Computerized switching system provides a method of connecting a caller and a called party or target by a manual or automated dialer by informing a control station of a PIN or ID number and optionally the service type, and having the call routed based on preprogrammed numbers provided by the called party. The call is routed to a destination that may be based on many factors, including the hour of day, priority of call, service type, destination and origination of caller and other programmed commands. The called party has the ability to administer the routings and direct all call flows, including destination, scanning originator, time, etc. A dialer service pre-programmed with access and PIN numbers may be used to automate these procedures. A dialer may also be incorporated in a pager to permit automated access of pager messages.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to telephone systems, and, more particularly to an automated access system preprogrammed to route a call or provide a specific class of service as a function of a PIN or ID number dialed by a caller.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A wide range of telephone connectivity exists today, including normal calls to remote handsets, to pagers, to mobile or cellular units and others. All of these forms of calling rely on a caller knowing the direct destination telephone number of the called or target party. For a wide population, including children, disabled people, the caller has no ability to dial or know where the party called is located. In some instances, the target or called party may not be accessible or may not be interested or be in a position to receive the call. Existing systems have also lacked the ability to screen calls 24-hours-a-day, no matter where the called party is located. In fact, existing systems have been deficient in providing called parties the flexibility to control the nature and time of the calls that they receive from specified callers or class of callers.
By way of example only, U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,135 discloses a preprogrammed automatic dialing device intended to enable consumers to automatically dial pre-programmed numbers associated with one or more sources of goods and/or services. While the dialing device is capable of dialing a target number, as are all portable dialers of this type, the Patent does not disclose an automated access system which provides the called or target party flexibility to modify or in any way control the class of service provided to the caller, or reroute the calls that are routed to him or her.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,882,750, a programmable dialer system is disclosed which is a low cost dialer without a key pad, so that the dialer is small and inexpensive and it can be given away as a xe2x80x9cgive-awayxe2x80x9d item. The dialer, however, as in the previous patent, can only be used for dialing a target number and the patent does not disclose a system for providing any routing flexibility.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,136,632 discloses a telephone dialer in the form of an emitting token. While the patent discloses a management computer, the objective of the disclosed invention is to provide a telephone service payment system for use in conjunction with placing of bets by telephone.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,182,767, an electronic telephone device is disclosed which does not include a keypad, but a single button, and is programmed to dial a predetermined number. The device is primarily concerned with being able to xe2x80x9cself destructxe2x80x9d when the period of validity has expired or when a set time limitation date has been reached so that the device is rendered ineffective and taken out of service.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,980,910, a portable automatic dialing unit is disclosed which does includes a keypad and is intended to operated in one of two modes of operation. In the first mode, it includes a registered target number, and in the second mode it includes data for special telephone services. While the dialer can transmit access codes through the telephone lines in addition to passwords and special service numbers, the device is primarily concerned with the ability to insert target telephone numbers in dial data for special telephone services. Also, the dialer is concerned with transmitting entire dial programmable destination, not service data whether the call is a general long distance call or a long distance call through special telephone service and can be serviced by any carrier such as by ATandT or MCI.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,313,035 teaches a system for re-routing calls, frequently referred to as xe2x80x9cperson locator servicesxe2x80x9d. These services were established primarily for use with dating services where the dialing of a central number and PIN number allow a call to be made to a given target telephone without knowing the telephone number of the target. Such a system is a form of call forwarding that the target or called party establishes a PIN number that can be used by more than one caller to access the target party at an established number or a re-routed number and to permit the calling party to receive status messages or make collect calls. While the PIN number assigned to a target subscriber may not be unique to that subscriber it does, in effect, become unique to a given subscriber when correlated by the system with a unique Personal Locator Number (PIN).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,266,098 discloses a device for automatically screening incoming calls. However, this involves the use of a caller ID screening device that must be viewed to see a display. Therefore, this patent discloses a conventional method of screening calls based on the use of a screening device attached to the receiving.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,649,563 discloses method and apparatus for accessing computerized data bases using touch-tone telephone equipment, the patent disclosing a system that makes use of ANI or PIN identification codes for purposes of callback.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,343,519, an autodialer is disclosed which includes a button for generating a PIN code, in order to avoid manual entry which may result in an unscrupulous observer memorizing the code. The autodialer is intended to be used in lieu of manual actuation of the keys in a telephone keypad. However, the autodialer works with any telephone system and is used to make conventional calls to any desired target telephone number.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an automated access system which can be conveniently used with a public or private telephone network.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an automated access system which can be used with automatic portable dialers for targeting one or a plurality of preprogrammed or user selectable target telephone numbers and/or classes of service.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a automated access system which can be useful for use by small children or physically handicapped people who need to call their home or an emergency number.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide an automated access system which provides the target or recipient of the call flexibility in screening, taking or refusing to accept a call or re-routing same as a function of a PIN or ID number unique to a caller or class of callers.
It a further object of the present invention to provide an automated access system, as in the previous object in which the target or recipient has the flexibility to modify the instructions for routing the calls addressed to him or her for a given PIN or ID number of a caller or class of callers.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide an automated access system of the type suggested in the previous objects, which enables automated conferencing or call back conferences between a caller and a target or recipient of a call after the initial call by the caller is terminated.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an automated access system suitable for retrieving pager messages.
In order to achieve the above objects, as well as other which will become apparent hereinafter, an automated access system in accordance with the present invention for use with a central station of a telephone network comprises a control station having a predetermined access telephone number. An optional dialer having a first storage means may be used for storing at least one telephone access number and at least one dialer identification number (ID) or personal identification (PIN) is provided. Manual switch means is provided for selectively actuating said dialer, and having tone signal generating means for converting said telephone access and I.D. numbers into DTMF or other tones upon actuation of said switch means for acoustically coupling said access and ID numbers into a handset of a telephone unit of the telephone network for communicating said numbers to the central station and connecting the caller telephone unit with said control station. Said control station includes second storage means for storing a programmed set of instructions, and routing means for routing the call or calls as a function of the programmed set of instructions, specifically a class of service or manner or processing of the call, for a received caller ID. The functions of the dialer, however, may be replaced by manual dialing by the caller on the calling telephone unit.
The method in accordance of the present invention, for use with the central station of a telephone network, comprises the steps of coupling telephone access and caller ID numbers into a handset of a caller telephone unit of a telephone network for communicating said numbers to the central station and connecting the caller telephone unit with a control station that includes a data base of programmed, and subscriber reprogrammable, instructions for processing a call based on the ID or PIN received by the control station from the handset of the caller telephone unit. The calls are routed as a function of the preprogrammed set of instructions stored at a control, station for a received caller PIN or ID number to provide a class of service or services, including re-routing of calls, and which can be modified at least by the subscriber call recipient or target of the call to change the handling of the incoming call as a function of the caller""s ID or PIN number.


A safety system including cables and support posts is provided. The safety system may be used to prevent vehicles from impacting with an associated roadside hazard. The safety system will typically maintain engagement between associated cables and support posts for a longer period of time as the posts are bent during a vehicle impact.

Cable safety systems and cable barriers have been installed along edges of roadways and highways for many years. Cable safety systems and cable barriers have also been installed along medians between roadways and/or highways. Cable safety systems generally include one or more horizontal cables attached to support posts. For some applications cable safety systems and cable barriers may reduce damage to an impacting vehicle and/or injury to occupants of the impacting vehicle as compared with other types of highway safety systems and highway barriers.
Cable safety systems are often designed and installed with at least one cable mounted horizontally on a plurality of generally vertical support posts. Many cable safety systems include three cables spaced vertically from each other on each support post. The number of cables may vary depending on factors such as the type of vehicles using the associated roadway and the hazard which requires installation of the cable safety system. The length of a cable safety system is generally determined based on the adjacent roadside hazard. Each cable is typically installed at a selected height relative to the ground and with selected vertical spacing between adjacent cables.
One recognized limitation of many cable safety systems is excessive deflection of associated cables during a vehicle impact. Deflection associated with a cable safety system may be larger than deflection of a convention W-beam guardrail when subjected to the same type of vehicle impact. Such deflection frequently determines maximum allowed spacing between adjacent posts for satisfactory performance of the cable safety system. Large deflection during a vehicle impact also increases the risk of the vehicle running over the cables and being exposed to the hazard which required installation of the cable safety system. Calculating performance of many cable safety systems is often difficult due to unpredictable interactions between associated posts and cables during a vehicle impact. Depending upon car type, speed and angle of impact, cables may release as far as ten (10) or most posts spaced ahead of the impact location. Cable release from post often causes much larger deflections than expected or calculated.
From full scale crash testing and from real life experience, it has been determined that keeping the length of unsupported cables as short as possible will generally reduce deflection. The longer the distance between adjacent posts supporting associated cables, the larger the deflection will generally be during a vehicle impact. An increased number of posts (shorter post spacing) will generally decrease deflection. However, shorter spacing between posts affects total cost of a cable safety system, not only material, but also installation time and cost.
During the past several years, cable safety systems have been used as an alternative to traditional W-beam guardrail systems. These cable safety systems address some of the weaknesses of prior cable safety systems by using pre-stressed cables and/or reducing spacing between adjacent posts to reduce deflection to an acceptable level. A consultant report "Dynamic Analysis of Cable Guardrail" issued in April 1994 by an ES-Consult in Denmark, established a model for various parameters which affect performance and design considerations for acceptable deflection of cable safety systems.
Cable safety systems are often more aesthetically appealing and minimize potential sight distance problems as compared with W-beam and thrie beam guardrail systems. Cable safety systems generally minimize snow accumulation on adjacent highways and roadways.


