A butt stock for a tactical weapon, rifle, shotgun or other firearm. The butt stock has a butt plate with two or more surfaces. One of those surfaces is generally perpendicular to the direction of the firearm. The other surface is angled to provide a more stable shooting platform for the firearm as well as a more comfortable use of the firearm in a tactical shooting position.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to stocks for firearms. More particularly, it relates to the butt stock of firearms used for tactical or combat situations.
2. Prior Art
Most modern firearms have a stock which is designed for shooting the firearm in a classical shooting position. In the classical shooting position, the butt stock is placed in the shoulder pocket of the shooter. The shooter's shoulders and feet are at approximately a 30° angle to the direction of the firearm and the shooter's head is lowered and forward such that his cheek is firmly on the top of the butt stock and the shooter's dominant eye is aligned with the firearm's sights.
Use of the classical shooting position while in a tactical or close quarter battle (CQB) situation exposes the shooter to additional risk. In a tactical situation, a shooter typically wears body armor which protects the front and back of the torso of the shooter. However, it does not protect the arms of the shooter and, as such, if the shooter is confronting a threat in the classical shooting position the firearm will typically be pointed towards the threat, the shooter will be standing at a 30° angle to the direction of the firearm, and as such a 60° angle to the threat. This exposes the opening in the body armor where the non-dominant arm goes through the body armor. Upper torso wounds from small arms fire in combat can enter through this opening.
Due to this draw back in the classical shooting position, the tactical shooting position is preferred in a CQB situation. In the tactical shooting position, the shooter stands so that his shoulders and feet are perpendicular to the direction of the firearm. The bottom corner of the butt stock is placed against the shooter's dominant side, upper chest at the mid-clavicular line, while the shooter's head is upright and looking forward. The firearm is carried in the ready position until a threat is confronted. In the ready position, the firearm is pointed downward at a 45° angle towards the ground. Once a threat is confronted, the firearm is raised and pointed toward the threat, and the shooter's shoulders and feet are maintained at a perpendicular orientation to the direction of the firearm. With the firearm in the tactical shooting position, the top of the butt stock is against the shooter's dominant side cheek and the shooter's dominant eye is in line with the sights. The tactical shooting position provides the shooter with an optimal amount of protection from the body armor. It also provides the shooter with a better vision for additional threats coming from the non-dominant side of the shooter.
The problem with using the tactical shooting position with the firearm stocks on the market today is that the only point of contact between the firearm and the shooter's torso is the lower corner of the butt stock. This decreases the stability of the firearm and shooter. Another drawback is that this small pointed area of the firearm is placed directly upon the clavicle of the shooter; therefore, any recoil from the firearm is forced into a very small area on the shooter. This increases the discomfort and stiffness of the shooter resulting from this recoil.
Many sporting firearms such as shotguns have a stock where the butt stock is offset at an angle from the barrel. This helps lower the butt plate of the stock so that when shooting in a classical shooting position the butt plate reaches down to the shoulder pocket of the shooter while the sights remain in front of the shooter's dominant eye. Use of an offset angle is helpful when shooting in the classical or tactical shooting position. However, if the shooter must move to a prone shooting position, the use of a stock with a large offset angle causes the shooter to have to raise their head to a higher level in order to place their dominant eye in line with the sights of the firearm. In a CQB situation, this exposes the shooter to additional risk due to the fact that his head is raised.
There are numerous patents for firearm stocks with an adjustable butt stock which allows the shooter to adjust the offset angle. These patents include U.S. Pat. No. 146,651 entitled "Stocks for Fire-Arms" issued to A. R. Byrkit on Jan. 20, 1874; U.S. Pat. No. 843,227 entitled "Jointed Gun Stock" issued to Homer W. Munson on Feb. 5, 1907; U.S. Pat. No. 855,229 entitled "Gun Stock" issued to Patrick H. Clarisey on May 28, 1907; U.S. Pat. No. 1,088,362 entitled "Adjustable Butt Plate for Gun Stocks" issued to John W. Perkins on Feb. 24, 1914; U.S. Pat. No. 1,582,395 entitled "Butt Cap for Guns, Especially for Short Rifles" issued to Rudolf Haemmerli on Apr. 27, 1926; U.S. Pat. No. 1,651,299 entitled "Adjustable Gun Stock" issued to Roy V. Stansel on Nov. 29, 1927; U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,676 entitled "Hand Guard for Firearms," issued to Paul Kennedy on Apr. 30, 1991; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,779,098 entitled "Recoil Absorber and Redirector Mechanism for Gun Stock" issued to Jay P. Griggs on Nov. 9, 1999. However, these devices require that the shooter adjust the stock to one setting for a classical or tactical shooting position. They must then readjust the stock again for a prone shooting position. In a combat situation, the shooter must rapidly move from one firing position to another. This may entail changing from a tactical shooting position to a prone shooting position or vice versa. As such, the shooter does not have time when changing firing positions to adjust or readjust a stock in order to obtain optimum performance from the firearm.
U.S. Pat. No. 694,904 (the '904 patent) entitled "Sighting Device for Firearms" issued to William Youlten on Mar. 4, 1902, discloses an adaptor which can be attached to the butt stock of a rifle. This adaptor allows the shooter to operate the firearm from a trench without exposing his head above ground level. The device disclosed in the '904 patent places the firearm above the shooter's head while in use. This differs greatly from the present invention which allows the shooter to shoot from either a classical position, a tactical shooting position or a prone position. The device disclosed in the '904 patent is only useful for firing from a trench and cannot be used for shooting from a classical, tactical or prone shooting position.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,676 to Kennedy claims a hand guard or forestock for a firearm. FIG. 1 of Kennedy discloses an AR-15 or M-16. The butt stock of this firearm has a butt plate which appears to have a first and a second surface. The angle between the first and the second surface of the butt plate in Kennedy is nearly straight. The angle between these two surfaces in Kennedy is approximately 170 degrees. The butt plate of the present application has an angle between these two surfaces of less than 155 degrees.
When shooting in the tactical position, the second surface of the butt plate is placed upon the upper chest at the mid-clavicular line of the user. This region of the human body is typically at a 28 degree to 44 degree angle to the vertical. In order for the butt stock to comfortably fit to the user while shooting in a tactical position, the angle of the second surface must be approximately complimentary to the angle of the user's upper chest at the mid-clavicular line, i.e., the angle between the first and second surfaces of the butt plate plus the angle of the upper chest at the mid-clavicular line of the user must add up to approximately 180 degrees. This is necessary so that the second surface of the butt plate can fit comfortably against the upper chest at the mid-clavicular line of the user while the barrel of the firearm is at approximately a 90 degree direction to the first section and a 90 degree angle to the vertical.
When applying the device shown in Kennedy, it suffers from the same shortcomings as that of the other prior art. If the firearm in Kennedy is used in the same manner as the present invention to shoot from a tactical shooting position, the second surface of the butt plate would be resting on the upper chest at the mid-clavicular line of the user. As previously mentioned, this upper chest at the mid-clavicular line is typically from 28 degrees to 44 degrees off of the vertical. With the second surface of the Kennedy device flatly against the upper chest at the mid-clavicular line of the user, the barrel of the firearm would be 18 degrees to 34 degrees above the horizontal. When considering that threats are typically engaged within a 5 to 10 meter range when in a tactical situation such as a SWAT team clearing a house, this would lead to the user shooting well over the head of the threat.
The other option for using the firearm disclosed in Kennedy to shoot from a tactical position would be to have the barrel of the gun approximately on the horizontal. However, this would lead to the same problem as the other prior art. The second surface of the butt plate is not complimentary to the typical range of angles of the mid-clavicle region of a user of approximately 28 to 44 degrees. This in turn causes the user to have to place the bottom corner of the butt stock against the upper chest at the mid-clavicular line, thus causing the recoil from the firearm to go into a very small area of the upper chest at the mid-clavicular line of the user just under that corner of the butt stock. The net result would be little or no improvement over the other prior art of having a single surface butt plate.
As can be seen by the geometric analysis above of using the Kennedy device while shooting from a tactical shooting position, the device does not provide any of the benefits of the present invention. As such, the present invention is not merely a discovery of the optimum or workable ranges and would therefore not be obvious to one skilled in the art.
This is further underscored by the fact that Kennedy does not have any discussion of the design of the butt stock or how it could be used in a manner which would provide the same benefits as the present invention. When Kennedy is reviewed in its entirety, it teaches away from the present invention by requiring the user shooting from a tactical position to either shoot over the head of the threat or shoot with the bottom corner digging into the user's upper chest at the mid-clavicular line.


An alkali-developable photosensitive color composition containing a binder resin, a fluorine-containing copolymer, a photopolymerization initiator, a colorant, and a solvent. A photopolymerizable unsaturated compound is used as the binder resin. The photopolymerizable unsaturated compound is obtained by adding (B) an unsaturated monobasic acid to (A) a polyfunctional epoxy resin to form (C) an epoxy adduct and allowing the epoxy adduct (C) and (D) a polybasic acid anhydride to react with each other.

