The present specification discloses a radiation therapy protective eye mask for covering a patient's eyes, with the radiation therapy protective eye mask being placed over the eyes and beneath an immobilization mask. The radiation therapy protective eye mask includes a radiation shielding layer configured to cover at least one eye when a patient is undergoing radiotherapy treatments. A first layer of material can be positioned between the radiation shielding layer and the eyes, to provide cushioning and barrier between the radiation shielding layer and the skin. The radiation therapy protective eye mask can include a concave portion over the eyes to permit opening and closing of the eyes. Further radiation shielding layer can include structural and/or surface features and contours to reflect at least some of the radiation. In this way, the present eye protector reduces the quantity of radiation incident on the eyes for reducing eye damage.

The subject of this patent application relates generally to personal protective equipment for use by patients in radiotherapy.
By way of background, in certain cancer treatments such as brain, throat, mouth and thyroid cancers, the patient's head is immobilized using an immobilization mask. An immobilization mask is commonly a thermoplastic mesh sheet that is heated and stretched over the patient's head and optionally over the shoulders and the torso of the patient, and conformed to the contours of the head and body. Once cooled, the immobilization mask hardens and maintains its shape for future treatment. During radiotherapy, the immobilization mask is placed over the head to prevent movement of the patient's head and upper body during the treatment. In this way, radiation can be emitted to a focused region for treatment of the disease.
Unfortunately, the patient receives large doses of radiation to the head region, and especially to the eyes. The levels of radiation commonly incident on the eyes during a course of treatment is sufficient to cause significant damage to the eyes, requiring further treatment after an already trying time. A protective means is needed to prevent excessive exposure to radiation to the eyes, without interfering with the function of the immobilization mask.
Aspects of the present invention fulfill these needs and provide further related advantages as described in the following summary.

Eye protector for use with immobilization masks during radiotherapy


A method for operating an exhaust gas mass flow sensor which is used, in particular, in exhaust gas mass flows of motor vehicles has an operating mode and a cleaning mode. In an operating mode, the exhaust gas mass flow sensor is operated at an operating temperature. In a cleaning mode, the exhaust gas mass flow sensor is changed over for the purpose of cleaning a measurement region and is cleaned at a cleaning temperature which is higher than the operating temperature.

Exhaust gas mass flow sensors comprise a supporting body of parallelepiped shape, for example, onto which a heating element is applied, e.g. in the form of a conductor path. Typically, a holding element is used to fasten the supporting body in an exhaust gas channel such that the short side of the supporting body is flown to by the exhaust gas mass flow and the exhaust gas mass flow flows along the long side of the supporting body. Heat transfer from the heating element to the exhaust gas mass flow takes place especially by convection. By measuring the change in temperature or by measuring the power input required to maintain the temperatures of the heating element constant, an exhaust gas mass flow can be determined using suitable algorithms. To achieve this, a temperature sensor is possibly arranged upstream of the exhaust gas mass flow sensor in the flow direction, the sensor measuring the temperature. The temperature sensor can be identical in structure to the exhaust gas mass flow sensor, the heating element here being used only to measure the temperature.
To the present day, using exhaust gas mass flow sensors in exhaust gas mass flows of motor vehicles has been possible only to a very limited extent. The reasons for this are the high temperatures occurring, as well as the particles contained in the exhaust gas flow of motor vehicles that cause deposits on the exhaust gas mass flow sensor. This leads to a corruption of the measurement results and thus to an inaccurate determination of the exhaust gas mass flow. The occurrence of condensates or of liquid droplets in the exhaust gas mass flow that contact the supporting body of the exhaust gas mass flow sensor and condense or evaporate there cause a significant corruption of the measurement results.

Method for operating an exhaust gas mass flow sensor


When a radio communication module for electronic license plates is installed on a license plate, the following procedure is taken: an attaching portion and an enclosure integrated with it are fixed on a license plate with a bolt. Further, a protruded portion fixed on the attaching portion is engaged into the license plate, and the rotation of the radio communication module for electronic license plates on the bolt is thereby suppressed.

In recent years, it has been proposed to install a radio communication module on the license plate of a vehicle. For example, electronic license plates are so designed as to be installed on a license plate and transmit vehicle information such as the information of the license plate by radio. (Refer to Patent Document 1, for example.) As a method for installing a radio communication module on a license plate, there are known methods of utilizing a bolt for installing a license plate on a vehicle body and fixing the module together with the license plate by tightening the bolt.
When a radio communication module is fixed by only such a bolt, it is preferable to separately provide a mechanism for suppressing the rotational displacement of the radio communication module relative to a license plate. One of methods for suppressing rotational displacement is such that a radio communication module is hooked on an end of a license plate and the module is thereby fixed. (Refer to Patent Document 2.)                Patent Document 1: JP-2000-289539 A        Patent Document 2: JP-2006-076345 A (US2006/0061456)
However, these techniques involve a problem. It is difficult to install a module on a license plate with any other part present in proximity to an end of the plate or a largely deformed license plate. (Examples of the former license plate include license plates having a decorative frame and backlit license plates having a luminescent device at the back.)

Radio communication module and method for installing radio communication module on license plate


A combustion mode switching control system for diesel engines is provided. The system includes: a switch determination module that initiates a switch request to switch between at least one of a premixed compression ignition (PCI) mode and a diesel combustion mode based on engine speed and at least one of fuel quantity and torque; a transition module that commands the at least one of the PCI mode and the diesel combustion mode based on the switch request; and a control module that controls at least one of target airflow, desired fuel quantity, and desired fuel injection timing based on the command.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Traditionally, there have been two primary forms of reciprocating piston or rotary internal combustion engines: diesel and spark ignition engines. While these engine types have similar architecture and mechanical workings, each has distinct operating properties. For example, to initiate combustion, spark ignition engines supply an air/fuel mixture to the engine cylinder while controlling spark timing. In contrast, diesel engines compress air in the cylinder while controlling fuel injection timing to initiate the start of combustion.
One of the major advantages that the diesel engine has over the pre-mixed charge spark-ignited engine is higher thermal efficiency. This is generally due to the higher compression ratio and leaner combustion operation provided by the diesel engine. One trade-off to the higher thermal efficiency of the diesel engine is that it is more difficult or expensive to achieve the same tailpipe NOx emission levels as does the spark-ignited engines. This is due to the lean air/fuel control nature of the diesel engine.
Premixed Compression Ignition (PCI) is an advanced diesel combustion technique that has great potential for reducing diesel engine emissions. With PCI, fuel is injected into the combustion chamber of the cylinder much earlier in the combustion stroke than would be done for diesel combustion. The desired fuel amount is supplied significantly before the piston reaches the compression top dead center (TDC). The early injected fuel is mixed sufficiently with the air before the piston reaches the compression TDC. Thus, the technique provides a lean and well mixed state of the air/fuel mixture before ignition.
However, PCI combustion is limited to low-load operating conditions. Therefore, during other operating conditions diesel combustion is required. Because PCI combustion and diesel combustion have different requirements for the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) percentage, the air/fuel ratio, and the fuel injection timing, the problem of how to switch smoothly between these two combustion modes becomes a concern. Excessive smoke, NOx, and combustion noise will result from lack of effective combustion mode switching control.

Diesel combustion mode switching control strategy and model


Apparatus and method for providing call connection notification. In order to provide a call connection notification service, a telephone number of a callee may be received when a caller transmits a call connection request to the callee. Based on the telephone number of the callee, public relations (PR) information may be searched for. A result of the searching may be provided to a user equipment of the caller.

