Compounds of Formula 1 ##STR1## wherein m is 1-4; R.sub.1 -R.sub.4 independently are hydrogen, lower alkyl of 1 to 6 carbons, Cl, Br, or I; R.sub.5 is hydrogen, lower alkyl of 1 to 6 carbons, Cl, Br, I, lower alkoxy or lower thioalkoxy of 1-6 carbons; R.sub.6 is hydrogen, lower alkyl, Cl, Br, I, OR.sub.11, SR.sub.11, OCOR.sub.11, SCOR.sub.11, NH2, NHR.sub.11, N(R.sub.11).sub.2, NHCOR.sub.11 OR NR.sub.11 --COR.sub.11 ; R.sub.20 is independently hydrogen or lower alkyl; Y is an aromatic group such as phenyl or naphthyl, or a heteroaryl group selected from a group consisting of pyridyl, thienyl, furyl, pyridazinyl, pyrimidinyl, pyrazinyl, thiazolyl and oxazolyl; A is (CH.sub.2).sub.n where n is 0-5, lower branched chain alkyl having 3-6 carbons, cycloalkyl having 3-6 carbons, alkenyl having 2-6 carbons and 1 or 2 double bonds, alkynyl having 2-6 carbons and 1 or 2 triple bonds; B is hydrogen, COOH or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, COOR.sub.8, CONR.sub.9 R.sub.10, --CH.sub.2 OH, CH.sub.2 OR.sub.11, CH.sub.2 OCOR.sub.11, CHO, CH(OR.sub.12).sub.2, CHOR.sub.13 O, --COR.sub.7, CR.sub.7 (OR.sub.12).sub.2, or CR.sub.7 OR.sub.13 O, where R.sub.7 is an alkyl, cycloalkyl or alkenyl group containing 1 to 5 carbons, R.sub.8 is an alkyl group of 1 to 10 carbons, or a cycloalkyl group of 5 to 10 carbons, or R.sub.8 is phenyl or lower alkylphenyl, R.sub.9 and R.sub.10 independently are hydrogen, an alkyl group of 1 to 10 carbons, or a cycloalkyl group of 5-10 carbons, or phenyl or lower aklylphenyl, R.sub.11 is lower alkyl, phenyl or lower alkylphenyl, R.sub.12 is lower alkyl, and R.sub.13 is divalent alkyl radical of 2-5 carbons, have retinoid like biological activity. In the compounds of the invention the A-B and the butadiene groups are attached to adjacent aromatic carbons of the Y moiety.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to novel compounds which have retinoid like biological activity. More specifically, the present invention relates to diene compounds substituted with a phenyl or heteroaromatic moiety where the ring connection is adjacent to a substituent group in the heterocycle, the diene being further substituted with a tetrahydronaphthyl or analogous group. The present invention also relates to pharmaceutical compositions comprising these compounds as the active ingredient and to methods of using the compounds and compositions.
2. Brief Description of the Background Art
The biological activity of retinoic acid is known and has been the subject of numerous literature references.
A relatively large number of retinoic acid analogs (retinoid like compounds) have been synthesized in the prior art, and are described in numerous patents and scientific publications. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,326,055 discloses ethene derivatives which have a substituted phenyl ring and a substituted indane or tetrahydronaphthalene group. The compounds are described as tumor inhibiting agents, and useful for treating dermatological conditions and rheumatic illnesses.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,028 discloses diphenylethene (stilbene) derivatives which have retinoic acid-like activity.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,519 discloses certain aromatic heterocycle derivatives which have retinoic acid-like activity.
Published European Patent Application 0130795 discloses ethene derivatives, where the ethene moiety is substituted by a substituted phenyl group and by a substituted chroman, thiochroman or quinoline group. The compounds are useful for inhibiting the degradation of cartilage in mammals.
European Patent Application 176034A (Published Apr. 2, 1986) discloses tetrahydronaphthalene compounds having an ethynylbenzoic group. U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,098 discloses compounds wherein three olefinic units from the acid-containing moiety of retinoic acid are replaced by an ethynylphenyl functionality. These compounds have retinoic acid-like biological activity.
Published German Patent Application DE 3529032 A1 discloses di-phenyl substituted butadiene compounds having retinoid-like activity.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,804 (issued on Mar. 7, 1989) based on an application of the same inventor and assigned to the same assignee as the present application, discloses such disubstituted acetylene compounds wherein one of the substituents of the acetylene group is a substituted phenyl group, and the second substitutent is a substituted or unsubstituted 6-chromanyl, 6-thiochromanyl or 6-tetrahydroquinolinyl group. The compounds disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,810,804 have retinoic acid-like biological activity.
The publication Cancer Research 44, 190-195, January 1984 Dawson et. al. discusses the relationship between binding affinities to cellular retinoic acid binding protein and the biological potency of a new series of retinoids. The synthesis of the latter compounds is disclosed in Dawson, Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 1981, Vol. 24, No.5 591.
A publication titled "Aromatic Retinoic Acid Analogues Synthesis and Pharmacological Activity" by M. I. Dawson et al. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 1981 Vo. 24 p 583-592 discusses structure activity relationships of certain synthetic retinoids and describes the synthesis of certain phenyl and cyclohexenyl substituted butadienes and hexatrienes as retinoid analogs.
A publication by L. W. Spruce et al. titled Novel Heteroarotinoids: Synthesis and Biological Activity Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 1991 Vol. 34, p. 430 describes certain thiochromanyl and cyclopropyl substituted butadienes as retinoid analogs.
The synthesis of 2-furancarboxylic acid, 5-(methylthio)-3-(4-phenyl-1,3-butadienyl)-,ethyl ester is disclosed in Tetrahedron, 45(23), 7631-40 (Eng) 1989.
Several co-pending applications and recently issued patents of the present inventor, which are assigned to the assignee of the present application, are directed to further compounds having retinoic acid-like acitivity.

Phenyl or heteroaryl and tetrahydronaphthyl substituted diene compounds having retinoid like biological activity


A shared data store may be accessible to a plurality of electronic devices and used to share files in a collaboration setting. A shared file is shared by a first electronic device with a second device via a connection between the first electronic device and the shared data store. A coordinating electronic device associated with the shared data store monitors the connection with the first electronic device. If a loss in the connection is detected, the coordinating electronic device may cause access to the shared file to become restricted to the second electronic device responsive to the loss of the connection.

Electronic devices may allow for the creation and storage of files. Such files include documents, presentations, pictures, movies, and many others. The files may be created by a user of the electronic device, or generated automatically by the electronic device.
Electronic devices such as cellular telephones (mobile phones), smart telephones (smartphones), Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), computers, or tablet computers have become widespread. Electronic devices may be equipped with communications components or subsystems that allow for the transmission of files between two or more electronic devices; and therefore allow for easy sharing of files between electronic devices. However, information contained within particular files is at times considered sensitive, and as such it is desirable to control access to particular files.


A battery charging-discharging control apparatus includes an estimation circuit, a detection circuit, and a control circuit. The estimation circuit estimates an internal resistance of a battery. The detection circuit detects a charging-discharging current of the battery. The control circuit predicts a behavior of a voltage of the battery based on behaviors of the internal resistance and the charging-discharging current of the battery. The control circuit limits the charging-discharging current or a charging-discharging power of the battery based on the predicted behavior of the battery voltage in such a manner that the battery voltage is within a predetermined voltage range.

JP-A-2006-211789 (in particular, pages 12-13, and FIG. 11) discloses a technique for preventing a battery mounted on a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) from being overcharged and overdischarged. According to the conventional technique, an internal resistance of the battery is estimated based on a temperature of the battery, and a control range of the battery is determined based on the estimated internal resistance. The charging-discharging of the battery is controlled so that a voltage of the battery can be limited within the control range.
The battery voltage may vary due to internal conditions of the battery other than the battery internal resistance. For example, the battery voltage may vary due to a charging-discharging current of the battery and the state of charge (SOC) of the battery.
As described above, the conventional technique disclosed in JP-A-2006-211789 controls the charging-discharging of the battery based on only the internal resistance of the battery without taking into considerations other battery internal conditions such as the charging-discharging current and the state of charge of the battery. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, although the battery inherently has a wide charging-discharging performance range, the charging-discharging of the battery is controlled in a narrow range. As a result, the charging-discharging performance of the battery cannot be used efficiently.

Battery charging and discharging control apparatus


A removable rack for holding and/or transporting kayaks with a vehicle such as a pick up, trailer, utility vehicle or flat bed truck. The rack comprises a frame which holds at least one kayaks in a pickup at a selected height and leaving storage room under rack frame. The rack also can be disassembled into a relatively small bundle of parts for easy storage and transport. The rack provides a dolly or hand truck including a frame with wheels and a handle means to maintain the desired spacing between the support surface and the kayak supported by the elevated platform. The hand truck assembly are configured to be easily moved onto an elevated platform, for example, the bed of a truck or an elevated floor such as a raised patio or deck floor. The transport device facilitates transportation of the kayak to a body of water.