A leadframe facilitates the bonding of leads to semiconductor chips. The leadframe has two longitudinal bands transversely spaced from each other, and connected by bar-like segments initially non-perpendicular to the bands, and spaced longitudinally along the leadframe. The leadframe also includes leads projecting from both of the bands, the leads projecting from one band being interleaved with those projecting from the other band. When one moves the longitudinal bands relative to each other longitudinally, the leads projecting from the first band come into alignment with the leads projecting from the second band. Thus, if one has first bonded semiconductor chips to the ends of the leads projecting from the first band, then movement of the bands longitudinally makes it easy to connect the second leads to each of the semiconductor chips.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of manufacturing semiconductor devices from a continuous length of leadframe. It more particularly relates to a method of producing semiconductor devices of the type wherein each semiconductor chip is sandwiched between at least one pair of leads for bonding and encapsulated hermetically in a molded resinous body. The invention also relates to a leadframe and a differential overlapping mechanism for advantageously carrying out the method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As is well known, elongated or continuous leadframes are used for quantity production of semiconductor devices, such as diodes, transistors, and so on. Various attempts have heretofore been made to improve the productivity of such a manufacturing process and to simplify the process in addition to enhancing process and to simplify the process in addition
Two typical prior art methods of manufacturing semiconductor devices are now described with reference to FIGS. 15 to 18 of the accompanying drawings for the convenience of explanation.
In one typical prior art method shown in FIGS. 15 to 17, a pair of parallel leadframes A, B respectively formed with aligned leads 2',3' at a constant pitch P' are transferred longitudinally thereof, as indicated by the arrows. During such transfer, semiconductor chips 1' are bonded to the respective leads 2 of one leadframe A, as shown in FIG. 16. Subsequently, the pair of leadframes A, B are brought closer to each other, so that the leads 3' of the other leadframe B is overlapped on the chips 1' for bonding thereto, as shown in FIG. 17. Finally, each chip 1' together with the associated leads 2', 3' is encapsulated in a molded resin body 4' which is cut off from the respective leadframes A, B to provide an individual semiconductor product.
However, the above prior art method is disadvantageous in that two separate leadframes A, B are required for production of semiconductor devices, thereby posing handling inconvenience (e.g. requiring two separate transfer guides, and etc.) in addition to involving material waste. Further, because of the separate nature of the leadframes A, B, the respective leads 2, 3, which are kept free as projecting, are likely to come into contact with external objects particularly when the leadframes A, B are separately handled. As a result, the leads may be subjected to unacceptable deformation during the manufacturing process, consequently resulting in a higher chance of quality deterioration.
According to another prior art method shown in FIG. 18 of the accompanying drawings and disclosed for example in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 62-35549 (Laid-open: Feb. 16, 1987; Application No.: 60-176036; Filed: Aug. 8, 1985; Applicant: Mitsubishi Electric Corp.), an integral leadframe C is used which includes a pair of longitudinal bands C1, C2 connected together by bar-like connecting segments C3 spaced longitudinally of the leadframe at a constant pitch P". One longitudinal band C1 is formed with a group of longer leads 2" which are spaced longitudinally of the leadframe and extend toward the other longitudinal band C2, whereas the other band C2 is formed with a group of shorter leads 3" which are also spaced longitudinally of the leadframe but extend toward the one longitudinal band C1 in staggered relation to the group of longer leads 2".
In manufacture, the integral leadframe C is transferred longitudinally thereof, as indicated by an arrow. During such transfer, a semiconductor chip 1" is bonded to each shorter lead 3". Subsequently, a corresponding longer lead 2" is bent along a bending line C4, so that the bent portion is overlapped on a corresponding chip". Finally, the chip together with the associated leads is hermetically molded in a resin body 4", and cut off from the leadframe to provide an individual semiconductor product.
Compared with the method shown in FIGS. 15 to 17, the method of FIG. 18 is advantageous in that semiconductor devices can be produced from the single leadframe C which enables easier handling. Further, all of the leads 2", 3" are always located in the same plane of the leadframe throughout various stages of the manufacturing process. Thus, the longitudinal space between the two longitudinal bands C1, C2 is an area always protected by these bands, so that the leads 2", 3" arranged in this protected area are less likely to come into contact with external objects. Therefore, it is possible to avoid unexpected deformation of the leads, thereby improving the quality of the final products.
However, the prior art method of FIG. 18 is also disadvantageous in various points. First, the bent portion of each longer lead 2" causes a weight increase of the individual semiconductor device in addition to involving material waste. Second, each pair of leads 2", 3" are spaced longitudinally of the leadframe C before and after the molding operation, so that the resulting product must necessarily have an increased width S which also causes a weight increase. Third, this width increase also results in decrease in number of the products obtainable per unit length of the leadframe C, thus causing material waste.
More importantly, the bending of the longer leads necessitates a slowdown in the transfer speed of the leadframe. Combined with the width increase of the individual products (therefore a length increase of the leadframe), such a slowdown greatly reduces the productivity of the manufacturing process, consequently resulting in a cost increase.

Lead-frame for manufacturing semiconductor devices


A microporous polyethylene membrane having well-balanced permeability, mechanical properties, heat shrinkage resistance, compression resistance, electrolytic solution absorbability, shutdown properties and meltdown properties, with an average pore diameter changing in a thickness direction is produced by melt-blending a polyethylene resin and a membrane-forming solvent to prepare a solution A having a resin concentration of 25 to 50% by mass and a solution B having a resin concentration of 10 to 30% by mass, the resin concentration in the solution A being higher than that in the solution B, (a) simultaneously extruding the resin solutions A and B through a die, cooling the resultant extrudate to provide a gel-like sheet in which the resin solutions A and B are laminated, and removing the membrane-forming solvent from the gel-like sheet, or (b) extruding the resin solutions A and B through separate dies, removing the membrane-forming solvent from the resultant gel-like sheets A and B to form microporous polyethylene membranes A and B, and alternately laminating the microporous polyethylene membranes A and B, while easily controlling the average pore diameter distribution in the microporous polyethylene membrane in a thickness direction.

Microporous polyolefin membranes are widely used in separators for lithium batteries, etc., electrolytic capacitor separators, various filters, etc. When the microporous polyolefin membranes are used as battery separators, their performance largely affects the performance, productivity and safety of batteries. Particularly lithium ion battery separators are required to have excellent mechanical properties and permeability, as well as shutdown property, a function of closing pores to stop a battery reaction at the time of abnormal heat generation, thereby preventing the heat generation, ignition and explosion of the battery, which can be caused by the short-circuiting of external circuits, overcharge, etc.; heat shrinkage resistance, a function of keeping a separator shape to avoid a direct reaction between a cathode material and an anode material even when becoming high temperatures, etc.
Recently gaining importance as separator characteristics are not only permeability, mechanical strength, heat shrinkage resistance and thermal properties (shutdown properties and meltdown properties), but also battery life properties such as cycle properties (properties concerning battery capacity when used repeatedly), and battery productivity such as electrolytic solution absorbability. A lithium ion battery electrode expands by the intrusion of lithium when charged, and shrinks by the departure of lithium when discharged, an expansion ratio when charged tending to become larger as recent increase in the capacity of batteries. Because a separator is compressed when the electrode expands, the separator is required to suffer only small permeability variation by compression to have excellent cycle properties. To that end, there are (i) a technology of providing a separator with a gradient structure comprising a coarse-structure layer having a relatively large average pore diameter, which undergoes large deformation with small air permeability change when compressed, and a dense-structure layer having a relatively small average pore diameter, which undergoes large air permeability change with small deformation when compressed, the coarse-structure layer absorbing the expansion of an electrode and holding permeability; and (ii) a technology of making the deformation of the entire separator small to prevent a pore structure from being broken. These technologies are properly selected depending on the properties of electrodes.
To improve the electrolytic solution absorbability, it is effective to provide a large pore size to the separator surface. Also, to prevent by-products generated by the repetition of charge/discharge cycles from clogging the separator, the separator is required to have a large pore size on the surface. However, to secure the mechanical strength, a dense layer is needed. Thus, to satisfy both requirements of high electrolytic solution absorbability and high mechanical strength, the separator is desired to have a coarse-structure layer having a relatively large average pore diameter on at least one surface, in addition to a dense-structure layer.
Liquid filters are desired to have higher filtering performance, and for this purpose, microporous membranes should have smaller pores. However, to avoid decrease in the filtering efficiency, the microporous membrane should not deteriorate liquid permeability. To meet both requirements of high filtering performance and high liquid permeability, the liquid filters desirably have the above gradient structure. Specifically, the balance of the filtering performance and the liquid permeability can be controlled by constituting the microporous membrane by a dense-structure layer as a support layer and a coarse-structure layer as a filtering layer, and adjusting the thickness ratio of the dense-structure layer to the coarse-structure layer.
A microporous polyolefin membrane, JP 2000-212323 A discloses a microporous polyolefin membrane different between the internal structure and the surface structure to have excellent pin puncture strength and porosity, which has an average pore size of 0.01 to 0.2 μm, at least one surface thereof having an average pore size of 0.5 to 2 μm. This microporous polyolefin membrane is produced by (i) melt-blending a polyolefin and a plasticizer to prepare a polyolefin solution, extruding and cooling the polyolefin solution to form a sheet, stretching the sheet, and then extracting the plasticizer from the stretched sheet to form a microporous membrane 1 having an average pore size of 0.5 to 2 μm on at least one surface, (ii) further stretching the microporous membrane 1 while heating to form a microporous membrane 2 having an average pore size of 0.01 μm or more, and (iii) laminating the microporous membranes 1 and 2.
JP 2003-105123 A discloses a microporous polyolefin membrane comprising polyethylene having a mass-average molecular weight (Mw) of 5×105 or more as an indispensable component, and having an average pore size change in a thickness direction, wherein at least one surface thereof is larger in average pore size than inside, or wherein one surface being larger in average pore size than the other surface, so that the microporous polyolefin membrane has excellent pin puncture strength, heat shrinkage resistance and permeability. This microporous polyolefin membrane is produced by (a) melt-blending a polyolefin comprising polyethylene having Mw of 5×105 or more as an indispensable component with a membrane-forming solvent, extruding the resultant melt blend through a die, cooling the extruded melt blend to provide a gel-like sheet, biaxially stretching the gel-like sheet with a temperature distribution in a thickness direction, removing the solvent from the stretched gel-like sheet, stretching the resultant membrane in at least one direction, and then heat-treating the membrane at a temperature in a range of the crystal dispersion temperature of the polyolefin or higher and lower than the melting point of the polyolefin to form a microporous membrane (i), (b) stretching the above gel-like sheet in at least one direction at a temperature lower than the crystal dispersion temperature of the polyolefin, and then stretching the gel-like sheet in at least one direction at a temperature in a range of the crystal dispersion temperature of the polyolefin or higher and lower than the melting point of the polyolefin, and further removing the solvent from the stretched membrane to form a microporous membrane (ii), and (c) laminating the microporous membranes (i) and (ii). In the microporous membranes of the above references, however, layers having different average pore sizes are formed under different stretching conditions, but not under different melt blend concentrations. Accordingly, they do not necessarily have well-balanced permeability, mechanical properties, heat shrinkage resistance, compression resistance, shutdown properties and meltdown properties.