In order to initiate a call, a caller dials or enters a telephone number of a callee into a user equipment such as a cell phone or a mobile phone. The caller may initiate the call by pushing a send button. Then, the caller waits until the callee responds to the call while hearing a ringback tone or a ringback music.
Hearing a ringback tone or a ringback music has been the only way to indicate to the caller whether the callee responds to a call from the caller. That is, the ringback tone or ringback music has been the only way of call connection notification. When the ringback tone or ringback music ends, this typically indicates to the caller that the callee has responded to the call. Accordingly, a caller needs to closely put a user equipment to their ear generally for several seconds or more until the callee responds to the call. Such a posture is very uncomfortable for the caller. Since a user equipment has been known to emit electromagnetic waves, a caller generally prefers not to put a user equipment close to their ear. Furthermore, a caller may have difficulty to determine whether or not a callee responds to a call when the caller is in noisy surroundings.
In order to overcome such difficulties and defects of typical call connection notification methods, Korean Patent Publication No. 2005-0069946 disclosed a method for informing a caller using a vibration, a bell sound, or a light-emitting unit when a callee responds a call initiated by the caller.
Although this method may provide a convenient and inoffensive way of call connection notification, this method has a limitation in being developed as a supplementary service and for creating profit for a service provider company.
Furthermore, a user equipment is not only a means for basic communication. The younger generation especially wants to express their personalities using their user equipment. However, a typical call connection notification method does not satisfy such a demand. Accordingly, there is a demand for developing a new call connection notification method.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Apparatus and method for providing call connection notification to a caller by displaying public relation (PR) information of a callee


A part for an ion implantation device employing a silicon carbide sintered body is provided. The density of the silicon carbide sintered body is 2.9 g/cm.sup.3 or more. The silicon carbide sintered body is obtained by sintering a mixture in which silicon carbide powder and a non-metal-based sintering additive are mixed uniformly. The non-metal-based sintering additive is formed of an organic compound which generates carbon upon heating or the like. As a result, a part for an ion implantation device with excellent heat resistance and ion resistance and which causes little contamination is provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a part for an ion implantation device which is used in the ion implantation device in which an impurity element (a doping element) is incorporated into a wafer.
2. Description of the Related Art
The manufacturing of a semiconductor device includes an implantation process in which a doping element is injected in a silicon wafer. There are mainly two methods used in the implantation process: a method of diffusing vapor phase heat in a diffusion furnace at high temperature; and an ion implantation method in which a doping element is accelerated and implantated in the wafer surface. Since the amount of dope and the like can be accurately controlled, the ion implantation method has become mainstream in recent years.
As shown in FIG. 1, an ion implantation device 10 used in ion implantation methods includes an ion generating portion 12 which generates ions from gases such as BF.sub.3, PH.sub.3, AsH.sub.3, or the like; a gas supplying portion (not shown) which supplies gas to the ion generating portion 12; a withdrawing electrode 14 which withdraws the generated ions from the ion generating portion 12 and forms an ion beam; a mass analyzing portion 16 whose planar configuration is substantially L-shaped, and which applies a predetermined magnetic field to the ion beam and extracts only the desired type of ion as the rate of curvature of the orbit, which curvature is caused by the applied magnetic field, depends on the type of ion contained in the ion beam; a beam line portion 20 which is continuous with the mass analyzing portion 16 and is disposed so as to be substantially perpendicular to the orbit of the ion beam formed by the withdrawing electrode 14; an aperture 22 which is disposed on the opposite side of the beam line portion 20 with respect to the mass analyzing portion 16 and sets the radius of the ion beam to a predetermined radius; an acceleration portion 24 which is continuous with the beam line portion 20 and accelerates the energy of the ions to predetermined levels; and an implanting portion 28 which injects the accelerated ions into a substrate 26.
Various parts are included in the ion implantation device 10. The parts must satisfy the following characteristics: (1) heat resistance and durability against ions or plasma are good, (2) no harm is done to the semiconductor device serving as a product (low contamination), and (3) even if ions collide with the ion implantation device, atoms or molecules harmful to semiconductor devices are not ejected above permissible levels (low sputtering). In order to satisfy these characteristics, carbon materials such as graphite or vitric carbon are used for the parts.
Recently, carbon materials with considerably high purity have become available, but the ion resistance of the carbon material is not very high.
As a result, ceramic materials with heat resistance comparable to that of carbon materials and having high level hardness and excellent ion resistance are desirable. Above all, silicon carbide is the most desirable since the elements thereof are harmless to semiconductor devices serving as products.
However, because it is difficult to sinter silicon carbide, a small amount of boron carbide, alumina, or the like is generally added to the silicon carbide as an additive for facilitating the sintering. Since these additives become impurities, a conventional silicon carbide is inappropriate as a material of the aforementioned parts for an ion implantation device.
Accordingly, a silicon carbide sintering method and a sintered body which does not use the aforementioned harmful additive are desired. For example, i) a method of manufacturing a sintered body with fine powder formed through vapor phase epitaxy employing gas or a solution including silicon and carbon as a material and by using the formed powder as a material; and ii) a method of manufacturing directly a plate-shaped molded body (sintered body) through vapor phase epitaxy employing gas or a solution including silicon and carbon as a material are proposed.
However, in these methods, there are drawbacks in that the productivity is very poor and the cost is high. Further, the above-described Method i) has a drawback in that the powder is too fine and particles are easily generated even after the powder is sintered. Method ii) has a drawback in that it is difficult to manufacture a thick molded body.


This invention concerns an ignition rail featuring a movable connection between the recesses of the tube portion carrier (ZT) and the connectors of the tube portions (ZR) by means of two O-rings, which connection protects against mechanical overloads and the ingress of humidity.

This invention concerns an ignition rail for contacting an ignition device with the spark plugs of an internal combustion engine.
When using an ignition rail, spark plugs are not contacted to the ignition current via individual ignition cables complete with connector portions but all spark plugs of a cylinder head will be contacted jointly. The ignition rail consists of a tube portion carrier in which tube portions are mounted by means of connector portions. With this type of mounting, the ignition rail is removed whenever spark plugs need to be serviced; in this way all spark plugs for a cylinder head become accessible.
Within a cavity of the tube portion carrier parts of the ignition device can be arranged, which achieves particularly short connections between spark plug and ignition device.
For instance, an ignition rail is known from printed publication U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,675 where tube portions and connector portions are designed as joint parts. Tube portions each contain a primary coil by means of which the ignition voltage is transmitted contactless to specially designed spark plugs each of which contains a secondary coil.
The problem in the use of an ignition rail are unavoidable tolerances concerning the relative distances between the spark plugs which need to be compensated by the ignition rail. The ignition rail must be protected against the ingress of humidity.
In printed publication U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,921 a connection system for the electric connection of a spark plug according to the single coil concept is proposed. Here, a separate coil is mounted in the head component of each tube portion. At the end of the tube portion a connector portion is screwed on which is designed for conventional spark plugs. Protection against the ingress of humidity is ensured by O-rings.
The disadvantage of the plug-in type device consists in the complicated design of the connector portion as well as in the specially designed cylinder head for this plug-in type device, which only allows very low production tolerances.
Printed publication DE 39 20 080 A1 also describes an ignition device according to the single coil concept, where the ignition coil for a spark plug is located in a separate housing next to the tube portion with the connector portion. With this arrangement, the tube portions with the connector portions can be pulled off individually from the spark plugs without the ignition rail--which is designed as a housing encompassing the tube portions and the connector portions--having to be removed. Mounting the tube portions with the connector portions on the ignition rail is effected by means of a plug-in device which is implemented--for instance--as a bayonet catch.
The disadvantage of this ignition device lies in its complex and cost-intensive structural setup as well as in its decidedly high space requirement.

