Disclosed are an apparatus for and a method of measuring optical alignment conditions of optical fibers mounted to a V-groove array in an optical fiber block connected to the input or output terminals of an optical waveguide device. The disclosed apparatus includes a light source, a measuring unit for measuring the characteristics of a light emitted from the light source and outputted from each of the optical fibers after passing through the optical fiber, and a control unit for determining respective central positions of the first and last ones of the optical fibers, based on the characteristics of the first and last optical fibers measured by the measuring unit, determining a direction connecting the determined central positions of the first and last optical fibers, and conducting a control for allowing the light emitted from the light source to be irradiated onto the remaining optical fibers in a sequential fashion along the determined direction, thereby allowing the measuring unit to measure the characteristics of the remaining optical fibers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for and a method of measuring an optical alignment of an optical fiber block, and more particularly to an apparatus for and a method of measuring optical alignment conditions of optical fibers mounted to a V-groove array in an optical fiber block connected to the input or output terminals of an optical waveguide device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, an increase in the number of input/output terminals in an optical waveguide device such as a 1xc3x97N splitter, wavelength division multiplexer/demultiplexer, or optical switch results in a difficulty in attaching an optical fiber block to the input or output terminals of the optical waveguide device. Of course, the space between adjacent ones of waveguides at the input or output terminals in such an optical waveguide device and the position of each waveguide on a substrate can have an accuracy of micron or less by virtue of an accurate photolithography. On the other hand, where optical fibers are attached to the input or output terminals of the optical waveguide device, it is required to arrange those optical fibers at desired positions, respectively. However, this process becomes more difficult as the number of the optical fibers used increases. To this end, it is necessary to use an optical fiber block in which optical fibers are accurately arranged in such a fashion that they are spaced apart from one another by a space corresponding to that of the optical waveguides at the input or output terminal of the optical waveguide device within an accuracy of micron or less.
However, such an optical fiber block has a structure fabricated by manually mounting single-core or multi-core optical fibers to a V-groove array. Due to such a structure, the optical fiber block may have a degraded reliability when it is attached to an optical waveguide device unless the alignment condition thereof is checked. In addition, there is a problem in that it is impossible to find an accurate alignment center of the optical fiber block. Therefore, it is necessary to provide an apparatus for and a method of measuring an optical alignment of the optical fiber block.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,703,973 for an Optical Integrated Circuit Having Passively Aligned Fibers And Method Using Same to Mettler et al discloses in FIG. 7 an apparatus for aligning optical fibers in an optical fiber array. Micropositioners are capable of finely positioning respective optical fiber arrays in three dimensions. A laser source is coupled to the ends of the optical fibers and can selectively generate laser light in any selected optical fiber. A light detector and a power meter generates a signal and intensity of laser light transmitted through the interconnection assembly. However, I have not seen a method for measuring the alignment of optical fibers in an optical fiber block that tests the first fiber on the edge of a block, the last fiber on the other edge of the block first before testing the optical fibers in between to achieve better measurement of alignment.
An object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for and a method of measuring an optical alignment of an optical fiber block, in which the optical alignment of the optical fiber block is measured by measuring the characteristics of the first and last ones of optical fibers mounted to a V-groove array in the optical fiber block, determining respective positions of those first and last optical fibers, and measuring the characteristics of the remaining optical fibers, based on the determined positions.
In accordance with one aspect, the present invention provides an apparatus for measuring optical alignment conditions of optical fibers mounted to an optical fiber block comprising: a light source; a measuring unit for measuring the characteristics of a light emitted from the light source and outputted from each of the optical fibers after passing through the optical fiber; and a control unit for determining respective central positions of the first and last ones of the optical fibers, based on the characteristics of the first and last optical fibers measured by the measuring unit, determining a direction connecting the determined central positions of the first and last optical fibers, and conducting a control for allowing the light emitted from the light source to be irradiated onto the remaining optical fibers in a sequential fashion along the determined direction, thereby allowing the measuring unit to measure the characteristics of the remaining optical fibers.
In accordance with another aspect, the present invention provides A method for measuring optical alignment conditions of optical fibers mounted to an optical fiber block comprising the steps of: irradiating a light emitted from a light source onto a first one of the optical fibers in the optical fiber block, and adjusting a central position of the first optical fiber in such a fashion that the light passing through the first optical fiber has a maximum power; irradiating the light emitted from a light source onto a last one of the optical fibers, and adjusting a central position of the last optical fiber in such a fashion that the light passing through the last optical fiber has a maximum power; and determining a direction connecting the adjusted central positions of the first and last optical fibers, and irradiating the light emitted from the light source onto the remaining optical fibers in the optical fiber block in a sequential fashion along the determined direction while measuring respective powers of lights outputted from the remaining optical fibers, thereby checking respective alignment conditions of the remaining optical fibers, and conducting a control for allowing the light emitted from the light source to be irradiated onto the remaining optical fibers, thereby allowing the measuring unit to measure the characteristics of the remaining optical fibers in the determined direction.
In accordance with another aspect, the present invention provides a method for measuring optical alignment conditions of optical fibers mounted to an optical fiber block comprising the steps of: irradiating a light emitted from a light source onto a first one of the optical fibers in the optical fiber block, and adjusting a central position of the first optical fiber in such a fashion that the light passing through the first optical fiber has a maximum power; irradiating the light emitted from a light source onto a last one of the optical fibers, and adjusting a central position of the last optical fiber in such a fashion that the light passing through the last optical fiber has a maximum power; and determining a direction connecting the adjusted central positions of the first and last optical fibers, and irradiating the light emitted from the light source onto the remaining optical fibers in the optical fiber block in a sequential fashion along the determined direction while measuring respective powers of lights outputted from the remaining optical fibers, thereby checking respective alignment conditions of the remaining optical fibers, and conducting a control for allowing the light emitted from the light source to be irradiated onto the remaining optical fibers, thereby allowing the measuring unit to measure the characteristics of the remaining optical fibers in the determined direction.

Apparatus for and method of measuring optical alignment of fiber block


In a communication apparatus having a transmission-power control function of controlling transmission power, the operation state of the communication apparatus is determined. If the communication apparatus is determined as a data-transmitting side, control is done to validate the transmission-power control function. If the communication apparatus is determined as a data-receiving side, control is done to invalidate the transmission-power control function.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to transmission power control of a communication apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Public radio communications and the like have already implemented transmission power control of battery-driven communication apparatuses and prolonged their driving time. Various schemes have been proposed to control transmission power. For example, patent reference 1: U.S. Pat. No. 6,119,018 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-326754) describes a technique of causing a host station to transmit an optimum transmission power control signal to a mobile station. The mobile station subordinately controls its transmission power in accordance with the signal.
PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol) is an image transfer protocol by camera control. A side to request PTP session establishment is called an initiator. The other side to respond to the request is called a responder. After PTP session establishment, command-response communication is done so that the initiator requests an operation, and the responder responds to it. The PTP is popularly used in, e.g. digital still cameras (to be referred to as DSCs hereinafter) and printers.
A communication apparatus that subordinately controls its transmission power in accordance with an instruction from a control station, as in the above-described public radio communication, can minimize the transmission power. Even a communication apparatus that executes autonomous transmission power control can reduce the transmission power if the transmission power of the communication partner is fixed.
However, when a pair of communication apparatuses (e.g., DSCs with built-in wireless LAN) autonomously controls their transmission power, the transmission power of each communication apparatus may be too high or too low. This may increase power consumption or disable communication. For example, in wireless LAN based on IEEE802.11b, the temporal length of a maximum data packet transmitted from a transmitting-side communication apparatus is about eight times that of an acknowledge packet transmitted from a receiving-side communication apparatus. Hence, an increase in power consumption of the transmitting-side communication apparatus poses a problem from the viewpoint of power saving.

Communication apparatus and transmission power control method thereof


An outside rear view mirror of a flexible type is arranged to be easily mounted on a vehicle body. A mirror mounting body is coupled, by means of a stud and a spring, with a base member having on the bottom angled hooks to provide an assembly. This assembly is mounted on a vehicle body by inserting the angled hooks into apertures formed through a vehicle body panel and thereafter from the inside of the body panel, a clip is engaged with the hooks to secure the assembly to the body panel.

This invention relates to a motor vehicle comprising an outside rear view mirror of a flexible type which is arranged to incline together with its stay in case of a collison, for example, with a pedestrian so as to prevent him from being injured and to resume the original state spontaneously and more particularly to a novel manner of mounting an outside rear view mirror of such a type on a vehicle body panel.
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a conventional manner of mounting an outside rear view mirror body on an automobile body panel. In FIGS. 1 and 2 a mirror mounting body 1 is pivotally connected to a stud 5 by means of a pin 4, and the stud 5 is inserted into an aperture 2a formed through an automobile body panel 2 such as a front fender with a base 3 interposed between the mirror mounting body 1 and the body panel 2. Thereafter, from the inside of the body panel 2, a helical spring 8 is disposed around the stud 5 and a nut 9, interposing a washer 7, is tightened on a threaded lower end of the stud 5, by the use of a tool 6 such as a box-type spanner, to compress the spring 8 thereby to secure the mirror mounting body 1 to the body panel 2. Thereafter, a hold case 10 is attached to the inside of the body panel 2 to cover the stud 5 and the spring 8.
According to such a design, the parts of the mirror body and tools such as a box spanner specific to the mirror body must be introduced inside the fender through a narrow gap between an arched edge 2c of the fender and a wheel, and the complicatedness of work inside the wheel arch forces the worker to keep an uncomfortable posture for a long time.
Therefore, such work is unfavorable as a step on an assembly line from a viewpoint of safety of work. Moreover, there is some possibility that the nut is tightened either insufficiently or so excessively that the thread is destroyed. When the mirror body has to be disassembled and reassembled because of repairing of the vehicle body such as re-painting of renewal of the mirror, the situation is the same as in the initial assembly process. Furthermore, the screwed members are likely to get rusty due to muddy water splashed during driving the vehicle so that it becomes difficult to disassemble the mirror body.