An alkali-developable photosensitive color composition containing an alkali-soluble binder resin having an ethylenically unsaturated bond, a photopolymerization initiator, a colorant such as a pigment or a dye, and a solvent is widely used in the manufacture of a color filter, a key component of color LCDs, image sensors, etc.
Manufacturing a color filter using an alkali-developable photosensitive color composition generally includes the following steps. An alkali-developable photosensitive color composition containing a black colorant is applied to a substrate, exposed to light through a photomask having a prescribed pattern, and developed to remove unexposed areas of the applied color composition thereby forming a black matrix for a color filter. The development is usually followed by a heat treatment to enhance the mechanical strength. Color pixels are then successively formed on the substrate using alkali-developable photosensitive color compositions containing the respective colorants (red, green, and blue) in the same manner as with the black colorant-containing alkali-developable photosensitive color composition.
Various methods are available to form the pixels of each color, including a pigment dispersion method, a dyeing method, an electrodeposition method, and an inkjet method. Above all, the inkjet method is a lately proposed convenient technique.
With respect to color filter production by the inkjet method, Patent Document 1 discloses a color filter having a black matrix containing a fluorine-containing compound, and Patent Document 2 discloses a resin composition for color filters that contains a fluorine-containing copolymer and a fluorine-containing organic compound.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent No. 3470352
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent No. 3644243
However, an alkali-developable photosensitive resin composition comprising the disclosed alkali-developable resin composition containing a fluorine-containing compound, a fluorine-containing copolymer, or a fluorine-containing organic compound has a disadvantage of poor coating properties in inkjet pixel patterning such that the colorant tends to diffuse out of an intended area because of the poor ink repellency or to cause display unevenness. Besides, the composition has poor alkali developability.

Alkali-developable photosensitive color composition


To restrain variations in the power supply potential caused among a plurality of integrated circuits as well as the voltage drop of the power supply potential that has reached each block. A semiconductor integrated circuit device is provided with integrated circuits as blocks 2–4, power supply wires 11–13 for supplying power supply potential VDD or ground potential GND from feeder terminals 5–10 to the blocks 2–4, a switch circuit 14 for connecting the power supply wire 11 and the power supply wire 12, and a switch circuit 15 for connecting the power supply wire 11 and the power supply wire 13. When the switch circuit 15 is turned on, for example, the power supply wire 11 and the power supply wire 13 of the block 2 and the block 4 are connected whereby to supply the power supply potential from the two power supply wires, so that power supply potential variation is restrained.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit device capable of restraining power supply voltage variation.
2. Description of the Related Art
With rapid progress of microtechnology, power consumption in the whole system tends to increase as the integration intensity of semiconductor integrated circuits increases in recent years. As the situation now stands, it has strongly been called for to lower power consumption in semiconductor integrated circuit devices
As the technology of reducing power consumption, it is an applicable one to control the supply of power to a plurality of blocks formed on one semiconductor chip. With the control of the supply of power to the plurality of blocks, however, there develops a demand for the technology of supplying power uniformly to each block by restraining variations in the block-to-block power supply potential. In this case, the block means an assembly of circuits such as a logic circuit and a memory array consisting of a plurality of logical elements or memory elements like flip-flops and having a fixed function.
As shown in FIG. 8, a conventional semiconductor integrated circuit device comprises a semiconductor chip 1001, a main system block 1022 around which power supply wiring is arranged, subsystem blocks 1023a and 1023b around which power supply wiring is also arranged, feeder terminals V1–V8, and switching elements S11–17 and S21–S24.
As shown in FIG. 9, each of the switching elements S11–17 and S21–24 is formed with P-type MOS transistors T1 and T2, resistors R1 and R2 and output terminals VDD0, VDD1 and VDD2.
In FIG. 8, power supply potential VDD is supplied via the switching elements S11–17 to the main system block 1022 formed on the semiconductor chip 1001 and the power supply potential VDD is supplied via the switching elements S21–24 to the subsystem block 1023b.
For example, it is assumed that the P-type MOS transistor T1 that forms each of the switching elements S21–24 sets a threshold voltage for turning on/off the channel at 0.75 V as the voltage applied across the gate-source and that the P-type MOS transistor T2 that forms each of the switching elements S11–17 sets a threshold voltage for turning on/off the channel at 1.0 V as the voltage applied across the gate-source.
Assuming that the potential difference between the power supply potential VDD and the ground potential GND is 4 V at this time, the voltage across the gate-source of each of the P-type MOS transistors T1 and T2 comes to 1.0 V, which results in turning on the P-type MOS transistor T1 and turning off the P-type MOS transistor T2. Consequently, the power supply potential VDD is supplied to the subsystem blocks 1023a and 1023b, so that each block becomes operated. However, the power supply potential VDD is not supplied to the main system block 1022, so that the main system block 1022 becomes unoperated.
Assuming that the potential difference between the power supply potential VDD and the ground potential GND is 5 V, the voltage across the gate-source of each of the P-type MOS transistors T1 and T2 comes to 1.25 V, which results in turning on the P-type MOS transistors T1 and T2. Consequently, the power supply potential VDD is supplied to the main system block 1022 and the subsystem blocks 1023a and 1023b, so that each block is operated.
Thus, the operating or unoperating condition of each block has been controlled by changing the value of one kind of power supply potential VDD supplied from the outside to turn on/off the switching elements S1–S24 connected to the power supply wires 1022, 1023a and 1023b, whereby the power consumption has been decreased by operating only the required block (see JP-A-5-21713 (pp 3–4, FIGS. 3–4) 1, for example).
With the above conventional arrangement, the blocks 1022 and 1023b are supplied with power invariably from the feeder terminals V1–V8 via the switching elements S11–17 and S21–24.
Consequently, a voltage drop occurs because of the resistance of the switching elements S11–17 and S21–24 when the power supply potential VDD is supplied to the feeder terminals V1–V8. When the power supply potential reaches each block, it has VDD−α in the main system block 1022 and VDD−β(α≠β) in the subsystem block 1023b, for example, and as the power supply potential that reached the blocks attains different values, the problem in this case is that the block-to-block power supply potential tends to cause variation.
In order to reduce the voltage drop by means of the switching elements, it is needed to lower the resistance of the switching elements. Accordingly, a switching element formed with a P-type MOS transistor having a greater source-drain width has to be used and there is a problem arising from an increase in not only the size of the switching element but also the whole area of the semiconductor chip 100.

Semiconductor integrated circuit device capable of restraining variations in the power supply potential

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A vehicle front suspension includes a lower suspension support structure, a transverse link, a steering knuckle and a lower knuckle breakaway structure. The transverse link has an inboard side and an outboard side, the inboard side being attached to the lower suspension support structure. The steering knuckle has an upper end, a lower end, and a wheel supporting section between the upper end and the lower end. The lower end is pivotally coupled to the outboard side of the transverse link. The lower knuckle breakaway structure is formed on the steering knuckle to release the steering knuckle from the transverse link upon application of a prescribed rearward directed force on the vehicle front suspension outboard of the lower suspension support structure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a vehicle front suspension. More specifically, the present invention relates to a vehicle front suspension that includes at least one breakaway structure that facilitates release of a front wheel in response to an impact event in a frontal offset test.
2. Background Information
Vehicle body structures are regularly being redesigned to include structural features that absorb impact forces in response to impact events. Recently introduced impact event tests include a frontal offset test where a vehicle is provided with velocity in a vehicle longitudinal direction (forward momentum) such that a front corner of the vehicle (approximately 25 percent of the overall width of the vehicle) impacts a fixed, rigid barrier. FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 schematically show an example of a conventional vehicle V undergoing an impact event with a fixed barrier B in accordance with the frontal offset test.
FIG. 1 shows the conventional vehicle V approaching the rigid barrier B in the frontal offset test. FIG. 2 shows the conventional vehicle V just after initial impact with the rigid barrier B showing initial deformation and forward momentum being transformed into rotational displacement about the rigid barrier B. FIG. 3 shows the conventional vehicle V undergoing further deformation and rotation as a result of the impact event.


An optical system for an optical character reader in which a camera, such as a TV camera, reads an image field in a document, includes at least one pair of mirrors which shift half of the image both laterally and vertically to convert a relatively long image, for example with a length to height aspect ratio of 1.5:8, into a rectangular image with a much lower aspect ratio, for example 3:4. Preferably two pairs of mirrors are used, so that the image light path for both parts of the image field is the same length. This optical system reshapes the image field from one having an aspect ratio which does not match the 3:4 aspect ratio of most cameras, such as camcorders, TV cameras, security and surveillance cameras and the like, into one that does, thus significantly simplifying the optical character reader, and lowering its cost.