Ignition rail with sealed movable connections


A method and apparatus for monitoring work flow of a resource is disclosed. The method accounts for the expected work flow of the resource in determining the location of the resource as well as dwell times at each work zone. In one embodiment, this is accomplished by determining if subsequent work zones sequentially follows the first work zone in the expected sequence of work zones.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for monitoring the work flow of a resource.
2. Description of the Related Art
Manufacturing costs represent a large portion of the cost to assemble products for eventual sale. However, such manufacturing costs can be greatly reduced by proper work flow management.
Work flow management, however, typically requires monitoring of the work process itself. Such data not only provides statistical data regarding the assembly process itself (data that can be used to formulate new work flows and processes), it can also provide data that can be used in the assembly process itself. For example, if its known that an assembly has just passed a particular assembly station, that information can be used to begin a process that must be completed before the assembly proceeds to a subsequent assembly station.
The location of assemblies and parts can be determined using commercially available wireless identification system such as radio frequency identification (RFID) systems. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an automatic identification method that stores and remotely retrieves data using devices called RFID tags or transponders. An RFID tag can be attached to or incorporated into the assembly or part, and can be used to identify the subject using radio waves. Chip-based RFID tags contain silicon chips and antennas. Tags include passive tags, which require no internal power supply, and active tags, which require a power source.
Active tags work relatively well when they are within the line of sight of three or more location receivers. Problems occur when an active tag is surrounded by metal objects and the radio transmissions travel through indirect paths before they are received. Under these conditions, signal reflect against intermediary objects which may serve as primary signals, and/or multiple signal paths (multipaths) distorting the time of arrival to the receivers. This alteration causes inaccuracies in receiving and time stamping the signals used in the calculation of the location coordinates.
Commercially available active radio identification systems provide location signals for triangulation ranging between 5 feet to 100 feet from the true location. This level of accuracy is acceptable in the environments where approximation is possible and not critical to a decision process.
However, in many manufacturing facilities, the accuracy provided by commercially available RFID system may be insufficient due to the close proximity of location boundaries. When the accuracy problem exceeds the assigned location boundary (i.e. aircraft position, work cell, stock room, etc), the reported location is constrained and inaccurate. This not only affects the system's ability to determine which area the assembly is located, it also affects the gathering of statistics regarding how long the assembly remained in that area. That is because any data regarding how long an assembly was in any particular work cell is typically reset when the assembly leaves the cell.
The foregoing problems may be ameliorated by increasing the accuracy of the RFID system, but in the multipath environment described above, this can be prohibitively expensive or impossible
What is needed is a system and method that provides sufficiently accurate and reliable information as to the location status of assemblies, yet does so using commercially available RFID systems. The present invention satisfies that need.

Method and apparatus for optimized workflow monitoring


An extended centripetal rotator device includes an elongated tubular member. In one embodiment the tubular member includes an inner member extending through the inside of the tubular member and having its ends extending out of each end of the tubular member and being rotatable relative to one another. In another embodiment two rotatable members are included at opposite ends. The inner member, tubular member and rotatable members may be flexible, semi-flexible or rigid. The ends of the inner member and the ends of the tubular member and rotatable members may also be configured to receive weight members and spring members that are capable of minimizing shoulder strain to a user. Preferably, the present invention is grasped at opposite ends of the tubular member and held at chest height. The present invention is then oscillated toward and away from the user in a reciprocating motion wherein the ends of the inner member move circularly relative to the tubular member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a bar-type exercise device for simultaneously building endurance and upper body muscular strength. More specifically, the present invention is directed to a device having an elongated tubular member. A first version has an inner member rotatably disposed in the tubular member with the ends of the inner member extending beyond the tubular member ends. A second version has two independent members rotatably attached to and extending beyond each tubular member end.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Jump ropes have been used for years as means of increasing a person's endurance. Weight training is a long standing means of increasing muscle strength. It is known that using weights during jumping rope, running, or other aerobic exercise combines the benefits of both.
In particular, combining weights with jumping rope increases endurance while increasing the muscle strength in the arms and chest. There have been various exercise devices which have attempted to do just that such as weights which can be attached to jump rope handles, hollow jump rope handles into which liquid or granular material could be added or withdrawn to increase or decrease weight, weighted gloves for use during jump roping, and even rope for use in jumping rope which had a high density core to add extra weight. These devices typically had drawbacks such as being cumbersome, lacking durability, interfering with the exercise motion, and not allowing for easy weight adjustment.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,787,624 disclosed a jump rope attachment which connected to various weight standard hand weights. The device was used like a conventional jump rope. The idea was to allow relatively quick changing between weights.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,478,297 disclosed a high speed jump rope using handles consisting of a non-rotating tubular grip and a rotary spindle rod to which the rope was attached so as to minimize rope twisting and wear.
Bar-type jump rope exercise devices are better suited for using adjustable amounts of weight than are jump rope type devices with unconnected weighted handles or weighted ropes. A typical bar-type exercise device for jumping rope has a horizontal bar having one end of a jump rope attached to each end of the bar. To the ends of some of these exercise devices have been added weights and some have a pair of hand grips rotatable with respect to the horizontal bar to allow the weights and bar to rotate freely during use. A problem with these exercise devices is that when weight is added to the ends of a bar-type device, the device is difficult to use because there is no corresponding increase in the mass of the jump rope. The jump rope accelerates quickly while the bar and weights do not, causing the line to wrap around the bar.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,618,142 taught the use of a bar-type jump rope exercise device having a pair of positionable hand grips and a two parallel stand-off rods at right angle to the bar. The ends of the jump rope were attached to the ends of the stand-offs to increase the effective weight of the jump rope. That same patent also taught offsetting the center axis of the weights relative to the bar so as to rotate not only the rope about the bar, but also the weights. The radial position of the standoffs and the rope relative to the weights, could also be changed for additional challenge in coordinating the weights and the standoffs with rope during exercise.
Among the above, all of the jump rope exercise device patents show devices with or without a bar, which use one continuous loop of jump rope with each rope end attached to a handle, bar, or standoff, the opposite of the present invention.
Notwithstanding the above-cited prior art, the present invention is neither taught nor rendered obvious thereby.

Extended centripetal rotator exercise device


A cover glass includes a soda lime silica glass including SiO2, MgO, CaO, Na2O and Al2O3. The SiO2 content in the silica glass is in the range of 60 wt % to 71.1 wt %, the MgO content in the silica glass in the range of 4.5 wt % to 15 wt %, the CaO content in the silica glass in the range of 0.5 wt % to 10 wt %, the Na2O content in the silica glass in the range of 10-20 wt %, the Al2O3 content in the silica glass in the range of 0-10.3 wt %, the silica glass has the ratio [MgO]/[CaO] of larger than 1 and the Q value of 20 or larger, and the Q value is obtained by formula, Q =([MgO]/[CaO])X([CaO]+[Na2O]−[Al2O3]), where [MgO] is the MgO content, [CaO] is the CaO content, [Na2O] is the Na2O content, and [Al2O3] is the Al2O3 content by mass percentage based on oxides.

