems. In such high-speed and high-density tape cartridges, a base tape is thinned to enhance a recording capacity, which fosters tendency toward transfer of shapes. Consequently, how to eliminate the dropout associated with the transfer of shapes is an issue to be solved.


An X-ray imaging apparatus and an imaging method capable of acquiring an image of a test object associated with a phase shift in consideration of X-ray absorption is provided. A splitting element configured to spatially split an X-ray into multiple X-ray beams is provided. A shielding unit including a plurality of shielding elements configured to block part of an X-ray acquired by the splitting element is provided. Part of X-ray beams detected at the first detection pixels is blocked by the shielding elements. The X-ray beams detected by the second detection pixels adjoining the first detection pixels are not blocked by the shielding elements.

A non-destructive inspection method using X-ray is applied to various areas ranging from industrial use to medical use. An X-ray beam is an electromagnetic wave having a wavelength between approximately 1 pm (10−12 m) to approximately 10 nm (10−8 m). An X-ray beam having a shorter wavelength is referred to as a hard X-ray beam, and an X-ray having a longer wavelength is referred to as soft X-ray beam.
In an absorption contrast method, which uses the difference in transmittance when an X-ray beam transmits a test object, the absorption image acquired in this method exhibits high penetrating power of the X-ray and is put to practical use in internal crack inspection on steel material etc., and security measures, such as baggage inspection.
For a test object that consists of a material having a small density difference, which generates a small contrast due to X-ray absorption, it is effect to use X-ray phase contrast imaging in which a phase shift in the X-ray due to a test object is detected.
As a type of X-ray phase contrast imaging, imaging using an imaging apparatus including a mask that blocks X-ray beams and installed on the edge area of the pixels in the detector unit is disclosed in PTL 1. By setting the apparatus such that an X-ray beam is incident on part of the mask when a test object is not disposed, the positional change of the X-ray due to refraction at the test object can be detected as a change in intensity.
FIGS. 7A and 7B are enlarged views of the detector unit in PTL 1. FIG. 7A is a view of the detector unit in the incident direction of an X-ray beam. FIG. 7B is a view of the detector unit in a direction orthogonal to the incident direction of the X-ray beam.
A shielding element 720 that blocks an X-ray beam is disposed on the edge region of a detection pixel 710 (at the boundary with the adjoin pixel) in the detector unit. An X-ray beam 730 is incident on each pixel such that part of the X-ray beam 730 is incident on the shielding element 720. With such an arrangement, when an X-ray beam is incident on a test object, the position of the incident X-ray beam 730 changes on the detection pixel 710 due to refraction. Since the area of incident X-ray beam blocked by the shielding element 720 changes due to a positional change, the detected intensity of the X-ray beam changes. Therefore, by detecting the changes in the intensity of the X-ray, refraction can be measured.

X-ray imaging apparatus and imaging method


A method for manufacturing a marker structure including line elements and trench elements arranged in a repetitive order includes filling the trench elements with silicon dioxide and leveling the marker structure. A sacrificial oxide layer is grown on the semiconductor surface, and a first subset of the line elements is exposed to an ion implantation beam including a dopant species to dope and change an etching rate of the first subset. The substrate is annealed to activate the dopant species, and the semiconductor surface is etched to remove the sacrificial oxide layer and to level the first subset to a first level and to create a topology such that the first subset has a first level differing from a second level of a surface portion of the marker structure different from the first subset.