Production method of microporous polyethylene membrane and battery separator

Toray Tonen Specialty Separator Godo Kaisha


In an optical tracking robot system, a target has a light emitting section with a high light emitting directivity, for emitting a light beam modulated into pulses. A tracking robot has a tracking sensor section for monitoring a light beam by a pair of light receiving elements, for processing signals from the received light beam, and for generating and supplying drive control signals to a travel control section. In response to drive control signals the travel control section generates and supplies drive signals to a driver section. The driver section drives the tracking robot so that the robot advances while turning to the right when the output level of the right side light receiving element is higher than that of the left side light receiving element, and to the left when the latter is higher than the former. The robot also has an approach sensor section which detects the light beam by means of a light receiving element, and generates and supplies stop control signals to the travel control section. The travel control section supplies stop signals to the driver section, thereby stopping the robot.

The present invention relates to an optical tracking robot system for sensing and pursuing a light beam emitted from a target.
A wide variety of robots have recently been developed and put to practical use. Among them are mobile robots of an electromagnetic induction type, optical type and capacitance type which travel in predetermined paths. Each of these robots cannot cover the whole floor space. A mobile robot is known which has a visual recognition system, ultrasonic oscillation system, or feeler system and can thus travel anywhere on the floor. The visual recognition system and ultrasonic oscillation system are sophisticated and very expensive. The feeler system, which detects a target or obstacle when touching or running against it and then stops at the target or moves away from the obstacles, cannot be controlled in an uncontacted manner.


A vehicle light assembly includes a casing with a plurality of frames connected thereto and each frame has a hole for receiving a light bulb of a Light Emitting Diode therein. Each Light Emitting Diode includes two legs and two protrusions extend from the two legs respectively. The legs of the Light Emitting Diodes are connected to a circuit board by a section from a distill end of each leg to the protrusion. The light bulbs are then bent toward a side of the circuit board and engaged with the holes of the frames. The side of the circuit board is shaped to cooperate with the positions of the frames.

A conventional vehicle light assembly is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and generally includes a casing 1 with a plurality of frames 11 located therein and each frame 11 has a hole 111 for receiving a Light Emitting Diode 12 therein. The locations of the frames 11 are arranged to be not located on the same flat plane so as to from a desired outer contour.
In order to be cooperated with the frames 11 that are not located on the same flat plane, the Light Emitting Diodes 12 are inserted to the circuit 13 and then the circuit and the Light Emitting Diodes 12 are then sent to a soldering machine to solder the Light Emitting Diodes 12 on the circuit board 13. The Light Emitting Diodes 12 are then inserted into the holes 111 of the frames 11. However, the Light Emitting Diodes 12 are fixed on the circuit board 13 so that the Light Emitting Diodes 12 might not be located at a desired height relative to the frames 11. When assembling the frames 11 and the Light Emitting Diodes 12, some Light Emitting Diodes 12 are located at the desired positions and some are not. This results in many dis-satisfaction semi-products.
As shown in FIG. 3, in order to control the lengths that the legs 121 of the Light Emitting Diodes 12 are connected to the circuit board 13, some developers add a support member 14 between the circuit board 13 and the Light Emitting Diodes 12. Nevertheless, the support members 14 require a lot of extra labor efforts and cost.
FIG. 4 shows that some developers narrow the hole 111 of the frame 11 and the inner diameter of the hole 111 is slightly smaller than the Light Emitting Diode 12 so that the Light Emitting Diodes 12 can be inserted into the holes 111 before being soldered with the circuit board 13. Due to the smaller holes 111, the assemblers have to take longer time to insert the Light Emitting Diodes 12 into the holes 111. Besides, when the Light Emitting Diodes 12 are positioned on the frames 11, the legs 121 of the Light Emitting Diodes 12 might not be able to accurately reach the desired positions on the circuit board 13. Besides, when soldering the Light Emitting Diodes 12 to the circuit board 13, the plastic-made frames 11 might be deformed in a high temperature soldering machine.
The present invention intends to provide a vehicle light assembly that can accurately connect the Light Emitting Diodes between the holes of the frames and the circuit board.


An arrangement in a circulation lubrication system, the arrangement including a control mechanism for controlling the flow of lubricating oil supplied to a part to be lubricated. The control mechanism includes two interfitting tubes with apertures in walls of both of the tubes. The apertures are arranged to provide a flow orifice for the lubricating oil, and the tubes are arranged to be rotatable around their common symmetry axis to the effect that an angular position of the tubes in relation to one another changes and the apertures in the tube walls shift in a circumferential direction of the tubes by their relation to one another, thereby a change in a size of the flow orifice is provided by the apertures. The rotating movements of the tubes are produced by different transmissions.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an arrangement in a circulation lubrication system, and more specifically to an arrangement comprising control means for controlling, in a desired manner, the flow of lubricating oil supplied to a part to be lubricated.
2. Description of Related Art
The above-described circulation lubrication systems are quite well-known today in various fields of the industry. In circulation lubrication systems, the lubricating oil is pumped out of a lubricant tank, through pipe lines, to the parts to be lubricated, and returned by means of return pipe lines to the lubricant tank. In circulation lubrication system, the oil typically has a constant pressure, which is about 5 bar. The flow is passed to the parts to be lubricated by means of separate flow meters. The oil flow control in the flow meters is typically carried out by using a throttle control, in which the desired flow to the parts to be lubricated is achieved by changing the cross-sectional area of the flow. In a typical known solution, the cross-sectional area of the flow is changed by means of a mechanism operated with an adjusting screw to the effect that when the adjusting screw is turned outwards, the cross-sectional area of the flow becomes larger and the flow increases. When the adjusting screw is turned inwards, the cross-sectional area of the flow becomes smaller and the flow decreases.
One drawback of the prior art solution is, for instance, that the control acts on the flow very quickly. At their lowest, flow rates to be controlled are in the range of 0.02 l/min, and thus the accurate control is achieved only with great difficulty by using the throttle control that acts in the above-mentioned manner, unless the whole operating range of the control device is reduced, for instance, to a ratio of 1/100, permitting the control device to control, at the maximum, the flow of 2 liters per minute. This adjustment range is then to be controlled with approximately ten round turns of the adjusting screw. One more drawback is that, during the adjustment, the movement of the adjusting screw is directed outwards from the body of the meter or inwards to the body of the meter, depending on the control direction, which makes the motorization of the control difficult. The above solution further increases the total length of the control device, and a tool is always needed for carrying out an adjustment.

Flow control arrangement in a circulation lubrication system


A portable, multisectional ladder for scaling poles, trees and like objects and a method of use thereof. Individual ladder sections are formed of steps welded to individual angle metal sections. The angle metal sections are removably joined using male/female connectors at either end thereof. One or more brackets welded to each section slidably retains an auto-type safety belt which can be releasably buckled about the object to be scaled. The brackets on each section except for the base section include a special belt cincher arrangement which includes means for drawing the belt into the recessed portion of the angle metal to forcibly tighten the belt about the object to be climbed, thereby eliminating any slippage or wobble in the ladder.