Water sports continue to grow in all areas of the world. Conventional kayak frames are stationary and designed for display of the kayak or for installation in a truck or on a trailer using fastening means such as bolts to secure the rack. Removable of the kayak frame requires tools and often is labor intensive.
Many kayaks are too large to neatly fit in the back of a van, car or pickup. It is generally desirable to tie the kayaks in place, but such vehicles are not supplied with handy or sturdy arrangements for securing kayaks and other related equipment.
Conventional frames are typically dedicated to use in a vehicle for transport or as a support frame resting on the ground. Typically kayaks are carried one at a time from the storage frame to the vehicle and strapped to the floor of the vehicle or to roof supports affixed to the roof of a vehicle. Kayaks held in the back of a pickup usually have a length extending pass the end of the truck tailgate representing a safety hazard and a transport vehicle with inadequate support.


The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for determining an affinity between a target user and at least one candidate user. The systems may perform the methods to obtain a plurality of target service orders associated with the target user and a plurality of candidate service orders associated with the candidate user within a predetermined time period; select one or more relevant service orders from the plurality of candidate service orders based on the plurality of target service orders; and determine an affinity between the target user and the candidate user based on the one or more relevant service orders.

On-demand services (e.g., a taxi hailing service) utilizing Internet technology have become increasingly popular because of their convenience. For a specific user, a system providing on-demand services may present recommendations (e.g., a possible friend, a travel recommendation) to the user based on the user's location and preference. In some situations, in order to provide appropriate and interesting recommendations, it is desirable to know the level of connection (affinity) between the users. The systems and methods herein disclosed may at least in part be used to determine the affinity between the users.

Systems and methods for determining an affinity between users

BEIJING DIDI INFINITY TECHNOLOGY AND DEVELOPMENT CO., LTD.


An aircraft propeller speed control defines values for propeller speed governing control law parameters, such as gains and dynamic compensations, based on known values of propeller and engine dynamic characteristics over the complete propeller operating envelope. Adjusting control law gains and dynamic compensations as functions of propeller and engine dynamic characteristics over the entire flight envelope provides for control of propeller speed to obtain optimum stability and consistent propulsion performance over the entire flight envelope.

It is well known in the art of aircraft propeller speed controls to use mechanical control systems to control propeller speed. In these mechanical systems a value for a particular control law gain or dynamic compensation is selected which will provide the system with optimal propulsion performance under a chosen single operating condition, such as cruising at a particular speed or altitude. However, these mechanical control systems possess no means of adjusting control parameters such as gains and dynamic compensations for other speeds or altitudes of operation. Thus, the mechanical system does not operate at the most desirable performance over the entire flight envelope. The system is often overdamped or underdamped when not operating at the selected design condition.

Propeller speed control having control parameters based on system dynamic characteristics


A motor stator assembly is incorporated in a full-circumferential flow pump which has an annular space around a motor. The motor stator assembly comprises a stator, an outer frame casing encasing the stator, an outer cylinder made of sheet metal disposed around the outer frame casing with an annular space defined therebetween, and a cable housing hermetically welded to the outer frame casing and the outer cylinder, for housing leads of the stator. The outer cylinder can be elongated axially so as to cover the end portions of the motor frame.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motor stator assembly and a full-circumferential flow pump employing such a motor stator assembly, and more particularly to a motor stator assembly including an outer frame casing provided around a motor stator and an outer cylinder disposed around the outer frame casing with an annular space defined therebetween, and a full-circumferential flow pump employing such a motor stator assembly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There have been known full-circumferential flow pumps which have an annular fluid passage between a pump casing and a motor accommodated in the pump casing. In general, the full-circumferential flow pump has a pump casing comprising a suction-side casing, a discharge-side casing, and an outer cylinder extending between the suction-side casing and the discharge-side casing. The suction-side casing and the discharge-side casing are generally highly rigid as they are each made of a casting such as an iron casting.
The full-circumferential flow pump also includes a motor fixedly supported in the rigid suction- and discharge-side casings.
The motor can fixedly be supported in the suction and discharge-side casings because they are in the form of rigid castings. If these casings comprise sheets pressed to shape, the motor cannot fixedly be supported in the casings because they are not sufficiently rigid.

Motor stator assembly and full-circumferential flow pump employing such motor stator assembly


A device for purging gas comprises a conduit assembly defining an interior volume. The conduit assembly comprises a first conduit portion having an open first end and an open second end and a second conduit portion having an open first end and a closed second end. The open second end of the first conduit portion is disposed proximate to the open first end of the second conduit portion to define a weld region. The device further comprises a supply element supplying a gas to the interior volume at a substantially constant rate and a vent element venting the gas from the interior volume at a rate that maintains the gas in the interior volume within a pressure range suitable to hold a weld bead in the weld region in equilibrium during formation of a weld to join the first conduit portion and the second conduit portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device for purging gas and, more particularly, to a device for purging gas from a conduit.
2. Description of the Related Art
When welding conduit sections of certain materials, such as stainless steel and/or other alloys, for example, it is desirable to remove reactive gases from the weld region. Gases, such as oxygen, tend to chemically react with the molten conduit material and degrade the quality of the resultant weld. Conduit purging systems are used to fill the conduit with an inert gas, such as argon, for example, to displace the reactive gases from the weld region.
Manufacturers of welding systems typically provide specifications identifying recommended purge gas flow rates and pressures to obtain high quality welds for conduits of various sizes and materials. The recommended flow rates and pressures, however, are designated for open-ended conduit sections in which these parameters can be maintained. For open-ended conduits, the purge gas flows through the conduit sections and is either vented or recaptured. A problem arises when welding an open-ended conduit to a conduit having a closed end, such as a cap or a pressure vessel. In such a closed-ended system the purge gas has an inlet, but no outlet. Accordingly, when the gas is supplied to the conduit, the gas pressure within the conduit continually increases until the weld bead blows out of the weld region.
One proposed solution to the problem of welding closed-ended conduits is to turn off the gas purge partway through the welding process, in particular, before the pressure causes weld failure. This solution, however, is difficult to implement, generates uncontrolled purge gas pressure within the conduit, and provides inconsistent results and many failed welds.

The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration


A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product are provided. The apparatus obtains a measure of a mammalian body temperature. The measure is based on at least one body temperature sensed at a second device remote from a first device. The apparatus concludes a criterion is satisfied when the measure is less than a first threshold corresponding to an expected body temperature and the measure approaches a second threshold corresponding to an ambient temperature. The apparatus initiates a control of the first user device when the criterion is satisfied.

Field
The present disclosure relates generally to mechanisms for controlling user devices, and more particularly, to temperature based control of media players.
Background
Conventional media player systems, including media players resident in computing devices, such as laptops and desktops, and mobile devices such as Smartphones, tablets and MP3 players, and accompanying auditory devices, such as earphones or headphones, operate through manual activation of control buttons. Often, a user of such systems removes the auditory device from himself without manually activating control buttons so as to stop or pause the media player. As a result, the media player continues to play, thereby inconveniencing the user through loss of place of the current media, and wasting resources including device power and network bandwidth.


In the method described fluid containing magnetizable particles is introduced into a separating chamber containing a fluid-permeable mass of magnetizable material and held therein for a finite length of time. During this time the magnetizable material is moved into a magnetic field where the fluid is drained from the magnetizable material leaving magnetizable particles entrained in this material. This draining may be achieved either by providing relative movement between the separating chamber and the magnetizable material or by discharging the fluid from the separating chamber. The magnetic separator described comprises a chain of separating chambers, and associated masses of magnetizable material, which are moved continuously through a separating zone in which a magnetic field is established by a magnet. In this zone each mass of magnetizable material is drained and, outside this zone, the magnetizable particles entrained in the magnetizable material are removed by flushing.

The force exerted on a spherical particles of magnetisable material in a magnetic field is given by the expression: ##EQU1## where Xm is the volume magnetic susceptibility of the material, D is the diameter of the particles, H is the magnetic field intensity and dH/dx is the rate of change of the magnetic field intensity with distance. From this expression it can be seen that, if both the diameter D and the volume magnetic susceptibility Xm of a particle are small, it is necessary to provide a high intensity magnetic field and/or a magnetic field whose intensity changes rapidly with distance to exert an appreciable force on the particle.
It can be shown that, in a simple wet magnetic separator containing magnetisable material constituted by a single ferromagnetic wire of radius a and saturation magnetisation M.sub.s, the chance of a paramagnetic particle, of radius R and magnetic susceptibility Xm in a fluid of viscosity .eta. moving with velocity V.sub.o relative to the wire in a uniform magnetic field of intensity H applied in a direction opposite to the direction of flow of the fluid, being captured by the wire, whose longitudinal axis is orientated in a direction perpendicular to the direction of the magnetic field and to the direction of flow of the fluid, increases with the ratio V.sub.m /V.sub.o, where V.sub.m is a quantity having the dimension of speed which may be called the "magnetic velocity" and is given by the expression: ##EQU2##
It can therefore be seen that the chance of capturing the paramagnetic particle may be increased either by increasing the value of the magnetic field intensity H or by decreasing the value of the velocity V.sub.o.
Considering both expressions (1) and (2) together, it can be seen that a high efficiency of capture of magnetisable particles in a magnetic separator may be achieved either by maximising the value of the force F in expression (1), or alternatively by reducing the value of the velocity V.sub.o in which case the magnetisable particle may be acted upon by a smaller force but passes the collecting sites within the packing material at a lower velocity and therefore has a greater chance of being captured. However, if the value of V.sub.o is small, the amount of feed material which can be passed through the separating chamber in a given time will be small.
Canadian patent specification No. 937,537 discloses a continuous magnetic separator comprising a plurality of separating chambers linked together to form an endless loop. The loop of separating chambers is continuously rotatable between pairs of yokes of electromagnets. Each separating chamber has an open top and a perforated bottom and contains magnetisable material in the form of partially cut and expanded sheet metal. In use of the separator, the material to be treated is introduced into each separating chamber when that separating chamber is within a magnetic field associated with one of the electromagnets. Magnetisable particles within the feed material are retained in the magnetisable material while the remainder of the feed material passes straight through the separating chamber and out through the perforated bottom. Whilst, in use of such a separator, a relatively high throughflow rate of feed material may be provided whilst maintaining a reasonable efficiency of separation (by the choice of a suitably low value of V.sub.o), the velocity V.sub.o which is related to the throughflow cross-section of the separating chambers will still be such that the more weakly magnetisable particles will not be separated (unless a very high intensity magnetic field is utilized). Also the flow of feed material through the separating chambers will be turbulent, thus providing varying values of V.sub.o throughout the volume of each separating chamber and prejudicing the separation efficiency. Thus the most weakly magnetisable particles either will not be captured within the magnetisable material or will be captured and subsequently swept out of the material.