A lithographic apparatus is a machine that applies a desired pattern onto a target portion of a substrate. Lithographic apparatus can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). In that circumstance, a patterning structure, such as a mask, may be used to generate a circuit pattern corresponding to an individual layer of the IC, and this pattern can be imaged onto a target portion (e.g. including part of, one or several dies) on a substrate (e.g. a silicon wafer) that has a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist). In general, a single substrate will contain a network of adjacent target portions that are successively exposed. Known lithographic apparatus include so-called steppers, in which each target portion is irradiated by exposing an entire pattern onto the target portion at once, and so-called scanners, in which each target portion is irradiated by scanning the pattern through the projection beam in a given direction (the "scanning"-direction) while synchronously scanning the substrate parallel or anti-parallel to this direction.
Although specific reference may be made in this text to the use of lithographic apparatus in the manufacture of ICs, it should be understood that the lithographic apparatus described herein may have other applications, such as the manufacture of integrated optical systems, guidance and detection patterns for magnetic domain memories, liquid-crystal displays (LCDs), thin-film magnetic heads, etc. The skilled artisan will appreciate that, in the context of such alternative applications, any use of the terms "wafer" or "die" herein may be considered as synonymous with the more general terms "substrate" or "target portion", respectively. The substrate referred to herein may be processed, before or after exposure, in for example a track (a tool that typically applies a layer of resist to a substrate and develops the exposed resist) or a metrology or inspection tool. Where applicable, the disclosure herein may be applied to such and other substrate processing tools. Further, the substrate may be processed more than once, for example in order to create a multi-layer IC, so that the term substrate used herein may also refer to a substrate that already contains multiple processed layers.
The terms "radiation" and "beam" used herein encompass all types of electromagnetic radiation, including ultraviolet (UV) radiation (e.g. having a wavelength of 365, 248, 193, 157 or 126 nm) and extreme ultra-violet (EUV) radiation (e.g. having a wavelength in the range of 5-20 nm), as well as particle beams, such as ion beams or electron beams.
The term "patterning structure" used herein should be broadly interpreted as referring to a structure that can be used to impart a projection beam with a pattern in its cross-section such as to create a pattern in a target portion of the substrate. It should be noted that the pattern imparted to the beam of radiation may not exactly correspond to the desired pattern in the target portion of the substrate. Generally, the pattern imparted to the beam of radiation will correspond to a particular functional layer in a device being created in the target portion, such as an integrated circuit.
A patterning structure may be transmissive or reflective. Examples of patterning structures include masks, programmable mirror arrays, and programmable LCD panels. Masks are well known in lithography, and include mask types such as binary, alternating phase-shift, and attenuated phase-shift, as well as various hybrid mask types. An example of a programmable mirror array employs a matrix arrangement of small mirrors, each of which can be individually tilted so as to reflect an incoming radiation beam in different directions; in this manner, the reflected beam is patterned.
The support structure supports, i.e. bares the weight of, the patterning structure. It holds the patterning structure in a way depending on the orientation of the patterning structure, the design of the lithographic apparatus, and other conditions, such as for example whether or not the patterning structure is held in a vacuum environment. The support can be using mechanical clamping, vacuum, or other clamping techniques, for example electrostatic clamping under vacuum conditions. The support structure may be a frame or a table, for example, which may be fixed or movable as required and which may ensure that the patterning structure is at a desired position, for example with respect to the projection system. Any use of the terms "reticle" or "mask" herein may be considered synonymous with the more general term "patterning structure".
The term "projection system" used herein should be broadly interpreted as encompassing various types of projection system, including refractive optical systems, reflective optical systems, and catadioptric optical systems, as appropriate for example for the exposure radiation being used, or for other factors such as the use of an immersion fluid or the use of a vacuum. Any use of the term "lens" herein may be considered as synonymous with the more general term "projection system".
The illumination system may also encompass various types of optical components, including refractive, reflective, and catadioptric optical components for directing, shaping, or controlling the projection beam of radiation, and such components may also be referred to below, collectively or singularly, as a "lens".
The lithographic apparatus may be of a type having two (dual stage) or more substrate tables (and/or two or more mask tables). In such "multiple stage" machines the additional tables may be used in parallel, or preparatory steps may be carried out on one or more tables while one or more other tables are being used for exposure.
The lithographic apparatus may also be of a type wherein the substrate is immersed in a liquid having a relatively high refractive index, e.g. water, so as to fill a space between the final element of the projection system and the substrate. Immersion liquids may also be applied to other spaces in the lithographic apparatus, for example, between the mask and the first element of the projection system. Immersion techniques are well known in the art for increasing the numerical aperture of projection systems.
For the purpose of alignment, marker structures may be used which by their interaction with an impinging light beam (or alignment beam) generate one or more diffracted beams. From information collected from the one or more diffracted beams, the position of the marker relative to a position of the pattern on the mask can be determined. Typically, a marker consists of some periodic structure such as a grating, which includes a sequence of lines and trenches.
During the manufacturing process two scenarios may be used for the alignment of patterns at the gate level of a transistor.
Firstly, stand-alone alignment markers are exposed and subsequently etched in a zero layer (i.e., the base plane of a substrate) during a lithographic process. Alternatively, scribelane alignment markers are exposed and etched together with the first product layer, e.g. shallow trench isolation (STI). In the latter case, the processing of the zero layer is combined with a processing of a first layer.
The alignment marks basically follow the process flow of the product. After the etching, the trenches are filled with silicon dioxide (followed by a planarisation step). For a subsequent formation of, for example, a (MOSFET) transistor, a gate layer stack (for forming a gate) is deposited in blanket mode, also covering the marker structure of silicon dioxide filled trenches. The gate layer stack is either optically transparent or opaque to the radiation from the alignment beam. If the stack is transparent, then, the alignment beam can still reach the grating below the gate layer stack. In case the gate layer stack is opaque, no information can be obtained from the grating anymore.
Stand-alone zero layer markers are formed by an exposure step and a subsequent etching of the substrate top layer (i.e., silicon), before the actual process flow for creating a device structure such as an integrated circuit can be started. This pre-processing step of exposure and etching not only adds to the costs of manufacturing but it may lead to additional die losses and may adversely affect the yield on neighboring dies.
The use of scribelane markers may help in addressing issues associated with stand-alone markers in circumstances where the gate layer stack is transparent for the radiation of the alignment beam. In case the gate layer stack is opaque and the topology (i.e., the footprint of the grating structure on the surface of the gate layer stack) is negligible, a repair step becomes desirable to maintain alignment. Such a repair step may involve opening the gate layer stack to reach the original marker again. Moreover, a repair step adds further costs.
Also, the opacity of the gate layer stack may pose a problem for metrology tools in general.