This invention relates to multisectional ladders and more particularly to a portable lightweight ladder which is attachable to a pole, tree or the like to facilitate the scaling thereof. The invention also relates to a method of scaling a pole, tree or the like utilizing such a ladder.
Scaling of poles, trees and the like is a problem encountered by many persons in their work and leisure. Linemen, for example, are often required to scale utility poles to repair telephone and power lines and hunters often scale trees to a tree stand. For such persons, speed, convenience and safety are all important features of any apparatus or method for scaling poles and trees. Particularly for linemen, the presently preferred method of climbing utility poles are leg irons. However, the use of leg irons requires a great deal of strength and skill and many injuries have resulted from their incorrect use.
In order to overcome the problem in scaling poles, lightweight portable ladders have been developed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,995,714 issued to Brooks et al, discloses a multisectional ladder particularly adapted for scaling utility poles. The top section of the ladder includes a vertical spar at the top of which a crook-shaped arm and a yoke are hingedly mounted to form a tiltable harness which grips the pole. Y-shaped stabilizers project from the bottom of each section to support the sections at a uniform distance from the pole, the bottom section being supported completely off of the ground. The ground surrounding the pole plays no part in supporting the ladder. Adjustable straps spaced along the ladder are used for purposes of security.
The ladder disclosed by Brooks et al has limited flexibility in terms of the diameter and form of poles it may be used to scale due to the fixed angles and curves of the yokes and crook-shaped arm used to support the ladder. The ladder would also not be very useful for scaling most trees because branches of the tree could interfere with the raising of the crook-arm to the desired height. The ladder also has rather complex construction including a precision hinged open loop assembly including a bladec crook-arm, serrated yokes, and means for coupling the yokes and loop assembly to the spar. Also such a ladder has many parts extending from each spar making the ladder relatively cumbersome to carry or store.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome these and other disadvantages of prior portable multisectional ladders by providing a sturdy, lightweight, portable, multisection ladder which is compact for carrying and storage and permits one to quickly and safely scale any pole, tree or the like, and a method for using same.


An inkjet printhead includes a compact substrate of increased stability and structural integrity to provide a high resolution 600 dot-per-inch nozzle array having a one-half inch swath. A plurality of ink vaporization chambers are respectively aligned with the nozzles in two longitudinal columns, one column extending longitudinally along one edge of the substrate and a second column extending longitudinally along an opposite edge of the substrate, with ink feed channels communicating through an ink passage from an underside of the substrate around both edges of the substrate to the vaporization chambers. The ink feed channels have thereby been eliminated from the central portion of the substrate, and replaced by the ink feed channels at the edges of the substrate.

The present invention generally relates to inkjet and other types of printers and, more particularly, to the printhead portion of an inkjet printer.
Inkjet print cartridges operate by causing a small volume of ink to vaporize and be ejected from a firing chamber through one of a plurality of orifices so as to print a dot of ink on a recording medium such as paper. Typically, the orifices are arranged in one or more linear nozzle arrays. The properly sequenced ejection of ink from each orifice causes characters or other images to be printed in a swath across the paper.
An inkjet printhead generally includes ink channels to supply ink from an ink reservoir to each vaporization chamber (i.e., firing chamber) proximate to an orifice; a nozzle member in which the orifices are formed; and a silicon substrate containing a series of thin film resistors, one resistor per vaporization chamber.
To print a single dot of ink in a thermal inkjet printer, an electrical current from an external power supply is passed through a selected thin film resistor. The resistor is then heated, in turn superheating a thin layer of the adjacent ink within a vaporization chamber, causing explosive vaporization, and, consequently, causing a droplet of ink to be ejected through an associated orifice onto the paper.
In an inkjet printhead, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,683,481 to Johnson, entitled "Thermal Ink Jet Common-Slotted Ink Feed Printhead," ink is fed from an ink reservoir to the various vaporization chambers through an elongated hole formed in the substrate. The ink then flows to a manifold area, formed in a barrier layer between the substrate and a nozzle member, then into a plurality of ink channels, and finally into the various vaporization chambers. This design may be classified as a "center" feed design, with side electrical interconnects to a flex-circuit along the full length of the substrate. Ink is fed to the vaporization chambers from a central location then distributed outward into the vaporization chambers which contain the firing resistors. Some disadvantages of this type of ink feed design are that manufacturing time is required to make the hole in the substrate, and the required substrate area is increased by at least the area of the hole and also by extra substrate at both ends of the hole to provide structural integrity. Also, once the hole is formed, the substrate is relatively fragile, making handling more difficult. Such prior printhead design limited the ability of printheads to have compact stable substrates with wide swath high nozzle densities and the lower operating temperatures required for increased resolution and throughput. Print resolution depends on the density of ink-ejecting orifices and heating resistors formed on the cartridge printhead substrate. Modern circuit fabrication techniques allow the placement of substantial numbers of resistors on a single printhead substrate. However, the number of resistors applied to the substrate is limited by the number and location of the conductive components used to electrically connect the printhead to external driver circuitry in the printer unit. Specifically, an increasingly large number of firing resistors requires a correspondingly large number of interconnection pads, leads, grounds and the like. This increase in components and interconnects and the resulting increase in substrate size causes greater manufacturing/production costs, increases the probability that defects will occur during the manufacturing process, and increases the heat generated during high frequency operation.

Stable substrate structure for a wide swath nozzle array in a high resolution inkjet printer


An adjusting method that adjusts an immersion exposure apparatus that comprises a first holder, which holds a substrate, and a second holder, which holds the substrate before the substrate is held by the first holder, and that exposes the substrate, which is held by the first holder, through a liquid. The adjusting method comprises: holding a thermometer with the first holder; holding the thermometer with the second holder; and adjusting the temperature of at least one of the first holder and the second holder based on the detection result of the thermometer held by the first holder and the detection result of the thermometer held by the second holder.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exposure apparatus adjusting method, an exposure apparatus, and a device fabricating method.
2. Related Art
Among exposure apparatuses used in photolithography, an immersion exposure apparatus is known that exposes a substrate through a liquid, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-12201.
The exposure apparatus comprises a holding part that holds the substrate, which is irradiated by exposure light. Regarding the exposure apparatus, there may be a problem with the relationship between the temperature of the holding part and the temperature of the substrate. In addition, in the immersion exposure apparatus, there may be a problem with the relationship between the temperature of the substrate and the temperature of the liquid.
A purpose of some aspects of the present invention is to provide a method of adjusting an exposure apparatus in order to perform an exposure operation satisfactorily. Another purpose is to provide the exposure apparatus that can perform the exposure operation satisfactorily and a device fabricating method that uses the exposure apparatus.

Exposure apparatus adjusting method, exposure apparatus, and device fabricating method


An expanding gate valve having replaceable valve seats that are capable of longer operating life than conventional valve seats. The valve seats of the present invention have sealing faces that are case hardened to a hardness of about Rockwell 60 C and are devoid of resilient sealing rings in the sealing faces. Additionally, the seats are of floating construction, and are adapted to move both axially and to tilt relative to the seat recesses that are provided in the valve body. Finally, a resilient biasing arrangement is provided at the rear portion of the seat to bias it outwardly relative to the seat recesses to insure substantially complete surface engagement between the sealing face of the seat ring and the face of the respective gate surface.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to expanding-gate-type gate valves. More particularly, the invention relates to a gate valve having an expanding gate and including replaceable valve seat inserts in which the valve seat inserts are removably received in recesses formed in the valve body, engage the opposite faces of the expanding gate, and have a longer effective operating life.
2. Description of the Related Art
Gate valves are used in a large number of fluid flow systems for flow control purposes. A generally rectangular solid gate member is provided having a pair of spaced, parallel faces that include a through passageway that extends through the gate member from one face to the other. The through passageway is positioned adjacent one end of the gate and the gate is adapted to be moved within the gate valve body to alternately bring the through passageway into and out of registry with a flow passageway to selectively permit flow through the valve and to prevent flow through the valve. A pair of valve seats are provided within the valve body and are so positioned on opposite faces of the gate that they engage the gate faces. The valve seats are provided to prevent flow around the gate rather than through the gate.
Because of their effectiveness to control flow of fluids, gate valves are often used in oil field applications. Frequently, such valves have an expanding gate to insure zero flow through the valve when the valve is in the closed position. However, because drilling fluids that are used to facilitate the drilling process often contain gritty materials and particles, valves used in such applications are subject to considerable wear, thereby resulting in the need to frequently replace the valve seats in order not to experience excessive leakage through such valves.
One solution that has been devised to solve the wear problem has been to provide a resilient sealing ring that is retained in the face of the valve seat that faces the gate face, both to provide a wiping action on the surface of the gate, and also to physically space the metallic portion of the seat from the gate and thereby reduce the frictional wear that would otherwise result when grit or other particles find their way between the valve seat and the gate. Oftentimes the annular sealing rings, which usually are made from a polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) material, are held in annular recesses formed in the face of the seats, the annular recesses having inwardly facing serrations on their inner surfaces to provide gripping surfaces to aid in retaining the sealing ring in position. However, the formation of such grooves and serrations adds substantially to the cost of such seats.
In addition to the additional cost, the resilient sealing rings are often damaged in use. Frequently, pressurized fluid seeps around the ring to enter the recess, which results in an outward force tending to force the ring out of the recess. As a result the ring partially extends into the passageway in the gate and is cut by the edge of the gate passageway as the gate moves over the sealing ring during opening and closing of the gate. Consequently, pieces of the rings are severed from the ring bodies, and result in hollowed-out spaces within which particulate matter can collect and further increase the wear problem. Valve seats incorporating such annular sealing rings are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,376,526, which issued on Mar. 15, 1983, to John W. Freeman, and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,471,943, which issued on Sep. 18, 1984, to Norman A. Nelson.
The prior art expanding gate valves also included seats that were force fit into the valve body. In that regard, U.S. Pat. No. 2,954,960, which issued on Oct. 4, 1960, to Calvin D. Dunbar et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,918, which issued on Dec. 25, 1984, to Manmohan S. Kalsi show such fixed seats. Alternatively, seats having limited axial movement are disclosed in the Nelson U.S. Pat. No. '943 patent.
It is an object of the present invention to overcome the problems attendant with the known expanding gate valve structures.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an expanding gate valve structure in which the valve seats do not contain resilient sealing rings in the sealing faces, and are also resistant to wear.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a simple, relatively inexpensive, and uncomplicated valve seat that provides greater longer operating life and is easy to replace.