Method of, and a magnetic separator for, separating magnetizable particles from a fluid

English Clays Lovering Pochin & Co., Ltd.


An application performance management system is provided, which is adapted to analyze the performance of one or more applications running on information technology (IT) infrastructure. The application performance management system includes a data collector, an anomaly detector, an anomaly correlator, an anomaly ranking unit, and a source problem detector. The data collector collects performance metrics for one or more applications running on the IT infrastructure. The anomaly detector analyzes the performance metrics and detects anomalies, which may include performance metrics whose values deviate from historic values with a deviation that exceeds a predefined threshold. The anomaly correlator detects dependencies between plural anomalies and generates anomaly clusters. Each anomaly cluster includes anomalies that are correlated through one or more of the dependencies. The anomaly ranking unit ranks anomalies within an anomaly cluster. The source problem detector pinpoints a problem source from the lowest ranked anomaly in an anomaly cluster.

A first type of existing solutions for application performance management relies on deep inspection, i.e. at code level, of the processes that are running on monitored IT infrastructure. The inspection is done by an agent that is installed on the server or IT infrastructure that is monitored and that runs in the monitored applications. The agent for instance identifies individual queries of a database access application that are running slow.
The APM solution from New Relic relies on an agent that identifies performance impact of specific code segments or Structured Query Language (SQL) queries. The APM solution from New Relic is described, for example, in the description of application monitoring on New Relic's website: newrelic.com.
Also the APM solution from AppDynamics provides code level visibility into performance problems. Information on this APM solution is retrievable, for example, in the description of application performance management on AppDynamics's website: AppDynamics.com.
The agent that inspects the performance at code level in the just described first type of APM solutions uses substantial resources, i.e. CPU time, of the server or IT infrastructure that is monitored, and consequently negatively impacts the performance thereof.
Further, the agent based APM solutions enable only bottom-up analysis. The agent shall for instance detect that certain database queries are slow and shall report this. The slow database queries however may result from a back-up process that is running in parallel, but the agent will not be able to link the slow running queries to the back-up process. This can only be detected through manual inspection of data received from the agent(s).
A second type of existing solutions for application performance management relies on a lightweight agent installed on the server or IT infrastructure that is monitored. The lightweight agent does not run in the application that is monitored but reports server performance metrics at higher level, e.g. CPU usage, disk occupancy, memory usage, etc. An example of the second type of existing APM solutions is known from Boundary and is described, for example, in the products on Boundary's website: boundary.com.
A lightweight agent that does not run in the monitored application(s) has a smaller impact on resource usage of the monitored server or IT infrastructure. The lightweight agent however requires intelligence elsewhere to efficiently pinpoint the source of problems with minimal false alarms.
Existing solutions based on a lightweight agent, like for instance the one from Boundary, visualize the metrics obtained from the lightweight agent but pinpointing the source of problems remains a manual process.
A third type of existing solutions for application performance management works agentless. Agentless solutions do not impact resource usage of the monitored server(s) or IT infrastructure.
Agentless APM solutions however are less accurate, i.e. they generate more false alarms since no performance metrics obtained on the monitored server or IT infrastructure can be taken into account.
United States Patent Application US 2013/0110761 entitled "System and Method for Ranking Anomalies" describes an APM system wherein lightweight agents collect performance metrics, e.g. CPU idle time, and a central processor detects anomalies associated with one or plural data metrics. In order to tackle the problem of growing data centres and growing number of anomalies, the anomalies are ranked/categorized by severity or criticality.
Although the system known from US 2013/0110761 relies on lightweight agents that are non-intrusive for the servers and applications that are monitored, this system lacks the ability to identify the source of problems. Anomalies are ranked/prioritized to tackle the scalability problem, but the system known from US 2013/0110761 fails to exploit synergies or relations between detected anomalies.
United States Patent Application US 2008/0235365 entitled "Automatic Root Cause Analysis of Performance Problems Using Auto-Baselining on Aggregated Performance Metrics" describes a system for application performance monitoring with agents that report metrics, e.g. response time, error count, CPU load, and transaction identifiers or other transaction context data identifying execution paths and/or calling relationships between components of the system (see FIG. 9: 900 and 925). The transaction information is used to correlate the performance metrics (see FIG. 9: 905 and 930) in an attempt to deal with the scalability problem resulting from ever growing data centres and massive volumes of reported performance metrics resulting therefrom. Thereafter, anomalies are detected by comparing metrics to (adaptive) baselines and a drill down procedure is used to pinpoint the root cause and identify anomalous components of the system.
The approach followed in US 2008/0235365 is disadvantageous for two reasons. Firstly, the central manager in the system of US 2008/0235365 relies on transaction information, i.e. information that specifies the sequence of hosts called for each transaction, as is illustrated for instance by FIG. 3a-FIG. 3d in US 2008/0235365. Collecting and reporting such detailed information can only be done at application level, hence requiring agents on the hosts that are very intrusive in terms of impact on the performance of the servers or hosts that are monitored. Secondly, the correlation of massive volumes of performance metrics using massive volumes of transaction information is demanding on the central manager. The excessive information shared between the agents and the central manager in other words results in overhead, both at agent side and at central manager side.

Application performance analyzer and corresponding method


A gear measuring method allows multi-point continuous measurement using a touch probe and is capable of reducing measuring time compared with known methods. For example, a base action for moving a sensing element of a touch probe along an ideal tooth form line of a workpiece (gear; W) or a tooth form line determined by calculation by controlling the movement of the sensing element and the rotation of the workpiece (W) and, in addition, an oscillation action for receiving first signals (ON signals or OFF signals) from the touch probe by bringing the sensing element into contact with the tooth surface of the workpiece during the base action and subsequently for receiving second signals (OFF signals or ON signals) from the touch probe by moving the touch probe in a direction along which the sensing element is separated from the tooth surface of the workpiece are continuously performed.

As gear machining equipment, there are gear shaping machines and hobbing machines configured to manufacture a gear by cutting, gear grinding machines configured to grind a quenched gear, and the like.
In machining a gear with such gear machining equipment, at least one gear taken out from a lot having undergone the machining is subjected to gear measurement such as tooth profile and tooth trace measurement with a gear measuring device to check the machining accuracy. If the machining accuracy is good, the machining with the gear machining equipment is continued for the remaining lots. If the machining accuracy is poor, the machining accuracy of the gear machining equipment is corrected, and the remaining lots are then machined. Meanwhile, in a case of a large gear, producing a defective product is unacceptable. Thus, a stock amount is left on the gear, and gear machining with gear machining equipment and gear measurement with a gear measuring device are repeated several times, and after the final accuracy is checked, finishing is performed.
Conventional gear measuring devices are usually separate from gear machining equipment. In this case, a work of transferring a machined gear from the gear machining equipment to the gear measuring device is necessary. In this respect, in recent years, various types of gear machining equipment equipped integrally with a gear measuring device have been proposed for the purpose of eliminating the gear transferring work to improve the workability.
Meanwhile, as a measuring probe used in the gear measuring device, there are a continuous scanning probe and a touch probe. The continuous scanning probe is an analog measuring probe and configured to move its sensing element in continuous contact with the tooth surface of a gear and measure the tooth surface on the basis of the amount of displacement of the sensing element in the movement. On the other hand, the touch probe is a digital (ON/OFF type) measuring probe. The touch probe is superior to the continuous scanning probe in environmental resistances such as humidity resistance and dust resistance, and is therefore particularly useful in a case where the gear measuring device is provided on the gear machining equipment. Moreover, the touch probe is lower in cost than the continuous scanning probe, and is therefore very useful from the viewpoint of cost reduction of the gear machining equipment.
To describe the touch probe on the basis of FIG. 11, a touch probe 1 is configured such that its sensing element 2 is normally held in a state shown by the solid line in FIG. 11. The touch probe 1 is turned on (in a case of an internal switch with a form a contact; the touch probe 1 is turned off in a case of a form b contact) as the sensing element 2 of the touch probe 1 approaches a tooth surface 3a of a gear 3 as shown by an arrow A, contacts the tooth surface 3a as shown by the dashed lines in FIG. 11, and is displaced by a pre-travel amount Δ (e.g., about several tens of μm). Then, the tooth profile and the tooth trace are measured on the basis of coordinates on drive axes at the moment when the touch probe 1 is turned on (or off), and the like.
Accordingly, to measure the next measuring point, it is necessary to move the sensing element 2 in a direction away from the tooth surface 3a as shown by an arrow B or move the tooth surface 3a in a direction away from the sensing element 2 to once turn off the touch probe 1 (in the case of the internal switch with the form a contact; the touch probe 1 is turned on in the case of the form b contact).
To describe these actions on the basis of FIG. 12, in a case of measurement at measuring points P1 to P4 on the tooth surface 3a for example, the touch probe 1 is first moved in an X-axis direction to set the sensing element 2 to a position corresponding to the first measuring point P1. Then, the sensing element 2 is moved in a Y-axis direction or the gear 3 is turned about a C axis (the rotation center of the gear 3) to bring the sensing element 2 closer to the tooth surface 3a as shown by an arrow A and further into contact with the measuring point P1, so that the touch probe 1 is turned on (the case with a form a contact is described here). Subsequently, the sensing element 2 is moved backward along the Y axis or the gear 3 is turned backward about the C axis to separate the sensing element 2 from the tooth surface 3a as shown by an arrow B, so that the touch probe 1 is turned off and returned to the initial set position. Thereafter, the sensing element 2 is moved in the X-axis direction as shown by an arrow D and set to a position corresponding to the second measuring point P2. In the subsequent process, the same actions are repeated for each of the measuring points P2 to P4.