Marker for alignment of non-transparent gate layer, method for manufacturing such a marker, and use of such a marker in a lithographic apparatus


A wearing article with a taping function for wearing on a human body in pressed relation to a surface of the human body, has a heavily-stretchable portion which has an excellent tightening force and is adapted to be held against a required portion of the human body so as to extend generally along muscle fibers over a region from a tendon to a central portion of the muscle. The remainder of the wearing article is defined by an easily-stretchable portion. With this arrangement, by merely wearing this wearing article on the required portion of the body, the heavily-stretchable portion tightens only a required portion of the body to support the central portion of the relevant muscle, thereby easily achieving a taping function.

This invention relates to wearing articles or clothes with a taping function which are adapted to be worn on and tightly fitted on various parts of the human body so as to reinforce the relevant articulations (joints) and muscles.
When participating in various types of sport activities and trainings, or taking part in various kinds of exercise for fitness purposes, people put on the type of wearing articles which prevent an external wound and prevent the relapse of a wound. In addition, in order to effectively prevent an injury and to provide an effective remedy, there has been widely used a so-called taping treatment in which a suitable length of tape of an elastic nature or a non-elastic nature is tightly wound on or adhesively bonded tightly to the articulation, the muscle or the ligament of the human body in a direction perpendicular relative to the human body. Namely, the taping treatment is used to prevent an injury, a wound resulting from fatigue, the relapse of such wound, or to provide an emergency treatment at the site immediately after an accident. After the injury is healed, the taping is used for reinforcing the healed portion. Originally, the taping is intended to reinforce the articulation and the muscle, using a medical or an athletic adhesive tape having an acrylic resin adhesive coated on one surface of a substrate of cotton or polyester, and this tape is adapted to be tightly wound on or adhesively bonded to a required portion of the human body so as to prevent an injury, to provide an emergency treatment, to promote rehabilitation and to prevent the relapse of an injury.
Besides such taping, there have been widely used supporters which are made of an elastic material and adapted to be put on a portion of the human body, such as an ankle and a knee.
However, when tape is to be applied to a required portion of the human body, much skill is needed for such taping treatment. If the tape is not applied properly (for example, the application of the tape to an improper portion, or by an unskillful and inadequate taping), not only is the intended purpose (i.e., the prevention of an injury and a remedy) not achieved, but also this adversely affects various kinds of exercise, which may result in the interruption in blood circulation and a nerve trouble, and besides this, tends to adversely affect the muscle. Therefore, it is necessary that the tape should be applied by those who have acquired a taping technique, and unskilled persons can not easily apply the tape.
When a supporter is used, a suitable supporter of a configuration corresponding to a required portion of the human body is chosen, and it can be quite easily attached to the required portion. However, although a supporter can provide a support in a direction perpendicular to the human body surface, it can not provide the required support force in a direction inclined relative to the human body surface, or in a spiral direction, or in a direction along the human body surface, so that sufficient support cannot be achieved because of an insufficient tightening force. Namely, such a supporter merely applies a pressure to the human body, but cannot function to limit the movement of the relevant portion of the human body. Particularly when a force is applied to the abdominal muscle or the like, the muscle is expanded and contracted, and therefore the muscle is expanded to increase its diameter. Therefore, when a force is applied to the human body surface in perpendicular relation thereto, the expansion and contraction of the muscle are prevented, and fatigue is not alleviated, and in contrast this causes muscle fatigue.
In addition to the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art methods, another disadvantage has been encountered with the above taping and the above supporters. More specifically, that portion of the human body surface to which the tape or the supporter is applied is subjected to a tightening force, and therefore the difference between said that surface and the other surface portions appears because of the pressure difference, so that an unnatural step and profile can be recognized from the external appearance. This is quite unsightly, and particularly in the case of women, whose silhouette cannot thereby be kept beautiful.

Wearing article for wearing in pressed relation to human body surface


An eccentric gear pump for use in pumping a variety of fluids. The pump has conventional plungers reciprocably positioned in a cylinder and includes a drive case with a rotatable drive shaft therein. The driven shaft is connected eccentrically to drive gears in a plurality of gear assemblies. Each gear assembly also includes a driven gear which has a yoke assembly eccentrically connected thereto. The yoke assembly is connected to a corresponding plunger. Rotation of the drive gear results in rotation of the driven gear which in turn causes reciprocation of the yoke assembly and plunger. Cam rollers are attached to opposite sides of the driven gear, and the cam rollers ride closely within a cam groove in a cam track on opposite sides of each driven gear. The interaction of the cam roller and the cam groove limits movement of the yoke assembly and piston to substantially purely reciprocal motion with respect to the drive case. Each gear assembly includes a pressure lubricated gear case.