Gate valve having expanding gate and floating seats


A well service fluid and method using same for brine-sensitive formations is disclosed. The fluid is an invert oil emulsion comprising heavy, solids-free brine, an oil or synthetic, and sufficient emulsifier to create the emulsion. The fluid has particular applicability in gravel packing a horizontal well.

This invention generally relates to compositions and methods or processes particularly suited for gravel packing and workover of wells drilled in subterranean hydrocarbon-bearing formations, including without limitation horizontal and directional wells. This invention also generally relates to compositions employed as displacement fluids, packer fluids, and fluids for drilling, especially drilling through pay zones of subterranean hydrocarbon-bearing formations.
2. Description of Relevant Art
As used herein, the terms xe2x80x9cwell service fluidxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cwellbore fluid,xe2x80x9d unless indicated otherwise, shall be understood to mean a fluid used for sand control, gravel packing, and workover operations, as well as a fluid employed as a displacement fluid, a packer fluid, or a fluid for drilling and especially drilling through a pay zone. The term xe2x80x9csolids-freexe2x80x9d as applied to the basic well service fluid shall be understood to mean that no solid materials (e.g., weighting agents or commercial particulates) are present in the wellbore fluid (except that the term is not intended to exclude the presence of drill cuttings in the fluid in the well). The term xe2x80x9chorizontalxe2x80x9d with respect to a wellbore or to drilling shall be understood to mean at an angle or incline other than 90 degrees from the wellbore surface as the surface is viewed as a plane at ground level. The term xe2x80x9cbrine-sensitive formationxe2x80x9d shall be understood to mean a formation sensitive to brines or that is best suited for oil-based drilling and well service fluids, such as a formation having swelling or sloughing shales, salt, gypsum, anhydrite or other evaporite formation, a hydrogen-sulfide containing formation and hot (greater than 300 degrees Fahrenheit) holes.
A drilling fluid or mud is a specially designed fluid that is circulated through a wellbore as the wellbore is being drilled to facilitate the drilling operation. The various functions of a drilling fluid include removing drill cuttings from the wellbore, cooling and lubricating the drill bit, aiding in support of the drill pipe and drill bit, and providing a hydrostatic head to maintain the integrity of the wellbore walls and prevent well blowouts. Specific drilling fluid systems are selected to optimize a drilling operation in accordance with the characteristics of a particular geological formation.
A drilling fluid comprising liquid, usually water and/or oil or synthetic oil or other synthetic material or synthetic fluid (xe2x80x9csyntheticxe2x80x9d), with solids in suspension is typically called a drilling fluid or mud. A non-aqueous based drilling fluid typically contains oil or a synthetic as the continuous phase and may also contain water which is dispersed in the continuous phase by emulsification so that there is no distinct layer of water in the fluid. Oil or synthetic-based muds are normally used to drill swelling or sloughing shales, salt, gypsum, anhydrite or other evaporite formations, hydrogen sulfide-containing formations, and hot (greater than 300 degrees Fahrenheit) holes, but may be used in other holes penetrating a subterranean formation as well.
Gravel packing is becoming an increasingly common or favored method of completing a wellbore (as opposed to cementing and perforating a well). Well service fluids are used to carry the gravel into the well and place it at the gravel packing site. As used herein, the term xe2x80x9cgravel,xe2x80x9d shall be understood to include not only natural gravel but other proppant type materials, natural and man made or synthetic, such as, for example, sand, pebbles, and synthetic beads. Generally, the well""s bottom hole pressure, which must be equalized, determines the minimal density of the fluid needed.
A solids free water or brine, typically called xe2x80x9cclear brine,xe2x80x9d has been commonly used to carry gravel for gravel packing a well and for other well servicing operations. Such fluid typically contains a zinc or calcium or sodium halide, such as sodium chloride, dissolved therein to provide the desired density to the fluid.
However, when a well has been drilled with an oil or synthetic-based drilling fluid, xe2x80x9cclear brinexe2x80x9d fluids can be incompatible with the drilling fluid or with the subterranean formation having characteristics that necessitated the use of the oil or synthetic-based drilling fluid such as a brinexe2x80x94sensitive formation. Clean hydrocarbon oils would likely provide the most compatible or least damaging completion fluids, but such oils do not have the required densities and do not readily dissolve compounds that could provide the required densities.
A need exists for an oil or synthetic-based, solids-free, well service fluid that is compatible with oil or synthetic-based drilling fluids and brine-sensitive formations and that has the ability to be weighted to equal or greater than the bottomhole pressure requirements.
A well service fluid has been discovered that can be made compatible with oil or synthetic-based drilling fluids and brine sensitive formations. This fluid comprises a solids-free, invert emulsion comprising heavy brine, synthetic or oil, and an emulsifier sufficient for facilitating formation of an invert emulsion. The brine forms the internal phase of the emulsion and the synthetic forms the external phase of the emulsion.
Preferably, synthetic is selected that is compatible with the oil or synthetic drilling fluid used to drill the wellbore to be serviced. The brine is made heavy with halide salts, preferably calcium bromide or zinc bromide or mixtures thereof, or cesium formate. Such halides confer density to the emulsion fluid without need for addition of other materials or solids.


A deck and fence mounting block and method of mounting is provided to attach a deck or fence to a building. The deck and fence mounting block comprises a plate-like member with steep top and bottom side edges and an aperture that penetrates the plate along a Y axis along which the length of the plate-like body is measured. The aperture is positioned closer to one end of the plate-like body than to the other so that when the plate is suspened by a bolt assembly or lag bolt extending through the aperture, the plate-like body will hang so that the Y axis is plumb. The deck or fence is thus spaced away from the building so that moisture is quickly deflected from the joint and not allowed to accumulate, the plate-like body being squeezed tightly between the support members to hold them apart.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a deck or fence mounting block or plate-like member or body, and the method of attaching a deck or fence to an adjoining structure.
2. Decription of the Prior Art
One of the problems in attaching a deck or fence to a building or other supporting structure by conventional building methods and standards is that there is a risk that moisture may be trapped and accumulate at the point of attachment and set up a condition that is conducive to the wood rotting at the joint, thus weakening the joint.
Another problem frequently resulting from conventional construction practices is the tendency, mostly inadvertently, to provide "earth-to-wood-contact", thus setting up a condition that is conducive to the attraction of wet-wood termites and the problems attendant thereto.
In the prior art, U.S. Pat. No. 3,716,957 discloses joined metallic H-beam and I-beam structures that support and stiffen each other, utilizing conventional H-beam and I-beam configurations, and embodying a slotted stiffener plate in the union therebetween. This configuration does nothing to deflect or eliminate the accumulation of moisture in the joint between the stiffener plate and the H-beam and I-beam. Additionally, this construction requires a large quantity of mounting bolts, thus increasing the cost of the construction in that it requires skilled employees using expensive equipment to bore the holes and others to place the bolts.
By contrast, the water-shedding spacing mount of the present invention effectively deflects moisture from the joint, and requires only one mounting bolt set through an off-center bolt hole to "capture" the mounting block or plate-like member between two adjacent and joined wood structures.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,921,356 discloses a structure for supporting decks on posts having their lower ends embedded in concrete. The structure, while adapted to support a deck, does not consider the problems inherent to support a wooden deck to an adjoining wooden structure to eliminate the moisture problems inherent in conventional structures at the jointure of a building and a deck or fence. The prior art thus appears to deal with structures which, while giving consideration to the support function, appear to give no consideration to a combined or dual concept of the support function of wooden structures in an environment that requires protection against moisture.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,542 discloses a modified metal I beam configuration used to attach and space a deck from a building. This is the only patent found that gives consideration to the problem of retained moisture but, as can be seen from the patent, the structure is totally different and much more complex than the present invention. This prior art structure, when mounted in place, has a horizontal surface that does not deflect moisture from the joint between the building and the deck. Additionally, it requires a large number of bolts and screws to mount. The present invention, by contrast, employing the configuration described hereinafter, efficiently deflects moisture from the joint. Furthermore, it requires only one mounting bolt set through the off-center bolt hole to tie the structure together.
Prior art U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,542 appears to create a space between the deck and building that is much larger than is practical for use in standard building practices. Again, by contrast, the present invention provides a very practical size space to use in accord with standard building practices.
Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a deck or fence mounting block or plate for the support of a deck or fence by spaced attachment of a building's internal framing members and the deck or fence in a manner to protect against the accumulation of undesirable moisture in the jointure between the building and the deck or fence.
Another object of the present invention is to provide simpler mounting hardware for the union between a deck and a building which can be more economically used to provide structural strength in an environment and with materials requiring protection against the accumulation of undesirable moisture.
Another object of the present invention is to provide mounting hardware for attaching a deck or fence to the building in a way that doesn't require that the building siding cover the edges of the mounting hardware.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a deck or fence mounting block or plate that can be set in a bed of exterior caulk at the place where the mounting block meets the siding to prevent against the passage of undesirable moisture.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a deck or fence mounting block having steep-angled top and bottom edges that function as flashing to deflect moisture from the joint between the mounting block and the building to thus protect against the accumulation of undesirable moisture.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a deck or fence mounting block or plate requiring only one bolt for mounting and which hangs plumb during the mounting process.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for the assembly of a wooden deck or fence and its attachment to a wooden building or other wooden support structure in a manner to protect against the accumulation of undesirable moisture.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method of application of a deck or fence mounting block or plate having steep-angled top and bottom edges to function as flashing to deflect moisture from the joint between the mounting block or plate and the building to protect against the accumulation of undesirable moisture in the joint.
The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some of which, with the foregoing, will become apparent from the following description and the drawings. It is to be understood however that the invention is not limited to the embodiment illustrated and described, since it may be embodied in various forms within the scope of the appended claims.