Mounting of outside rear view mirror on motor vehicle body


A series of 4-(2-hydroxyethylthiomethyl)pyridines and related compounds, and their pharmaceutically acceptable acid addition salts, having antiinflammatory and immunoregulatory activity are disclosed. Preferred compounds include 4-(2-hydroxyethylthiomethyl)pyridine itself, as well as 4-(2-hydroxyphenylthiomethyl)pyridine, 4-(2-hydroxy-1-propylthiomethyl)pyridine, 4-(3-hydroxy-2-butylthiomethyl)pyridine, 4-(2-hydroxyethylthiomethyl)pyrimidine, the acetate esters corresponding to the above compounds, and 4-(2,3-dihydroxy-1-propylthiomethyl)pyridine.

This invention relates to pyridines and pyrimidines substituted at the 4-position with a thioether and hydroxy containing sidechain, the corresponding methyl ether and carboxylic acid ester derivatives thereof, and the acid addition salts of said alcohols, methyl ethers and esters.
A number of compounds have been known in the art to be useful as antiinflammatory agents, for example the corticosteroids, phenylbutazone, indomethacin, piroxicam and other benzothiazine dioxides (Lombardino, U.S. Pat. No. 3,591,584), 2-oxo-2,3-dihydrobenzofuran-3-carboxamides (Kadin, U.S. Pat. No. 3,676,463), and substituted diarylimidazoles (Lombardino, U.S. Pat. No. 3,707,475). Accordingly these compounds have therapeutic value in the treatment of arthritic and other inflammatory conditions. Such conditions have also been treated by administration of immunoregulatory agents, such as levamisole, as described, for example, in Arthritis and Rheumatism, 20, 1445 (1977) and Lancet, 1, 393 (1976). In efforts to find new and improved therapeutic agents for the treatment of these conditions, it has now been found that the novel pyridines and pyrimidines of the present invention are active either as antiinflammatory agents or as regulants of the immune response in mammals, and in many cases, possess both types of activity. Because these activities are complementary, the latter are of particular value in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and other conditions where relief of the inflammation and regulation of the immune response is desired.
The compounds of the present invention are novel. Isomeric 3-(2-hydroxyethylthiomethyl)pyridine has been reported in the literature [Vejdelek et al., Chem. Listy. 47, 49 (1953); see Chem. Abstr. 49, 336f (1955)]; no pharmacological activity, however, is reported for this compound.

Antiinflammatory and immunoregulatory pyrimidines, their method of use and pharmaceutical compositions


This invention relates to the measurement and control of consistency in an aqueous flow stream, as it leaves a stage (i.e. Bleaching Stage) of the papermaking process. More particularly, the present invention relates to the measurement used for control of wood fiber and suspended solids in a papermaking pulp stock flow stream.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the measurement and control of consistency in an aqueous flow stream, as it leaves a stage (i.e. Bleaching Stage) of the papermaking process. More particularly, the present invention relates to the measurement used for control of wood fiber and suspended solids in a papermaking pulp stock flow stream.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the paper industry, paper is made from wood fibers and chemicals and they are transported from one part of the paper mill to the other in a liquid medium that consists primarily of water once in this liquid medium, the fibers can be treated with chemicals to change their properties and improve paper quality. For example, chemicals can be added to bleach the fibers white or to cause the fibers to acquire certain mechanical properties.
In order for the paper making process to operate efficiently, the ratio of the weight of solids (fibers and other suspended solids) to the total weight of the mixture (fibers and solids and liquids) . . . termed "consistency" must be measured and controlled. The term "suspended solids" is anything in a mixture that will remain after all the liquids have been drained and/or evaporated away. Wood fiber is in fact a suspended solid, but since it is the main ingredient used to make paper, we refer to it separately.
The mathematical equation for consistency is according to Equation 1: ##EQU1##
The accuracy of a consistency meter is checked by extracting a representative sample of the mixture the meter is measuring and applying the above Equation 1, using the weight of the sample mixture and the weight of what is left after all moisture has been removed and comparing the results to what the meter indicated the consistency was at the time the sample was extracted.
Consistency of pulp stock is typically controlled by diluting it with water as the stock is pumped from a storage tank to the next stage in the process. It is standard practice to introduce the dilution water just ahead of the stock pump to obtain good mixing. Obviously, the consistency of the stock leaving the storage tank must be higher than what is needed for the next stage of the process in order for this to work.
As shown in prior art FIG. 1, the most basic control strategy utilizes a single consistency meter 16 at the end of the process stage 12 and a consistency controller 10 to manipulate a dilution water valve 6 to maintain the desired consistency. As can be seen in FIG. 1, consistency control system 2 includes papermaking storage tank 4, dilution valve 6, stock pump 8, consistency controller 10, process stage 12, process additive lines 14 and consistency meter 16. Process stage 12 may, for example, be a bleaching stage with additive lines 14 being bleaching chemical lines.
A more involved control strategy, as shown in prior art FIG. 2, includes a dilution water flow meter 22 and flow controller 24 for dilution water flow control that receives its' flow setting (flow setpoint) from consistency controller 10. This strategy accounts for fluctuations in the dilution water supply pressure. As can be seen in FIG. 2, consistency control system 20 includes storage tank 4, dilution valve 6, stock pump 8, consistency controller 10, process stage 12, process additive lines 14, consistency meter 16, dilution flow meter 22 and dilution flow controller 24.
As shown in prior art FIG. 3, even more involved control strategies have been used to bias (add or subtract a value to/from) the consistency controller's output 32 as additional liquids and/or suspended solids are introduced into the process so that dilution flow is adjusted accordingly. As can be seen in FIG. 3, consistency control system 30 includes storage tank 4, dilution valve 6, stock pump 8, consistency controller 10, process stage 12, process additive lines 14, consistency meter 16, dilution flow meter 22, dilution flow controller 24, and dilution setpoint 32.
It is also known that deadtime (measurement delay) is the biggest contributor to errors in process control, so it is important that the major sources of deadtime be identified and their contribution to total deadtime be reduced if possible. The most obvious and most significant cause of deadtime in the control of papermaking stock consistency results from the placement of the consistency measuring device (meter) with respect to the dilution water injection point, and until the present invention, significant deadtime was sometimes unavoidable.
For example, for processes requiring the introduction of liquids and/or suspended solids after the injection of dilution water, the consistency meter must be placed after the last addition point since that is where consistency ceases to change. This forces a significant delay (deadtime) between the time dilution water is injected and the resulting change in consistency is detected. The most advanced prior art control strategy outlined in FIG. 3 eliminates transport delays that would otherwise occur between the process additives and the consistency meter 22, but a significant transport delay still exists between the dilution water injection point and consistency meter 16.
There are many consistency meters on the market and the present invention is not limited to the use of any particular type. Instead, the present invention has to do with where to place a consistency meter in the papermaking process and how the virtual consistency meter's measurement is obtained. A virtual consistency meter is not a physical meter (one you can put your hands on), but instead a calculated consistency value that represents the consistency at the end of a particular stage in the paper making process after additional liquids and/or suspended solids have been introduced.
It is apparent from the above that there exists a need in the art for a consistency control system which can provide the control of consistency leaving a papermaking process stage with minimum deadtime (measurement delay). It is a purpose of this invention to fulfill these and other needs in the art in a manner more apparent to the skilled artisan once given the following disclosure.