1. Field Of The Invention
This invention relates to reciprocating pumps, and more particularly, to a pump having an eccentric gear drive mechanism with cam rollers positioned on an output shaft and engaging a cam roller track for guidance thereof.
2. Brief Description Of The Prior Art
Reciprocating, plunger type pumps are well known in the art, and such pumps typically use a crankshaft, connecting rods and crossheads to actuate the plungers. A typical example of such a pump is the Halliburton HT-400 which is used as a multi-purpose pump for a variety of drilling fluids, including drilling muds. Conventional reciprocating pumps have well known unbalanced forces which require a substantial structure to support the pump and its drive mechanism. The eccentric gear mechanism of the present invention provides a design in which the kinematics are such that it is possible to use a lighter weight support structure than with a conventional crankshaft driven pump of similar horsepower and plunger load capacity.
Crankshaft driven pumps generally require the use of journal bearings which are between the connecting rods and crankshaft. This is avoided in the present invention because the eccentric gear design allows ball or roller bearing mounting of the gears. The sliding contact of the prior art pump crosshead within its crosshead guide is eliminated because no crosshead is required for the eccentric gear design. Thus, major areas of wear in conventional pumps are eliminated with the present invention.
Another factor in the design of conventional, crankshaft driven pumps is that when a long stroke is required, corresponding longer throws on the crankshaft are necessary. In the present invention with the dual eccentric gear design, the displacement comes from each of a set of gears rather than from one crankshaft throw. Thus, a more compact structure is possible than with conventional pumps of the same stroke. The pump of the present invention therefore solves many of the problems and addresses the limitations of conventional pumps.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,534,428 discloses a power jack for pumps with gears mounted in a gear wheel mounting member. Each of the gears has an annular groove or guideway in the outer periphery thereof. The gear wheel mounting member has two apertures and is split so that it can be placed in the guideways in the gears. The inside diameters of the apertures act as bearings in which the outwardly facing surfaces of the grooves and the gears rotate. During rotation, the drive shaft remains fixed vertically and horizontally. In an alternate embodiment, the gear wheel mounting member totally encloses the gear wheels. Extending transversely on the gears are "marginal portions" which form annular shoulders or guideways on both sides of the gear teeth. These guideways are received in apertures in the mounting member which act as bearings. In the present invention, a somewhat similar arrangement is used, but roller or ball bearings are provided on the gears. Further, the present invention includes a cam roller engaged with a cam roller track for support and guiding of the apparatus, a feature which is not shown in Cruikshank.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,318,130 to Barton discloses a vertically reciprocating pump having a pair of elliptical gears which are intermeshed to reciprocate a frame of a pump. An obvious problem with this mechanism is that such eccentric shaped gears would be much more difficult to make than the circular gears of the present invention or Cruikshank. In Barton, upright portions of the reciprocating frame have slots therein which are guided on the drive shaft. The gears have a shroud portion on opposite sides of the two portions thereof, and these shrouds act as cam surfaces on which the two gears ride.

Eccentric gear pump and drive mechanism therefor


A method of jetting a liquid crystal includes loading a substrate on a stage, controlling a surface temperature of an inkjet head and a substrate to be a setting temperature, and jetting the liquid crystal molecules on the substrate having the setting temperature.

1. Field of the Invention
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a method of jetting a liquid crystal, an a liquid crystal jetting apparatus for performing the method and a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal panel using the above-mentioned apparatus. More particularly, exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a method of jetting a liquid crystal used in a liquid crystal display device, a liquid crystal jetting apparatus for performing the method and a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal panel using the above-mentioned apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional liquid crystal display ("LCD") device includes a lower substrate, an upper substrate, and a liquid crystal layer interposed between the lower substrate and the upper substrate. A pixel electrode is formed on the lower substrate, and a common electrode is formed on the upper substrate. When a voltage is applied between the pixel electrode and the common electrode, an arrangement of liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer is changed, and optical transmittance of the liquid crystal molecules is adjusted in accordance with the changed arrangement of the liquid crystal molecules to display an image.
Examples of a method for disposing the liquid crystal molecules between the lower substrate and the upper substrate include an injecting method and a dropping method.
There are some problems in the injecting method. For example, more liquid crystal molecules than an intended amount can be supplied to a cell gap between the lower substrate and the upper substrate, or an additional process for cleaning the LCD panel contaminated with the oversupplied liquid crystal molecules may be necessary. There are also some problems in the dropping method. For example, a size of a droplet of the liquid crystal molecule dropped on a substrate is too large, and a degree of spread of the dropped liquid crystal molecules may be different. Therefore, a boundary between adjacent droplets of the liquid crystal molecules may be perceived by sight, which causes a stain to appear in the liquid crystal layer. Accordingly, a baking process for removing the stain of the liquid crystal layer may be necessary in the dropping method, and thus the process for disposing the liquid crystal molecules becomes complicated.
A spray method has been proposed to solve the stain problem of the dropping method. However, it is hard to control a size, a volume, and a drop position of the droplet in the spray method. Therefore, it is difficult to form a liquid crystal layer having an uniform thickness using the spray method.