In order for a solar cell to be able to generate electric power by light in a visible light region and a near infrared region, a glass plate for the solar cell (such as a cover glass or a glass substrate for a thin-film solar cell) is required to have sufficiently high visible light transmittance (hereinafter referred to as Tv) and solar transmittance (hereinafter referred to as Te).
Further, in solar thermal power generation wherein sunlight is collected and used as a heat source to carry out power generation, a glass plate for a light collecting mirror is required to have sufficiently high Tv and Te in order to minimize a loss of sunlight (particularly light in a near infrared region) by the light collecting mirror. This glass plate can be used as a plane plate or curved plate.
Therefore, as the glass plate for a solar cell or as the glass plate for a light collecting mirror, a high transmission glass plate (so-called white plate glass) having Tv and Te made high (e.g. Tv of at least 90% , and Te of at least 90%) by minimizing the content of a coloring component (particularly iron) is used (Patent Document 1).
Further, even a high transmission glass plate contains iron unavoidably included in its production. Therefore, in order to make Te sufficiently high in a high transmission glass plate, it becomes important to increase the proportion of trivalent iron having an absorption peak in the vicinity of a wavelength of 400 nm as much as possible and to reduce the proportion of divalent iron having an absorption peak in the wavelength region from 1,000 nm to 1,100 nm as much as possible, among the total iron contained in the high transmission glass plate (Patent Document 2).
However, such a high transmission glass plate has the following problems.
(i) In order to minimize the content of iron in the high transmission glass plate, it is necessary to minimize the content of iron in glass raw material. However, glass raw material having a minimized content of iron is expensive, and the raw material cost for the high transmission glass plate becomes high.
(ii) In order to minimize the proportion of divalent iron in the high transmission glass plate, it is necessary to lower the temperature of molten glass at the time of producing the high transmission glass plate by a float process or a downdraw method as compared with the case of producing a usual glass plate, and the productivity is poor.
Heretofore, in order to realize a high transmission glass plate, a method of adjusting the proportions of divalent iron and trivalent iron among total iron contained in the glass towards the trivalent iron side by adding a very small amount of an oxidizing agent, or a method of changing the matrix composition of the glass to move the position of absorption peak of trivalent iron, has been proposed.
For example, by incorporating from 0.025 to 0.20%, as represented by mass percentage, of cerium oxide as an oxidizing agent, the proportion of divalent iron having an absorption peak in the wavelength region from 1,000 nm to 1,100 nm is reduced among the total iron contained in the glass (Patent Document 3).
Further, it is disclosed that in a soda lime silica glass having a total amount of iron oxide calculated as ferric oxide being from 0.02 to 0.2 mass %, its matrix composition is made to comprise, as represented by mass percentage, from 69 to 75% of SiO2, from 0 to 3% of Al2O3, from 0 to 5% of B2O3, from 2 to 10% of CaO, less than 2% of MgO, from 9 to 17% of Na2O, from 0 to 8% of K2O, optionally fluorine, zinc oxide, zirconium oxide and less than 4% of barium oxide, wherein the total of oxides of alkaline earth metals is adjusted to be at most 10%, whereby the absorption band by divalent iron is moved towards the long wavelength side, and it is possible to produce window glass which is less colored than a soda lime silica glass having a usual matrix composition and which is excellent in infrared absorption (Patent Document 4).

Glass plate and process for its production


One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that supports directory-based cache coherence in an object-addressed memory hierarchy in a computer system. During operation, the system receives a cache-coherence transaction for a cache line. If the cache line is an object-addressed cache line, the system uses a corresponding object identifier and offset to look up directory information specifying where copies of the object-addressed cache line are located in the caches in the computer system. Next, the system uses the directory information to perform the cache-coherence transaction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the design of computer systems that support references to objects defined within an object-oriented programming system. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for supporting directory-based cache coherence in an object-addressed memory hierarchy.
2. Related Art
As object-oriented programming languages become more widely used, computer systems are being designed to manipulate objects more efficiently. In particular, some proposed object-addressed memory hierarchies include object-addressed caches that facilitate lookups based on location-independent object identifiers (OIDs) without having to first translate the OIDs into corresponding physical addresses.
Some object-addressed caches allow physically-addressed cache lines to coexist with object-addressed cache lines. This can be accomplished by encoding object addresses so that they fall within unused portions of the physical address space.
However, these object-addressed caches can complicate the design of cache-coherence mechanisms. The encoding of object addresses into the physical address space works well as a basis for coherence in broadcast bus-based systems. In these systems, a translator can intercept these object addresses before they reach physical memory. Note that there is no corresponding physical memory location for encoded object addresses.
In contrast, a system that uses a directory-based cache coherence mechanism operates differently. In these systems, a memory controller typically stores meta-information, such as the location of the cache line's current owner, alongside the contents of the physical cache lines. This meta-information can be used during the coherence protocol. For example, it can be used to forward a read request to whichever cache is the current owner of the cache line. Essentially, the memory is consulted before the system determines that the request cannot be satisfied from another cache. This presents a problem for object-addressed memory systems because object cache lines have no associated memory location in which to store the directory information.
Hence, what is needed is a method and an apparatus that provides support for directory-based cache coherence in an object-addressed memory hierarchy.

Supporting directory-based cache coherence in an object-addressed memory hierarchy


A data communication method is provided by the present invention for carrying out a radio communication by intermingling circuit-switched communication and packet-switched communication using the TDMA communication mode between a radio base station and multiple radio terminals. An idle slot among slots for traffic channel is assigned for a generated circuit-switched data in order, and an idle slot among slots for control channel that belongs to a frame wherein a control signal is not transmitted for a generated packet-switched data, by this method. By assigning an idle slot among slots for control channel for packet-switched data, this method allows intermingling with the good efficiency of the circuit-switched communication and the packet-switched communication.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and system for radio data communication, etc., whereby circuit-switched communication and packet-switched communication are intermingled according to a TDMA mode.
2. Related Art
First, characteristics of the circuit-switched communication and the packet-switched communication will be briefly explained below. When a circuit-switched communication is carried out between a radio base station and a radio terminal, a radio link is established using a radio channel and the link continues to be held whether there is data to be sent or received or not. Therefore, the circuit-switched communication is not suitable to effectively use the radio channel although it is always possible to send and receive data without delay while the radio link is held.
On the other hand, in the packet-switched communication, a radio link is only established at a necessary period (when sending and receiving data) and the radio link never continues wastefully to be held. In the packet-switched communication, data is transmitted in the form of a packet (dividing into a constant capacity unit) with adding an address of a receiving side to the data, and during the communication, it is not necessary to always hold the radio link. Therefore, radio channel resources can be effectively used in the packet-switched communication. However, a delay occurs necessarily to use an idle radio channel.
FIG. 5 is a timing chart to explain a communication method to execute a data communication call in a circuit switching form (circuit-switched data) and a data communication call in a packet switching form (packet-switched data) simultaneously by TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) using a conventional four-slot-structure. In FIG. 5, one in four slots is used for a control channel, and the repetition period of this control channel is set every three TDMA frames. In this figure, the abscissa axis shows elapsed time, and first TDMA slot group 1--fourth TDMA slot group 14 are arranged lengthwise. Also, each cell represents one of the TDMA slots, and while a hatched or dotted cell is a used slot, a plain cell is an idle slot. Here, the first TDMA slot group 11 is used as a control channel 15, and a repetition period of control channel 15 is set every three TDMA frames as mentioned above. Also, the second TDMA slot group 12 is already used for circuit-switched data.
A new circuit-switched data is generated at time point A in FIG. 5. There, the use of the third TDMA slot group 13 is begun corresponding to the generated data. Moreover, a packet-switched data originates at point B. Corresponding to that, the fourth TDMA slot group 14 is begun to use halfway. The use of the first TDMA slot group 11 of the control channel after this is repeated every three TDMA periods. However, the second TDMA slot group 12 to the fourth TDMA slot group 14 are changed to a condition having an idle slot being accompanied by ending of the circuit-switched data or the packet-switched data (e.g., at point C). In this way, a TDMA slot group having an idle slot is begun to be used when a new call is generated in a communication method shown in FIG. 5.
FIG. 6 is a timing chart that explains a case where a circuit-switched data becomes a call-loss because there is no idle slot in a conventional data communication method. In FIG. 6, the first TDMA slot group 11 is used for control channel 15, and the second TDMA slot group 12 and the third TDMA slot group 13 are already used for circuit-switched data. In FIG. 6, a packet-switched data 21 originates at point D. Then, the fourth TDMA slot group 14 that has an idle slot is begun to be used at the point correspondingly to it. If a circuit-switched data 22 is generated at point E immediately after origination of data 21, because there is no idle slot in the fourth TDMA slot group 14, a call-loss originates at point E. Moreover, in FIG. 6, immediately after this, the use of packet-switched data 21 ends by point F and the fourth TDMA slot group 14 changes to have an idle slot. In this way, FIG. 6 shows an example wherein the circuit-switched data 22 has a call-loss due to the small little time difference between the origination of packet-switched data 21 and the origination of circuit-switched data 22.
Here, it is supposed that circuit-switched data 22 originates earlier than packet-switched data 21. In this case, as may be understood from FIG. 5 or FIG. 6, generally, the time of use for the circuit-switched data is longer than that for the packet-switched data. Therefore, not only long stand-by time until transmission of this packet-switched data 21, but also call-loss when the stand-by time exceeds the permitted delay time, results caused. As mentioned above, a circuit-switched data in TDMA data communication immediately becomes a call-loss if there is no idle slot when it is generated. Because a TDMA slot group is used continuously while a radio link is held, even if there is no significant data on the way, the slot use time becomes comparatively long. Therefore, the packet-switched data may have to wait for a long time until an idle slot originates, even if the packet length is short, and this is not efficient.