The present invention provides 2,5-inter-o-phenylene-3,4-dinor-PGF.sub.2 compounds. These compounds are intermediates for preparing 2,5-inter-o-phenylene-3,4-dinor-prostacyclin analogs, which are useful for pharmacological purposes, e.g., as antithrombotic agents.

The present invention relates to novel prostacyclin analogs and intermediates for their production. In particular, the present invention relates to prostacyclin intermediates useful in the production of 2,5-inter-o-phenylene-3,4-dinor-prostacyclin analogs. Most particularly the present invention provides 2,5-inter-o-phenylene-3,4-dinor-PGF.sub.2 compounds. The preparation and use of the novel compounds is described in Appendix A.


A method is disclosed for operating a circuit breaker, the circuit breaker. The circuit breaker includes an operating lever, a latching mechanism and an electrical contact system with a movable contact and a fixed contact. The operating lever is movable into an ON-position and an OFF-position. Further, the operating lever is mechanically connected via the latching mechanism to the contact system such that when the operating lever is in its OFF-position, the contacts of the electrical contact system are opened and when the operating lever is in its ON-position, the contacts of the electrical contact system are closed. Further, such a circuit breaker is also disclosed.

In modern technical applications, circuit breakers are commonly used. Especially, circuit breakers can be used to circuit switching of high currents and powers respectively, for instance a circuit switching of currents as high as 70 kA and even higher. It is known to equip such circuit breakers with safety devices such as for instance an overload protection and/or a short-circuit protection and the according trigger switches. The overall safety during the usage of high electrical currents and/or powers can therefore be improved by a usage of such circuit breakers.
Modern circuit breakers generally comprise an operating lever for a manipulation by the operator, in most cases movable at least between an OFF-position and an ON-position. Internally, the switching of the electrical current is achieved by a contact system, the contact system usually comprising one or more pairs of fixed and movable contacts. A latching mechanism is provided in between, mechanically connected both to the operating handle and the contact system. Therefore, a manipulation of the operating lever by the operator results in a change in the contact system, for instance, a change of the position of the operating between its OFF-position and its ON-position results in a closing of the contacts of the contact system.
During the movement of the operating handle into its ON-position, in addition to the closing of the contacts of the contact system also an arming of the protection system(s) in the circuit breaker is necessary. Especially after the occurrence of a tripping incident, for instance an overcurrent or a short-circuit, this arming needs a reset of the circuit breaker, especially of the latching mechanism of the circuit breaker. In such a reset, especially of the latching mechanism, also the normal operation of the circuit breaker, e.g. induced by switching the operating lever from its OFF-position in its ON-position, can be prepared. Without a reset of the latching mechanism, the latching mechanism cannot be activated in a subsequent movement of the operating lever in its ON-position and the contact system of the circuit breaker cannot be closed and in addition the protection systems of the circuit breaker cannot be armed.
If a circuit breaker is switched on and its operating handle is accordingly moved into the ON-position, all movements of the latching mechanism and especially of the contacts of the electrical contact system have to be stopped at the end of the switching-on procedure. Especially an immediate activation of any armed safety device has to be prohibited. An unintentional interruption of the flow of current through the circuit breaker can for instance lead to a damage of a consumer load in the downstream electrical circuit.
One possible solution according to the state of the art is to disable the safety devices at a short period at the beginning of the operation of the circuit breaker. To hinder an unintentional triggering of a safety device, it is further known in circuit breakers according to the state of the art to provide for instance strong springs to solve the aforementioned issue. However, these stronger springs can lead to higher releasing forces for the safety devices. The overall safety for such circuit breakers could therefore be decreased. It is known in the state of the art to use longer lever-arms for the safety devices to solve this issue, but this leads to a larger size of the circuit breakers. Therefore, small and compact circuit breakers cannot be provided.

Method for operating a circuit breaker and circuit breaker


A dual auger stacking device for use with a document sorting and conveying apparatus defining a document path and including a plurality of gates for diverting documents from the path into a preselected document receiving station of a plurality of such stations. Each station has a support structure for supporting planar surfaces of documents diverted by the gates and directing the documents into the receiving station. The stacking device includes a base plate upon which lower edges of sorted documents are conveyed upon being diverted by the gates, and an auger assembly operationally disposed relative to the base plate for pulling trailing edges of documents away from the support structure, for loosening documents stacked at the support structure for which the trailing edges have been pulled away, and for displacing the loosened documents into the document receiving station in a direction normal to the document path.

The present invention relates generally to document processing or handling systems having a document feeding and sorting function, wherein stacks of documents are scanned and sorted as to destination, and more particularly to a dual auger stacking device and corresponding control apparatus for such a system which facilitates the rapid stacking of documents diverted from a main document path.
Document processing or handling systems are known which include a feeder station into which stacks of documents are conveyed for singulation and are sequentially passed in a document path downstream for reading by an optical character reader or bar code reader. The reader determines into which of a plurality of document receiving stations each document will be diverted. As the document advances down the document path, an automatic diverter gate will be triggered by the reader to pivot and thus divert the document into the appropriate receiving or stacking station.
It has been found in the operation of such systems, when large volumes of documents are being rapidly handled and sorted, that stacks of documents often build up at a single document receiving station, and may become so tightly packed that the stacking of subsequent documents is impeded or prevented. Such tightly packed stacks of sorted documents have been known to become damaged to the point that further sorting and handling is difficult, if not impossible.
Thus, there is a need for a device for minimizing the document congestion at document receiving stations, and for expediting the movement of a diverted document away from the document path and towards the document receiving station.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a stacking device for a document handling and sorting system which prevents congestion at document receiving stations.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a document stacking device which receives diverted documents, which rapidly moves at least a portion of each document away from a diverter path, which loosens the stack of documents, and which moves the loosened documents toward the receiving station.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a document stacking device which minimizes the congestion of diverted documents, and which operates only when documents are present in order to avoid damage to the lower edges of the documents.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a document stacking device including a control system which operates the device as a function of the sensing of a document in the document path which will be diverted to a particular document receiving station.