System and method for controlling papermaking stock consistency


A method selectively modifies an existing production order based on a change request. An order configuration module (OCM) receives order specifications for a second order that replaces and/or modifies a first order, while the first order is being fulfilled. The OCM generates hash tag pairs respectively associated with various characteristics of the orders. For each hash tag pair, the OCM compares a first hash tag associated with the first order with a second hash tag associated with the second order, using an established pattern. If the hash tags match, the OCM includes within a second production order, an unchanged production specification corresponding to the first hash tag. If a match does not occur, the OCM initiates an order reload, which provides, within the second production order, new production specifications that are associated with the second hash tag.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure generally relates to production order management systems and in particular to production order changes within production order management systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Sales order change management is particularly complicated in a configure-to-order environment. Each new version of a sales order must be analyzed and reloaded to a manufacturing division to update the associated production order. Translation of sales order nomenclature to manufacturing nomenclature can be very involved. For example, this translation involves conversion from sales terminology to bills of material, explosion of bills of material into underlying components, assignment of assembly configuration requirements, creation of buildable entities (i.e., units of work), process routing assignment to each unit of work, application of electronic product enablement, manufacturing instructions, etc. An initial load of a production order is quite complicated in many industries but it is greatly magnified when altering a production order that is work-in-process. These changes can often be catastrophic in nature to the manufacturing activities and result in huge loss of productivity, loss in capacity, and/or missed customer shipments and revenue exposures.
A limited portion of the changes that are sent to manufacturing are driven by true orderable content changes received from a sales division. For example, these changes can involve a different feature code or machine type. A larger portion of the remaining changes are related to other characteristics such as: entity grouping of orders, instruction changes such as placement/connection, engineering change (EC) for parts, customer date change (which impacts EC effectivity) and order to order grouping across shipments. In addition, some of these changes include address changes which can impact shipment documentation and require changes to documentation language and/or product label changes. Most systems are geared towards content changes or address/delivery change, and manufacturing plants can invoke rework via a full "change order". With very complex configurations, it is very likely that the process is stopped, and the product is torn down and rebuilt.

Manufacturing adaptive order load for complex configure to order products

International Business Machines Corporation


Micro-organisms which over-produce ATPase, especially mycoplasmas in a sample of a cell culture, are detected by making use of the ATPase activity to convert cellular or externally added ATP to ADP. The decrease in ATP externally added or the increase or absolute level of ADP produced from cellular ATP can then be detected or measured. For example, if a reagent such as phosphenol pyruvate/pyruvate kinase is added to convert that ADP back to ATP, the resulting high level of ATP can be detected bioluminescently using the reaction: Luciferin+luciferase enzyme+ATP→hv+products.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of assay of micro-organisms, especially small wall-less bacteria such as mycoplasmas, in cell cultures.
2. Description of the Related Art
Mycoplasma are a large and widespread group of prokaryotes. They are essentially bacteria with the smallest known genomes and are found amongst members of mollicutes. This class presently comprises six eubacterial genera Acholeplasma, Anaeroplasma, Asteroplasma, Mycoplasma, Spiroplasma and Ureaplasma.
The Mycoplasmas and Ureaplasmas are parasites in different vertebrates, from which they obtain their essential compounds such as fatty acids, amino acids, precursors for nucleic acid synthesis and cholesterol. Only Acholeplasma and Asteroplasma do not require cholesterol for growth.
These flexible, pleomorphic organisms can be as small as 200-300 nm in diameter and can achieve very high densities in cell cultures, (107-108 organisms/mL), without discernible pH changes or turbidity. Contamination rates are even higher for cell lines routinely grown in antibiotic-containing medium. There are currently more than 120 species in six genera, many of which are pathogenic. The vast majority of cell culture contaminants belong to only 6 species of human, bovine or porcine origin, namely Mycoplasma hyorhinis, Mycoplasma arginini, Mycoplasma salivarium, Mycoplasma orale, Mycoplasma fermentans and Acholeplasma laidlawii.
Surveys and research studies have repeatedly shown that 15-50% or more of all cell lines are contaminated by mycoplasmas. They alter virtually every property and parameter measured in cell cultures, including hybridoma selection rates, protein and nucleic acid synthesis, immunogenicity, chromosomal breakage and production of virus and proteins such as interferons and monoclonal antibodies. As a result of this widespread problem, research and production of biological materials is often unknowingly done using mycoplasmal contaminated cell cultures. Thus, the validity and significance of research and the safety of the biologicals produced from contaminated cell cultures are jeopardised.
Because of their small size and lack of cell wall, mycoplasmas often pass through the 450 or even 200 nm filters used to "sterilise" cell culture media and sera, resulting in low levels of these organisms being accidentally introduced into cultures during routine feeding.
Tests for detecting mycoplasmas fall into two basic categories: direct culture with media; or indirect tests measuring specific biochemical markers or other characteristics associated with mycoplasmas.
Direct culture requires the use of one or more complex nutritionally enriched media and carefully controlled environmental conditions. Even then, some mycoplasmal strains are difficult to grow in culture without cells. Properly done, with appropriate positive and negative controls, direct culture testing offers the greatest security, but is rather slow, usually requiring up to 28 days for completion.
Indirect tests include DNA fluorochrome staining, DNA probes, PCR, ELISA, autoradiography, immunofluorescence and specific biochemical assays. While faster than direct culture methods, usually taking only 1-5 days to complete, indirect tests are not yet as sensitive and usually require higher levels of contamination (e.g. 104 or more organisms/mL) for detection.
The PCR-based kit of Stratagene is widely used, but is expensive, additional PCR chemicals are required and the running of PCRs requires technical expertise not always conveniently available. Also, competition between the internal control template DNA and the mycoplasma DNA frequently results in the control not being visible on the gel when the sample is contaminated with mycoplasma.
It is a problem to find an alternative rapid, indirect method which does not require PCR skills.

Assay of micro-organisms in cell cultures


A method for preserving data transfer order in a pipeline computer system, wherein a first block of data is transferred from a first device to at least a second device during a first computer cycle. Simultaneously, the first block of data is stored within the first device. Druing a second computer cycle, a second block of data is transferred from the first device to the second device, and an acknowledge signal is issued, indicating the success or failure of the transfer of the first block of data. If the acknowledge signal indicates a failed data transfer, a reject signal is issued and data transfer is restarted beginning with the previously failed data transaction which has been stored within the first device, and data transfer then continues with a preserved data transfer order.

The bus protocol in high-performance, highly pipelined bus architecture may allow for a high degree of overlapped activity. For instance, arbitration, transfer, decoding and transfer acknowledge may be 4 stages of request handling that may be underway for 4 distinct requests at the same moment. Thus, First-In, First-Out (FIFO) style buffering which will, under certain conditions, fill up, either causing a transaction to wait for the FIFO to become available or send a BUSY response to the requesting device, asking it to try again at a later time. It is not desirable to have a device occupy the bus while waiting for another device to make its buffers available since this makes the bus bandwidth unavailable for other transfers, causing valuable bus bandwidth to be needlessly tied up. This problem becomes more severe in the case of a multiprocessor system sharing a single bus resource, since the bus may become the system bottleneck. Moreover, in certain implementations a slow device on the bus can magnify this problem even further, since the whole system will start to run at the speed of this slow device.
Moreover, if a device is in the process of performing multiple writes across the bus, it must either wait for a previous write to be acknowledged as accepted before sending another write, or it must obey some protocol that will insure that write order is preserved. Waiting for a previous write to be acknowledged before issuing another write is lower performance than sending another write as soon as possible. However, in some pipelined system bus protocols, sending another data write will likely not preserve write order of data, causing processing errors.
Therefore, it is important to preserve write order so that information may be passed in control blocks from process to process, processor to processor, and I/0 system to processors. Control blocks are normally formulated by assembling the information into some predetermined format and then setting some ready flag or setting up some queue pointer. However, if a write to a ready flag manages to occur prior to a write setting up some information in the control block, the receiving process will get a corrupted message.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The computer system having write order preservation for the bus data transfers according to the present invention requires a minimum of one unused cycle between successive writes by a given device, where "unused" means unused by that particular device for a write operation, and a REJECT signal to indicate to all devices that the command that they just received is invalid.
The protocol, according to the present invention, has been applied to a specific bus architecture; however, the concept is extendible to other architectures. The bus is a synchronous bus that is capable of initiating a read or a write operation in every bus cycle. Bus arbitration may also occur in a single cycle, which may be overlapped with other transfers, so that it is quite Possible that a write operation could be initiated in every cycle. Every bus transaction is accompanied by an acknowledgment from the receivin9 device in the second cycle after the transaction bus cycle. The acknowledgment cycles are completely overlapped with other transactions so they do not affect bus bandwidth.

Pipeline computer system having write order preservation


A method for manufacturing a poly-crystal silicon photovoltaic device using horizontal metal induced crystallization comprises the steps of forming at least one layer of an amorphous silicon thin film on a substrate, forming at least one groove of which depth is less than or equal to that of the thin film on the amorphous silicon thin film, and horizontally crystallizing the amorphous silicon thin film by forming a metal layer on an upper portion of the groove. Since a crystal shape and a growth direction of the photovoltaic device can be adjusted by the method, a poly-crystal silicon thin film for improving current flow can be formed at a low-temperature.