Method of jetting a liquid crystal, liquid crystal jetting apparatus for performing the method and method of manufacturing a liquid crystal panel using the apparatus


Auditable data distribution from a server to clients is achieved as follows. The server delivers chunks of a data file, and identifiers of the chunks, to the clients. For each chunk of the data file received by the clients, a digest is generated by the client that received the chunk, using at least a part of the chunk and further data of the client that received the chunk. The further data is known to the server. The client that received this chunk sends the digest to the server, which receives the digest. The server determines an identity of the clink that received the chunk in question, by comparing the digest to the chunks that the server has sent and to the further data known to the server. The server stores the identity of the client that received the chunk.

In many computing scenarios, data is distributed from a server to a number of clients. For instance, a server may be a central repository of data. Different clients may at different times request portions of this data to perform processing on the data. As another scenario, the clients may provide backup services to the server for the data. Each client may in this scenario store a portion of the data, or all the data.

International Business Machines Corporation


A gripping system consisting of two jaws (2, 3) pivotable in relation to each other on a shaft (32), the shaft being secured to one jaw (3) and extending through a sleeve (53) secured to the other jaw (2), the shaft having an enlarged section (39) adjacent to and having substantially the same outer diameter as the sleeve (53). A tightly coiled helical spring (70) surrounds both the sleeve (53) and the section (39). One end portion of the spring is freely movable on the enlarged section (39) and can be rotated at least in one direction in relation thereto. The other end of the spring is connected to a roller (4) which is pivotably journalled and can be turned upon peripheral contact with a tread surface arranged at a desired position along the path of the gripping system so that the gripping system opens at a position exactly defined by the tread surface.

The invention relates to a gripping means with a gripper designed to be carried by a link in a conveyor chain guided in a guide channel and running in an endless path, along which actuating elements cause the gripper to close or open in order to grip or release an object, generally a flat object such as a newspaper or the like, the gripping means comprising members permitting the gripper to close, retaining it in closed position and, upon intervention, permitting it to open.
The invention relates to a gripping means constituting a further development of the gripping means described in EPC application No. 86 850 339.2 (Wamac AB).
The gripper described in the foregoing application comprises, as explained more fully therein, two jaws pivotable in relation to each other about a shaft, one of the jaws being provided with a sleeve which forms a bearing for the shaft which carries the other jaw. The shaft has an enlarged section adjacent to and having substantially the same diameter as the sleeve. A helical spring surrounds both the sleeve and the enlarged shaft section, tightly surrounding the parts in unloaded state. One end of the spring is secured to the shaft and the other end is connected to a cam sleeve loosely surrounding the spring. The cam sleeve has a cam which must be carefully directed with respect to the fixed jaw on the gripping means, i.e. the jaw carried by the conveyor chain, to ensure that it is correctly influenced by a stop along the track designed to open the gripping means. The cam is aligned in this desired position by the end of the spring being secured at a suitable angle on the shaft so that the cam shaft will always return to the same angular position after being influenced. In order to secure the end of the spring to the shaft, the free end portion of the shaft may be made conical and a conical pinch fit used to clamp the springs against the conical shaft section. The sleeve is then tightened by means of a central screw against the shaft in axial direction.
Although the assembly work is time-consuming and expensive in the known gripping means, they do have a number of favourable features. However, they have also been found to have a number of drawbacks in practical operation. If normal care is taken during assembly it has been found in practice that a relatively large number of gripping means have to be replaced when an installation is being tested.
More gripping means have subsequently had to be replaced during trial operation.
Of course, by being more careful during assembly, it would be possible to reduce the number of gripping means which must be replaced, but the costs for this are considerable.
Considerable efforts have been made to eliminate these drawbacks, which result in unsatisfactory functioning of the gripping means or the relatively high costs, i.e. the time required to assemble the gripping means.


Letters (more generally, language symbols) are entered electronically by selecting, in sequential fashion, two keys on a standard phone layout. In preferred embodiments, the two keys in the sequence are located in the same row. The first key selected is that key on which the desired letter is displayed, and the second key is given by the spatial position of the desired letter within its group of letters on the key. The letters and keys may be color-coded to aid the user when inputting the two-key sequences. Letters may be selected to spell out words on a screen and then sent electronically to a remote device or recipient.