Method and system for data communication

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation


The present invention is directed to pyridazinone compounds of formula (I) and furan compounds of formula (II), pharmaceutical compositions of compounds of formula (I) and (II), kits containing these compounds, methods of syntheses, and a method of treatment of a proliferative disease in a subject by administration of a therapeutically effective amount of a compound of formulae (I) or (II). Both classes of compounds were identified through screening of a collection of small molecule libraries.

Lung cancer has been the most common cancer in the world since 1985, with approximately 163,510 deaths expected to occur in 2005 in the United States. Even with current treatments involving surgery, chemotherapy, and/or radiotherapy, overall 5-year survival in the United States is still only approximately 15 percent; in developing countries, 5-year survival rates are about 9 percent (Parkin et al., CA Cancer J. Clin. (2005) 55:74-108). The overwhelming majority of lung cancers in both sexes can be attributed to smoking. However, approximately 10% of lung cancers arise in individuals who smoked less than 100 cigarettes in a lifetime ("never smokers").
Several proto-oncogenes encoding components of the ERBB/HER signaling pathway are known to be mutated in lung cancers, almost exclusively in adenocarcinomas. The most common mutations affect the KRAS and EGFR genes. Approximately 15 to 30% of adenocarcinomas have KRAS mutations (Rodenhuis and Slebos, Am. Rev. Respir. Dis. (1990) 142:S27-30; Suzuki et al., Oncogene (1990) 5:1037-1043), while EGFR mutations are found in about 10% of adenocarcinomas in the United States and in much higher percentages of patients in East Asia (Pao et al., PLoS Med (2005) 2:e17). EGFR and KRAS mutations are mutually exclusive, suggesting that they have functionally equivalent or overlapping roles in lung tumorigenesis.
The majority of mutations in KRAS in human lung adenocarcinomas are found in exon 2, leading to missense amino acid substitutions in codons 12 or 13 (Rodenhuis et al., Cancer Res. (1988) 48:5738-5741). Nearly 90% of EGFR mutations identified in human lung cancer occur in two "hotspots". Half of these mutations are various multi-nucleotide in-frame deletions that eliminate a highly conserved four amino acid sequence (LREA) encoded in exon 19. The other "hotspot" mutations are point mutations in exon 21 that result in a specific amino acid substitution (i.e., lysine to arginine) at position 858 (L858R). The remaining 10-15% are nucleotide substitutions, deletions, or insertions/duplications found in exons 18-21, outside of the common sites of mutation (Lynch et al., N Engl. J. Med. (2004) 350:2129-2139; Paez et al., Science (2004) 304:1497-1500; Pao et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (2004) 101:13306-13311).
Most of the somatic mutations in the EGFR described above are associated with sensitivity of human lung tumors to the tyrosine kinase inhibitors gefitinib (IRESSA™, Astra-Zeneca) and erlotinib (TARCEVA™, OSI Pharmaceuticals, Genentech). Although these two small molecules were developed as inhibitors of the wild type EGFR tyrosine kinase, EGFR with the common mutations in the kinase domain confer an augmented sensitivity to these drugs. To date, gefitinib and erlotinib are the only two targeted agents clinically available for treatment of human non-small cell lung cancer (adenocarcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and large cell carcinoma).
In most patients who initially respond to crlotinib and gcfitinib, the cancer resumes detectable growth within 6 months to two years. This loss of sensitivity to gefitinib and erlotinib arises co-incidentally with a secondary mutation in exon 20 of the EGFR, which leads to substitution of methionine for threonine at position 790 (T790M) in the kinase domain, in addition to the primary drug-sensitive mutation. Activating EGFR mutations (e.g. L858R) seem to occur preferentially in cis with the T790M mutation. This T790M mutation has also recently been identified in a family with a history of adenocarcinoma (Bell et al., Nat. Genet. (2005) 37:1315-1316). Biochemical analyses of transfected cells and growth inhibition studies with lung cancer cell lines demonstrated that the T790M mutation confers resistance to the EGFR mutants that were usually sensitive to either gefitinib or erlotinib (Kobayashi et al., N. Eng. J. Med. (2005) 352:786-792).
Tumors arising from mutant EGFR require the continuous expression/activity of the oncogene for survival. This is based on the regression of mutant EGFR lung tumors that were treated with erlotinib and gefitinb, and has also been demonstrated for lung tumors arising in mice with controlled expression of oncogenic egfr (Politi et al., Genes Dev. (2006) 20:1496-1510) and kras (Fisher et al., Genes Dev. (2001) 15:3249-3262). The mutant oncogene may alter a normal cell so that continued expression or function of the oncogene is required to prevent the cell from entering an apoptotic (or differentiation) pathway. Very likely, the protein encoded by the mutant oncogene activates multiple signaling pathways in such a way that sudden loss of a signal dependent on a mutant oncoprotein removes a block to other signals that direct apoptosis or differentiation.
There are currently no approved therapeutic drugs that are effective against lung tumors with the T790M-EGFR mutation. Moreover, there has been no success in developing agents that would target KRAS. Given the high prevalence of KRAS mutations in lung and other cancers, a drug that targets this type of cancer is urgently needed.

Substituted pyridazines as EGFR and/or KRAS inhibitors

Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research


An LED driver circuit that can regulate the input signal voltage so that the driver circuit can be used over wide input voltage range or at predetermined voltages. Discrete components are used to drive an LED array with a constant current. The LED driver circuit includes a dynamic current regulator. The dynamic current regulator includes a resistor and capacitor in parallel to provide dynamic current regulation to a switching mode power supply circuit that controls the LED illumination.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to driver circuits for a load, and, more particularly, to a driver circuit that will allow a load, such as an LED, to be operated over a wide input voltage range.
A variety of different electrical power sources can be used to power an LED driver circuit. These include both alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) power sources, such as those provided by wall sockets (120 or 240 VAC at 50 or 60 Hz) or DC power supplies (typically 24 VDC to about 240 VDC) and the like. Conventional AC power sources, such as those provided by wall sockets from power lines (line voltage) are typically 110 or 220 VAC at 50 or 60 Hz, and other voltage and frequency combinations are used throughout the world. AC voltage sources must first be rectified to become DC voltage sources before using them to drive LEDs. Further, line voltage components that would be required to compensate for these problems are usually rather large and more expensive than their lower voltage counterparts.
Use of a rectified AC supply voltage, or a pure DC supply voltage, avoids some of the complications of an AC input, but is not without complications of its own. For example, the actual output voltage of any given voltage source is rarely exactly equal to its specified nominal voltage. As an example, the nominal output voltage of 12 VDC battery systems like those used in automobiles is seldom exactly 12 VDC, but rather typically varies between about 11 VDC and about 15 VDC.
One difficulty associated with LED driver circuits in general is the large number of catalog numbers that need to be manufactured and warehoused. Typically, an LED driver circuit is designed for only one specific supply voltage. If you are a manufacturer, you want to offer a full product line, which means offering a large variety of driver circuits that operate at their respective supply voltage. If you are an integrator or an OEM using LEDs, this mean that you need to have available a large selection of driver circuits that operate at different voltages for your application's needs. Attempts to accommodate LED driver circuits to operate on more than one supply voltage results in increased size, cost, and heat generation.
Supply power disruptions such as voltage dips and interruptions are common to industrial control circuits and can produce undesirable effects such as LED flickering or dimming. Ride-through is a term used to describe the ability to withstand voltage dips and interruptions with steady LED illumination. During a voltage dip for a conventional design, a low voltage drop would occur across a current regulation resistor, which would cause the transistor to switch off and the LED to dim or turn off.
Still other difficulties associated with LED driver circuits reside in the presence of leakage current from upstream circuitry used to energize the LEDs. Even low levels of leakage current can cause an LED to slightly illuminate even when the driver circuit is in an off-state.
There is a need, therefore, for an improved driver circuit that will allow a load, such as an LED, to be operated over a wide input voltage range, while at the same time, that can improve both ride-through and surge capabilities, and require fewer catalog numbers.