In general, a solar cell is one of photovoltaic devices.
A photovoltaic device is a clean energy source for producing energy by converting light energy transferred from the Sun to the Earth into electric energy. A lot of research has been actively conducted into photovoltaic devices for many years.
There is an advantage in that photovoltaic generation using a solar cell or the like can obtain an energy source using new renewable energy anywhere without destroying the environment.
Accordingly, research is being actively conducted into a next generation clean energy source for photovoltaic generation.
At present, the use of a Si single-crystal solar cell widely commercialized for photovoltaic generation is limited due to high manufacturing cost according to use of an expensive wafer.
To address this problem, various attempts have been proposed to develop a thin film solar cell capable of reducing the cost of raw materials and obtaining high efficiency and high reliability.
Among the various attempts, a method for significantly increasing the movement of carriers within a solar cell rather than amorphous Si using a poly-crystal Si thin film formed on a transparent glass substrate is very persuasive.
The aforementioned cell structure has sufficient current conductivity in the Si film itself without using a transparent conducting oxide (TCO) film between the glass substrate and the Si film, thereby remarkably reducing cost as a substitute for a transparent conducting film.
To manufacture poly-crystal Si having excellent properties on the glass substrate below a deformation temperature of glass, low-temperature crystallization of amorphous Si is known as an ideal method.
Among methods for manufacturing low-temperature poly-crystal Si, a method capable of preventing deformation of glass is: (1) an excimer laser annealing (ELA) method using an excimer laser, (2) a metal induced crystallization (MIC) method for inducing crystallization of amorphous Si at a low temperature using metal, and the like.
However, the use of the ELA method in the solar cell is limited due to low uniformity and high manufacturing cost.
In the MIC method as compared with this, specific metal is deposited on an amorphous Si film and then a heat treatment is applied, such that added metal plays a role as a catalyst to progress the Si crystallization. In this method, high uniformity can be achieved at low manufacturing cost.
The MIC method adds metal such as Al, Ni, Co, or the like to the surface of an amorphous Si thin film through sputtering or implantation and performs a heat treatment below a deformation temperature of glass, thereby achieving the Si crystallization.
In particular, when Ni is used, it is known that Si may be crystallized at a relatively low temperature and poly-crystal Si with an excellent crystalline quality may be manufactured.
The poly-crystal Si may be manufactured by moving a NiSi2 phase serving as a combination of Ni and Si in an amorphous Si direction and continuously growing crystalline Si at the rear portion.

Method for manufacturing a poly-crystal silicon photovoltaic device using horizontal metal induced crystallization


A bracket for supporting a curtain rod for use with an opening such as a window. The bracket is designed to be mounted on the inside surface of the window frame to prevent marring of the window molding or adjacent wall surface facing the interior of the room and to allow viewing of the window molding and the corner blocks around the window. The bracket is characterized by a main portion, a first extension, and a retaining member. The main portion incudes a hole formed therein for receipt of a wood screw or nail. The first extension projects from the main portion and includes a first end distal to the main portion. The retaining member is displaced from the first end to provide a supporting surface for supporting the curtain rod such that the bracket is capable of supporting the rod in proximity to the window when the main portion is secured to the inside surface of the window frame.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to brackets used to support curtain rods, window shades, draperies and other window treatments.
2. Description of the Prior Art
One of the more common types of curtain rods is the type that is substantially flat and forms an "L" bend at each end of the rod. After a curtain is placed on the rod, the rod is attached to a bracket which is fastened to the molding of an opening, for example a window, or the wall surface adjacent the window. In this arrangement, the curtain is moved apart from the frame of the window, allowing the curtain to hang freely from the window. Normally, this type of curtain rod would include at the end portions an opening within the rod body, so that the end of the rod may slip around the bracket, with the upper point of the bracket engaging a port in the upper wall of the rod, so that the rod is attached to the bracket securely. Example of such brackets are seen in U.S. Pat. No. 1,675,111, issued to William C. Kenney on Jun. 26, 1928; U.S. Pat. No. 3,218,017, issued to Harold E. Butler on Nov. 16, 1965; U.S. Pat. No. 4,283,034 issued to Maurice J. Sheehan on Aug. 11, 1981; and British Pat. No. 281,975, issued to Charles Stafford on Jan. 15, 1928.
One of the concerns with this type of bracket is the fact that the bracket normally includes a rear face having holes formed therein for accommodating tacks or screws to secure the bracket to the window molding or adjacent wall surface. It is necessary, therefore, that corresponding holes be bored into the window molding or adjacent wall surface for receipt of the tacks or screws. The resulting holes are often quite unsightly, particularly when the brackets are removed, leaving the molding surface or wall surface facing the interior of the room flawed with the holes that once held the bracket. A second concern regarding this type of bracket is that by mounting the brackets on the window molding or adjacent window surface, the molding or corner blocks of the window are obscured from view by the curtain rod and curtains. Therefore, there is a need for a bracket which may be mounted on the window without blemishing the molding or adjacent wall surface and without obscuring the decorative molding or corner blocks of the window.
Various curtain rod bracket designs are known which can be secured without damaging the outer facing of the window molding or the adjacent wall surface.. Examples of such brackets may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,562, issued to Pitts N. Bellinger on Dec. 15, 1981; U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,604, issued to Emile Lombard on Oct. 23, 1990; and Canadian Pat. No. 691,319, issued to Melville E. Hymers on Jul. 28, 1964. However, none of the above referenced patents teach or suggest a bracket for mounting on the inside surface of the window frame, so as not to obscure the decorative molding or corner blocks of the window frame.
Additionally, curtain rod brackets which can be used to support numerous accessories, such as curtain rods, window shades, draperies, and other window treatments, are known in the art. The advantage of such brackets is that numerous supporting fixtures or brackets are no longer required - a single multi-purpose bracket may be used. Examples of such multi-purpose brackets may be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 551,080, issued to James A. Gilfillan et al. on Dec. 10, 1895; U.S. Pat. No. 1,713,299, issued to John Rasp on May 14, 1929; U.S. Pat. No. 1,752,743, issued to Myrtle L. Kall on Apr. 1, 1930; U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,095, issued to Wilber J. Athey on Aug. 4, 1987; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,082,226, issued to Larry G. Mahan on Jan. 21, 1992. None of the above referenced patents teaches or suggests a bracket which may be mounted on the window without blemishing the molding or adjacent wall surface and without obscuring the decorative molding or corner blocks of the window.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,276,823, issued to William T. Sullivan on Aug. 27, 1918, shows a double roller shade bracket for mounting on the inside surface of a window frame. Sullivan does not teach or suggest a bracket having an extension including a retaining member for supporting a curtain rod.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,384,273, issued to Fredrick C. Palosky et al. on Jul. 21, 1921, shows a curtain and shade bracket for mounting on the inside surface of a window frame. Palosky does not teach or suggest a bracket having a base and an extension projecting perpendicularly from the base for supporting a curtain rod.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.


A vehicle lamp having a light assembly and reflector assembly is provided. The light assembly has a light emitting diode (LED) mounted on a substrate to emit first and second solid angles. A reflective recycling surface is mounted on the substrate adjacent to the LED. The reflector assembly has a first reflector having a macro-focal reflective surface extending at the first solid angle relative to the LED and defines an output light pattern along an output optical axis. A second reflector has an ellipsoid reflective surface extending at the second solid angle relative to the LED and has a first focal point oriented at the LED and a second focal point oriented at the recycling surface. The second reflector reflects light emitted from the LED in the second solid angle back to the recycling surface. The recycling surface reflects light from the second reflector to be incident the first reflector.

In vehicle lamps, such as headlamps, there is a tradeoff between efficiency and size when designing lighting functions. Large reflectors can have a large solid angle and can be efficient but are expensive and difficult to package in vehicle applications. A small reflector may be easier to package and less expensive to produce. But typically, a small reflector does not have a large solid angle relative to the light source, so only a small amount of the light source output contributes to the reflector's beam pattern.


Systems and methods for culturing and monitoring, ex vivo, pharmacologic and metabolic response in a biological sample, including receiving at a fluidic apparatus the biological sample retrieved from the patient, retaining the biological sample within a channel of the fluidic apparatus, providing for the culture of the biological sample within the channel of the fluidic apparatus, flowing a fluid past the biological sample, retrieving and analyzing the fluid to determine a pharmacologic and/or metabolic response of the sample.

Within the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, there is significant interest in identifying screening systems that are more clinically relevant in predicting physiological responses in normal and diseased human tissues to reduce the incidence of costly late-stage failures during pharmaceutical clinical trials, as well as to reduce the use of animals in drug testing. Empiric approaches in cancer treatment result in many patients receiving multiple cycles of therapy without success before the lack of efficacy is identified.
Identification of therapies and individualized therapeutics is of critical importance to cancer clinical research. The development of clinically relevant assays to predict drug efficacy would allow the identification of patients who may benefit from a certain therapy while sparing others from the side effects of futile treatment.
The ability to improve patient selection and a means of enriching clinical trials to better identify effective candidate regimens for patients with given tumor types is the future of molecular medicine. Nevertheless, ex vivo chemosensitivity assays have never really borne fruit despite waves of optimism in the past mainly due to failure to recapitulate the in vivo conditions in an ex vivo environment.

Apparatus for ex vivo microfluidic analysis of biologic samples

The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc.