The invention is in the field of alphanumeric keyboards. More particularly, the invention relates to the ability to enter letters on a phone keyboard by using two keys for each letter.
With the advent of the information age, composing text with the keys of telecommunication devices has become commonplace. For example, consumers are frequently called upon to spell out words using the keys of a phone pad. Entering text with phones has proven to be awkward, since there are many more letters (26 in the English alphabet) than keys on a standard phone keyboard (generally 12). This necessitates that more than one key be chosen to specify a single letter, thereby resulting in a relatively low text entry rate. The small size of the typical cell phone presents further special challenges, since both the size of the text input area and the number of any additional keys on the cell phone may be limited. While graphical keyboards with alternative key layouts are becoming more popular, the learning curve associated with their text input language can be steep.
FIG. 1 shows a phone layout 20 that includes 12 different keys designated by the numeral 24, which are arranged in 4 (horizontal) rows and 3 (vertical) columns. Ten of the keys 24 have a numeral (0, 1, 2, . . . 9) thereon, denoted by the numeral 28. In addition, the letters (denoted by the numeral 32) of the English alphabet, along with special symbols 36 (* and #), are displayed among the keys 24. The 26 letters of the English alphabet are distributed in alphabetically arranged groups among the numeral-bearing keys 2-9, with each of these groups including at least 3 letters. (The letters S and Z are conventionally assigned to the keys 7 and 9, respectively, although other configurations can be used, e.g., these letters may be displayed on the key 1.) Thus, the letters A, B, and C are assigned to the key 2, the letters D, E, and F are assigned to the key 3, and so on. While the conventional layout shown is not necessarily optimal for the purpose of text input, this layout and ones similar to it have nevertheless become the de facto phone layout standards, and are thus the layouts to which text entry methods and apparatuses conform. (Although the keys 24 shown in FIG. 1 are common to almost all phones, many cell phones include additional keys and switches for which there may be no common standard.)
In order to use one of the standard phone key layouts for text entry, it is necessary to use a technique that distinguishes or xe2x80x9cdisambiguatesxe2x80x9d which letter 32 on a given key 24 is the intended one, since a group of letters is generally assigned to a single key. One way of doing this is to algorithmically disambiguate letters with an electronic dictionary of common words (the so-called T-9 technique). In this technique, only one key is tapped for each letter, and a microprocessor or computer in communication with the keypad checks the dictionary to resolve any ambiguity. For example, entering the key sequence 9-WXYZ, 6-MNO, 7-PQRS, 5-JKL, 3-DEF, in that order, would result in the word xe2x80x9cWORLDxe2x80x9d. However, this method requires a dictionary that may not contain special words (such as people and place names). Additionally, short words consisting of three or four letters can be difficult to disambiguate. Thus, entering the key sequence 4-GHI, 2-ABC, 6-MNO, 3-DEF could correspond to either the word xe2x80x9cGAMExe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cHANDxe2x80x9d. Accordingly, this method may require that the user pay close attention to the text as it is being generated and make any necessary corrections as he or she proceeds, thereby slowing the text entry rate.
Another disambiguation technique is the so-called multi-tap technique. In this technique, the number of taps on a given key specifies the desired letter by the ordering of the letters within the group of letters on the key being tapped. For example, tapping the key 2-abc just once produces the letter A, tapping this key twice produces the letter B, and tapping it three times produces the letter C. Since the number of taps varies from letter to letter, however, some users find this approach counterintuitive and unsatisfactory.
In a two-key sequence method, the user presses two keys consecutively to uniquely determine a letter or symbol. As discussed by M. Silfverberg et al., (xe2x80x9cpredicting text entry speed on mobile phonesxe2x80x9d, Chi 2000, Apr. 1-6, 2000), the keys 1, 2, 3, and 4 can be used to disambiguate the intended letter on a key. For example, 7-PQRS followed by 1 corresponds to the letter P; 7-PQRS followed by the key 2 corresponds to the letter Q; 7-PQRS followed by the key 3 corresponds to the letter R; and 7-PQRS followed by the key 4 corresponds to the letter S. In another two-key sequence method taught by Burrell in U.S. Pat. No. 6,043,761, the keys *, 0, # are used to specify the intended letter within a group of letters. Thus, the letter J is input as 5*, the letter K as 50, and the letter L as 5#. Although these two-key sequence methods are conceptually straightforward, users may be frustrated that some of the two-key sequences involve keys at opposite ends of the keypad, which can result in a slow text entry rate.
Thus, there remains a need for a simple, time-efficient, easy-to-learn text entry method tailored to a standard key layout.
Methods and apparatuses are disclosed herein that involve two-keys per character text entry, in which two keys in a single row (or column) are used to specify each letter.
In one implementation of the invention, there is provided a method of selecting letters with a keyboard that is interfaced with an electronic component. The method includes providing a keyboard that includes a first, a second, and a third row of keys (in that order), with the rows being oriented along a first dimension, in which each of the numerals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 is displayed on a respective key. The first row includes three keys displaying the numerals 1, 2, and 3, respectively, in that order; the second row includes three keys displaying the numerals 4, 5, and 6, respectively, in that order; and the third row includes three keys displaying the numerals 7, 8, and 9, respectively, in that order. The key displaying the numeral 5 further displays a first language character, a second language character, and a third language character, and other the numeral-displaying keys each further display at least three language characters. The method further includes inputting the first character into the electronic component by selecting the numeral 5 key and then selecting the numeral 4 key; inputting the second character into the electronic component by selecting the numeral 5 key and then selecting the numeral 5 key again; and inputting the third character into the electronic component by selecting the numeral 5 key and then selecting the numeral 6 key. In a preferred implementation, other language characters are input into the electronic component using similar methodology, and the language characters are letters of the English alphabet.
In another implementation of the invention, there is provided a method of selecting letters with a keyboard that is interfaced with an electronic component. The method includes providing a keyboard that includes a first, a second, and a third row of keys (in that order), with the rows being oriented along a first dimension, and in which each of the numerals 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 is displayed on a respective key. The first row includes three keys displaying the numerals 1, 2, and 3, respectively, in that order; the second row includes three keys displaying the numerals 4, 5, and 6, respectively, in that order; and the third row includes three keys displaying the numerals 7, 8, and 9, respectively, in that order. The key displaying the numeral 5 further displays a first language character, a second language character, and a third language character, and other ones of the numeral-displaying keys each further display at least three language characters. The method further includes inputting the first character into the electronic component by selecting the numeral 5 key and then selecting the numeral 2 key; inputting the second character into the electronic component by selecting the numeral 5 key and then selecting the numeral 5 key again; and inputting the third character into the electronic component by selecting the numeral 5 key and then selecting the numeral 8 key. In a preferred implementation, other language characters are input into the electronic component using similar methodology, and the language characters are letters of the English alphabet.
In one implementation of the invention, there is provided a method of selecting letters with a keyboard. The method includes providing a keyboard interfaced with an electronic component, with the keyboard including respective keys for displaying the numerals 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. Nine of these numeral-displaying keys are arranged in a 3xc3x973 matrix of keys including first, second, and third rows (in that order) oriented along a first direction, and first, second, and third rows (in that order) oriented along a second direction. Each of the rows includes 3 keys, and each of 8 of the keys in the matrix displays thereon a group of at least three letters arranged alphabetically and occupying sequential first, second, and third spatial positions, respectively, along the first direction. This permits the first, second, and third letter positions to be associated with the first, second, and third rows oriented along the second direction, respectively. The method includes inputting a chosen letter into the electronic component by making two key selections, in which the key selected first is the key on which the chosen letter is displayed. The key selected second and the key on which the chosen letter is displayed share a common row oriented along the first direction, and the key selected second is located in that row oriented along the second direction that is associated with the position occupied by the chosen letter on its corresponding key. This two-key input approach is repeated for letters chosen from keys in at least 2 of the rows oriented along the first direction and letters chosen from keys in at least 2 of the rows oriented along the second direction.
One embodiment of the invention is an apparatus for selecting letters, in which the apparatus includes a keyboard. The keyboard includes respective keys for displaying the numerals 0 through 9 inclusive, in which 9 of the numeral-displaying keys are arranged in a 3xc3x973 matrix of rows including first, second, and third rows arranged sequentially along a first direction and first, second, and third rows arranged sequentially along a second direction. Each of 8 of the keys in the matrix have displayed thereon a group of three letters arranged alphabetically that occupy sequential first, second, and third positions, respectively, along the first direction. The apparatus further includes an electronic device in communication with the keyboard, in which the device registers which keys on the keyboard are selected and includes instructions for converting sequences of two keys into letters. For certain letters displayed on keys in at least two of the rows along the first direction and for certain letters displayed on keys in at least two of the rows along the second direction, key sequences for a desired letter are given by a first key followed by a second key, in which the first key is given by that key on which the desired letter is displayed. The second key is given by that key formed by the intersection of two rows, wherein one of the two intersecting rows corresponds to that row oriented along the first direction that includes the key displaying the desired letter, and the other of the two intersecting rows corresponds to that row oriented along the second direction that bears the same sequential position as the position of the desired letter on its corresponding key.
There is further provided computer program products comprising computer readable media, in which the media include machine-readable instructions for carrying out the methods described herein.