Water-shedding spacing mount for decks and fences


A spool for photographic film has a generally cylindrical core with flanges at the end portions of the core. A slot through the core receives an end portion of the film that is to be wound onto the spool. Hooks in the slot are engaged with the film through apertures in the film for attaching of the film to the spool. In order to avoid locking of two spools together during bulk handling, as can occur when a flange of one spool enters the slot of another spool, the outer edge of one wall defining the slot is chamfered and generally V-shaped. The edge of the wall forms a large obtuse angle and is substantially aligned with the tip ends of the hooks so that the chamfered wall and the tip ends prevent a spool flange from becoming locked in the slot of another spool.

The present invention relates to spools for film or other web material wherein the spool has a slot with a hook in the slot for engaging the film through apertures in an end portion of the film.
Spools for film and other webs may have a slot through the core of the film with hooks in the slot for engagement with the film through apertures in the film. Such spools are known, for example, from copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 237,027, filed Aug. 29, 1988 in the names of Clark E. Harris et al and entitled "Spool for Web-Shaped Film", now U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,821. A spool as disclosed in such application is generally designated 10 in FIGS. 1 and 2 and comprise a generally cylindrical core 12 on which film is wound and a pair of annular flanges 14 at the end portions of the core. A slot 16 extends through the core 12 of the spool and has an entrance end 17 and an exit end 19. Two hooks 18 project into the slot from a wall 20 at one side of the slot. A rib 22 on a second wall 24 projects into the slot between the hooks 18 and serves to deflect the film downwardly over the hooks as it is initially fed through the slot 16 from the right toward the left as viewed in FIG. 2. Wall 20 of the spool has a narrow notch 26 immediately below rib 22. As shown in FIG. 1, the notch does not extend axially into the area of wall 20 beneath the tip ends of the hooks or between the hooks and the exit end of the slot.
Spools of this kind are manufactured on molding machines and placed in containers in bulk form for transport to spooling apparatus. In the spooling equipment the spools may be placed in a vibrating hopper, for example, which automatically separates individual spools from the other spools and feeds them sequentially to a winding station of the spooling apparatus.
During the bulk handling of the spools as described above, it is possible for a flange 14 of one spool to become locked in the exit end 19 of the slot of another spool, as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. This can occur because the thickness of flanges 14 of the spools is approximately equal to or a little smaller than the spacing between the bottom of rib 22 and the top of wall 20. Also, as best shown in FIG. 1, the arcuate portion of the flange 14 that can enter the exit end of the slot is wider than the notch 26. If two spools become locked together, the spools cannot be separated and fed sequentially to the winding station of the spooling apparatus as described above. As is apparent from FIG. 2, a flange 14 can penetrate the exit end of the slot 16 only to a limited extent, i.e., until the flange reaches the adjacent tip ends of the hooks 18, because the tip ends of the hooks are spaced from wall 20 by a distance less than the thickness of the flanges 14.
This locking problem could be avoided by increasing the thickness of flange 14 or rib 22. However, hundreds of millions of spools of this type may be made each year by large film manufacturers, and the additional cost of even an incremental increase in material used for forming the spools can significantly increase the cost of producing the spools. Moreover, an increase in the width of flange 14 can result in deviations from standard specifications and may adversely effect performance of the spools in cassettes formed around the spools or in film processing equipment. Accordingly, it is desirable to solve the locking problem without increasing the cost of the spools, and it is even more desirable if the problem can be solved by further reducing the amount of material used in the spool to thereby further reduce its cost.

Spool for photographic film or other web material


A method for shifting an automated transmission situated in a drive train of a motor vehicle between an engine and a drive axle and having at least one multi-speed main transmission and a two-speed range change group rear-mounted thereon. The main transmission has at least one counter shaft with a transmission brake. A clutch engages the prime mover and the main transmission and the range change group is shifted via unsynchronized dog clutches which are combined in pairs in a common shift set and have two shift positions and one neutral position such that, during a range change gear shift both in the main transmission and the range change group a change between two ratio stages occurs. A range change up-shift includes synchronizing the input shaft and the target gear utilizing the transmission brake and passively synchronizing the dog shifted transmission parts by the edge beveling of the concerned dog clutches.

Group transmissions, having one multi-speed main transmission and one splitter group front-mounted thereon by drive technology, the same as a range change group rear-mounted on the main transmission by drive technology, have been known for a long time and are preferably used in industrial vehicles. The ratio jumps of the main transmission are halved by one splitter group designed generally with two speeds, having in about half of a middle ratio jump, between two consecutive ratio stages of the main transmission, a corresponding ratio jump and the number of gears of the group transmission altogether available is doubled. By a range change group, usually of two speeds with one ratio spanning over the whole ratio jump of the main transmission by about one middle ratio jump, between two consecutive ratio stages of the main transmission, the spread of the whole transmission is approximately doubled and the number of the total gears of the group transmission altogether available is again doubled. Relative to a three-speed main transmission (with three forward speeds and one reverse speed), this results in one 12-gear group transmission with altogether twelve forward gears and a maximum of four reverse gears and in relation to a four-speed main transmission, having four forward gear stages and one reverse gear stage, a 16-gear group transmission results and has a total of sixteen forward gears and a maximum of four reverse gears. Such a group transmission has, in comparison with a single transmission with a similar number of gears and similar gear gradation and spread, clearly more compact dimensions and lighter weight. But since many gear shifts in a group transmission require the change of ratio stages in several parts of the transmission and thus the sequence is relatively complicated, most known group transmissions are constructed such that they are either partly automated or fully automatedly shiftable.
A general view of the Applicant's automated group transmissions has been published in a periodical ATZ September 2004, pages 772-783. To the series of products of automated shift transmission, designated as AS-Tronic Family, belong the transmissions of the AS-Tronic middle line of products built for medium heavy industrial vehicles and the transmissions of the AS-Tronic line of products provided for heavy industrial vehicles, each designed as group transmission with one multi-speed, that is, main transmissions provided with three or four forward stages, one two-speed, splitter group front-mounted on the main transmission and one two-speed, range change group rear-mounted on the main transmission. The main transmission is constructed in countershaft design provided with unsynchronized dog clutches having, in the case of the AS-Tronic line of products, two countershafts for reasons of weight and space optimation. In both lines of products, the main transmission is optionally available in a direct gear design (iHG—min=1) or in a fast gear design (iHG—min<1). The splitter group is designed as a countershaft transmission with two shiftable, input constants for the main transmission. The range change group is designed as a two-speed, planetary transmission with one shiftable direct connection (iGP=1) and one alternatively shiftable high ratio (iGP>>1).
A group transmission, having one multi-speed, main transmission in countershaft design, one splitter group front-mounted thereon with two shiftable input constants of the main transmission and one range change group in planetary design rear-mounted on the main transmission is, moreover, known from WO 1999/00612 A1. This known group transmission can be optionally designed as a direct transmission by equipment with a different gear wheel pair forming an input constant of the main transmission or as a fast gear transmission. One alternative to this, of a group transmission with one two-speed, main transmission in countershaft design (with two forward gear stages and one reverse gear stage), one three-speed, splitter group front-mounted thereon and one range change group in planetary design rear-mounted on the main transmission, has been described in EP 0 769 641 B1.
In the group transmissions of the AS-Tronic line of products and of the AS-Tronic middle line of products have been built with synchronized shift clutches of the splitter group and of the range change group, combined in a common shift set, whereas the main transmission was designed to be shifted with a dog clutch, that is, shiftable by way of unsynchronized dog clutches. But since the concerned synchronized shift clutches, due to a complicated construction, are relatively more expensive, need a relatively large amount of space and, as a result of wear, the duration of the whole group transmission is limited for future designs of such group transmissions. It could be provided that, together with the main transmission, the range change group is also a dog shifted designed.
Due to the unsynchronized design of the range change group in such a group transmission, a special shifting sequence is required which, to a great extent, is clearly identical to that of a group transmission, but differs from group transmissions, provided with a synchronized range change group. A suitable method for shifting actuation of a group transmission, having an unsynchronized range change group, has been proposed, for example, in DE 101 52 857 A1. In the method, it is essentially provided that, during a range change gear shift, the front-mounted group and the range change group first are shifted to their neutral position to interrupt the energy flow, the main transmission is decelerated by way of a transmission brake, and subsequently the rotational speed of the prime mover begins to be adjusted to the synchronous rotational speed of the target gear. After shifting of the main transmission, the front-mounted group is synchronizedly shifted to its target ratio stage. When the prime mover reaches the synchronous rotational speed, the target ratio stage of the range change group is activated.
It is, of course, disadvantageous in this known method that the existence of a front-mounted group or of a splitter group front-mounted on the main transmission is presupposed and that the shifting sequence can only be used in a range change upshift, similarly the reaching of the synchronous rotational speed by the prime mover to be expected prior to the activation of the target ratio stage of the range change group is delayed.
With this background, the basic function of this invention is to obtain an improved method for shifting actuation of an automated group transmission of the kind mentioned above which, compared to the known method, makes a faster shifting sequence possible and can also be used in group transmissions having no front-mounted group or no splitter group front-mounted on the main transmission.