The present invention discloses a gyroscope comprising an isolated resonator including a post proof mass and counterbalancing plate. One or more double beam flexures each interconnect the counterbalancing plate and the proof mass with a first and a second beam attached to the post proof mass and a third and a fourth beam attached to the counterbalancing plate. A baseplate is affixed to the resonator by the double beam flexures. The counterbalancing plate and the proof mass transfer substantially no net momentum to the baseplate when the resonator is excited.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to gyroscopes, and in particular to improved resonator microgyroscopes and their manufacture. More particularly, this invention relates to microgyroscopes with compact flexures.
2. Description of the Related Art
Gyroscopes are used to determine direction based upon the sensed inertial reaction of a moving mass. In various forms they are often employed as a critical sensor for vehicles such as aircraft and spacecraft. They are generally useful for navigation or whenever it is necessary to autonomously determine the orientation of a free object.
Older conventional gyroscopes were very heavy mechanisms, employing relatively large spinning masses by current standards. A number of recent technologies have brought new forms of gyroscopes, including optical gyroscopes such as laser gyroscopes and fiberoptic gyroscopes as well as vibratory gyroscopes.
Spacecraft generally depend on inertial rate sensing equipment to supplement attitude control. Currently this is often performed with expensive conventional spinning mass gyros (e.g., a Kearfott inertial reference unit) or conventionally-machined hemispherical resonator gyroscopes (e.g. a Litton hemispheric resonator gyroscope inertial reference unit). However, both of these are very expensive, large and heavy.
In addition, although some prior symmetric vibratory gyroscopes have been produced, their vibratory momentum is transferred directly to their baseplates or packages. This transfer or coupling admits external disturbances and energy loss indistinguishable from inertial rate input and hence leads to sensing errors and drift. One example of such a vibratory gyroscope may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,894,090 to Tang et al. which describes a symmetric cloverleaf vibratory gyroscope design and is hereby incorporated by reference herein. Other planar tuning fork gyroscopes may achieve a degree of isolation of the vibration from the baseplate, however these gyroscopes lack the vibrational symmetry desirable for tuned operation.
In addition, shell mode gyroscopes, such as the hemispherical resonator gyroscope and the vibrating ring gyroscope, are known to have some desirable isolation and vibrational symmetry attributes, however, these designs are not suitable for or have significant limitations with thin planar silicon microfabrication. The hemispherical resonator employs the extensive cylindrical sides of the hemisphere for sensitive electrostatic sensors and effective actuators, however its high aspect ratio, 3D curved geometry is unsuitable for inexpensive thin planar silicon microfabrication. The thin ring gyroscope while suitable for planar silicon microfabrication lacks electrostatic sensor and actuators that take advantage of the extensive planar area of the device.
Vibration isolation using a low-frequency seismic support is also known (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,009,751, which is incorporated by reference herein), however such increased isolation comes at the expense of proportionately heavier seismic mass and/or lower support frequency. Both effects are undesirable for compact tactical inertial measurement unit (IMU) applications.
Furthermore, the scale of previous silicon microgyroscopes (e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,894,090) has not been optimized for navigation grade performance resulting in higher noise and drift than desired. This problem stems from a use of thin epitaxially grown silicon flexures to define critical vibration frequencies that are limited to 0.1% thickness accuracy. Consequently device sizes are limited to a few millimeters. Such designs exhibit high drift due to vibrational asymmetry or unbalance and high rate noise due to lower mass which increases thermal mechanical noise and lower capacitance sensor area which increases rate errors sensor electronics noise.
Scaling up of non-isolated silicon microgyros is also problematic because external energy losses will increase with no improvement in resonator Q and no reduction in case-sensitive drift. An isolated cm-scale resonator with many orders of magnitude improvement in 3D manufacturing precision is required for navigation grade performance.
Conventionally machined navigation grade resonators such as in hemispherical or shell gyros have the optimum scale, e.g. 30 mm and 3D manufacturing precision and hence desirable drift and noise performance, however such gyros are expensive and slow to manufacture. Conventional laser trimming of mechanical resonators can further improve manufacturing precision to some degree, however this process is not suitable for microgyros with narrow mechanical gaps and has limited resolution, necessitating larger electrostatic bias adjustments in the final tuning process.
There is a need in the art for small gyroscopes with greatly improved performance for navigation and spacecraft payload pointing. There is also a need for such gyros to be cheaper and more easily manufactured with greater 3D mechanical precision. There is still further a need for such gyros to have desirable isolation and vibrational symmetry attributes while being compatible with planar silicon manufacturing. Finally, there is a need for such gyros to have compact efficient structural designs which minimize reactions to their supporting structures. The present invention satisfies all these needs.

Isolated resonator gyroscope with compact flexures


A controller for at least one secondary storage device for use in a data processing system having a system bus which accommodates a device or a CPU that first acquires control, a device bus that has the same address, data and control format as the system bus and a cache bus which maintains its own timing for address and data signals. The controller has means for transferring the control signals between the device bus and the system bus to establish control over the system bus by the secondary storage device. The data, address and control signals are transferred between the device bus and the cache bus in accordance with the cache bus timing.

I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to data processing systems and more specifically to a controller for controlling and coupling at least one peripheral unit to a central processing unit and a high speed memory unit.
II. Prior Art
Data processing systems usually have several secondary storage devices for recording data on or reading data from a recording medium. Such a medium has included a magnetic drum memory device, a magnetic tape device or a disk memory device. It is often desirable to transfer data from one of these devices to a high speed memory unit, or conversely, to transfer data from the high speed memory unit to the device.
In prior systems, controller devices have been developed to control the secondary storage facilities and permit them to transfer data between themselves and the high speed memory unit. Such transfer of data, however, was relatively slow, inefficient and had to be accomplished by way of the data processing system's main bus. The main bus, designated as the system bus, interconnects all controller devices, the high speed memory unit and the central processing unit. Since transfer of data has been by way of the system bus, all other bus activities had to cease during such data transfer.
To free the system bus during such data transfers new busses have been developed, designated as memory busses. Such new memory or cache busses have been designed to handle all data transfers between secondary storage facilities and the high speed memory unit. However, this was accomplished only with drastic changes to the data processing system. The controllers had to be redesigned to accommodate the new memory bus. In addition, the bus connecting the secondary storage facilities with the controller also had to be redesigned.
This has led to waste of data processing resources since a user who already owned secondary storage facilities with controllers, had to revamp his entire system. New controller devices had to be purchased, and new interfaces between the secondary storage facilities and controller devices had to be implemented. If this was not done, the user could not take advantage of the memory bus.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to allow data transfers between existing secondary storage facilities and a high speed memory unit by way of the memory bus.
Another object of this invention is to maintain the interfaces between existing controller and the system bus. Thus, all interchanges of signals or handshaking operations are performed as they have been in prior systems, with the addition of direct, high speed memory transfer by way of a memory bus.


An electrocoating composition and a coating formed from the composition are described herein. The electrocoating composition includes at least an epoxy resin component, an isocyanate-functional component and a silica-based additive. The coating shows about 40 to 70% reduction in edge corrosion relative to a conventional coating.

Coatings are typically applied to substrates to provide protective and/or decorative qualities. One effective technique for applying coatings includes an electrocoating process, which typically involves depositing a composition onto an electrically conductive substrate with an applied electrical potential. Early attempts at commercial electrocoating processes used anionic electrocoating processes, where the substrate being coated served as the anode. However, cathodic or cationic electrocoating processes have become increasingly popular, and today, are the most prevalent methods of electrocoating.
One desired property of coatings is corrosion resistance. The use of coatings exhibiting good corrosion resistance prolongs the functionality and performance of the coating composition and the underlying substrate. This is particularly important for coating compositions applied to surfaces or substrates that are used in highly corrosive environments, including, for example, in the heavy machinery industry.
Components or parts in the heavy machinery industry, as well as in other industries, are often laser-cut, stamped or formed, and conventional coatings do not always coat the edges of such metal parts sufficiently to provide optimal corrosion resistance. As a result, these components or parts suffer from edge corrosion and subsequent failure. The heavy machinery industry now attributes more than $250 million in annual claims to corrosion failures, and specifically to edge corrosion.
Accordingly, there is need for an electrocoating composition that exhibits good corrosion resistance, and especially good edge corrosion resistance.

High edge cathodic epoxy electrocoat composition


An intermediate transfer member, such as a belt, where the seam or seams thereof on the member contain a coating mixture of a glycoluril resin and a polyol resin.