Two-key input per character text entry apparatus and method

International Business Machines Corporation


A system and a method for handling laser-communication multiplexing in chaotic secure communications are disclosed. The messages to be multiplexed are encoded by chaotic laser signals of a transmitter system. The transmitted signals are then coupled to another chaotic system, the receiver system, so that the receiver and the transmitter are asymptotically synchronized. The decoding of the multiplexed messages encoded by chaotic behaviors is achieved by using a low-pass filter. This low-pass filter can effectively increase the fractal dimension of the chaotic system and enhance the periodicity of the transmitted time sequences, so that the multiplexed messages can be recovered.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system and method for handling laser-communication multiplexing in chaotic secure communications, and more particularly, for decoding multiplex chaotic laser signals by utilizing a low-pass filter to increase the fractal dimension of the chaotic system, so that decoding of the multiplex messages encoded by chaotic behaviors can be achieved. The disclosure of the present invention can be applied to many kinds of secure communication systems.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
The technique of multiplex transmission has been well established in the field of conventional laser communications. However, there is still no effective scheme for applying such laser multiplexing to chaotic secure communication systems. Moreover, although it is known that chaotic systems can be applied to secure communications, the conventional techniques of simplex-coupled synchronization can only work well in simplex transmission, and therefore difficulties arise in handling multiplex transmission. The main reason can be attributed to the nonlinear interaction among the multiplex laser signals, resulting in a superimposed, interfering and complex chaotic system. To resolve these two problems, a low-pass filter is utilized to increase the fractal dimension of the multiplex chaotic signals, so that the periodicity of these chaotic signals will be enhanced. This technique can be used to rebuild the multiplexed messages encoded by chaotic behaviors in laser communications.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for handling laser-communication multiplexing in chaotic secure communications. By using a low-pass filter, a chaotic time sequence of lower fractal dimension can be effectively increased to a chaotic time sequence of higher fractal dimensional, so that the periodicity of the multiplex signals will be enhanced and hence the decoding of messages from the chaotic laser signals become possible.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for handling laser-communication multiplexing in chaotic secure communications, wherein the scheme of chaotic secure communications utilizes the behavior of extremely sensitive dependence on initial conditions and the feature of randomness of the chaotic laser light.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for handling laser-communication multiplexing in chaotic secure communications, wherein the scheme of chaotic secure communications is achieved by adjusting the coupling parameters of the receiver system, so that the chaotic system of the receiver end is simplex coupled to the transmitter end, and thus prohibiting the transmitted messages to be rebuilt by any unauthorized receptor.