Method for shifting actuation of an automated group transmission


Electroporation of prokaryotic cells is achieved by the application of high-intensity electric fields of short duration to reversibly permeabilize the cell walls. Preferably, the field strength of the applied will be at least about 5 kV/cm and the duration of the exposure will be in the range from 2 to 20 msec. Macromolecules may be introduced to the cells or obtained from the cells during this period of cell wall permeability. Most commonly, the method will be utilized for transformation of the cells with nucleic acids. Very high transformation efficiencies in the range from 10.sup.9 to 10.sup.10 cells/.mu.g and transformation frequencies approaching 80% and above have been achieved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the permeabilization of prokaryotic cell walls by electroporation. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and system for the electroporation-enhanced transformation of prokaryotic cells with nucleic acids.
Electroporation has heretofore been employed to assist in the transfection of eukaryotic cells, including intact animal cells and plant protoplasts, both of which are substantially free from rigid cell walls. The cells to be transformed are suspended in a solution between a pair of electrodes, and an electrical pulse is supplied which has the effect of increasing the permeability of the cell membrane to the passage of nucleic acids and other substances. The field strength employed in the electroporation of eukaryotic cells has typically been in the range from about 0.5 to 1 kV/cm.
Electroporation has been used only to a very limited extent in the transformation of prokaryotic cells. The rigid cell wall of prokaryotic cells appears to be generally refractory to the passage of nucleic acids under the conditions of electroporation which have been utilized with eukaryotic cells. Electroporation of prokaryotes has generally been successful only after the rigid cell wall has been at least partially digested.
At present, chemical treatment is the method of choice for promoting transformation of prokaryotic cells by the uptake of exogenous nucleic acids. Such chemical treatment, however, varies widely in effectiveness among different types of prokaryotes. Even with the most amenable bacterial hosts, e.g., E. coli, the efficiency of transformation achieved using chemical treatment methods seldom exceeds about 10.sup.8 transformants/.mu.g of nucleic acids and is frequently much less. Moreover, the chemical treatment methods often require lengthy regeneration periods for the treated hosts and do not always achieve consistent results.
For these reasons, it would be desirable to provide methods and systems for performing electroporation of prokaryotic cells, where said methods and systems are capable of inducing permeability of the rigid cell wall. It would be particularly desirable if such methods were effective with most or all types of prokaryotic cells, were capable of providing a very high efficiency of transformation.
2. Description of the Background Art
A method for the electroporation-assisted transformation of E. coli is described in a brochure entitled "Gene Pulser.TM. Transformation Apparatus Operating Instructions and Applications Guide," distributed by Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., Richmond, Calif. 94804. The method employs a cell suspension volume of 0.8 ml and discloses a maximum transformation efficiency of 10.sup.6 cells/.mu.g DNA. Following the instructions in the Bio-Rad Applications Guide, transformation of Lactobacillus casei (Chassy and Flickinger (1987) FEMS Microbiology Lett. 44:173-177) and Streptococcus lactis (Powell et al. (1988) Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 54:655-660) have also been achieved. Harlander (1987) "Transformation of Streptococcus lactis by Electroporation," in Streptococcal Genetics, Freti and Curtis, eds., pp 229-233, describes the electroporation of intact S. lactis, where the cells are subjected to very short (5 .mu.sec) electric pulses of up to 11.6 kV/cm while being centrifuged in a sucrose density gradient. U.S. Pat. No. 4,081,340, describes a method for increasing the permeability of the skin of cells by applying a constant electric field to a flowing suspension of cells. Potter et al. (1984) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 81 7161-7165 describes an electroporation cell having opposed electrodes spaced by 0.5 cm and used to transfect mouse lymphocytes and fibroblasts. Although reference is made to the transformation of E. coli cells, no conditions are disclosed for achieving such transformation. Zeitschrift Fur Allgemeine Mikrobiologie (1983) 23:595 describes the electroporation of polyethylene glycol-treated Bacillus protoplasts which resulted in an increased rate of transformation. Miller et al. (1988) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85: 856-860 describes the method of the present invention applied to the transformation of Campylobacter jejuni.


A method for making a polyaspartic ester mixture in-situ comprising the sequential steps of (a) reacting a polypropylene oxide amine with an excess amount of an ester of fumaric or maleic acid to form a mixture containing first polyaspartic ester component and excess unreacted ester of fumaric or maleic acid, and (b) adding an acyclic amine to the mixture resulting from step (a) and reacting the acyclic amine with the excess ester of fumaric or maleic acid to form a second polyaspartic ester component.