Disclosed are intermediate transfer members, and more specifically, coated seamed intermediate transfer members useful in transferring a developed image in an electrostatographic, for example xerographic, including digital, image on image, and the like, printers, machines or apparatuses. In embodiments, there are selected, for example, seamed intermediate transfer members comprised of a conductive material like carbon black, a polyaniline, or mixtures thereof dispersed in a polymer solution, such as a polyamic acid solution illustrated in copending U.S. application Ser. No. 12/129,995, U.S. application Ser. No. 12/181,354, and U.S. application Ser. No. 12/181,409, the disclosures of which are totally incorporated herein by reference; and thereafter, applying a crosslinked mixture of a glycoluril resin and a polyol resin onto the seam.
Intermediate transfer belts can be generated in the form of seamed belts fabricated by fastening two ends of a web material together, such as by welding, sewing, wiring, stapling, or gluing. While seamless intermediate transfer belts are known, they may require manufacturing processes that render them more costly as compared to similar seamed intermediate transfer belts.
Seamed belts can be fabricated from a sheet cut that originates from an imaging member web. The sheets are generally rectangular, or in the shape of a parallelogram where the seam does not form a right angle to the parallel sides of the sheet. All edges may be of the same length, or one pair of parallel edges may be longer than the other pair of parallel edges. The sheets are formed into a belt by joining overlapping opposite marginal end regions of the sheet. A seam is typically produced in the overlapping marginal end regions at the point of joining. Joining of the aforementioned areas may be effected by any suitable means, such as by welding like ultrasonic welding, gluing, taping, pressure heat fusing, and the like.
Ultrasonic welding can be accomplished by retaining in a down position the overlapped ends of a flexible imaging member sheet with a vacuum against a flat anvil surface, and guiding the flat end of an ultrasonic vibrating horn transversely across the width of the sheet, over and along the length of the overlapped ends, to form a welded seam. Ultrasonically welding results in an overlap seam that has an irregular surface topology rendering it difficult for a cleaner blade to remove toner around the seam, and such welding can also cause damage to the cleaner blades by nicking the cleaning edge of the blade. In addition, toner trapping resulting from the poor cleaning and the blade damage causes streaking from the seam and creates an image quality problem. Many post fabrication seam smoothing techniques, which remove material from the seam, may also degrade seam strength.
Also, when ultrasonically welded into a belt, the seam of a multilayered electrophotographic flexible imaging member belt may occasionally contain undesirable high protrusions such as peaks, ridges, spikes, and mounds. These seam protrusions present problems during image cycling of the belt because they interact with the cleaning blade causing blade wear and tear, which can affect cleaning blade efficiency and reduce service life.
In a typical electrostatographic reproducing apparatus, a light image of an original to be copied is recorded in the form of an electrostatic latent image upon a photosensitive member or photoconductor, and the latent image is subsequently rendered visible by the application of electroscopic thermoplastic resin particles and colorant. Generally, the electrostatic latent image is developed by a developer mixture comprised of carrier granules having toner particles adhering triboelectrically thereto, or a liquid developer material, which may include a liquid carrier having toner particles dispersed therein. The developer material is advanced into contact with the electrostatic latent image, and the toner particles are deposited thereon in image configuration. Subsequently, the developed image is transferred to a copy sheet. It is advantageous to transfer the developed image to a coated intermediate transfer web, belt or component, and subsequently transfer with very high transfer efficiency the developed image from the intermediate transfer member to a permanent substrate. The toner image is subsequently usually fixed or fused upon a support, which may be the photoconductor or other support such as plain paper.
In electrostatographic printing machines wherein the toner image is electrostatically transferred by a potential difference between the imaging member and the intermediate transfer member, the transfer of the toner particles to the intermediate transfer member, and the retention thereof should be substantially complete so that the image ultimately transferred to the image receiving substrate will have a high resolution. Substantially about 100 percent toner transfer occurs when most or all of the toner particles comprising the image are transferred, and little residual toner remains on the surface from which the image was transferred.
Intermediate transfer members allow for a number of advantages such as enabling high throughput at modest process speeds, improving registration of the final color toner image in color systems using synchronous development of one or more component colors using one or more transfer stations, and increasing the variety of final substrates that can be used.
More specifically, a bump, surface irregularity, or other discontinuity in the seam of the belt may disturb the tuck of the cleaning blade as it makes intimate contact with the photoconductive member surface to effect residual toner and debris removal. The increased height differential may allow toner to pass under the cleaning blade, and not be cleaned. Furthermore, seams having differential heights may, when subjected to repeated striking by cleaning blades, cause photoconductive member cycling speed disturbance which adversely affects the crucial photoconductive belt motion quality. Moreover, seams with a bump or any morphological defects can cause the untransferred residual toner to be trapped in the sites of the seam surface irregularities. The seam of a photoreceptor belt, which is repeatedly subjected to the striking action by a cleaning blade under machine functioning conditions, can trigger the development of premature seam delamination failure. In addition, the discontinuity in belt thickness due to the presence of an excessive seam height yields variances of mechanical strength in the belt and reduces the fatigue flex life of the seam when cycling over belt module support rollers. As a result, both the cleaning life of the blade, and the overall service life of the photoreceptor belt can be diminished.
Moreover, the protrusion high spots in the seam may also interfere with the operation of subsystems of copiers, printers and duplicators by damaging electrode wires used in development that position the wires parallel to and closely spaced from the outer imaging surface of belt photoreceptors. These closely spaced wires are employed to facilitate the formation of a toner powder cloud at a development zone adjacent to a toner donor roll, and the imaging surface of the belt imaging member.
In operation, an intermediate transfer belt is contacted with a toner image bearing member such as a photoreceptor belt. In the contact zone, an electrostatic field generating device, such as a corotron, a bias transfer roller, a bias blade, or the like, creates electrostatic fields that transfer toner onto the intermediate transfer belt. Subsequently, the intermediate transfer belt is brought into contact with a receiver. An electrostatic field generating device then transfers toner from the intermediate transfer belt to the receiver. Depending on the system, a receiver can be another intermediate transfer member, or a substrate onto which the toner will eventually be fixed.
Thus, there is a need for a seamed member, such as a belt, that avoids or eliminates a number of the disadvantages mentioned herein, and more specifically, there is a need for an ITB with an improved seam or double welded seam surface topology such that it can withstand dynamic fatigue conditions. For example, the coated seam as disclosed herein provides a smoother surface with substantially decreased or eliminated profile protrusions or irregularities thereby extending its service life. There is also a need for a substantially completely imageable seam, which avoids or minimizes the disadvantages indicated herein by overcoating the seam with a conducting polymer mixture layer, and which layer is mechanically robust and electrically matches the surface resistivity of the seamed intermediate transfer belt (ITB), or intermediate transfer member, which resistivity is, for example, from about 109 to about 1013 ohm/sq.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Glycoluril resin and polyol resin members


The present invention provides methods for the reduction and recycling of papermaking sludge. Papermaking sludge is incinerated in a rotary heater, typically a rotary cement kiln, asphalt dryer, or specially designed rotary kiln or incinerator. Aggregate may be combined with the sludge to provide better dispersion of the sludge within the heater, and to facilitate heat transfer. Once in operation, the heat of sludge combustion is added to the process heat, resulting in markedly reduced energy requirements. Papermaking sludge is typically fed continuously into said rotary heater while temperatures in the combustion zone are maintained in the range of approximately 800.degree. to 3500.degree. F. During incineration, mixing catalysts (typically casein or soy protein) and wood fibers are burned, while moisture is evaporated. The resulting product consists essentially of carbonate particles which are collected for subsequent use.