System and a method for handling laser communication multiplexing in chaotic secure communications


A serial advanced technology attachment dual-in-line memory module (SATA DIMM) device assembly includes an interface, a cable, and a board. An edge connector is set on a bottom edge of the board, and a control chip and a connector are arranged on the board. The connector includes a first shell and a number of first pins. The first pins include signal pins connected to the control chip, and ground pins. The interface includes a second shell and a connecting portion extended from a bottom of the second shell. A number of second pins are arranged on the connecting portion. The cable is extended through a side of the second shell to be connected to the first pins. A distance between a top of the first shell and a top of the board is greater than a height of the second shell.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a serial advanced technology attachment dual in-line memory module (SATA DIMM) device assembly.
2. Description of Related Art
Solid state drives (SSD) store data on chips instead of on magnetic or optical discs. One type of SSD has the form factor of a DIMM and it is called a SATA DIMM device. The SATA DIMM device can be inserted into a memory slot of a motherboard, to receive voltages from the motherboard through the memory slot. However, hard disk drive (HDD) signals need to be transmitted between the SATA DIMM device and the motherboard through SATA connectors arranged on the SATA DIMM device and connected to a SATA connector of the motherboard. When the SATA DIMM device is inserted into a memory slot of the motherboard, the SATA connector of the SATA DIMM device is connected to the SATA connector of the motherboard, which may bring some physical interference with the computer chassis, therefore, there is room for improvement in the art.

Serial advanced technology attachment dual in-line memory module device assembly

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


A roofing glove is provided. The roofing glove includes a fitted protective covering receivable to a hand of a user, at least one spike having an anchor and a sharp protrusion extending from the glove and narrowing at a distal tip, anchored within the covering at a first predetermined location, and at least one grip pad disposed upon the covering at a second predetermined location. The at least one spike and the at least one grip pad are adapted to grip a surface, or the like, upon a fall by the wearer of the glove to prevent further fall or slide.

Persons such as roofers, chimney sweeps, gutter installers, and the like, are at risk of fall and injury when working on incline roofs or similar surfaces. Known solutions to protect persons and to prevent such hazards include toe boards, guardrails, and traction footwear, for example.
Gloves, generally, are known in the background art for protection of the hands, food preparation, fish cleaning and filleting, husking, and specialized sporting applications.
Related patents known in the art include the following: U.S. Pat. No. 730,051 issued to Scott on Jun. 2, 1903, discloses a husking glove or mitt. U.S. Pat. No. 1,243,622 issued to Nielson on Oct. 16, 1917, discloses a fisherman's glove. U.S. Pat. No. 2,524,979 issued to Kimbrell on Oct. 10, 1950, discloses a glove. U.S. Pat. No. 4,589,146 issued to Taylor on May 20, 1986, discloses a glove having a securing means for improved gripping. U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,788 issued to Hoffman on Feb. 23, 1999, discloses a grip control glove. U.S. Pat. No. 6,374,417 issued to Stagnitta on Apr. 23, 2002, discloses a food handling glove. U.S. Pat. No. 7,310,826 issued to Kishihara on Dec. 25, 2007, discloses a work glove. U.S. Pat. No. D581,127 issued to Bautista et al. on Nov. 25, 2008, discloses a fish filleting glove. U.S. Pat. No. D536,487 issued to Boribong on Feb. 6, 2007, discloses a safety glove. U.S. Pat. No. D569,578 issued to Yan on May 27, 2008, discloses a glove. U.S. Pat. No. D608,978 issued to Votel on Feb. 2, 2010, discloses an armored work glove.
The foregoing patent information reflects the state of the art of which the inventor is aware and is tendered with a view toward discharging the inventor's acknowledged duty of candor in disclosing information that may be pertinent to the patentability of the technology described herein. It is respectfully stipulated, however, that the foregoing patent and other information do not teach or render obvious, singly or when considered in combination, the inventor's claimed invention.