The invention relates to a method for making polyaspartic esters.
Two-component coating compositions having a polyisocyanate component and an isocyanate-reactive component (a polyhydroxyl component) are known. These compositions are suitable for the preparation of high quality coatings that may be rendered rigid, elastic, resistant to abrasion and to solvents and, above, all, resistant to weathering. Polyaspartic esters have been used as isocyanate-reactive components in such two-component compositions. A polyaspartic ester can be used individually, with a polyisocyanate, or possibly in combination with polyols or polyamines. Alternatively, polyaspartic esters can be used with blocked polyamines such as ketimines, aldimines or oxizolidines.
Methods for making polyaspartic esters are known. It is known, for instance, that during the Michael Addition Reaction of an ester of fumaric or maleic acid and the primary amine, for instance, the ester of maleic or fumaric acid isomerizes to dialkyl fumarate in the presence of amines, according to the following chemical reaction:
The dialkyl fumarate is then converted to a polyaspartic ester. Mixtures of polyaspartic esters based on cyclic and acyclic amines have proven to be valuable isocyanate-reactive components of polyurea compositions that have found utility in the formulation of high solids coatings where solvent content is very low or zero. These formulations are used in architectural and automotive refinish applications. Known methods for preparing polyaspartic ester mixtures typically involve preparing polyaspartic esters based on acyclic and polypropylene oxide amines separately and then combining each polyaspartic ester mixture. Polyaspartic esters based on acyclic amines, which contain amines attached to primary carbons, generally react with an isocyanate faster than polyaspartic esters based on polypropylene oxide amines that have an amine group attached to a secondary ring carbon. In addition, polyaspartic esters based on acyclic amines have a lower viscosity than polyaspartic esters based on polypropylene oxide amines. It is often desirable to blend these types of amines to achieve formulations with different viscosities and with intermediate reaction speeds.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,741 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,623,045 each disclose a single step process for the production of polyaspartic esters. Each process reacts an ester of maleic or fumaric acid with a primary polyamine such that preferably one olefinic double bond is present for each primary amino group. The patents teach that excess starting materials is removed by distillation after the reaction. Neither patent discusses how much time it takes for the reaction of the ester of maleic or fumaric acid to complete, i.e., to obtain a yield of about 100% of the polyaspartic ester. Neither patent addresses the issue of developing a process that makes a 100% yield of a mixture of (1) a polyaspartic ester based on a polypropylene oxide amine and (2) a polyaspartic ester based on an acyclic amine in a matter of days.
Unfortunately, such methods have prevented manufacturers of polyaspartic esters from delivering shipments to customers as quickly as would be desired. I have discovered that by following the teachings of the above-described known methods and using a 1:1 stoicheometric ratio, it takes several months to obtain full, or near-full, conversion of the reaction of a polypropylene oxide amine and an ester of maleic or fumaric acid. For instance, the use of bis (4-aminocyclohexyl)methane requires the polyaspartic ester to be stored in excess of six weeks to achieve 95% reaction and from six to twelve months to achieve complete reaction; and the use of bis (3-methyl-4-aminocyclohexyl)methane [commercially known as Laromin C-260] requires the polyaspartic ester to be stored in excess of eight weeks to achieve 95% reaction and from twelve to eighteen months to achieve 100% reaction. Removing excess ester of maleic or fumaric acid, as suggested by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,236,741 and 5,623,045, is a time-consuming expensive procedure.
The problem of long waiting times has not been able to be resolved by making large amounts of the mixtures in advance because it is extremely difficult to predict customers"" needs for the mixtures. Further, expensive storage, and inventory costs have discouraged the making and the storing of large amounts of the mixtures. As such, it is not uncommon for a customer to have to wait several months to receive an order of mixtures of polyaspartic esters.
It would be advantageous to develop an improved method for making mixtures of polyaspartic esters based on polypropylene oxide amines and polyaspartic esters based on acyclic amines that overcomes the above-named disadvantages.
The invention relates to a method for making a polyaspartic ester mixture in-situ comprising the sequential steps of (a) reacting a polypropylene oxide amine with an excess amount of an ester of fumaric or maleic acid to form a mixture containing first polyaspartic ester component and excess unreacted ester of fumaric or maleic acid, and (b) adding an acyclic amine to the mixture resulting from step (a) and reacting the acyclic amine with the excess ester of fumaric or maleic acid to form a second polyaspartic ester component. The invention is also directed to the in-situ mixture of polyaspartic ester esters formed during the method, prior to termination of the process, that contains the first polyaspartic ester component and the second polyaspartic ester component. The method makes it possible for customers to receive mixtures of the polyaspartic esters in a fraction of the time it has ordinarily taken. These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description and appended claims.
As used in this application, the term xe2x80x9cacyclic aminexe2x80x9d refers to an amine that does not have (i) a polypropylene oxide group and (ii) a primary amine group attached to a cyclic group.
The invention is based on the discovery that mixtures of polyaspartic esters based on polypropylene oxide amines and polyaspartic esters based on acyclic amines can be prepared in-situ, (under certain conditions) in a fraction of the time it ordinarily takes to make them. It is critical that the polypropylene oxide amine first react with an excess ester of maleic or fumaric acid. As discussed below, if the sequence of the steps varies, e.g., if the steps are reversed or if the cyclic and acyclic amines are added simultaneously, the reaction proceeds substantially slower and is outside the scope of the present invention.
The first and second ester components are selected from esters of maleic acid and fumaric acid. Esters of maleic acid and fumaric acid include suitable dialkyl maleates or dialkyl fumarates. Suitable dialkyl maleates include, diethyl maleate, dipropyl maleate, dibutyl maleate, methyl propyl maleate, ethyl propyl maleate, and the like. Suitable dialkyl fumurates include, diethyl fumurate, dipropyl fumurate, dibutyl fumurate, methyl propyl fumurate, ethyl propyl fumurate, and the like. Generally, dimethyl maleate or dimethyl fumurate is not used in an appreciable amount because it has been discovered that these esters cause the precipitation of long needle-like crystals that no longer participate in the Michael Addition Reaction and that cause the reaction to stop altogether. It is believed that cinnamate esters do not react under the same reaction conditions as esters of maleic acid or fumaric acid.
The amine component is generally selected from difunctional or trifunctional cyclic and acyclic amines that can accomplish the objects of the invention. Suitable amines can be selected from the following. Suitable acyclic difunctional amines include but are not limited to ethylene diamine, 1,2-diaminopropane, 1,4-diaminobutane, 1,6-diaminohexane, 2,5-dimethylhexane, 2,2,4- and/or 2,4,4-trimethyl-1,6-diaminohexane, 1,11-diaminoundecane, 1,12-diaminododecane, 1-amino-3,3,5-trimethyl-5-aminomethylcyclohexane, 2,4- and/or 2,6-hexahydrotolylenediamine, 2,4xe2x80x2- and/or 4,4xe2x80x2-diaminodicyclohexylmethane, and 3,3xe2x80x2-dimethyl-4,4xe2x80x2-diaminodicyclohexylmethane. Suitable trifunctional amines include 4-aminomethyl-1,8-diaminooctane (also known as triaminononane supplied by Monsanto Company), tris-(2-aminoethyl)amine. It is believed that tetrafunctional amines, e.g., N,N,Nxe2x80x2,Nxe2x80x2-tetrakis-(2-aminoethyl)-1,2-ethanediamine are also suitable.
Suitable polypropylene oxide amines generally include difunctional and multifunctional amines with polypropylene oxide groups. These amines are well known and can be prepared by methods such as those described in German Offenlegungsschrift No. 1,193,671, U.S. Pat. No. 3,236,895, French. Pat. No. 1,466,708, all incorporated herein by reference in entirety. Suitable examples of such difunctional amines include polypropylene oxide diamine can be obtained from Huntsman Corporation under the marks Jeffamine D-2000. Examples of suitable trifunctional polypropylene oxide amines include polyoxypropylene triamine, (Jeffamine T-403), Jeffamine T-3000 and Jeffamine T-5000, also available from Huntsman.
The polyisocyanate component used to react with the polyaspartic ester mixtures includes any polyisocyanate, which when used in accordance with the invention, meets the object of the invention. Suitable polyisocyanates for use as polyisocyanate component in accordance with the present invention include the known polyisocyanates of polyurethane chemistry. Examples of suitable low molecular weight polyisocyanates having a molecular weight of 168 to 300 include 1,4-diisocyanatobutane, 1,6-hexamethylene diisocyanate, 2,2,4- and/or 2,4,4-trimethyl-1,6-hexamethylene diisocyanate, dodecamethylene diisocyanate, 1,4-diisocyanatocyclohexane, 1-isocyanato-3,3,5-trimethyl-5-isocyana-tomethylcyclohexane (IPDI), 2,4xe2x80x2- and/or 4,4xe2x80x2-diisocyanato-dicyclohexyl methane, 2,4- and/or 4,4xe2x80x2-diisocyanatodiphenyl methane and mixtures of these isomers with their higher homologues that are obtained in a known manner by the phosgenation of aniline/formaldehyde condenses, 2,4- and/or 2,6-diisocyanatotoluene and any mixtures of these compounds. Preferred cyclic isocyanates include diphenylmethane 4,4xe2x80x2-diisocyanate (MDI), diphenylmethane 2,4xe2x80x2-diisocyanate, 2,4- and/or 2,6-diisocyanato-toluene. Preferred aliphatic isocyanates include hexamethylene diisocyanate, isophorone diisocyanate, 2,4xe2x80x2- and/or 4,4xe2x80x2-diisocyanato-dicyclohexyl methane.
Additional suitable polyisocyanate components include derivatives of the above-mentioned monomeric polyisocyanates, as is conventional in coatings technology. These derivatives include polyisocyanates containing biuret groups as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,124,605 and 3,201,372 and DE-OS 1,101,394, incorporated herein by reference in their entirety; polyisocyanates containing isocyanurate groups as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,001,973, DE-PS 1,022,789, 1,222,067 and 1,027,394 and DE-OS 1,929,034 and 2,004,048, incorporated herein by reference in their entirety; polyisocyanates containing urethane groups as described, for instance, in DE-OS 953,012, BE-PS 752,261 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,394,164 and 3,644,457; polyisocyanates containing carbodiimide groups as described in DE-PS 1,092,007, U.S. Pat. No. 3,152,162 and DE-OS 2,504,400, 2,537,685 and 2,552,350, incorporated herein by reference in their entirety; and polyisocyanates containing allophanate groups as described, for example, in GB-PS 994,890, BE-PS 761,626 and NL-OS 7,102,524. Suitable polyisocyanates also include polyisocyanates that contain uretdione groups. In one embodiment, asymmetric trimers such as those in U.S. Pat. No. 5,717,091, incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Isocyanate group-containing prepolymers and semi-prepolymers based on polyisocyanates can also be used as the polyisocyanate component. These prepolymers and semi-prepolymers generally have an isocyanate content ranging from about 0.5 to 30% by weight, preferably about 1 to 20% by weight, and are prepared in a known manner by the reaction of starting materials, e.g., isocyanate-reactive compounds such as polyols, at an NCO/OH equivalent ratio of about 1.05:1 to 10:1, preferably about 1.1:1 to 3:1.
The first step of the process involves reacting a polypropylene oxide amine with an excess amount of an ester of fumaric or maleic acid to form a mixture containing first polyaspartic ester component and excess unreacted ester of fumaric or maleic acid. The equivalent ratio of the ester of maleic or fumaric acid to the propylene oxide amine is greater than 1:1, preferably 1.2:1 to 5:1 and more preferably 1.4:1 to 3:1. Generally, the more excess ester of maleic or fumaric acid used, the faster the initial reaction proceeds. To obtain a yield that is about 100% at an equivalent ratio of ester of maleic or fumaric acid to polypropylene oxide amine of 2:1, for instance, the reaction lasts less than 24 hours. When the equivalent ratio of ester of maleic or fumaric acid to polypropylene oxide amine of 5:1, for instance, the reaction lasts less than 8 hours. It is generally preferred to have the initial reaction to be complete in about eight hours. Actual ratios for a specific application can be determined by routine experimentation.
The second step of the process involves adding an acyclic amine to the mixture and reacting the acyclic amine with the excess ester of fumaric or maleic acid to form a second polyaspartic ester component. The acyclic amine is preferably used in an amount that corresponds to the excess, unreacted ester of fumaric or maleic acid. Accordingly, the equivalent ratio of acyclic amine to cyclic amine is preferably 0.2:1 to 4:1, preferably 0.4:1 to 2:1. The reaction of the excess ester of maleic or fumaric acid and the acyclic amine generally takes less than two weeks.
The reaction conditions at which the method is carried out under are discussed below. Generally, the reaction takes place at a temperature of 0 to 100xc2x0 C. The reaction may take place in the absence or in the presence of suitable solvents such as methanol, ethanol, propanol, ethyl- or butyl acetate and mixtures of these solvents. The pressure of the reaction is generally atmospheric. As such, since the reaction of the cyclic polyamine and the ester of maleic or fumaric acid lasts hours instead of months, conversions of about 100% of mixtures of the polyaspartic ester based on the polypropylene oxide amine and the polyaspartic ester based on the acyclic amine can be obtained in days instead of months. Generally, a conversion of about 100% is obtained in less than 2-3 days.
The polyaspartic ester mixtures can be used in applications such as coatings. The low viscosity allows the formulation of paint at high or very high solids, or even paint with no solvent. Coatings applications can use polyurea coatings based on polyaspartic esters and polyisocyanates include general factory applied coating and field applied architectural or automotive refinish coatings.

In-situ preparation of polyaspartic ester mixture