This invention relates to optical character reading equipment used in the machine reading of documents such as passports, security passes, and the like. These documents usually contain graphic material, alphanumeric symbols and text, some of which is often coded. Much of this data is visible to, and readable by, both the user and an optical character reader; it is also known to include data in a document which is only readable by a suitable optical character reader. It is also known that part or all of the machine readable text need not be visible under ordinary light, requiring a special light source to render it readable.
The majority of the currently available optical character reading equipment uses as the image sensitive device a charge coupled device, or CCD, array; in older equipment other imaging devices, such as orthicon tubes, are used. The document to be read is illuminated with a suitable light source, and a sharp, focussed image is provided at the light sensitive device by a suitable lens system. This image is then converted into an electronic image of part of the document by suitable accompanying electronic devices. For convenience, in this application, this combination of a focussing lens system and a light sensitive device is termed an "imaging device".
This invention is concerned with providing an improved optical character reader which both simplifies existing readers, and also permits the use of relatively low cost standard CCD arrays in the imaging device. This invention provides an optical system whereby, for example, the optical image of a line, or two or three lines, of text is split into two contiguous equal length sections, and at least one of them is then displaced both laterally and vertically to a position above (or below) the other. By careful selection of the length of the two sections, it is then possible to read both of them at once with a standard CCD array.


A head cover trimming system for trimming around a ground level head cover includes a head cap and a grass trimmer assembly. The head cap is provided on the head cover and includes a centering member. The grass trimmer assembly includes a head member having a peripheral edge portion along which is mounted a cutting element. The grass trimmer assembly is driven through a drive shaft connected to a rotary tool at one end. Arranged within the head member is a retractable centering shaft. When the head member is placed over the head cover, the centering shaft is received by the centering member to center the grass trimmer about the head cover. The centering shaft retracts into the head member to allow the rotating cutting element to trim the area around the head cover.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of grass trimmers and, more particularly, to a grass trimming system for cutting grass around a substantially ground level head cover, such as a sprinkler head of an underground irrigation system.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Many grass covered areas, such as public parks, dog parks, ball fields and, particularly, golf courses1 are provided with underground sprinkler or irrigation systems, as well as other ground level objects such as yardage markers and drain covers. Underground sprinklers are used for a variety of reasons, such as convenience, safety and aesthetics as they do away with unsightly hoses and sprinklers that lay about the landscape.
Typically, an underground sprinkler system includes a plurality of independently controlled zones each having an associated plurality of sprinkler heads. The zones may be manually activated for a undetermined period or, more commonly, through a central controller that establishes particular on and off times, as well as a desired duration of each "on"time. In any case, the sprinkler heads are generally positioned even with, or slightly below, ground level so as to allow a lawn mower to pass over head without causing damage to the sprinkler head. When activated, the sprinkler head will "pop-up"either partially or fully above the ground to emit a stream of water that is directed over a prescribed area.
As the sprinkler heads are mounted at or below ground level, grass growing around the sprinkler head may grow too close, thereby preventing the sprinkler head from operating correctly. Moreover, as the sprinkler heads are periodically trod upon or, for that matter, driven upon by lawn equipment, dirt can build up around the head and also interfere with normal operation. Towards that end, landscape maintenance people and groundskeepers must periodically trim around the sprinkler heads. When choosing a tool to trim around the sprinkler heads, there is a wide array of choices. However, all the trimming tools fall into one of two general categories: manual and motor driven.
Manually operated trimming tools typically consist of a main shaft having a handle provided at one end, and a cutting blade at the other. The cutting blade is centered over the sprinkler head and the handle rotated to cut or trim the grass. While effective, manual trimming tools are a bit unwieldy, and are also a bit slower than their motor-driven counterparts which, like the manually operated trimming tool, typically include a shaft having a cutting head mounted at one end. However, unlike manually operated tools, the opposite end of the shaft is either connected to a powered trimmer or driven by a rotary tool, such as a battery operated drill. In operation, the cutting head is placed over the sprinkler head and the powered trimmer or rotary tool activated, thereby driving the cutting head to cut the grass. While also very effective, the powered trimmers currently available are difficult to center over the sprinkler head. Often times, the cutting head will cut an asymmetrical area around the sprinkler. If the tool is not centered correctly, the cutting head could detrimentally impact the sprinkler head itself or, for that matter, underlying water piping or even electrical wiring that could render the sprinkler head inoperable. Similar problems exist in connection with trimming around other ground level head cover structures, such as yardage markers, drain covers and the like.
Based on the above, there still exists a need in the art for an enhanced head cover trimming system for cutting grass around a sprinkler head. More specifically, there exists a need in the art for a trimming system for ground level head covers in general, including, in addition to sprinkler heads, drain covers, golf course yardage markers and the like.


In accordance with an embodiment, a circuit includes a first driver having a first output configured to be coupled to a control node of a normally-off transistor. The first driver is configured to drive a first switching signal at the first output in a cascode mode and configured to drive a first constant voltage at the first output in a direct drive mode. The circuit further includes a second driver having a second output configured to be coupled to a control node of a normally-on transistor that has a second load path terminal coupled to a first load path terminal of the normally-off transistor. The second driver is configured to drive a second switching signal at the second output in the direct drive mode.

Power supply systems are pervasive in many electronic applications from computers to automobiles. Generally, voltages within a power supply system are generated by performing a DC-DC, DC-AC, and/or AC-DC conversion by operating a switch loaded with an inductor or transformer. One class of such systems includes switched mode power supplies (SMPS). An SMPS is usually more efficient than other types of power conversion systems because power conversion is performed by controlled charging and discharging of the inductor or transformer which reduces energy lost due to power dissipation caused by resistive voltage drops.
Specific topologies for SMPS comprise buck-boost converters and flyback converters, among others. A buck-boost converter typically makes use of an inductor whereas a flyback converter isolates a load and may multiply the voltage conversion ratio through the use of a transformer. In addition to the energy storage element (either inductor or transformer), the operation of the switch is of particular importance, especially in high voltage applications.

System and method for a switch having a normally-on transistor and a normally-off transistor


A telescopic clipping apparatus includes a handle, a lever, a telescopic unit, a clipping unit, a reel, a pulley and a cable. The lever is movably connected to the handle. The telescopic unit is connected to the handle. The clipping unit is pivotally connected to the telescopic unit. A reel is located in the telescopic unit. A pulley is connected to the clipping unit. The cable is wound around the pulley, and includes a first end tied to the lever and a second end tied to the reel.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a pair of pincers and, more particularly, to a telescopic clipping apparatus.
2. Related Prior Art
A senior citizen, a patient or a disabled person may use a pair of pincers to take hold of a thing instead of moving near the thing and taking the thing with a hand. Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional pair of pincers includes a tube 10, a handle 11, a lever 12, a rod 13, two jaws 15, two connecting elements 16 and two skid-proof sleeves 17. The handle 11 is secured to the tube 10. The lever 12 is movably connected to the handle 11. The jaws 15 are pivotally connected to two extensive portions from an end of the tube 10. Each of the skid-proof sleeves 17 is provided around a related one of the jaws 15. Each of the connecting elements 16 is connected to a related one of the jaws 15. The rod 13 is inserted through the tube 10. An end of the rod 13 is pivotally connected to the connecting elements 16. Another end of the rod 13 is secured to the lever 12. Thus, by pulling the lever 12, a user can close the jaws 15. There are however problems with this conventional pair of pincers. Firstly, the pair of pincers might be too short to reach a thing that is far from the user. In other cases, the pair of pincers might be too long to clip a thing that is too far to reach with a bare hand but not very far away. Secondly, a user who has troubles in twisting his or her hands might have trouble in clipping a thing laid horizontally or vertically since the movement of the handle 11 and the pivotal of the jaws 17 are in a same plane.
The present invention is therefore intended to obviate or at least alleviate the problems encountered in prior art.


A process for obtaining a package containing at least two mutually reactive materials comprises the steps of introducing the reactive materials into an envelope suitable for vacuum packing, placing the reactive materials within said envelope in separate layers with at least one intervening separating layer of a material which is inert relative to the adjacent layer of a reactive material, evacuating and sealing the envelope.