In an image sensor, if a pixel for focusing has a structure having a light-shielding layer for performing pupil division, between the micro lens and the photoelectric conversion unit, the pixel may be configured such that the focal position of the micro lens is positioned further on the micro lens side than the light-shielding layer, and the distance from the focal position of the micro lens to the light-shielding layer is greater than 0 and less than nFΔ, where n is the refractive index at the focal position of the micro lens, F is the aperture value of the micro lens, and Δ is the diffraction limit of the micro lens. This enables variation in the pupil intensity distribution of the pixel for focusing due to positional production tolerance of components to be suppressed.

Imaging devices have been proposed that perform focus detection of an imaging lens with a phase difference detection method, using a two-dimensional image sensor in which a micro lens is formed in each pixel.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 58-24105, an imaging device using a two-dimensional image sensor in which a single micro lens and a photoelectric conversion unit divided into a plurality of parts are formed in a single pixel is disclosed. Pupil division is performed as a result of the plurality of photoelectric conversion units being configured so as to receive light from different areas of the exit pupil of the imaging lens through the single micro lens. Focus detection is performed by deriving the difference between images from signals resulting from light received by the individual photoelectric conversion units, and an imaging signal is acquired by adding together the signals resulting from light received by the individual photoelectric conversion units. Also disclosed besides focus detection is enabling display of a three-dimensional image by displaying the signals resulting from light received by the photoelectric conversion units on the right side and the photoelectric conversion units on the left side of each pixel as parallax signals.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-156823, an imaging device in which plural pairs of pixels for focusing are disposed in a two-dimensional image sensor consisting of a plurality of pixels is disclosed. Pupil division is performed as a result of each pair of pixels for focusing being configured so as to receive light from different areas of the exit pupil of the imaging lens, using a light-shielding layer having an opening. An imaging signal is acquired with pixels for imaging disposed over a large portion of the two-dimensional image sensor, and focus detection is performed by deriving the difference between images from the signals of pixels for focusing disposed over a portion of the two-dimensional image sensor.
In focus detection with the phase difference detection method using a two-dimensional image sensor, focus detection accuracy depends greatly on the pupil intensity distribution (pupil division performance) of the pixels for focusing. Accurate focus detection can be performed by increasing the peak intensity and narrowing the half-value width of the pupil intensity distribution of the pixels for focusing.
However, there is a problem in that variation occurs in the pupil intensity distribution of the pixels for focusing due to positional production tolerance of the components constituting the image sensor, resulting in focus detection accuracy and parallax signals that lack stability.


An apparatus for destroying pathogens on meat includes a dewatering station, a steam heating chamber, and a cooling chamber. The meat is treated as it is moved along by a conveyor. The dewatering chamber includes an air blower with nozzles for blowing air at the surface of the meat to remove surface water from the meat. The steam heating chamber is disposed adjacent the dewatering chamber and includes a steam heating chamber enclosure that is sealed for maintaining a positive pressure in the steam heating chamber relative to the dewatering chamber. In one embodiment the steam chamber moves along with the meat on the conveyor. The cooling chamber is disposed adjacent the steam chamber opposite from the dewatering station. The cooling chamber has nozzles for spraying chilled water onto the surface of the meat for rapidly cooling the meat after it is passed through the steam heating chamber. The meat conveyor extends through the dewatering chamber, the steam chamber, and the chilled water chamber. The meat conveyor supports the meat and transfers it from chamber to chamber. A method for destroying pathogens on meat is also disclosed that includes the steps of removing surface water from the meat, passing the meat through a steam chamber having a positive pressure relative to the outside of the steam chamber, and rapidly chilling the surface of the meat.

Concerns over pathogens on meat have been elevated in recent years due to E-coli related illnesses and deaths. In response, certain regulations have been imposed on food preparers and recommendations have been made to increase the likelihood that pathogens are killed. For example, restaurants must cook hamburger at 160.degree. F. throughout for at least five seconds.
Such end user regulations have been made in an attempt to correct a problem that begins during meat processing. E-coli, other coliform bacteria, and many other pathogens reside on the surface of meat beginning with the meat carcass processing. The pathogens originate from fecal matter and other contaminants on the surface of the meat. Without adequately destroying these pathogens, the meat is processed, packed, and shipped to the distributor, retailer, or consumer. It is then left to the consumer or preparer of the meat to address a problem that by then can be even worse. The bacteria may have further grown or may reside throughout the meat. This is the case, for example, with ground meat since during meat processing the surface pathogens are distributed throughout the meat.
The only precaution currently taken by the meat processors is to spray the carcasses with water at 120-140.degree. F. This measure is not necessarily effective or efficient at destroying the surface pathogens. Not all pathogens are killed at these temperatures and large volumes of water are required, along with a large amount of energy to heat the water, since the water cannot easily be recirculated if contaminants are to be avoided.
The process and apparatus of the present invention were developed to effectively and efficiently stop pathogen-infested meat and poultry products from reaching the end user.

Apparatus for steam pasteurization of meat


A mechanism and technique to transfer data between a communication device and media hardware in a computing device. More particularly, an embodiment of the invention uses a quality of service to assure deterministic latencies in direct data transfers between a memory buffer and each of a communication device and an audio hardware controller.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to transferring data between a communication device and a media controller in a computing device. More particularly, an embodiment of the invention allows data to be transferred between a communication device a media controller without relying on an intermediary software application.
2. Background Art
In present computer architecture, a media subsystem is typically under control of a device driver. A device driver is typically responsible for communicating with a media controller and controls the flow of data to and from the media controller. For playback of audio, for example, a software application may pass data to an audio device driver which then programs an audio controller with the relevant parameters to play back the audio stream via its corresponding audio hardware. The layers of computer architecture in the audio subsystem through which data may be directed are commonly referred to as a software stack. To reduce data transfer latencies, techniques exist for bypassing data transfer through at least part of the audio subsystem software stack. For example, in an audio capture application such as voice recording, the software application may provide an empty memory buffer to the audio device driver, which then programs the audio controller to capture data in the application-provided memory buffer. The audio controller signals the driver via an interrupt when capture is complete, and then the driver then hands-off the memory buffer back to the application.
If a separate device such as a communication device needs to utilize the capabilities of the media controller, it too needs to send data through its own software stack as well as the software stack associated with the media subsystem described above. For example, if a mobile communication device such as a PC-based cellular telephony device needs to utilize a headset attached to a PC audio controller, the software associated with the communication device needs to go through both its own driver software stack and the audio subsystem software stack. The multiple software stacks can add significant latencies to the flow of data, such that there can be a significant delay between the time media data is received by the stream from a communication device to the time it is played back to the user. Similarly, there can be a delay between the time a user speaks and the time the corresponding media data is actually handed-off to a communication device for transmission. These latencies can significantly deteriorate end-user experience when using a computing device's media controller for communications purposes.