Dual auger stacking device and control therefor


A fetal electrode product for transmitting signals indicative of fetal heart rate from a fetus to a monitor. A drive mechanism slides and rotates a holder--to which are attached, at opposite ends, a fetal spiral electrode (FSE) and a reference electrode--to secure the FSE to the fetus. The drive mechanism has a solid drive rod, with at least two regions of different diameter defining the torque versus angular deflection characteristics of the drive rods and a clutch connected to the drive rod and imparting translation and rotation to the holder. The clutch is sufficiently pliable to slip over the reference electrode when the holder resists rotation. The drive rod, a handle, and the clutch are integrally molded together to form the drive mechanism and each has a channel transporting a twisted wire strand, which includes an untwisted length to facilitate removal of the FSE from the fetus, from the electrodes to a connector. The connector has an outside dimension greater than the outside diameter of the drive rod to facilitate handling and smaller than the inside diameter of an annular guide tube so that the guide tube can be pulled over the connector after the FSE is attached to the fetus. The connector also has a plug and grip sized to provide a visual indication of full insertion of the plug into the socket opening of a support plate affixed to the mother and electrically connected to the monitor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fetal electrode and, in particular, to a fetal spiral electrode which includes a drive rod, a clutch, a handle, and a safety clip integrally molded together to form a channeled drive mechanism for imparting the torque required to attach the electrode to the fetus.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is desirable to monitor fetal heart rate continuously during labor and delivery in order to detect fetal distress. Devices which are external to the mother's body do not adequately isolate the fetal and maternal heartbeats. Consequently, devices which attach directly to the fetus during labor are now commonly used. U.S. Pat. No. Re. 28,990, issued to Hon et al., discloses a fetal spiral electrode (FSE) assembly commonly used to monitor fetal heart rate during birth.
The conventional fetal spiral electrode assembly includes a curved guide tube of adjustable shape for insertion of the fetal spiral electrode through the mother's cervix and into contact with the fetus during labor. A plastic tip or holder is slidably received in the guide tube. A sharp, pointed, fetal spiral electrode is mounted on the forward end of the holder for contacting the fetal epidermis.
A reference (maternal) electrode in the form of a flat fin or plate is electrically isolated from the fetal electrode and located on the rear end of the holder. A flexible, hollow drive tube with a cutout on its forward end fits inside the guide tube and engages the holder. The cutout of the drive tube engages the reference electrode in the holder to impart translation and rotation to the holder and, hence, to the fetal spiral electrode. A handle on the opposite end of the drive tube allows the user to push, pull, and rotate the drive tube within the guide tube. A forward-twisting force is applied to the drive tube to affix the fetal spiral electrode in the fetal epidermis.
The two electrodes are connected to separate wires, which are threaded through the common center of the drive and guide tubes until they ultimately exit at the proximal end of the drive tube. After the fetal spiral electrode is secured to the fetal epidermis, the drive tube and guide tube are removed by pulling the tubes longitudinally over the wires and away from the mother. Removal of the drive and guide tubes leaves the electrodes, the holder, and the wires in place inside the mother. The uninsulated ends of the wires opposite the electrodes are then connected to a fetal monitor.
Manual connection of the uninsulated ends of the wires is cumbersome and risks shorting the wires. If shorted, the wires cannot transmit correct signals from the fetal and reference electrodes. Accordingly, a connector can be added to the fetal spiral electrode assembly disclosed in the '990 patent. As taught by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,205,288 (issued to Quedens et al.), No. 5,199,432 (issued to Quedens et al.), and No. 5,168,876 (issued to Quedens et al.), the connector solves the problem of manual connection of the uninsulated ends of the wires. Because the guide and drive tubes are removed by pulling them longitudinally over the wires and connector, however, the connector must have an outer dimension which is smaller than the inside diameter of the drive tube (and, of course, the larger-diameter guide tube as well).
The wire connected to the fetal spiral electrode and the wire connected to the reference electrode form a twisted wire strand which enters the connector through a strain relief element. The wire from the fetal spiral electrode is connected to a first, gold, terminal or ring contact; the wire from the reference electrode is connected to a second, gold, terminal or ring contact. The terminals are electrically and physically separated by a spacer. The connector has a forward tapered tip.
The connector engages a support plate, which is affixed to the expectant mother (typically to the thigh) and provided to support the connector. Upon insertion of the connector into an opening of the support plate, the two ring contact terminals on the connector click into physical and electrical contact with two corresponding barrel contacts in the support plate. Moreover, the tip of the connector abuts a wall in the support plate to prevent over-insertion of the connector.
The support plate carries its own ground electrode. Consequently, three electrical circuit paths are created upon engagement of the connector with the support plate: (a) fetal electrode to a first wire to a first contact terminal to a first barrel contact to a first output terminal to the monitor; (b) reference electrode to a second wire to a second contact terminal to a second barrel contact to a second output terminal to the monitor; and (c) ground electrode to a third output terminal to the monitor.
To use the fetal spiral electrode product having a connector, the shape of the guide tube is adjusted and the guide tube is inserted through the mother's cervix and into contact with the fetus. Care must be exercised to assure that the sharp fetal spiral electrode does not extend out of the guide tube during insertion; otherwise, risk to the patient of injury and infection arises. Once the guide tube contacts the fetus (and is held against the fetus using one of the user's hands), the drive tube is advanced (using the second hand) until the fetal spiral electrode contacts the fetus.
While pressure is maintained against the fetus by the guide tube and drive tube, the drive tube is rotated, using the second hand and the handle, until the fetal spiral electrode is secured to the fetal epidermis. Typically, one full revolution suffices to secure the fetal spiral electrode. Then the drive tube and guide tube are removed, leaving the electrodes, the holder, and the wires in place inside the mother, by sliding them over the electrode wires and connector. Finally, the connector is plugged into the support plate.
The connector must be fully inserted into the support plate to assure optimal signal quality. The connector of the conventional device has a constant diameter along its length. The device cannot provide any visual assurance, therefore, that the connector has been fully inserted. This is one drawback of the conventional device.
A second drawback associated with the conventional fetal spiral electrode assembly described above is the potential for the fetal spiral electrode to extend out of the guide tube, during storage or transportation, before the fetal spiral electrode assembly is ready for use. If exposed, the sharp fetal spiral electrode can pierce the package, typically a paper and plastic pouch, in which the assembly is stored and transported. A person handling the electrode (or the patient) may then be harmed and sterilization of the electrode is jeopardized. In addition, the electrode itself may be damaged.
A related problem associated with the fetal spiral electrode assembly described above is the potential for the fetal spiral electrode to extend out of the guide tube during the initial stages of use. Such premature extension may injure the patient and may cause infection. The problem of premature extension of the fetal spiral electrode out of the guide tube, before or during the initial stages of use, has been solved by the packaging system disclosed in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/126,222, filed on Sep. 23, 1993, entitled "Packaging System for a Fetal Electrode" and incorporated herein by reference.
Another problem associated with the conventional fetal spiral electrode assembly is that the wires and the connector, which convey the electrical signal from the fetus to the monitor, must traverse laterally through the hollow center of the drive tube. This means that the connector necessarily must have an outer dimension smaller than the internal diameter of the guide and drive tubes. Because the guide and drive tubes must be small in diameter in order to transit the closed cervix, this, in turn, means that the connector diameter must be relatively small.
The requirement of a small-diameter connector has several disadvantages. First, the clinician must grasp and handle the connector to insert it into the corresponding socket of the support plate. The smaller the connector, the more difficult it is to handle. Second, a proper connection of the connector to the support plate must be ensured. A smaller connector of constant cross-section is unable to provide assurance that the required connection has been achieved. Finally, the support plate and fetal spiral electrode operate in a fluid-filled environment. A smaller connector risks an inadequate seal of the opening in the support plate into which the connector is inserted. Absent an adequate seal, fluid from the environment may enter the opening in the support plate and adversely affect the connector-socket electrical connection or the other electrical circuit paths discussed above.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,644,957 recognizes the drawback, that the connector must necessarily be of a diameter smaller than the guide and drive tubes, characteristic of the fetal spiral electrode assembly described in the '990 patent. The '957 patent solves that problem by placing the wires alongside a solid drive wrench (rather than inside an annular drive tube) and by providing a slotted guide channel with a C-shaped cross-section (as opposed to a solid, annular guide tube). The wires reside freely inside the guide channel and parallel to the drive wrench. Because the wires are of a smaller diameter than the width of the longitudinal slot in the guide channel (enabling the wires to exit the slot), they must either be wound in a spiral around the drive wrench or positioned in the guide channel away from the slot to retain them securely inside the guide channel. After the fetal spiral electrode is secured to the fetus, the drive wrench is pulled out of the drive channel. The guide channel is then withdrawn, in a similar manner, as the wires slip freely out of the longitudinal slot in the guide channel.
The solution presented by the '957 patent has its own difficulties. The wires must be sized so that they are smaller than the width of the longitudinal slot in the guide channel. Thus, the size of the wires is restricted and the wires may exit the slot prematurely. More importantly, the wires reside freely inside the guide channel and may affect rotation of the drive wrench. The wires may become entangled around the drive wrench, in the worst case, preventing both rotation and removal of the drive wrench. The risk of entanglement is especially great if the wires are purposefully wound in a spiral around the drive wrench. Finally, the wires may not be aligned with the slot, after the drive wrench is removed, rendering withdrawal of the guide channel difficult.
Still another problem associated with the fetal spiral electrode assembly described in the '990 patent is that the drive mechanism consists of the handle and a separate drive tube. The plastic, molded handle is pressure-fit onto the extruded drive tube. When the user rotates the drive handled it is assumed that the drive tube rotates by the same amount as the drive handle and that the holder and fetal spiral electrode, in turn, rotate commensurately. The pressure fit of the conventional two-piece drive mechanism may inadequately transmit rotational motion between the handle and the drive tube; some slippage may occur. If so, the drive tube rotation (and, therefore, the fetal spiral electrode rotation) will not directly reflect the handle rotation.
The two-piece drive mechanism also fails to provide the user with consistent and optimal tactile feedback. The user of the fetal spiral electrode assembly described above turns the drive handle until a mild resistance is felt. Such resistance indicates that the fetal spiral electrode has been securely attached to the fetus. Because slippage may occur between the handle and the drive tube through the pressure fit of the conventional two-piece drive mechanism, the user may not receive the tactile feedback desired. Consequently, the user lacks confidence that a secure attachment of the fetal spiral electrode has been achieved.
Still another problem associated with the conventional fetal spiral electrode assembly is that the electrode wires must be straightened completely before the guide and drive tubes are pulled over the wires and connector. Otherwise, the wires may drag, catch, or snag on the drive tube, as it is removed, placing tension on the fetal spiral electrode. Such tension may pull the fetal spiral electrode out of engagement with the fetus.
Graphic Controls Canada Limited sold a fetal ECG electrode product during the mid 1980's in Canada, under the MEDI-TRACE.RTM. trademark, which incorporated a slotted drive rod to eliminate routing of the wires through a hollow drive tube. The open slot in the drive rod provided for a clean release of the electrode wires after attachment of the fetal spiral electrode, thus reducing wire friction and tugging during removal of the drive rod.
The product was unsuccessful, in part, because the solid, slotted drive rod was inflexible (too rigid and stiff) in comparison to its hollow tube counterpart. The stiffness of a drive rod in a fetal spiral electrode assembly must balance competing requirements. First, the stiffness must be sufficient to (a) transmit torque directly from the handle to the holder and fetal spiral electrode, (b) provide the "feel" required to assure that the fetal spiral electrode is attached to the fetus without over-rotation which would risk damage to the fetal scalp, and (c) allow sufficient bend so that the fetal spiral electrode can be inserted comfortably into the mother.
The Canadian product was overly stiff (insufficiently flexible) and, accordingly, failed to provide the feel required to avoid over-rotation. Consequently, the product risked fetal injury: pulling a plug of skin out of the fetus upon over-rotation of the handle. The clinician was required, therefore, to exert the utmost care to avoid over-rotation.
The risk of injury presented by the Canadian product might have been reduced by a clutch mechanism at the interface between the drive rod and the holder. Such a mechanism would transmit a torque sufficient to affix the fetal spiral electrode to the fetus but slip, or disengage, if a larger torque were applied. The Canadian product did not have such a protective mechanism. In short, therefore, the Canadian product was unsuccessful because it was unable to achieve the same torque characteristics as its conventional, hollow, drive tube counterpart.