This invention relates to the packaging of at least two mutually reactive particulate materials and in particular two or more reactive materials for use in the development of exposed photographic films.
The development of exposed photographic films comprises the step of successively passing said films through developer and fixing baths consisting of aqueous solutions of substances which are solid at room temperature. During use, the efficiency of such baths gradually decreases and, therefore, fresh baths have to be prepared at certain intervals.
Some of the solid materials which are used for the preparation of such developer and fixing baths tend to react with one another to form undesired reaction products if they are brought into direct contact with one another. Therefore, they cannot be shipped to the user in the form of a mixture. Up to now it has been necessary to pack these substances or groups of substances in separate packages and to effect the mixing shortly before or in connection with the preparation of said baths. This has resulted in relative high packaging and transportation costs and has also caused problems for the user who is to prepare said baths. Thus, the user has to take extra care that the correct materials are used in the correct proportions.
It has been attempted to avoid these problems by preparing concentrates of the desired solutions and to send these concentrates to the users, who then have to dilute the concentrates to make them suitable for use. This solution presents the serious disadvantage that a substantial amount of water has to be transported from the manufacturer to the user and that such concentrates cannot be sent as airfreight because the airline companies normally are unwilling to transport solutions of chemical compounds.
A further problem involved in the transportation of concentrates is that a precipitate which may be difficult to re-dissolve can be formed if the concentrate is cooled during such transport.
The object of the invention is to eliminate the problems discussed above.

Process for obtaining a package containing mutually reactive particulate materials and a package containing such materials


The invention concerns compounds according to general formulae 1, wherein G1 is an amine. Compounds according to the invention are vasopressin V2 receptor agonists. Pharmaceutical compositions of the compounds are useful as antidiuretic agents.

Vasopressin is a peptide hormone secreted by the posterior pituitary gland. Vasopressin is further described p. 1-3 in the International Patent Application WO 02/00626 with the international publication date 3 Jan. 2002. Vasopressin acts on the kidney to increase water retention and so reduce urine output. For this reason, vasopressin is alternatively known as "antidiuretic hormone". It also acts on the vasculature, where it produces a hypertensive effect. The cellular receptors that mediate these two actions have been characterised and shown to be different. The antidiuretic action is mediated by the type-2 vasopressin receptor, commonly called the V2 receptor. Agents that can interact with the V2 receptor and activate it in the same way as vasopressin are called V2 receptor agonists (or simply V2 agonists). Such agents will have an antidiuretic action. If these agents interact selectively with the V2 receptor and not the other vasopressin receptor subtypes, then they will not have the hypertensive effect of vasopressin. This would be an important safety consideration and make such agents attractive for the treatment of human disease conditions characterised by polyuria (which is herein taken to mean excessive urine production).
There remains a need for alternative V2 agonists. Such compounds may advantageously be easy-to-synthesize non-peptides.

Heterocyclic condensed compounds useful as antidiuretic agents


An object of the invention is to provide an electrophotographic photoreceptor showing high responsivity even under a low temperature and low humidity circumstance and capable of compatibilize the decrease of the size and the increase in the image forming speed of an electrophotographic apparatus. In a photosensitive layer of an electrophotographic photoreceptor, oxotitanium phthalocyanine having a crystal form showing a diffraction peak at a Bragg angle 2θ (error: 2θ±0.2°) of 27.2° in an X-ray diffraction spectrum is contained as a charge generating substance, and an enamine compound represented by the general formula for example, the structural formula (1-1) is contained as a charge transporting substance. Accordingly, the electrophotographic photoreceptor showing high responsivity even under a low temperature and low humidity circumstance is realized.

Image forming apparatus forming images by using an electrophotographic image forming method (hereinafter also referred to simply as "electrophotographic apparatus") has been often used, for example, in copying machines, printers, or facsimile units. In the electrophotographic apparatus, images are formed by way of the following electrophotographic process. At first, the surface of an electrophotographic photoreceptor provided to the apparatus (hereinafter also referred to simply as "photoreceptor") is charged to a predetermined potential uniformly. Exposure is applied to the surface of the charged photoreceptor in accordance with image information to form electrostatic latent images. The formed electrostatic latent images are developed by a developer containing a toner and the like to form toner images as visible images. The formed toner images are transferred from the surface of the photoreceptor onto a body to be transferred and fixed to form images.
The electrophotographic photoreceptor includes a conductive substrate comprising a conductive material and a photosensitive layer disposed on the conductive substrate. As the material for constituting the photosensitive layer of the photoreceptor, inorganic photoconductive materials such as selenium, cadmium sulfide or zinc oxide have been known so far. While inorganic photoreceptors using such inorganic photoconductive materials have various advantageous that they can be charged to an appropriate potential in a dark place, release less charges in the dark place and can release charges rapidly by irradiation of light, they also have various drawbacks. For example, selenium type photoreceptors using selenium require difficult manufacturing conditions and need high manufacturing cost. Further, since they are sensitive to thermal or mechanical impacts, a care has to be taken during handling. A cadmium sulfide type photoreceptor using cadmium sulfide and a zinc oxide type photoreceptor using zinc oxide can not obtain a stable sensitivity under a high humidity circumstance and, in a case where a dye is added as a sensitizer, since the dye is degraded under charging by corona charging upon charging the surface of the photoreceptor or optically discolored by exposure, stable characteristics can not be provided for a long time.
As described above, since the inorganic photoreceptors have many drawbacks, organic photoreceptors using organic photoconductive materials have been proposed instead of the inorganic photoreceptors as the photoreceptor. For example, photoreceptors using various organic photoconductive polymers including polyvinyl carbazole are present. However, while the photoreceptors using the polymers are excellent in view of the film forming property and decrease of weight of the photosensitive layer compared with the inorganic photoreceptors using the inorganic photoconductive materials described above, they have a drawback of being poor in view of the sensitivity, the durability and stability to the change of the circumstance.
Various research and development have been conducted for overcoming such drawbacks, and a function separated photoreceptor has been proposed in which a charge generation function and a charge transport function as the photoconductive function due to the organic photoconductive polymer in the organic photoreceptor are shared on separate materials respectively. The function separated photoreceptor includes a layered type and a single layer type. In the layered type function separated photoreceptor, a layered type photosensitive layer formed by stacking a charge generating layer containing a charge generating substance responsible for the charge generation function and a charge transporting layer containing a charge transporting substance responsible for the charge transport function is provided. In the single layer type function separated photoreceptor, a photosensitive layer of a single layer type formed by dispersing a charge generating substance and a charge transporting substance in the identical layer is provided.
In the function separated photoreceptor described above, a selection range for the material constituting the photosensitive layer is wide and a photoreceptor of high performance can be provided by combining materials so as to optimize electrophotographic characteristic such as charging characteristic, sensitivity, residual potential characteristic, repetitive characteristic, and printing resistance. Further, since the photosensitive layer can be formed by coating, an inexpensive photoreceptor having extremely high productivity can be provided.
Further, in the function separated photoreceptor, a charge generating substance absorbs light with which the photoreceptor is irradiated to generate charges and the charges are injected to the charge transporting substance and transported to the surface of the photoreceptor to thereby eliminate the surface charges on the photoreceptor at a portion irradiated with light. As described above, since the light with which the photoreceptor is irradiated is absorbed in the charge generating substance, the light sensitive wavelength region of the photoreceptor can optionally be controlled by properly selecting the charge generating substance.
In recent years, for obtaining images of higher quality, storing inputted image information or optionally editing the same, digitalization of image information has been popularized rapidly. While electrophotographic apparatus forming images by using digitalized image information have been restricted so far to laser printers, LED (Light Emitting Diode) printers as output equipments for word processors and personal computers, as well as to some color laser copying machines, digitalization has also been proceeded in the field of usual copying machines in which images were formed predominantly by using analog image information.
In digitalized electrophotographic apparatus, exposure to the surface of the photoreceptor is conducted as described below. For example, in a case of forming images by directly using digital image information prepared by a computer, digital electric signals as image information outputted from the computer are converted into optical signals and the surface of the photoreceptor is irradiated with light corresponding to the optical signals to apply exposure in accordance with the image information to the surface of the photoreceptor. Further, in a case of forming images by using image information read from original document images as in the case of copying machines, image information for the document images are read as optical signals, converted into digital electric signals and then again converted into optical signals, and the surface of the photoreceptor is irradiated with light corresponding to the optical signals to thereby apply exposure to the surface of the photoreceptor in accordance with the image information.
In the digital electrophotographic apparatus, a laser light or LED light has been used mainly for the light as light corresponding to the optical signals which are digital image information with which light the surface of the photoreceptor is irradiated. Among them, a light used most frequently is a near infrared light at a wavelength of 780 nm or a light in a long wavelength region such as a red light at a wavelength of 660 nm. Accordingly, what is demanded at first for the photoreceptor used for the digital electrophotographic apparatus is that it has a sensitivity to the light in such long wavelength region.
As described above, the light sensitive wavelength region of the photoreceptor can be optionally selected by properly selecting the charge generating substance. As the charge generating substance showing sensitivity to a light in the long wavelength region such as the near infrared light or red light described above, versatile materials have been studied so far. Among them, since phthalocyanine compounds are synthesized relatively easily and most of them show the sensitivity to the long wavelength light, they have been studied generally and put to practical use.
For example, there have been proposed a photoreceptor using oxotitanium phthalocyanine (refer to Japanese Examined Patent Publication JP-B2 5-55860 (1993)), a photoreceptor using a β-type indium phthalocyanine (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 59-155851 (1984)), a photoreceptor using X-type non-metal phthalocyanine (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 2-233769 (1990)) and a photoreceptor using oxovanadium phthalocyanine (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 61-28557 (1986)).
Recently, it has been found that oxotitanium phthalocyanine having specified crystal forms shows particularly high sensitivity to a long wavelength region and photoreceptors using them have been proposed. They are photoreceptor using, for example, oxotitanium phthalocyanine having a crystal form showing a maximum diffraction peak at the Bragg angle of 2θ (error: 2θ±0.2°) of 27.3° and showing a diffraction peak at 7.4°, 9.7° and 24.2° (refer to Japanese Examined Patent Publication JP-B2 7-91486 (1995)), oxotitanium phthalocyanine having a crystal form showing main diffraction peaks at the Bragg angle 2θ (error: 2θ±0.2°) of 9.5°, 9.7°, 11.7°, 15.0°, 23.5°, 24.1°, and 27.3° (refer to Japanese Examined Patent Publication JP-B2 2700859) or, oxotitanium phthalocyanine having a crystal form showing main diffraction peaks at the Bragg angle 2θ (error: 2θ±0.2°) of 9.0°, 14.2°, 23.9°, and 27.1° (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 3-128973 (1991)) in the X-ray diffraction spectrum.
Further, it has been known that a photoreceptor using oxotitanium phthalocyanine having a crystal form showing, in view of X-ray diffraction spectrum, main diffraction peaks at the Bragg angle 2θ (error: 2θ±0.2°) of 7.3°, 9.4°, 9.6°, 11.6°, 13.3°, 17.9°, 24.1° and 27.2° in which a bundle of diffraction peaks formed by overlap of a diffraction peak at 9.4° and a diffraction peak at 9.6° shows the maximum intensity and a diffraction peak at 27.2° shows the intensity next to the highest has a particularly high sensitivity to a light in a long wavelength region light and has good stability of characteristics during repetitive use (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 2000-129155).
Further, photoreceptors of using two or more kinds of phthalocyanine compounds have also been proposed. They are, for example, a photoreceptor using a phthalocyanine composition containing oxotitanium phthalocyanine and non-metal phthalocyanine and having a diffraction peak at Bragg angles 2θ (error: 2θ±0.2°) of 7.0°, 9.0°, 14.1°, 18.0°, 23.7°, and 27.3° in the X-ray diffraction spectrum to CuKα characteristic X-rays (wavelength: 1.541 Å) (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 2000-313819), and a photoreceptor using mixed crystals of phthalocyanine comprising oxotitanium phthalocyanine and gallium halide phthalocyanine or indium halide phthalocyanine (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication JP-A 4-372663 (1992)).
On the other hand, for the electrophotographic apparatus, decrease of size and increase in the image forming speed have also been demanded. In the electrophotographic apparatus used for example in copying machines, printers and facsimile units, a photoreceptor having a photosensitive layer provided on the outer circumferential surface of a cylindrical or circular columnar conductive substrate has been used generally and it is necessary to decrease the diameter of the photoreceptor in order to reduce the size of the electrophotographic apparatus. However, in the photoreceptor of a small diameter, since the distance from the exposure position to the developing position is short, when an electrophotographic process is conducted at high speed in order to increase the image forming speed, the time from exposure to the development is shortened to result in the following problems. For example, in a case of using a photoreceptor of low responsivity, that is, a photoreceptor of low decaying speed for the surface potential after exposure, development is conducted in a state where the surface potential at a portion to be erased by the exposure has not yet been decayed sufficiently. Therefore, in a case of normal development, a phenomenon referred to as background contamination occurs in which a toner is deposited to a portion as a white background images and, in a case of reversal development, the image density is lowered. Accordingly, for compatibilizing decrease of the size and increase in the image forming speed of the electrophotographic apparatus, a photoreceptor of high responsivity is demanded.
Since phthalocyanine compounds used in the photoreceptors described above in JP-B2 7-91486, JP-B2 2700859, JP-A 3-128973 and JP-A 2000-129155, JP-B2 5-55860, and JP-A 59-155851, JP-A 61-28557, JP-A 2-233769, JP-A 2000-313819 and JP-A4-372663 have high charge generation ability and high charge injection efficiency, the photoreceptors described in the publications have responsivity to some extent. However, no sufficient responsivity has yet been obtained in the photoreceptors described above since the combination between the phthalocyanine compound as the charge generating substance and the charge transporting substance is not appropriate. Particularly, no sufficient responsivity can be obtained under a circumstance where temperature is low and the humidity is low (hereinafter such circumstance is referred to as "low temperature, low humidity circumstance"), and background contamination or lowering of image density occurs in a case of decreasing the diameter of the photoreceptors and using them in a high speed electrophotographic process. Accordingly, in a case of using the photoreceptors described above while decreasing the diameter, it is necessary to suppress the speed of the electrophotographic process, so that the image forming speed of the electrophotographic apparatus cannot be increased. That is, in a case of using the photoreceptors, it is impossible to compatibilize the decrease of the size and the increase in the image forming speed of the electrophotographic apparatus.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Electrophotographic photoreceptor, electrophotographic image forming method, and electrophotographic apparatus