Low latency mechanism for data transfers between a media controller and a communication device


The use of a frictional engagement with the top and/or side of a lifter ring on the neck of a bottle for controlling the rotation of the bottle during the capping process. The frictional engagement may be used to hold the bottle steady during the capping process or may be utilized to cause counter rotation of the bottle during the capping process. A method and apparatus for using counter rotation of the bottle to apply a cap to a bottle is also described.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improvements in bottle capping machines or bottle filling and capping machines to improve the efficiency and reliability of handling plastic bottles which have become a very common container for beverages and, to some extent, other liquids. More particularly, the invention relates to improvements particularly suited for plastic bottles with a lifter ring on the neck of the bottle and pre-threaded screw caps. As shown in FIG. 1 of the drawings, the lifter ring 12 is shown as the peripheral lip immediately below the threads 14 at the cap position on the bottle 10.
2. Description of the Known Art
In processing screw cap threaded containers through a known type of filling and/or capping machine (such as shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,295,320 or U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,565, both patents hereby expressly incorporated by reference), it has been found to be necessary to prevent the spinning capping head that applies the screw cap from also rapidly spinning the bottle; such spinning of the bottle can have a very deleterious effect on the operation of the machine as the bottles pass through at a high rate of speed, often 100 bottles per minute or more. Various expedients have been employed to prevent spinning of the bottle as the screw cap is rotated on the threaded bottle neck and firmly seated with a desired torque. A very common expedient has been to provide knife elements or pin elements which penetrate the bottom edge of the lifter ring of the plastic bottle. While the reliability of such a technique is less than desirable and has the disadvantage that it inevitably leaves a mark on the bottle, it has been accepted in the industry.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,400, issued to Martin et al. on Oct. 27, 1998 discloses a plastic bottle spinning restraint for a capping machine which is also hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety. This patent application is directed to a method for holding the petaloid shape at the bottom of a bottle to be capped so that the bottle will not spin during the capping procedure. Modifications in the amount of plastic utilized by the bottling companies has affected the ability of the bottle to support itself to allow this machine to properly restrain the bottle during the capping procedure. Therefore, a new method for holding the bottle during the capping procedure is needed.
Referring to FIG. 1, it will be noted that bottle capping machine environment is shown representing a typical bottling machine employed for capping (or filling and capping) petaloid plastic bottles which uses a rotational movement f the bottle under a spinning capping head that is concurrently rotated. While the bottom shape for holding a plastic bottle is shown, the knife apparatus for engaging the cap ring on the neck of the bottle to prevent rotation (as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,565) is not shown. Such previously known apparatus should in any event be disabled or removed from the apparatus in order to employ Applicants' invention. The advantages of removing or disabling the apparatus employing bottle-piercing knives which catch and engage the bottle under the neck ring can better be understood by a brief description of such apparatus and its function. For the knife type apparatus, a substantial amount of downward pressure on the top of the bottle, e.g. 20-50 pounds, is necessary to force the underneath side of the bottle neck ring into the pins or knives to prevent rotation of the bottle. This downward force must be induced through the closure threads to the bottle threads, and this method has two detrimental effects. First, the friction resulting from the thread to thread contact creates a variance in the application torque. The application torque being the summation of the sealing friction and thread friction. Secondly, the knives can create a sharp burr on the edge of the neck ring because of their necessary indentation in the plastic. If the knife edges are not in excellent condition, they will peel the plastic from underneath the neck ring which results in the accumulation of undesirable shavings around the area of the capping operation. Often the knife edges will produce a sharp bur under the neck ring which can cause injury to the consumer of the product when the closure is removed. Even a slight injury which breaks the skin of the consumer is of potential concern.
The rotation restraint system shown in FIG. 1 is simple and usable on virtually all strong plastic bottles which have petaloid bases. A reduction in the amount of plastic in the bottles has made this system unusable for new lower material bottle designs. However, this does provide a good basis for understanding the environment for the present invention. As seen in FIG. 1, the major feature of the prior art is the provision of a rotational base plate 20 having plurality of sets of fingers 22 in a petaloid configuration arranged in a nest residing below the primary surface 24 of table 26 and configured to accept the bottom 16 of the particular size and shape of petaloid bottle being processed. It should be noted that as to most of the elements and parts of a capping machine (excluding the previous form of bottle anti-rotation device) their function and, in most cases, their structure will not be changed. Elements retaining their usual function include rotating center unit 30, upper stationary guide 40, lower stationary guide 50, upper rotating receiver 60, and mid-level rotating receiver 70. It will be appreciated that the particular configuration of these elements will change if, and when, there is any significant change in the size or shape of the bottle being processed. In FIG. 1, the apparatus required to transport bottles to and convey bottles away from table 26 has been omitted in order to better show important features. Also much of the capping and/or filling structure and the cap supply means has been omitted. Although capping machines are known in which the table, such as table 26, turns in a counterclockwise direction, table 26 in FIG. 1 and the other rotating elements moving therewith turn in a clockwise or leftward direction as indicated by arrow 31. Each bottle, such as uncapped bottle 18, is first positioned by a star wheel or other conveyor mechanism and received in recess 21 of rotating receiver 20 and is guided and maintained in vertical position by recesses 62 and 72. In FIG. 1, bottle 17 is shown at or near the exit position from table 26 and cap 15 would be seated on bottle 17 with a torque determined by the slip clutch of a spinning capping head 80 shown in dashed lines with a spin rotational direction shown by arrow 81. Bottles exit from the capping machine by virtue of an exit star wheel or other means receiving the bottles from the rotating table, such as table 26, and delivering them to a conveyor, in a manner which is generally the reverse of their mode of entry (e.g. by an entry star wheel operation which delivers from conveyor to rotating table).
Thus, it may be seen that these prior art patents are very limited in their teaching and utilization, and an improved lifter ring rotation control is needed to overcome these limitations.


Embodiments of parametric chirped pulse amplifiers seeded with a single pulse source which is subsequently split into a signal arm and a pump arm with appropriate signal and pump conditioning stages are disclosed, which advantageously improve the utility of high average power and/or high energy ultrafast amplification systems. In various embodiments, at least one of the signal or the pump conditioning stages is non-linear, allowing for a great range of seed sources to be utilized. Chirped pulse amplification in the pump conditioning stage may be used to simplify the parametric amplification of pulses with pulse widths of the order of 10 fs. The parametric pump can include coherently combined fiber arrays, hybrid fiber solid-state amplifiers, and/or cryogenically cooled solid-state amplifiers to increase or optimize the energy extraction of high average powers.

1. Field
This application relates to ultra-high peak power laser and amplifier systems and methods.
2. Description of Related Art
Certain embodiments relate to apparatus and methods for amplifying optical pulses from compact laser sources through the use of optical parametric amplifying media. Nonlinear optical elements may be employed to provide amplification in a process known as optical parametric amplification (OPA). In such a process, an intense coherent pump beam at a first wavelength interacts with a nonlinear optical element such as a nonlinear optical crystal to produce amplification. One or more output beams at respective second and third optical wavelengths exit the nonlinear optical element. These output beams are referred to as the signal and the idler. In optical parametric amplification, in addition to being pumped, the nonlinear optical element is seeded with radiation at the signal or the idler wavelengths.
The optical parametric amplification process obeys the conservation of energy principle ω1=ω2+ω3, where ω1 is the pump frequency and ω2 and ω3 are the signal and idler frequencies, respectively. The individual values of ω2 and ω3 also satisfy the conservation of momentum condition, which for plane wave interaction is k1=k2+k3 where k1, k2, and k3 are the respective wave vectors for ω1, ω2, and ω3. This latter condition provides for phase-matching. Phase matching can be varied by changing an appropriate phase matching parameter of the nonlinear optical element such as the angle of propagation or the crystal temperature.
If no light is supplied to the nonlinear optical element at ω2 and ω3, the process is referred to as optical parametric generation (OPG). In OPG, seeding is provided by quantum noise.
When ω2=ω3=ω1/2, the process is termed degenerate. When the pump wave ω1 propagates at an angle with respect to the signal wave the amplification process is referred to as noncollinear optical parametric amplification (NOPA).