Fetal electrode product with channeled drive mechanism and improved torque characteristics


A seeding machine comprises a main frame segment and two wing frame segments. The wing frame segments are provided with a rear rank of planting units that are mounted to the wing frame segments by pivot arms that extend downwardly and rearwardly from the wing frame segments. The pivot arms are pivotally mounted to the wing frame segments by a rock shaft having an actuator bell crank. The bell crank is coupled to a linear actuator for rotating the rock shaft relative to the wing frame segments. The pivot arms have a working position, wherein the planting units are in contact with the ground, an intermediate holding position, wherein the planting units are raised out of the ground, and a transport position, wherein the planting units have been pivoted on their noses into their substantially vertical transport position. To maintain the rear rank of planting units in the intermediate holding position, a U-shaped stop is placed over the linear actuator so that the linear actuator cannot retract.

The present invention is directed to a planting unit lock up device for locking up planting units in a non-working position by preventing the retraction of a linear motor.
Agricultural implements, like seeding machines, have a wide transverse working configuration so that the machine covers as much ground as possible in a single pass. Typically, the seeding machine can be folded from its working configuration to a more manageable transport configuration.
Some seeding machines are provided with a frame having a central main frame segment and two wing frame segments. The central main frame segment is provided with a forwardly extending tow bar for coupling the machine to a tractor. The wing frame segments are pivotally coupled to the main frame by fore/aft extending axes so that the wings can flex relative to the main frame to allow the wing frames to more closely follow the contour of the ground. Individual planting units are mounted to the frame segments by parallelogram linkages so that the planting units can move a limited amount up and down relative to the respective frame segment. One method of folding the frame of the seeding machine described above is to forwardly fold the wings along the tow bar.
To plant on more closely spaced rows it is known to interleave the planting units. All of the planting units can be used to plant a narrow row crop, or selective planting units can be raised to plant a wider row crop.
It is also known to pivot planting units on their noses from a horizontal planting position to a more vertical non-planting position.
A seeding machine comprises a main frame segment and two wing frame segments. In its working configuration, the seeding machine extends transversely. In its transport configuration, the wing frame segments are folded forwardly. All three frame segments are provided with interleaved planting units forming a front rank of planting units and a rear rank of planting units that are interleaved. The rear ranks of planting units are mounted to the wing frame segments by pivot arms that extend downwardly and rearwardly from the wing frame segments. The pivot arms are pivotally mounted to the wing frame segments by a rock shaft. The rock shaft is provided with an actuator bell crank that is coupled to a linear actuator for rotating the rock shaft relative to the wing frame segments. The pivot arms have a working position, wherein the planting units are in their working position, and a transport position, wherein the planting units have been pivoted on their noses into their substantially vertical transport position. By rotating the planting units on the wing frame segments on their noses, the transport width of the seeding machine is reduced. The frame segments are provided with banks of individual seed hoppers. The individual seed hoppers feed seed to the planting units through flexible tubes. One tube extends between one planting unit and one individual seed hopper.
The rear rank of planting units on the wing frame segments have an intermediate holding position, wherein the rear rank of planting units is raised out of the ground into a non-working position. In this position, the front rank of planting units can be used to plant seed, and the rear rank of planting units are inoperable. To maintain the rear rank of planting units in this position, a U-shaped stop is placed over the linear actuator so that the linear actuator cannot retract.

Planting unit lockup device for seeding machine


An actuator capable of preventing occurrence of insulation breakdown while achieving an appropriate operation performance of a dielectric elastomer is provided. Electrode films to be bonded to a dielectric elastomer are formed such that a characteristic of a change in thickness d of the elastomer with an increase in an applied voltage of the elastomer shows a first voltage range in which a decline rate of to the increase in is high and a second voltage range, including a voltage higher than the first voltage range, in which the decline rate of d to the increase in is low, and a voltage value at which the insulation breakdown of the elastomer occurs falls within the second voltage range.

Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an actuator including a dielectric elastomer.
Description of the Related Art
In recent years, development of an actuator including a dielectric elastomer in a form of a film and electrode films bonded to both surfaces of the dielectric elastomer in a thickness direction thereof has been promoted (e.g. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-21328 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-174205).
In this kind of the actuator, in the case that a voltage is applied to the dielectric elastomer through the electrode film, the dielectric elastomer is compressed in the thickness direction by Maxwell stress, and the dielectric elastomer is expanded in a direction along a surface (a direction orthogonal to the thickness direction).
Then, a thickness of the dielectric elastomer is changed by changing a voltage applied to the electric elastomer, and the electric elastomer can be expanded and contracted in the direction along the surface consequently.
In a conventional actuator shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-21328 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-174205, in order to excellently expand and contact the dielectric elastomer in the direction along the surface, the electrode films to be bonded to both surfaces of the dielectric elastomer in the thickness direction are turned to expandable and contractable soft ones (that is, the ones with low stiffness).
However, in the actuator using such electrode films with low stiffness, the following inconvenience tends to occur.
That is, in the electric elastomer, since the Maxwell stress generated by application of a voltage becomes a size inversely proportional to a square of the thickness of the dielectric elastomer, when the thickness of the dielectric elastomer becomes thin to some extent, compression force of the dielectric elastomer diverges and increases accompanying the increase of the applied voltage, and thus the thickness of the dielectric elastomer suddenly declines. Consequently, even though the stiffness of the dielectric elastomer increases by compression, the thickness easily declines to the thickness to cause insulation breakdown of the dielectric elastomer by slight fluctuation of the applied voltage.
In particular, as seen in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-174205, in the one to keep the dielectric elastomer in an initial state of not applying voltage in the state of being strained in the direction along the surface (a so-called pre-strain state), since the thickness of the dielectric elastomer in the initial state is relatively thin, decline of the thickness of the electric elastomer tends to drastically progress with slight increase of the applied voltage. Consequently, the insulation breakdown tends to occur.
On the other hand, in the case that the stiffness of the electrode film is increased for example in order to dissolve the inconvenience, the expansion and contraction of the dielectric elastomer in the direction along the surface is constrained by the electrode film Therefore, elastic deformation of the dielectric elastomer due to application of the voltage is obstructed. Consequently, a variable width of the dielectric elastomer in the thickness direction, or the variable width of a length in the direction along the surface becomes small, and it becomes difficult to secure a required performance of the actuator.

Actuator including a dielectric elastomer and electrode films


A combination hydraulic pressure regulator and pressure switch includes a housing having an interior chamber connecting an inlet port to an outlet port. A seating device is movably received in the interior chamber and has a seat surrounding an opening. The opening is in communication with the outlet port. A poppet is movable in the interior chamber. An adjustment spring normally urges the poppet into engagement with the seat to close the opening, the poppet being movable in a direction away from the seat in response to hydraulic pressure in the interior chamber sufficient to overcome the force of the adjustment spring. A limit switch is mounted to the body. A switch actuator is associated with the poppet for actuating the limit switch in response to movement of the poppet in a direction away from the seat. The seating device is hydraulically balanced in the chamber so that the seat remains engaged with the poppet until a select pressure is exceeded in the interior chamber, thereafter resulting in hydraulic flow from the inlet port to the outlet port.

Hydraulic power systems utilize hydraulic pressure for controlling power units. For safety and other considerations, these systems often use a pressure switch to provide an electrical signal indicating that a preset pressure has been met and a separate pressure regulator to protect the system against being over-pressurized. There also exists combined pressure regulator and pressure switches which provide both pressure signal and protection in a single unit.
The use of separate pressure switches and pressure regulators creates the problems of a user having to make two separate pressure adjustments--one adjustment for the pressure switch, and a separate adjustment for the pressure regulator. This can be difficult since the two are somewhat interactive. If the pressure regulator is set too low, then the pressure switch cannot be set. If the pressure regulator is set too high to avoid this situation, then there is no protection against over-pressurization during the setup operation. Likewise, if the pressure switch is set too low, then the power unit can shut off before the pressure regulator can be set. Thus, the setup operation, in using separate pressure switch and pressure regulators, is especially difficult when operating pressure of the system is constantly changing, requiring repeated resets.
Other problems exist with combined pressure regulators and pressure switches. These devices typically route the return hydraulic flow from the pressure regulator through an orifice, thus creating a back pressure to trigger a pressure switch. This eliminates the need for two separate pressure settings. However, because this design utilizes an orifice, there is the potential for malfunction due to contamination clogging the orifice. Also, operation can be sluggish due to oil viscosity during cold weather operation, or malfunction in hot weather operation. Because the pressure switch is triggered by the return oil from the pressure regulator, the switch can prematurely trigger if the hydraulic seat in the pressure regulator becomes worn.
The present invention is directed to solving one or more of the problems discussed above in a novel and simple manner.