An appratus for inspecting lightness on the surface of an object having at least first and second surface portions different in lightness, wherein an image of the first and second surface portions of the object are taken under appropriate illumination, the taken image is memorized, first and second reference lightness of the first and second surface portions are defined respectively, whether or not each pixel of the taken image belongs to either one of pixel regions defining the first and second surface portions are determined in accordance with values defining preliminarily memorized pixel regions respectively, lightness difference between each pixel of the taken image corresponding to the first surface portion and the first reference lightness is calculated, lightness difference between each pixel of the taken image corresponding to the second surface portion and said second reference lightness are calculated, and quality in lightness on the surface of the object are determined on a basis of the respective lightness difference.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus suitable for inspecting lightness of the surface of a meter dial panel, an LSI wafer or the like.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In a conventional lightness inspection apparatus of this kind, a television camera is arranged to take an image of a surface portion of the meter dial panel under appropriate illumination. Lightness of the taken image is compared with lightness of a reference image of the surface portion of the meter dial panel to inspect condition of the surface portion on a basis of lightness difference between the taken and reference images.
In such a construction, it is in general observed that the lightness difference described above changes relatively due to fluctuation in brightness of the illumination or imbalance in surface condition of the meter dial panel. This causes lightness difference between the taken and reference images in case that the lightness difference is to be inspected as identity. As a result, it is required to correct changes of the lightness difference. However, in case there are plural image portions to be corrected in a single taken image, it is necessary to calculate correcting amount of lightness difference on each image portion in sequence, to form a plurality of corrected taken images on a basis of the single taken image in accordance with each correcting amount of the lightness difference and also to inspect condition of lightness in relation to comparison with the respective corrected taken images with the reference image. This means that for inspection of lightness on the surface portion, complicate image processing is required to induce lowering in processing speed for inspecting lightness on the surface portion, and rising in production cost caused by increase of a memory capacity.

Method and apparatus for inspecting lightness on the surface of an object


A medical device feedthrough assembly includes a flange plate formed with a plurality of receptacles. A feedthrough subassembly is mounted within each of the receptacles, and a ferrule of each subassembly is coupled to the flange plate.

Implantable medical devices (IMD's) including electronic circuitry and battery elements require a housing to contain and hermetically seal these elements within a body of a patient. Many of these IMD's include electrical feedthroughs to provide electrical connection between the elements contained within the housing and components of the IMD external to the housing, for example sensors and/or electrodes mounted on an exterior surface or electrical contacts housed in a connector module, which is mounted on the housing to provide coupling for medical electrical leads.
Feedthrough assemblies typically include a ferrule, which is coupled to a side wall of the IMD housing, and a conductive pin extending through an insulator that is mounted within the ferrule. The insulator electrically isolates the pin from the ferrule and is sealed to the ferrule and the pin. Some feedthrough assemblies further include a capacitive element to provide high frequency filtering for the pin.
Many IMD's require a plurality of feedthroughs, and, in some cases, one of more of the plurality of feedthroughs are subject to performance requirements that differ from the rest of the feedthroughs. Thus, there is a need for feedthrough assembly components and methods that facilitate the incorporation of a plurality of feedthroughs.