This invention relates to a method for recycling waste products. More particularly, this invention relates to a method for the recycling of papermaking sludge produced as waste material in the manufacture of paper, cardboard, tissue and related products. This invention relates to a recycling method for such papermaking sludge, producing thereby waste much reduced in bulk for more effective disposal in landfills; waste much reduced in potential toxicity; waste material useful as component materials in the manufacture of cement block, brick and other products; waste material useful as an additive and extender in gravel, backfill and other operations.
This invention is a modification and improvement of the method for reducing and recycling papermaking sludge described and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,459.
Paper manufacturing processes typically begin with a slurry of pulp and water produced as output from a separate pulping process. This pulping process itself produces many kinds of waste materials, not the subject of the present invention. The pulp slurry is typically delivered to the papermaking facility, additional chemicals may be added, and the resulting pulp and water slurry made into paper by means of a variety of processes, typically involving rapid withdrawal of the water through a screen, depositing thereby the paper onto the screen. The waste water is reprocessed to recover as much usable material and reusable water as economically feasible. Typically, the water is sent to a "settling tank" in which heavier components settle to the bottom of the tank and are drawn off as "sludge". This sludge is typically processed further to remove additional water (typically by mechanical pressing), leading to a quantity of sludge for final disposal. This sludge is known in the industry by a variety of names, including: "primary waste treatment sludge", "paper mill sludge", "process residual", "waste treatment sludge", "waste treatment plant (`WTP`) sludge", to name a few. For simplicity, we will use the term "papermaking sludge" to denote this product, or merely as "sludge". The reprocessing and recycling of this papermaking sludge is the subject of the present invention.
The manufacture of paper, cardboard and related products typically results in large quantities such papermaking sludge. As an approximate rule-of-thumb, 20% of the tonnage of paper products produced by a given paper mill will be produced as sludge waste by-product. Thus, larger paper mills can easily produce in excess of 500 tons per day of sludge requiring disposal.
This papermaking sludge contains large amounts of water, wood fibers, calcium carbonate, other minerals and clays, various mixing catalysts (typically soy protein or casein), and chlorine-based purifying agents used in the paper making process. There is no precise composition for this sludge because there are substantial variations in the wood and other feedstocks used; in the processing materials which must be used to make different types of paper products; and even considerable variation in the processes used by different paper makers in making similar products.
The disposal of this papermaking sludge is a continuing problem for the paper manufacturers and for the environment in general. Current practice is to subject the sludge to a mechanical pressing operation to remove excess moisture. The resulting residue still holds large quantities of water, as well as the other materials listed above. Under current procedures, this residue is then typically deposited into a landfill for indefinite storage.
There are several problems associated with this treatment of papermaking sludge. First of all, it is getting increasingly difficult to locate suitable landfills as existing landfills become full and residents often oppose expansion or creation of new landfills near residences. In addition, the materials which leach from sludge deposited into landfills is hazardous itself. This increases the cost of engineering a suitable disposal site (due to the increased costs of handling such leachates), and increases community and environmental concerns.
The present invention proposes an alternative treatment for this papermaking sludge, as a modification and improvement of that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,459. The present invention markedly reduces the bulk of the sludge to be disposed (by typically 75%), thereby markedly extending the life of disposal landfills. Also, the present invention produces a material for disposal that is much less susceptible to leaching, thereby reducing the potential environmental hazards for landfills.
In addition, the present invention offers the possibility of dispensing with landfills entirely. The present invention demonstrates how papermaking sludge can be processed into a commercial product similar to re-calcified calcium carbonate. (Due to the variation in composition of the sludge noted above, the processed sludge from the present invention has varying compositions.) This processed sludge has many of the useful properties of calcium carbonate and finds use in asphalt, asphalt sealers and coatings, concrete block and pipe, other brick and structural pipe, for gravel-based construction operations such as parking lots or highways, as an additive to backfill material for sewer water and gas pipelines, in ceramics and many other applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,459 describes a one-step reduction and recycling process by use of a rotary kiln. The rotary kiln has the effect of placing the sludge into suspension. While in suspension, the combustible components of the sludge dry then ignite, thereby adding their heat energy to the process. Thus, the external energy (typically natural gas) required by the process of U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,459 is markedly reduced by the use of rotary kilns.
The present invention represents an improvement of U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,459 in that aggregate is added to the process along with the sludge. The use of aggregate in combination with sludge in a rotary kiln seems to have at least four beneficial effects. 1) The rotation of the aggregate along with the sludge helps keep the sludge in suspension, adding to the efficiency of mixing and combustion. 2) Heated aggregate retained in the rotary kiln serves to increase heat transfer to the sludge, tending to pre-heat and partially dry sludge before the sludge reaches the hot zone of the kiln. 3) Certain aggregates (such as limestone or limestone-containing aggregate) serve to adjust the pH of the process towards alkaline. 4) Some evidence suggests that proper pH control of the process tends to hinder or suppress the formation of dioxins and furans. Aggregate is commonly used in rotary kilns as a means for promoting suspension of materials otherwise prone to agglomeration (sometimes referred to as a mixing "catalyst" although the effect is primarily mechanical-to promote mixing-rather than to catalyze chemical changes.) However, we are aware of no use of aggregate, prior to the present invention, in rotary kiln recycling of papermaking sludge, having the beneficial effects noted above.
Several other approaches have been tried for the disposal of papermaking sludge. These generally fall into two catagories: simple incineration; complex, multistep processing, typically attempting to extract higher value materials from the sludge.
There have been several approaches to the disposal of papermaking sludge involving complex, multistep processes. Such processes typically involve attempts to extract additional usable materials (like titanium) from specialized types of papermaking sludge. Of necessity, such processing involves numerous steps, some of them quite complex and expensive in their own right. Typical examples include the work of Goto (Aug. 12, 1981, S. Goto, "Use of Paper Sludge for Cement Manufacture", Unexamined Japanese patent application no. 2905-1908, disclosure no. 100222-1981). This work uses a hot dryer (rather than an incinerator) for preliminary processing of papermaking sludge to reduce it to a cake. This cake is then pulverized mechanically with a rotating fork-like machine to make small particles such that 70% of the total have diameters 0.5 mm or less. The resulting small particles are burned, perhaps in a rotary kiln or fluidized bed incinerator. Missing the essential simplicity (and, therefore, the economy) of the present invention, the Goto work has not had a significant effect on eliminating sludge from landfills.
Another typical approach is illustrated by the study published by the S. D. Warren Co. (1971, July, S. D. Warren, Co., "Sludge Material Recovery System for Manufacturers of Pigmented Papers," US Environmental Protection Agency Report W72-11605). A study is reported investigating processes by means of which waste sludge from papermaking might be used to produce a product which can be reused as a component of papermaking once again. This study has a very complex process in which: 1) Gritty materials first are removed from sludge (the present process has no such restriction); 2) The waste sludge to be processed must have high inorganic pigment content and low fibrous content (the present process prefers high fiber content to add to the heat of combustion but is quite feasible with lower fiber contents). 3) A multistep process then follows, with sludge dilution, consistency regulation, centricleaning, vacuum filtering, shredding, drying, followed by processing in rotary kiln. 4) The resulting product is used back into paper. Typical of such complex, multistep processes, this study concludes that high capital cost makes this process "not economically feasible" at this time (Conclusion #8, page 1). The essence of commercial feasibility is often simplicity. The present invention has one of its foundations in the essential simplicity of the process, previously overlooked, or obscured by attempts to extract other products from sludge.
The other broad class of attempts to dispose of papermaking sludge involves simple combustion of the sludge in a bark-burning boiler, hog fuel burner, or other incinerator. While disposing of sludge, these techniques typically require large amounts of additional process fuel, thereby drastically reducing the economics of the process and erecting serious barriers to practical commercial use.
In contrast, the present process (and the U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,459 process), using a rotary kiln, require only moderate amounts of gas and render the process economically feasible. Indeed, the present process typically is run with a large natural gas flame until the sludge is in suspension and adding its heat energy to the process. Once this occurs, the natural gas flame is reduced and the process becomes almost completely self-sustaining. On a simple heat balance, for each pound of sludge, combustion of the wood fibers typically generates approximately twice the heat necessary to drive off the water from a similar pound of sludge. Therefore, under theoretically ideal conditions, the papermaking sludge would be a net fuel source while producing commercially useful ash as a combustion product. In practice, however, additional heat has been required to make the process occur continuously in a practical way. Nevertheless, it is common to be able to reduce the initial gas flame to only 10% (or less) of its initial gas consumption once sludge heat joins the process. Therefore, in continuous operation the start-up energy consumption becomes negligible and the rotary kiln process of the present invention is markedly energy-efficient.


A foldable chaff pan for attachment to an oscillating element of a cleaning apparatus or system of an agricultural combine for oscillation therewith for conveying chaff from the oscillating element to a non-oscillating chopper or spreader mounted to a fixed frame of the combine. The chaff pan is also sidewardly tiltable with the cleaning apparatus or system, if so capable.

This invention relates generally to agricultural combines, and more particularly, to a foldable chaff pan for disposition rearwardly of cleaning apparatus of an agricultural combine for conveying chaff from the cleaning apparatus to a chopper and/or spreader, the pan being connected to the cleaning apparatus for oscillation therewith and being foldable between a deployed position for conveying the chaff, and a retracted position for allowing access to the cleaning apparatus and the chopper and spreader for ease of maintenance, service and inspection thereof.
Currently, combines typically include a straw chopper and/or straw spreader for disposing of straw separated from the harvested crop onto the crop field. In addition, some combines have a chaff spreader for spreading the chaff separated from the grain by the cleaning apparatus or system. It is desirable to provide the chaff spreading function, however, it is also desired to eliminate the additional chaff spreader apparatus due to the cost, weight, space, and maintenance requirements thereof. One approach for eliminating the chaff spreader is to route the chaff blown and discharged by the cleaning apparatus into the straw chopper and/or straw spreader so as to be chopped and/or spread over the field thereby. This can be done by mounting the chopper and/or spreader directly behind the chaff discharge end of the cleaning apparatus. However, a shortcoming of this location is that it makes access to the cleaning apparatus for service, maintenance, and inspection difficult, which is undesirable. As an alternative, the chopper and/or spreader can be spaced rearwardly of the cleaning apparatus to provide an access space or gap therebetween for service and the like. However, this space or gap presents a problem as it must be crossed or bridged by the chaff enroute to the chopper and/or spreader. The chaff is typically carried rearwardly by a flow of air blown upwardly through the cleaning apparatus, and to enclose this space to contain the chaff containing air flow and direct it to the chopper and/or spreader, a pan or other enclosure can be used. It is known to mount such pans to the frame or other enclosures of the combine, or to the cleaning apparatus itself, and for the pan or enclosure to be foldable between an operational position and an open position. However, pans or enclosures attached to the combine frame but not to the cleaning apparatus have the disadvantage that they do not provide a continuous path from the cleaning apparatus to the chopper and/or spreader and do not vibrate or oscillate with the cleaning apparatus. Pans attached to the cleaning apparatus will oscillate therewith, but if supported only by the cleaning apparatus place loads thereon which can degrade the operation thereof. Thus, what is sought is a pan for conveying chaff to a chopper and/or spreader located spacedly behind the cleaning apparatus of a combine, that is attachable to the cleaning apparatus for vibration or oscillation therewith, but without unduly loading it, and which is easily and conveniently repositionable or movable for allowing access to the cleaning apparatus and the chopper and/or spreader.
Additionally, some combines have cleaning apparatus which are self-leveling, that is, they pivot or tilt at least sidewardly to compensate for tilting of the combine as it moves across the sides of hills and the like. Thus, it is also sought that a pan for bridging the space between the cleaning apparatus and the chopper and/or spreader be able to pivot or tilt with the cleaning apparatus.
What is disclosed is a foldable chaff pan for attachment to an oscillating or vibrating element of a cleaning apparatus or system of an agricultural combine for oscillation therewith for conveying chaff from the oscillating element to a non-oscillating chopper or spreader mounted to a fixed frame of the combine, which chaff pan overcomes many of the shortcomings discussed above, including avoiding loading of the cleaning apparatus or system so as not to degrade the operation thereof, and which is sidewardly tiltable with the cleaning apparatus or system, if so capable. The foldable chaff pan has a surface for receiving the chaff positionable in a first position adjacent to the oscillating element of the cleaning apparatus which can be, for instance, a chaffer, a sieve, a frame or rails supporting the same, or the like, for receiving the chaff therefrom, a pivoting element for connecting the pan to the oscillating element for oscillation therewith and pivotal movement relative thereto about a generally horizontal axis between the first position and a second position angularly related to and beneath the first position, and a linkage arrangement for connecting the pan to the fixed frame such that the pan is largely supported by the fixed frame, the linkage arrangement including a shaker arm connected to the pan and locatable in a support position for supporting the pan in the first position while allowing the pan to oscillate with the oscillating element relative to the linkage arrangement, and the linkage arrangement including a releasable spring element holding the shaker arm in the support position and releasable to allow the shaker arm to move from the support position to another position to allow the pan to be folded to the second position to allow easier access to the cleaning apparatus.
The shaker arm of the foldable chaff preferably includes a pivotal connection to the pan and a pivotal connection to another element of the linkage arrangement connected to the spring element for applying a force of the spring against the shaker arm for holding the pan in the first position. Additionally, according to one aspect of the invention, the spring element is positionable in a first orientation for exerting a force through the shaker arm against the pan for holding the pan in the first position, and is positionable in a second orientation for exerting a force through the shaker arm against the pan for holding the pan in the second position.
When the cleaning apparatus is mounted for pivotal movement relative to the frame in a sidewardly direction relative to a direction of oscillation, the shaker arm of the pan can be optionally connected to the pan with an element which allows sideward movement of the pan relative thereto such that the pan can pivot sidewardly with the cleaning apparatus relative to the linkage arrangement.