Combination hydraulic pressure regulator and pressure switch


A control system for an AC motor to be driven by an inverter, wherein a control lead angle .beta. of the AC motor drive current is controlled based on the detection of an actual overlapped angle, a set overlapped angle, a detected motor speed, a detected magnitude of the acceleration-deceleration rate of motor speed, a detected amount of current from a power source and/or a detected magnitude of the change rate in the current from the power source.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a control system for an AC motor and more particularly to an AC motor control system having an inverter that supplies AC power to the AC motor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 shows one example of the conventional control system of an AC motor. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 10 designates a three-phase AC source, 11 a breaker, 12 a converter which includes thyristors, 13 a smoothing direct current (DC) reactor, 14 a 120.degree.-conduction inverter which includes thyristors, 15 an AC motor which is the load of the inverter 14, 151 a field winding of the AC motor, 152 a field converter that supplies power to the field winding 151, 16 a speed setter, 24 a speed detector that detects the speed of the AC motor, 17 a speed controller, 18 a current controller, 19 a phase controller that controls an output voltage of the converter 12, 20 a current detector, 23 an overlapped angle detector that detects an overlapped angle .mu. of the inverter 14, 22 a voltage detector, and 21 a control lead angle .beta. controller, respectively.
As can be seen from FIG. 1, AC power from the three-phase AC power source 10 is converted into a variable DC voltage by means of the converter 12, is smoothed by the DC reactor 13, thereafter is reversely converted into an AC power by the inverter 14, and then is supplied to the AC motor 15. The converter 12 and the inverter 14 are controlled such that a speed reference signal set by the speed setter 16 and a speed signal corresponding to the speed of the AC motor 15, as detected by the speed detector 24, are fed into the speed controller 17, and compared and amplified therein so as to produce thereby a current reference signal. The thus produced current reference signal and a current signal detected by the current detector 20 are compared and amplified within the current controller 18. Then the result of this comparison is fed into the phase controller 19 so as to control an output voltage of the converter 12.
On the other hand, the overlapped angle detector 23 detects an overlapped angle .mu. of the inverter 14 on the basis of currents, voltages and frequencies detected by the current detector 20. The thus detected overlapped angle .mu. and output voltage of the inverter 14 detected by the voltage detector 22 are fed into the control lead angle .beta. controller 21, which in turn, determines firing pulse timing for respective thyristors of the inverter 14 so as to control the output frequency thereof. Here, a control lead angle .beta. is based on a .gamma. constant control which is given by the sum of a constant commutation marginal angle .gamma. determined by the thyristors employed in the inverter 14 and an overlapped ang1e .mu. that increases in relation to an increase in current of the AC motor 15. More particularly, .gamma.=.omega.T.sub.c, where .omega. equals the angular frequency and T.sub.c equals the time from when the thyristor forward current becomes zero to the time when the inverse voltage becomes zero. The relationship is shown in FIG. 2.
When the above-described control is performed digitally using a microprocessor and the like, an overlapped angle .mu., which represents the time expressed in electrical degrees during which current is on simultaneously in two rectifying elements (.beta.=.gamma.+.mu.), is calculated with a specified calculation processing interval. However, if motor acceleration or deceleration is rapid or a change rate of current is great, the actual overlapped angle .mu. is varied more than the calculated value, whereby a commutation marginal angle becomes insufficient. This results in commutation failure of the inverter, so that a safety operation cannot be secured. This disadvantage can be eliminated by decreasing the time interval for processing of the overlapped angle .mu.. However, a microprocessor or the like inevitably has limited processing speed. Further, there have been such disadvantages that even if an overlapped angle is accurately processed, in the case when current of the AC motor 15 is rapidly increased, the terminal voltage is also varied causing an actual overlapped angle .mu. to be greater than the thus calculated overlapped angle .mu., so that the variable speed control of the AC motor 15 becomes unstable.


The bottle is provided with a base portion installed on the outer circumference brim of the bottom, a central recess installed inside the base portion and recessed toward the inside of the bottle, an annular wall portion installed between the base portion and the central recess and inclined so as to elevate gradually from the base portion to the central recess, and a plurality of ribs installed side by side at the annular wall portion in the circumferential direction of the bottom and protruding toward the inside of the bottle. The ribs are provided with a rising wall portion rising toward the inside of the bottle and an inclined wall portion inclined from the upper brim of the rising wall portion toward the lower brim of the rising wall portion of an adjacent rib. The rising wall portion is inclined more steeply than the inclined wall portion.

In general, this type of bottle is made from a synthetic resin such as polyethylene terephthalate and produced, for example, by blow molding. In recent years, the energy necessary for re-melting on recycling have been reduced to cope with environmental problems or materials have been used in a smaller quantity to save material costs. As a result, the bottle in itself has been made lighter in weight.
However, a bottle made lighter in weight decreases the rigidity. Therefore, for example, the bottom thereof is softened by heat resulting from a high-temperature liquid filled into the bottle. When the weight of the liquid acts on the thus softened bottom, a base portion installed on the outer circumference brim at the bottom of the bottle is deformed so as to swell toward the outside of the bottle, which may inhibit stability when the bottle is set upright, that is, uprightness. Alternatively, when a bottle, into which a high-temperature liquid is filled, is heated in order to impart sterilization, the internal pressure of the bottle is increased, thereby the base portion at the bottom of the bottle is deformed so as to swell outwardly, which may inhibit the uprightness of the bottle, as described above.
In order to solve the above problem, for example, the technology disclosed in Patent Document 1 given below may be adopted. Specifically, a plurality of hollow ribs protruding outside the bottle to extend in a radial direction are formed so as to be spaced at a predetermined interval in a circumferential direction at an annular recess located between the base portion of a bottle and a central recess installed at the center of the bottom of the bottle. Thereby, the compressive strength of the bottom of the bottle is increased.    PATENT DOCUMENT 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2002-308245


A signal transmission circuit including a signal line through which the signal is transmitted from a signal source element to a signal receiving element, a grounding line arranged along the length of the signal line, and a high impedance element connected between the grounding line and the ground.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a signal transmission circuit. The signal transmission circuit according to the present invention is used, for example, for the transmission of the signal for an exposure process in an electron beam exposing apparatus used in the production of semiconductor devices.
2. Description of the Related Arts
In a prior art signal transmission circuit for an electron beam exposing apparatus, a signal for deflection for an electron beam exposing apparatus is amplified by an amplifier, and the amplified signal is supplied through a node to a coaxial cable as a transmission line, and the signal transmitted through the coaxial cable is supplied to deflection electrodes connected to the coaxial cable. The deflection electrodes are constituted by a pair of electrodes to which positive and negative voltages are applied.
The internal conductor of the coaxial cable is connected to the deflection electrodes, and the external conductor of the coaxial cable is directly connected to the ground.
The electron beam is deflected electrostatically by the signal for deflection supplied to the deflection electrodes through the coaxial cable, and the deflected electron beam is used for exposing a wafer of a semiconductor. Stranded wires are sometimes used in place of the coaxial cable for the signal transmission line.
In such a prior art signal transmission circuit, however, there are problems in that the delay in the transmission of the signal because of the capacitance of the coaxial cable or the twisted wires occurs, and the signal is difficult to transmit at high speed.
That is, in the case where the coaxial cable with the following deflection electrodes is not connected to the node at the output of the amplifier, the voltage of the node is raised quickly in response to the rise of the output voltage of the amplifier, but in the case where the coaxial cable with the following deflection electrodes is connected to the node at the output of the amplifier, the voltage of the node is raised only slowly in response to the rise of the output voltage of the amplifier due to the capacitance of the coaxial cable, thus causing a delay in the establishment of the voltage and preventing the signal from being transmitted at high speed. The problem is similar in the case of the prior art twisted wire transmission circuit.
If a signal transmission circuit without the coaxial cable structure is used for reducing the capacitance, there are problems that the characteristic impedance of the transmission line is higher than that of the coaxial cable or the twisted wires, that the effect of the shielding is not sufficient, and that the signal transmission circuit is apt to be affected by external noise.


A distributor head for a suction pump which includes a housing (12), a pump port (16) configured to apply a negative pressure, and a plurality of hollow needles (18). The hollow needles are fixed to the housing (12), are connected in a liquid-tight manner to the pump port (16), and are arranged parallel to and at a distance from one another. Individual connecting paths (34) of the hollow needles (18) to the pump port (16) include respective, independently operable control valves (36).