Implantable medical device feedthrough assembly including flange plate


A method of transferring a virtual volume established on a real volume includes acquiring transfer source virtual volume information from a transfer source, acquiring transfer destination real volume information from a transfer destination, generating transfer destination virtual volume information from the transfer source virtual volume information by using the transfer destination real volume information, and establishing a virtual volume at the transfer destination based on the transfer destination virtual volume information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technology for transferring virtual volumes established on real volumes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Virtual volume managing programs are known that can form virtual volumes on real volumes such as a disk device or a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) device and provide the virtual volumes to higher-order applications.
For example, in Fujitsu Limited, "PRIMECLUSTER GDS4.X", [online], [searched on Nov. 19, 2006], Internet [URL: http://primeserver.fujitsu.com/primepower/products/soft/opt/pcl_gds—4x/>, a virtual volume managing program that can form virtual volumes on a plurality of disk devices connected to a server apparatus and perform mirroring and striping is disclosed. On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H5-173873 discloses a technology for performing management of virtual volumes in units of job applications.
The higher-order applications can write data on and read out data from the virtual volumes by using such virtual volume managing programs without being aware of real volume configurations. It is also possible to improve fault tolerance against disk device failures by employing the technique of mirroring, and distribute the load of the access to the disk devices by employing the technique of striping.
However, in the conventional technique, in transferring virtual volumes established on a server apparatus to other server apparatuses, it is the job of a server administrator or the like to establish virtual volumes at a transfer destination after recognizing the differences in the configurations of the real volumes. In other words, the transfer of the virtual volumes is performed manually, which makes the process inefficiency.
One solution is to read-out configuration information about virtual volumes at a transfer source and reflect the configuration information on a transfer destination. However, because the configuration information includes information about a correspondence relation between virtual volumes and real volumes, it is impossible to directly reflect the configuration information on an environment in which a real volume configuration is different.

Virtual volume transfer apparatus, virtual volume transfer method, and computer product


A sole for a sport shoe to provide increased traction and stability comprises a main sole member having a heel portion including a heel curve and a forward position underlining the ball of the foot including a toe curve. The main sole member has a center point defined by the intersection of an optical center line and a transverse line. The optical center line and the transverse line defines four quadrants, namely, a forward lateral, a forward medial, a rearward lateral, and a rearward medial. A forward medial cleat is located generally on a first radial line 30 degrees to the medial side of the optical center line about the center point and spaced generally 44% of the length of the transverse line from the center point. A rearward lateral cleat is located on a second radial line generally 130 degrees to the lateral side of the optical center line about the center point and spaced generally 59% of the length of the transverse line from the center point. A rearward medial cleat and a forward lateral cleat are respectively located in the rearward medial quadrant and the forward lateral quadrant.

The present invention relates to athletic shoes and more particularly to cleated athletic shoes.
Cleated or spiked athletic shoes have been designed using a variety of different cleat arrangements to facilitate anchoring the shoe to a playing surface when running or changing directions. The traditional design of such shoes includes a plurality of cleats located on the sole of the shoe, with a main traction cleat located under the large metatarsal joint of the big toe. Downwardly directed force generated during activity by the wearer tends to cause the main traction cleat to impact the ground directly under the metatarsal joint, which acts like a hammer driving the main traction cleat into the ground. An outside cleat is typically placed laterally and slightly rearwardly of the main traction cleat, substantially along the metatarsal joint chain of bones in the foot, which also results in the outside cleat being driven into the ground by the metatarsal joint bones. A major disadvantage with such a design is that using the metatarsal joint to drive cleats into the ground may cause discomfort and bone bruising injuries.
There have been many attempts to improve upon the traditional design of cleated athletic shoes to over-come this problem. George, U.S. Pat. No. 4,347,674 discloses a cleat arrangement with at least three thin arcuate cleats arranged in a ring at the ball portion of the sole. Tanel, U.S. Pat. No. 4,577,422 discloses a circular cleat formed on a forward portion of the sole substantially encompassing the ball of the foot and toe portions of the sole, and is centered at the juncture thereof. Ihlenburg, U.S. Pat. No. 4,914,838 discloses a cleated athletic shoe that relies upon a substantially circular pattern of cleats to specifically address the issue of comfort for the wearer.
With the traditional cleat arrangement where the outside cleat is placed laterally, substantially along the metatarsal joint chain of bones in the foot; and also in the George patent where the rearmost outside cleat is located just rearward of the metatarsal joint chain and the Tanel or Ihlenburg patents with their circular cleat arrangement, the outside cleat, or portion of Tanel's cleat, causes significant destabilization of the player's upright stance when lateral forces are applied to the foot by a significant lateral shift of the wearer's body weight over the outside cleat. In these prior art shoes the outermost or rearward outermost cleat is either directly or significantly in line with this lateral motion, thereby not permitting sufficient room for absorption of the stopping action of the cleat by the leg. This abrupt termination of the motion of the shoe by the outermost cleat being directly in line with or more or less in line with the lateral motion, is much like tripping over an unexpected object.
While circular cleat patterns provide improved comfort over the traditional cleat pattern, by placing the cleats in a substantially circular pattern, where the cleats are placed an equal distance on substantially the same radius from a specific point generally located at the juncture of the center of the phalanges where it intersects the metatarsals or at the ball portion of the shoe, stability and traction is no better than with the traditional cleat pattern. This is because this cleat arrangement is based upon the theory that an athlete who is involved in an activity requiring significant pivot changes of direction does so on the forwardmost portions of his or her feet (e.g., with weight placed on the area forward of the metatarsals toward the end of the toes or phalanges) with the toes flexed and the foot extending forward at a significant angle from the flexed point. This is not the case. In fact, such changes normally occur with the weight placed further back on the sole. Thus, a circular cleat arrangement also in effect causes a person to trip over either the forward medial or rearward lateral cleat when suddenly changing direction while running.
In addition, the foot of the majority of individuals impacts the playing surface in a pronated position, e.g., with the foot turned slightly under thereby impacting the lateral side of the foot before the flat bottom plane of the foot. With cleats on the lateral side of the sole orientated at a right angle to the sole, the cleats impact the ground at an exaggerated angle of attack causing significant torque to be applied to the cleats and the athlete's leg.
Additionally, traditional theory relies primarily upon the direct impact of the weight of the body to drive the cleats into the ground, regardless of the condition of the ground which can, under unfavorable conditions, cause the cleats to recoil off the ground. Finally, the prior art shoes provide a spike of a height similar or equal to the height of the weight bearing cleats at the forwardmost portion of the sole to increase traction. However, such a spike does not have a significant effect on traction and is a major cause of injuries.
What is desired, therefore, is a cleat arrangement that provides for maximum stability and traction, while reducing the likelihood of injury to the foot and leg. The cleat arrangement should also minimize the torque on the leg and not primarily rely upon the weight of the body to drive the cleats into the ground.

Cleated athletic shoe sole for traction and stability


A constrained fixed delay tree search receiver for an MTR=2 encoded communication channel includes a filter circuit responsive to a received signal for producing a channel impulse response including a plurality of filtered samples with at least one of the post cursor filter samples forced to zero; a feedback equalizer circuit responsive to the channel symbol identified at the output of the receiver and the filtered samples for producing corresponding truncated samples comprised of linear combinations of coefficients characterizing the channel and channel symbols constrained by the MTR=2 code; and a detector including a discrete time filter responsive to the truncated samples for generating a set of signals defining a multi-segment boundary which divides the combination of the set of signals into two groups; a comparator circuit responsive to the discrete time filter for determining to which of the groups the combination of the set of signals belongs, and a logic circuit, responsive to the comparator circuit, for determining the value of a channel symbol as a function of the group in which the set of symbols belongs.

Sample channel processors are frequently used in signal processing circuits to enable accurate reading of high frequency signals of devices such as communication channels (modems), disk drive read channels, CD ROMs, and recording channels. These systems essentially consist of an encoder/transmitter which receives data input comprising a series of state transitions, and the channel which receives the encoded data input and frequently introduces unwanted distortions and noise. The channel output is delivered to a filter which removes noise and samples the encoded signal, after which a detector determines whether a signal transition has occurred based on the samples taken from the filter, and a decoder provides data output based on the detected signal. For successful data transmission, the data output should be the same as the data input. The effectiveness of the data transmission depends on how accurately the sampled data represents the actual input data signal.
As technological advances enable devices to operate at increased data rates, the transitions occur closer together in time, making it more difficult to filter out channel noise and retain the integrity of the original input data signal based on the data samples taken. A number of prior art methods have been developed to overcome this problem.
One simple approach to overcoming this problem is to use a Decision Feedback Equalizer (DFE). A Decision Feedback Equalizer (DFE) uses one data sample to determine whether or not a transition has occurred in the input data signal. A DFE circuit essentially consists of a filter, an adder, a detector (usually a comparator) and a feedback equalizer. The filter concentrates the energy of the input signal so that the amplitude of the signal exceeds a predetermined detection threshold, and takes one sample from the incoming signal. The remaining signal information is discarded. The comparator looks at the amplitude of the sample and detects whether or not the sample has exceeded the predetermined threshold, indicating that a state transition has occurred. The feedback equalizer responds to the output of the detector, adding a feedback signal to the input of the comparator, thus incorporating signal information from the previous sample into the processing of the current sample. Problems with this technique include loss of important signal information because of the reliance on only one sample and distortion of the input signal.
A more complicated but more accurate method of overcoming the problem of retaining data integrity at high data rates is the Fixed Delay Tree Search (FDTS) detector. A Fixed Delay Tree Search (FDTS .tau.=2) detector uses samples to make a decision as to whether a signal bit has been detected. The three samples are taken at predetermined intervals and include a current sample and the two previous samples. The advantage to this approach is that a more accurate decision can be made since more samples are used. The disadvantage to this approach is that keeping track of all the samples requires more circuitry including more comparators, adders and multipliers.