Foldable oscillating chaff pan for an agricultural combine


A package for supporting and displaying a strap-type wristwatch without requiring that the straps be buckled together comprises an elongated wristwatch support member having slots formed adjacent its opposing ends. The straps of a wristwatch can be slipped into the slots to retain the wristwatch on the support member without buckling the straps together.

The present invention relates to packages or boxes for wristwatches, and is more particularly concerned with wristwatch support members that can be used in such packages to support and display a strap-type wristwatch without requiring that the straps of the watch be buckled together.
Herzog U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,608 issued Jan. 26, 1993, for "Package for Supporting an Unbuckled Strap-Type Wristwatch" discloses a package that includes a substantially C-shaped wristwatch support element having a pair of integral clips disposed adjacent opposite end portions of the support element. A strap-type wristwatch is mounted on the support element by slipping the straps of the watch into the clips to retain and support the wristwatch in place without buckling the straps together.
The patented Herzog package eliminates a number of disadvantages, described in the patent, inherent in strap type wristwatch support packages used prior to the Herzog invention. The present invention constitutes an improvement on the patented Herzog package which achieves those same advantages, but which does so by use of a modified wristwatch support element that is less expensive to manufacture, is even easier to mount and dismount a watchband, and which can be used with all watchbands irrespective of their thickness in contrast to the patented Herzog package wherein the space provided between each clip and the underlying support element limited the thickness of the watchband that could be retained in place by the clip.

Package for supporting and displaying a strap-type wristwatch


A vacuum suction device of the present invention comprises: a cover which is rotatably mounted on the upper portion so as to couple to a flat surface by means of vacuum suction; an suction plate, which is coupled to the lower portion of the cover, for vacuum suction to the flat surface; and a height adjustment member, which is arranged between the cover and the suction plate, for moving the suction plate back and forth according to the rotation of the cover; wherein a plurality of fixing pieces are formed on the upper surface of the inside of the cover, a plurality of elastic stoppers are coupled to the inside of the height adjustment member, so as to be movable by sliding when each of the fixing pieces is in contact, and for fixing the cover by each of the fixing pieces being hooked to the end portion of the cover so as to prevent reverse rotation. The vacuum suction device of the present invention enhances suction force so as to couple the vacuum suction device to the flat surface more solidly and for a longer time, enhances assembly between each of the elements for vacuum suction, and prevents unlocking due to outside shock by forming a double locking structure in the vacuum adsorption device.

Generally, a vacuum suction device is a member which is adhered to a surface by means of vacuum suction in order for objects of various shapes such as a towel or toilet paper rack to be hung on a flat surface such as a glass or tile surface.
The vacuum suction device includes a hanging member and a suction plate, the hanging member is formed for a towel or toilet paper rack to be hung on the hanging member, and the suction plate is adhered to a smooth surface or a flat surface such as a glass or tile surface by means of vacuum suction.
In other words, if the vacuum suction device is, pushed to an adhered surface when the suction plate is being brought into contact with a smooth surface or a flat surface, that is, the adhered surface, air between the adhered surface and the suction plate gets out, and thus, the state of a space between the adhered surface and the suction plate is changed to a vacuum-applied state, whereupon the suction plate is sucked by the adhered surface, thereby fixing the vacuum suction device.
The suction plate may be adhered to the adhered surface by directly pushing the suction plate of the vacuum suction device to the adhered surface, or the suction plate may be adhered to the adhered surface by using another member for keeping a sucking state of the vacuum suction device.
Here, it is difficult that the vacuum suction device, which directly pushes the suction plate to the adhered surface to adhere the suction plate to the adhered surface, seals a space between the suction plate and the adhered surface, and suction force of the vacuum suction device between the suction plate and the adhered surface is weak. Therefore, the suction plate is easily separated from the adhered surface, and thus, it is difficult for the vacuum device to be fixed to the adhered surface for a long time, and the vacuum suction device separated from the adhered surface has to be repeatedly adhered to the adhered surface, and thus, it is inconvenient to use the vacuum suction device.
A vacuum suction device, which adheres a suction plate to an adhered surface by using another member, according to Korean Utility Model Registration No 0420964, applied and registered by this applicant, includes a cover, a height adjustment member and a suction plate, and if the cover is rotated clockwise, a spring is wound and at the same time, a height adjustment protrusion formed inside the cover moves along a height-adjustment inclined surface, and thus, the cover is lifted by a step height, and at this point, if the height adjustment member is inserted into a height-adjustment protrusion fixing groove, the spring maintains a wound state.
Therefore, a center part of the suction plate is lifted and an outer surface of the suction plate is tightly contacting an adhered surface, and thus, a state between the adhered surface and the suction plate is changed to a vacuum-applied state, whereupon the suction plate is adhered to the adhered surface.
Here, the spring always starts at an initial point to make a maximum vacuum suction force when vacuum suction is performed, and the height adjustment protrusion is fixed to the height-adjustment protrusion fixing groove so as to prevent the spring from being unwound.
Also, if the height adjustment protrusion is separated from the height-adjustment protrusion fixing groove by rotating the cover counterclockwise, the spring is unwound by an elastic restoring force of the spring for returning to the initial point, that is, an original position, and thus, because a vacuum-applied state between the adhered surface and the suction plate is released, the suction plate is separated from the adhered surface.
However, in the related art vacuum suction device, if the cover is rotated clockwise by using an elastic restoring force, the spring is wound, and at the same time, is moved to the adhered surface of the suction plate by the height adjustment member, and thus, the center part of the suction plate is lifted from the adhered surface and a vacuum-applied state is formed, whereupon the suction plate is adhered to the adhered surface. If the cover is rotated counterclockwise, the height adjustment protrusion is separated from the height-adjustment protrusion fixing groove, the vacuum-applied state is released by an elastic restoring force of the spring, the elastic restoring force making the spring restored to the initial point, and thus, the suction plate is separated from the adhered surface.
Because It is very inconvenient to assemble or combine the spring, which effectuates the suction plate being adhered to the adhered surface by forming the vacuum-applied state between the adhered surface and the suction plate by using the elastic restoring force of the spring, or making the suction plate separated from the adhered surface by releasing the vacuum-applied state between the adhered surface and the suction plate, to the vacuum suction device, a work efficiency is degraded, and because the cost of the spring is relatively high, a manufacturing cost increases.
Moreover, if the spring is used for a long time, an elastic force is degraded, and thus, a performance of the vacuum suction device is degraded, and because the spring, an elastic force of which is degraded, has to be replaced after the vacuum suction device is disassembled, a replacement is very inconvenient, and a replacement cost increases.
Also, because the cover coupled to the spring has to be rotated several times in the course of the initial assembly of every element configuring the vacuum suction device so as to generate an elastic force of the spring, unnecessary work has to be added, and thus, work efficiency is degraded, and work for combining the cover and the spring is inconvenient.
Furthermore, when the height adjusting protrusion formed in the cover of the vacuum suction device moves along a height-adjustment inclined surface of the height adjustment member to be inserted into the height-adjustment protrusion fixing groove, and the suction plate is adhered to the adhered surface, if the vacuum suction device is given an outer shock, the height adjustment protrusion is separated from the height-adjustment protrusion fixing groove. At the same time, a rotation of the cover of the vacuum suction device to an original position by a restoring force of the spring for returning to an original position may occur, and thus, a vacuum-applied state between the adhered surface and the suction plated is released, whereupon the suction plate is separated from the adhered surface, and thus, the vacuum suction device is so easily separated.