A test apparatus for gravimetric testing of multi-channel pipettes is known from the published document EP 2 759 816 B1. Such test apparatuses contain a plurality of load cells that are offset from one another in a housing. The load receptors of said load cells are arranged equidistant in a straight, horizontal row. Each load receptor carries a narrow, cylindrical vessel, into which liquid can be pipetted from a pipette during the test procedure. The arrangement of the individual load receptors and their pipetting vessels is adapted to the arrangement of the pipette tips of the multi-channel pipette to be calibrated. In this way, all of the pipette channels can be emptied simultaneously into the respectively assigned pipetting vessels; and the respective pipetting volume can be determined gravimetrically. Before each new pipetting process, the load cells can be tared as needed, so that the respective pre-fill level of the vessels does not affect the individual measurements. However, after a certain number of test procedures, it is absolutely necessary to empty the pipetting vessels. For this purpose the cited published document discloses the parallel emptying of all of the pipetting vessels by suction using a multi-channel suction pump.
Such suction pumps typically comprise a single pumping station, which generates the necessary negative pressure and which is connected to the pump port of a distributor head conforming to its genre. The distributor head comprises a plurality of hollow needles, which are fixed to the housing of the distributor head; and said distributor head has an arrangement and orientation that are adapted to those of the pipetting vessels of the gravimetric test apparatus. The individual hollow needles are connected in a liquid tight manner to the pump port. For this purpose there is usually a main line that is connected to the pump port, from which individual branch lines diverge to the individual hollow needles. Of course, it is also possible to route the individual line from each hollow needle to the common pump port. For the pumping out operation, the distributor head is positioned in such a way that all of the hollow needles are immersed in the pipetting vessels as far as to the desired immersion depth. Then the negative pressure, generated by the pumping station, is distributed to all of the suction channels, so that the liquid is aspirated from all of the pipetting vessels in parallel.
However, problems may arise, if the fill level in one pipetting vessel is significantly lower than in another pipetting vessel. The vessel that is only slightly filled will soon be sucked dry, so that the corresponding hollow needle draws air. If an extremely strong and, thus, large, heavy and expensive pumping station is not used, the result will be a disruption in the liquid column in the common line area, so that the aspiration will stop altogether. Therefore, vessels that are filled to a higher level will not be completely aspirated. If, however, it is falsely assumed, as the pipetting procedure continues, that all of the vessels are empty, then the vessels may overflow and cause damage to the sensitive inner structure of the test apparatus.

SARTORIUS LAB INSTRUMENTS GMBH & CO., KG


A directional MIMO antenna using electro-polarization is provided to realize a MIMO antenna capable of maintaining directivity utilizing an antenna using electro-polarization formed by disposing a metal strip antenna on a circuit board. The directional MIMO antenna includes a horizontal polarization line formed by disposing a plurality of horizontal polarization strips for generating horizontal polarization on one surface of a circuit board, a vertical polarization line formed by disposing a plurality of vertical polarization strips for generating vertical polarization on the other surface of the circuit board to correspond to a position of the horizontal polarization line, and a radiation antenna connected to the horizontal polarization line and the vertical polarization line.

In general, in communications circuits, a plurality of high frequency signals are combined as one signal or bound as one to thereby establish communications means such as multiband systems via connection with other circuits.
When the plurality of signals are connected and used on one line, problems in which the signals are offset from one another or loss thereof is caused due to division thereof, depending on respective signal characteristics may occur.
Thus, peculiar antennas for each signal have been used or filters for filtering noise or the like have been installed, such that there have been negative attributes such as a complex structure, an increase in a size of a circuit, and the like.
Thus, the present applicant has proposed a method for controlling a current to only flow in a desired direction by controlling a high frequency signal current to flow in a predetermined direction on a metal plate using electro-polarization, and an antenna using the same, in Korean Patent No. 10-1017690 (Electro-polarization and Application thereof, hereinafter, referred to as 'the related art'). Here, in the related art, when a high frequency signal is divided into a positive (+) signal and a negative (−) signal according to a polarity and two signals are applied to a metal plate, two signals are applied thereto to be connected to each other while maintaining a predetermined time interval therebetween. Thus, an effect that an application direction of the current is constant so as to allow the current to constantly flow only in a current application direction along an axis at which the current is applied may be obtained. Here, a combiner combining a plurality of signals with each other so as to provide the plurality of signals as one signal, using the effect as described above, or the like, is used, so that respective input signals may not be transferred to different input ports, but may only be transferred to an output port, thereby providing a technology in which the combiner is used as a combination circuit having excellent isolation between input ports and loss due to a signal combination is prevented.
Although the antenna technology of application thereof, according to the related art described above, in which the structure thereof is simplified and the effect thereof is excellent, has been provided, the development of a directional multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna in which more effective transmission and reception may be obtained by maintaining directivity in which a relatively large amount of transmission is maintained without signal offset, has also been required. Further, a technology for implementation thereof with a simplified structure has been required.
Related Art Documents are as follows.
European Patent Application No. 98102456.5 (Filed Aug. 18, 1999)
European Patent Application No. 10168363.9 (Filed Jan. 5, 2011)
Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-2009-0057350 (Published Jun. 5, 2009)

Directional MIMO antenna using electro-polarization


A bi-directional refrigerant metering and expansion valve. The bi-directional valve comprises a body; a short tube portion in the body, a heating inlet portion and a cooling inlet portion. The short tube portion includes a tubular portion having a short tube length, a short tube diameter, and a pre-selected short tube length to short tube diameter ratio and includes first and second ends interconnected by the tubular portion. The heating inlet portion is connected to the first end of the short tube portion, and includes a heating inlet chamfer having a first length and a first angle of a first magnitude. The cooling inlet portion is connected to the second end of the short tube portion, and includes a cooling inlet chamfer having a second length and a cooling inlet angle of a second magnitude. The second length is greater than the first length.

The present invention is directed to a bi-directional refrigerant expansion and metering valve for use in a minisplit air conditioner, a heat pump system, or an air conditioning system. The bi-directional refrigerant expansion and metering valve is an alternative to metering valves, to capillary tube and to other expansion valve concepts.
Present heat pump systems either require two metering valves with differing diameters and differing short tube length to diameter ratios in order to properly operate, or fail to fully utilize bi-directional valves. The use of two metering valves is subsequently discussed with regard to FIGS. 1A and 1B. Most bi-directional metering valves are complex spring loaded or shuttle arrangements such as are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,029,454 to Eisberg, 5,052,192 to Drucker, and 5,038,579 to Drucker. The spring or shuttle changes position to compensate for changes in flow direction. However, these patents fail to recognize that controlling the geometry of both ends can control the flow rate entering those respective ends. The bi-directional valve of U.S. Pat. No. 5,345,780 recognizes the advantages of controlling the approach to one end of a short tube restrictor but fails to appreciate the advantages of controlling both approaches.
It would be advantageous to minimize the number and type of refrigerant expansion and metering components.

Bi-directional refrigerant expansion and metering valve


A cleaning system for generating a liquid jet via a liquid dispensing wand, includes an elongate tube having a first end and a second end. A nozzle is disposed at the second end of the elongate tube. A splash guard is slidably coupled with the elongate tube, and is slidable longitudinally between the first end and the second end of the elongate tube. A basin is configured to hold a liquid. A conduit fluidly couples the basin to the liquid dispensing wand. A mount removably stores the liquid dispensing wand when not in use. With the splash guard disposed proximal the second end and the nozzle, placement of the liquid dispensing wand into the mount for storing causes the splash guard to slide from the second end to the first end of the elongate tube.

Generally, many different surfaces, including those of toilets and other bathroom fixtures, require regular cleaning to reduce buildup of contaminants, waste, and/or other material. Conventional consumer products for cleaning a toilet and other ceramic fixtures have been limited to variations of the common toilet brush. The cleaning process traditionally consists of applying a cleaning solution around a bowl of the fixture and using an abrasive brush to scrub the surface and work in the cleaning solution. It is also common to use the water from the ceramic fixture or toilet bowl in combination with the applied cleaning solution to assist in the cleaning process.
However, the conventional design of traditional toilet brushes and cleaning methodologies experience some shortcomings. Toilet brushes require the user to bend down over the toilet and scrub the surface of the toilet or other fixture, which can cause physical discomfort and can be difficult for certain users (e.g., elderly, chronic pain suffers, etc.). Additionally, once a user finishes cleaning the ceramic surface, the brush is returned to a stand or carrying device. Storage of the brush can be unsanitary because portions of the waste material that was removed from the toilet or other fixture surface can remain on the brush. Moreover, conventional toilet brushes can require a user to scrub with a significant amount of force to remove stains or accumulated waste material, creating a labor intensive process.
Other surface cleaning devices generally include the category of a pressurized liquid emitting from, e.g., a nozzle, against the surface to be cleaned. For example, pressure washers or power washers are known for delivering a high pressure liquid stream using a hose or nozzle. These devices are primarily designed for outside heavy duty cleaning applications and not designed for indoor usage. There are toilet cleaning devices that make use of a pressurized sprayer to clean toilet surfaces, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 6,789,552. Such devices can spray a toilet bowl or other ceramic surface with streams of water to clean the surfaces. However, whether cleaning toilets or other surfaces, these known pressurized washers all experience shortcomings, including that they all create overspray and/or reflective splash back, which can result in the user or operator of the washer being exposed to the contaminated water and waste material splashing onto their bodies, and can additionally result in the surrounding surfaces being covered with the same waste material, including the washer itself (as with toilet brushes). These shortcomings are undesirable, and in the case of cleaning toilets, are unsanitary, making them insufficient solutions.

Liquid dispensing wand device and system for cleaning