Constrained fixed delay tree search receiver for a MTR=2 encoded communication channel


The present invention is an expandable tear drop shaped bladder toy gun for subsequent ejection of liquid therefrom. It includes a main housing having a liquid ejection nozzle, a handle and a trigger, as well as an inflatable tear drop shaped bladder connected to or encompassed in the main housing, and includes a single inlet/outlet tube connected to the bladder. There is also a storage tank for supplying liquid, e.g. water, thereto, as well as a hand pump connected to both the storage tank and the bladder. The pump is physically connected to the housing and functionally connected to the storage tank and the bladder inlet. There is a bladder release valve having an upstream side and a downstream side. The bladder release valve is connected to the bladder outlet at the valve's upstream side, and is connected to the trigger for opening and closing thereof, and is connected to the nozzle at the valve's downstream side for subsequent liquid ejection when the trigger is pulled.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to expandable bladder toy guns for liquid ejection therefrom. More specifically, the toy gun of the present invention relies upon an expandable, tear drop shaped bladder for release of liquid such as water, wherein the liquid is first stored in a fill tank and is then pumped into the tear drop shaped bladder and expands the tear drop shaped bladder for pressurized bladder containment of the liquid until subsequent trigger release.
2. Information Disclosure Statement
The following patents represent development in bladder-containing toy guns (air and water) as well as other water guns:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,373,833 to D'Andrade describes a projectile-shooting air gun. It includes a main housing which has a barrel adapted for receiving a projectile, a handle and a trigger, as well as a high pressure, inflatable bladder connected to the main housing, the bladder has an inlet and an outlet. There is also a pressurizing mechanism for providing air pressure to the bladder to inflate it. The pressurizing mechanism is physically connected to the housing and functionally connected to the bladder inlet. There is a bladder deflation valve which is connected to the trigger for opening and closing thereof, and it is connected to a projectile launch tube for launching a projectile upon deflation of at least a portion of the bladder. The launch tube is located in the barrel of the main housing and connected to the bladder deflation valve, and adapted for receiving and shooting a projectile.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,032,100 to Goldfarb describes a toy vehicle and launcher combination apparatus. The illustrated toy vehicle has a rubber bladder or chamber member that is expanded by water or other liquid under pressing while the vehicle is held on the launcher. The launcher may include a reservoir and pump to provide the water under pressure. When the chamber member is sufficiently expanded, the vehicle is released. A spring gives the vehicle an initial forward thrust; the expanded chamber member contracts to expel the water through a rear outlet nozzle to propel the vehicle forward at a rapid rate.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,991,847 and 4,890,838 to Rudell et al. both describe a timed water release toy. There is disclosed a ball having a foraminous outer shell with an inner membrane which forms an interior closure within the outer shell and with a timer and a release mechanism operative to open the inner membrane and release its contents after the time on the timer expires. The contents spill through the foraminous outer shell, wetting the player who is handling or catching the ball at the moment of release. The timer is activated and the ball is used in a game in which it is tossed between participants who seek to avoid becoming wet when the timer releases the water from the interior closure of the ball.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,892,081 Randall Morrmann sets forth a compressible ball launcher which relies upon a telescoping cylindrical gun to compress water to force a ball out of a nozzle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,854,480 to Shindo describes a long range trigger-actuated squirt gun. The squirt gun includes a hollow housing in the form of a gun with a liquid dispensing assembly within the housing. The liquid dispensing assembly includes a rubber tube, expandable upon being filled with liquid, which is connected to a rigid tube with a nozzle at one end, and will dispense liquid from the rubber tube through the nozzle. A pivotable trigger is mounted with one end located to squeeze the rubber tube against the housing. A rigid coil around the rubber tube between the trigger and rigid tube restrains the rubber tube from expansion for the length of the coil. An adapter is provided which is threadable on a faucet, for filling the rubber tube in the squirt gun with water.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,239 to Salmon et al. describes a liquid projecting device. The device uses an elastic tubular bladder for receiving liquid which is expandable radially generally spherically at a local segment until a fully-expanded cross-section is achieved at which time the expanded region begins to grow axially, thereby maintaining a relatively constant pressure independent of bladder volume. The device is provided with a nozzle and a valve for controlling and directing the flow of the projected liquid.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,830 to Werding describes an appliance for discharging a non-compressible liquid, creamy or pasty product under pressure. The container of rigid material comprises an appliance which employs the contractional force of an expanded rubber hose and an expanded product container for the discharge of a medium stored therein. A hollow body of elastic material located in the axis of a product container is provided with a valve at one end through which it is inflated. The shape of the inner walls for the rigid container limits a radial, diagonal-radial and axial expansion of the appliance in a predetermined ratio, whereby the medium acts upon the inflated hollow body in such a way that the volume of the latter decreases, whereby its inner pressure increases and gives it a tendency to expand. If the squeezing pressure exerted by the rubber hose and the product container upon the medium decreases, the hollow body can expand accordingly and thus compensate the loss of contraction pressure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,257,460 to Paranay et al. describes a water gun. The novel water gun is disclosed herein having a body formed with a central bore opening at its opposite ends to provide a discharge nozzle at one end of the body and a storage compartment or reservoir end at the opposite end of the body. The storage compartment end is adapted to releasably hold the end of an inflatable member which when loaded with water under pressure, expands so as to stretch the membrane of the inflatable storage compartment. Upon termination of the loading pressure, the inflatable member collapses under its own elasticity to discharge the stored water via the nozzle end of the body. A clamping device is employed for detachably connecting the inflatable storage compartment to its respective end of the body, and a trigger mechanism may be employed for selectively releasing the pressurized water within the storage compartment.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,559 to Barnby describes a water squirt toy and fill valve combination. The water squirt toy apparatus includes a combination of a water squirt toy and a special filling valve which function together-cooperatively. The water squirt toy includes a resiliently expansible tubular member serving as a water reservoir and encased within a rigid tubular support member, and a manually operated, lever-type, normally closed valve mechanism operatively associated with the expansible member for permitting or preventing fluid discharge therefrom by compressing or pinching the same. The frontward end of the expansible member is fixedly, but removably, secured to a discharge opening. The filling valve is particularly structured for fluidically mating with a conventional hose bib or hose as well as with the discharge opening in order to permit easy and rapid filling and refilling of the expansible member with water. The discharge opening may also mate directly with the hose bib or hose without the special valve. An injector is also provided for operative connection to the filling valve for injecting chemicals in to the water supply whereby the discharged streams will coalesce and exhibit reduced separation so as to be discharged over significantly greater distances; and amusement apparatus which is particularly adaptable for use with the water squirt toy is also disclosed. A weakened annular portion of the tubular member is utilized to insure that the expansion begins frontward and progresses rearwardly.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,737 to Kain describes an apparatus for pressure dispensing of fluid products having an elastomeric pressure unit disposed in a surrounding relationship to a flexible, fluid-tight liner. The liner has its open end sealably engaged with a valve support, having a dispensing valve therein. The inherent contracting force which returns an expanded elastomeric pressure unit to its normal unexpanded position, provides the dispensing pressure for the product contained within the flexible liner, while the liner prevents contact between the product and the elastomeric material of the pressure unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,876,115 to Venus, Jr. et al describes a fluid container especially adapted for the fluid storage and dispensing of a fluid without the use of a propellant or the like. The container utilizes a first expansible lilt bladder which is substantially compatible with the material or fluid to be stored therein and which in most instances, is fluid impervious or material impermeable. The first bladder does not materially contribute to exerting an expelling force on the material stored within and consequently, a second expansible bladder substantially coextensive with the first one is provided wherein the material from which the second bladder is constructed has a high-elastic memory so that upon the filing of a first bladder with a stored fluid, the expansion of the first bladder causes equal expansion of the second bladder to thereby exert a dispensing force upon the material or fluid stored within the first expansible bladder. A novel container utilizing the double bladder concept is also disclosed. Applications of the invention other than containers are also disclosed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,486,539 to Candido Jacuzzi describes a liquid dispensing and metering assembly. The liquid dispensing and metering assembly in which an expandable receptacle of a material adapted to maintain constant pressure characteristics over a substantial change in volume of liquid content of such receptacle, discharges through a slow rate metering-element to provide a uniform discharge flow at a low constant pressure.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,237,678 issued to Raymond Lohr et al describes a repeating, cork shooting toy which utilizes a cork magazine which rotates after each firing to position the next cork in sequence for firing.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, the prior art neither teaches nor suggests the use of an expandable tear drop shaped bladder, pumped up by a pump on a toy gun with liquid from a tank, to subsequently release liquid therefrom, as in the present invention.

Toy gun having an expandable tear drop shaped bladder for ejection of liquid therefrom


A clip retention system includes first and second body members. A first body member pin is joined by a living hinge to the second body member which permits an angular range of body member rotation. Retention elements partially enclose the pin. Upon living hinge failure the retention elements prevent body member disassociation for any angle within the angular range of rotation.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Clips for attaching elongated articles such as fuel lines, brake fluid lines, wires or wiring harnesses to the body or panels of an automobile vehicle commonly have two major component members which can be joined by a living hinge. A first member normally includes one or more generally U-shaped receiving areas which are adapted to receive one or more of the elongated articles. The second member is further adapted to snap or fixedly connect to the first member, engaging the elongated articles between the first and second members. A living hinge is commonly used to join the two members and allow rotation to close the two members together. One or more male members commonly extend from one of the parts which are operable to engage a body panel of the automobile vehicle.
Several drawbacks are notable for common clip designs. A first drawback is due to the flexibility requirements of the living hinge. The living hinge must be thin enough to allow flexibility for rotation of the second member about the elongated articles during installation of the clip. Manufacturing defects, overextension of the clip before assembly, and/or damage during shipment can occur. This frequently results in failure of the living hinge, in some cases following manufacture of the clip but before the clip is installed or during installation of the clip. Living hinge failure prior to clip installation often results in lost parts or the inability to install the clip, particularly if automated installation equipment is used. Living hinge failure following clip installation can allow the elongated article(s) to displace which can result in further vehicle system or component failure. Any of the above failures can result in increased costs to the manufacturer, the clip installer or to a replacement service to replace the broken clip or failed systems while in service.
Clips having a retention feature to prevent dislocation of the first and second members upon failure of the living hinge during use may include a retainer element. Common retainer elements employ or are functional only when the two clip members are joined or after the two clip members are rotated toward each other beyond a predetermined angle. Some retainer elements are themselves frangible and break when rotation is initiated. Even with these retainer elements, if the living hinge or retainer element fails during clip transfer from the clip manufacturer to the installer, or at the facility of the installer before or during installation, the clip is generally discarded.


A plug connector has a housing body, and a retaining cage is locked in place inside the housing body. At one end the retaining cage encloses a contacting element for electrically contacting a conductor of a cable to be attached, and at the other end the retaining cage encloses the cable sheath of the cable to be attached. Coupling elements for reversible connection of a further plug connector having an identical housing body are provided externally on the housing body on both sides thereof. Fixing elements for fixing the plug connector onto a mounting rail are provided externally on the housing body.

1. Field of Invention
The invention concerns a plug connector which can be fixed on a mounting rail.
This kind of plug connector is required to establish contact between the individual conductors of a connected cable and the contacts of the mating plug or a socket of a device. The individually connected conductors of the connected cable can be metallic conductors, but also glass fiber or similar material.
2. Description of the Prior Art
DE 36 27 899 C1 and DE 80 10 524 U1 both show plug connecting systems in which the individual plug connector housings have means with which they can be connected to one another. Further, they have fixatives with which they can be mounted, singly or in a group, onto mounting rails.
DE 20 2008 006 934 U1 shows a plug connector for optical fibers. The housing bodies each have only one contacting element and can be strung in a row, in which pins molded onto the housing bodies are inserted into suitable recesses of a neighboring housing body.
If the number of plug connectors strung in a row exceeds a certain number, the plug connector row becomes unstable, at which point, for instance, a mounting rail as a base would be meaningful (top hat rail). The housing bodies of DE 20 2008 006 934 U1 have, however, no such suitable fixative for mounting onto such a mounting rail. Therefore, such plug connectors cannot, for example, be installed in a switching cabinet.


A ramp is assembled from first and second boards such that the first and second boards are foldable relative to one another. Rail assemblies comprising first and second channels are fastened along opposing sides of the boards. First and second hinge members, fastened to the sides of the first and second channels, pivotally couple the channels. Two central hinge members are mounted on the boards respectively to pivotally couple the boards at a central location between the opposing sides of the boards. An auxiliary hinge member is supported on the bottom of the first channels to provided added support to the pivotal coupling between the first and second channels. The auxiliary hinge member and the central hinge members are interchangeable with one another.

Many examples of ramp structures can be found in the prior art which differ considerably in design. For a manufacturer, it is desirable to design a ramp which is of low cost to manufacture, which makes use of readily available materials, and which has sufficient strength for many different applications when sold to customers. Due to the large size of many ramp structures, it is further desirable for ramps to be foldable into a collapsed storage position.
The following U.S. patents disclose various examples of folding ramp structures: U.S. Pat. No. 6,764,123 belonging to Bilyard; U.S. Pat. No. 5,988,725 belonging to Cole; U.S. Pat. No. 7,299,517 belonging to Adinolfe; U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,304 belonging to Dudley and U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,867 belonging to Best. In the prior art, known designs for ramp structures typically require custom manufacturing of many complex parts so that the resulting ramp structure is both costly to make and ship to customers.


The connector includes a base and at least two pot engaging parts extending from the base. Each of the engaging parts has a surface adapted to face the wall of a pot, a first engaging member extending in a plane substantially parallel to, but spaced from, the engaging part surface, and two second engaging members extending in a direction opposite to the direction of the first part. The second engaging members are spaced from the first engaging member such that the wall of a pot may be situated between the first engaging member, on the one hand, and the two second engaging members, on the other hand. The second engaging members each have a pot wall contact portion. The contact portion of each of the second engaging members is inclined toward the first engaging member and away from the engaging part surface to accommodate the curvature of a pot wall.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the packaging and marketing of potted plants and more particularly to a system for connecting multiple potted plants together for marketing the plants as a group.
2. Description of Prior Art including Information Disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Plants are often grown in individual pots rather than in trays. These pots are transported from the grower to the retailer on rolling racks. Each rack consists of four to six trays on which the plants are shipped. Recently, retailers and growers have decided that plant sales could be increased if several different plants that thrive under similar conditions are marketed together and sold as a unit. For example, if three different plants that thrive in shade, are deer resistant or attract butterflies are sold as a unit overall sales of these plants increase.
Retailers often want to ensure that these plants packaged as a group stay connected in a manner that prevents consumers from easily breaking up the group by interchanging plants.
It is desirable that the plants be shipped from the grower to the retailer in a manner that makes the plants ready to display to potential customers. The plants should be packaged for easy transport by the customer from the display point to the cash register of the retailer for purchase and then to travel home. Accordingly, the package should include an easily accessible handle to carry the grouped plants.
It is important that the group of plants be identified by a tag or sign on the group that provides information about the characteristics of the plants in the group. When displayed the tag should be visible above the tallest plant in the group so that it is easy for the consumer to identify the characteristics of the plants. The tag should be secured in a manner such that it will remain in place and does not get blown away even in strong winds when the package is left outside. The tag should be secured to the upper portion of a long handle extending above the grouped plants so that the tag is as visible as possible.
There is an inherent conflict between the growers and the retailers. The growers want the handle as short as possible so that they can fit more trays on each rack and lower shipping costs. The retailer wants the handle as long as possible so that the consumer can easily see the contents of each group.
It is therefore a prime object of the present invention to provide a connector for multiple potted plants.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a connector for multiple potted plants which have common characteristics such that they can be marketed as a group.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a connector for multiple potted plants that will ensure that the plants in the group remain connected together.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a connector for multiple potted plants that will prevent consumers from easily breaking up the group by interchanging plants.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a connector for multiple potted plants that arranges the plants for ready display to potential customers.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a connector for multiple potted plants that maintains the plants for easy transport by the customer to the cash register of the retailer for purchase and to travel home.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a connector for multiple potted plants that cooperates with an easily accessible handle to facilitate carrying the grouped plants.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a connector for multiple potted plants for use with a tag for identifying and providing information about the characteristics of the plants in the group.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a connector for multiple potted plants for use with a tag which can be secured such it will remain in place in strong winds when the package is situated outdoors.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a connector for multiple potted plants for use with a handle which can extend above the grouped plants such that the tag is readily visible to a consumer.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a connector for multiple potted plants for use with a handle which can be retracted for shipping.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a connector for multiple potted plants which can be used in conjunction with a handle which can be adjusted to a lower height for shipment by the grower and to a higher height for display of the plants.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a connector for multiple potted plants which can reduce shipping costs.