Ultra-high power parametric amplifier system at high repetition rates


A light source apparatus includes a lamp, an ellipsoidal mirror collecting a part of light radiated from a light transmission plane of the lamp, and a spherical mirror collecting another part of the light radiated from a light transmission plane not collected by the ellipsoidal mirror and reflecting it on the ellipsoidal mirror, in which a reflection plane of the ellipsoidal mirror and the reflection plane of the spherical mirror are in a form of non-rotation symmetry to an optical axis connecting a focal position F1 corresponding to a source of luminescence of the lamp to a focal position F2 of the light collected by the ellipsoidal mirror respectively. The distance between the reflection plane of the spherical mirror and the source of luminescence of the lamp is shorter than the distance between the source of luminescence and the focus of the light collected by the ellipsoidal mirror, and a part of the reflection plane of the ellipsoidal mirror is formed around the optical axis.

In recent years, attention is being given to a projection display apparatus using various light modulation devices as a large-screen projection video apparatus. In the case of performing a large-screen display, brightness of a displayed image can be named as the most important item.
Thus, attention is being given to a multi-lamp illumination system using multiple lamps and capable of improving optical output as the projection display apparatus. As for the brightness, it is important to illuminate the light modulation device as an image display device with as little loss of luminous fluxes radiated from the lamps as possible, that is, as efficiently as possible. For that reason, it is desirable to improve efficiency of the light source apparatus of collecting lamp radiation light.
FIG. 11 shows a conventional multi-lamp optical system having two light source apparatuses configured by the lamp and concave mirror provided therein. The light radiated from a light source apparatus 1 gets incident on a hollow rod integrator 2 made of glass poles or mirrors glued together. It repeats total reflection inside the glass in the case of the glass poles, or repeats reflection in the case of the type having the mirrors glued together. It is possible, by means of the reflection inside the rod integrator 2, to create the luminous fluxes of homogeneous in-plane brightness on an emission opening plane of the rod integrator 2. Furthermore, it is possible, with a relay lens 3 after this, to focus the luminous fluxes of high in-plane homogeneousness on a light modulation device 4 of performing an image display so as to display the image provided on a screen by a projection lens as the image of which in-screen brightness is highly homogeneous.
Next, as for improvement in the efficiency of the conventional light source apparatus of collecting lamp radiation light, a basic configuration of the light source apparatus as a first conventional example is shown in FIG. 12 (refer to Japanese Patent No. 2543260 and Japanese Patent No. 3151734 for instance). In the case of this light source apparatus, the light radiated from light-transmitting planes 5a and 5b of a light-emitting portion 5 of the lamp is collected on a focus X by a first concave mirror 6 having an ellipsoidal or paraboloidal reflection plane form. The radiation light from the light-transmitting planes 5a and 5b of the light-emitting portion 5 of the lamp not collected by the first concave mirror 6 is reflected on a second concave mirror 7 consisting of a spherical mirror for instance and having its reflection plane facing the reflection plane of the first concave mirror 6, and is then returned to the vicinity of the light-emitting portion 5 of the lamp so as to be collected on the focus X by the first concave mirror 6.
Thus, the first concave mirror 6 and the second concave mirror 7 are used in a state of having their reflection planes facing each other, the second concave mirror 7 having the outermost diameter larger than the outermost diameter in a vertical direction to an optical axis of the first concave mirror 6, that is, a straight line connecting a luminescence center 5c of the light-emitting portion 5 to the focus X. The light radiated from the light-emitting portion 5 of the lamp is thereby taken in as much as possible so as to be collected by the first concave mirror 6.
The basic configuration of the light source apparatus as a second conventional example is shown in FIG. 15 (refer to Japanese Patent No. 2730782 and Japanese Patent No. 3350003 for instance). In the case of this light source apparatus, a light source 10 of the lamp is placed on a focus Y of an ellipsoidal mirror or paraboloidal reflecting mirror as a first concave mirror 8. The first concave mirror 8 is provided at an angle capable of reflecting all the radiation light from a light-transmitting plane 10a of the light source 10. This light source apparatus coincides with the first conventional example in that the light radiated from the light-transmitting planes 10a of the light source 10 and reflected on the spherical mirror as a second concave mirror 9 is returned to the vicinity of the focus of the first concave mirror 8 and as much light radiated from a light-transmitting portion 10 as possible is thus taken in together with the light radiated from the light-transmitting plane 10b and directly collected by the first concave mirror 8.
However, they are different in that the first conventional example has the opening of the second concave mirror 7 in a vertical plane against an optical axis direction of the first concave mirror 6 whereas the second conventional example has the second concave mirror 9 placed in a horizontal direction against the direction of the optical axis of the first concave mirror 8, that is, the straight line connecting a luminescence center 10c of the light-emitting portion 10 of the lamp to the focus Y.
As shown in FIG. 11, the conventional multi-lamp optical system has the configuration in which the light radiated from multiple light source apparatuses gets incident on the rod integrator 2 which is homogeneous lighting means. However, a transmissive/reflective liquid crystal of displaying the image and the light modulation device called a DMD (Digital Micro-mirror Device) have a luminous flux incident angle range capable of substantially modulating the light and an image display effective area capable of displaying the image. For this reason, due to the relation of Helmholtz-Lagrange which is a basic formula of imaging optics, an output angle range of the light according to the size of an outgoing side opening 2b of the rod integrator 2 in an imaging relation with the relay lens 3 is uniquely decided by the relay lens 3.
In this case, if the outgoing side opening and the incident side opening of the rod integrator 2 are of an equal size, the output angle range is equal to the incident angle range. If the outgoing side opening and the incident side opening are of different sizes, the incident angle range is in accordance with the size of the incident side opening induced by the relation of Helmholtz-Lagrange, and so only the luminous flux within this angle range is projected onto the screen via the rod integrator 2, relay lens 3, light modulation device 4 and projection lens.
For this reason, in the case of the light source apparatus having a single concave mirror 1 capable of collecting more lamp radiation light, the incident angle range of the rod integrator 2 is limited. Therefore, there is a problem that a distance between the concave mirror 1 and an incident side opening 2a of the rod integrator 2 becomes long and an optical spot size formed by the concave mirror 1 becomes large so that an amount of light to be taken in by the opening of the rod integrator 2 decreases.
As with the light source apparatus of the conventional multi-lamp optical system shown in FIG. 11, the light source apparatus of the first conventional example shown in FIG. 12 is in a form of rotation symmetry to the optical axis of the first concave mirror, that is, the straight line connecting the luminescence center 5c of the light-emitting portion 5 of the lamp to the focus X. It has a problem that, in the case of forming a similar multi-lamp optical system, the amount of light to be taken in by the opening of the rod integrator 2 decreases. It also has a problem that its outer shape becomes large.
The light source apparatus of the second conventional example shown in FIG. 15 is in a form of non-rotation asymmetry to the optical axis of the first concave mirror, that is, the straight line connecting the luminescence center 10c of the light-emitting portion 10 of the lamp to the focus Y. Its outer shape can be smaller than that of the first conventional example. The luminous fluxes formed by collection of light can also be of non-rotation symmetry, and it is possible, even in the multi-lamp optical system of FIG. 11, to reduce the distance between the first concave mirror 8 corresponding to the first concave mirror 6 and the incident side opening 2a of the rod integrator 2.
However, the light source apparatus of the second conventional example shown in FIG. 15 has the following problem. The reflection plane having the second concave mirror 9 formed thereon reflects all the light radiated from the light-transmitting plane 10a as shown in FIG. 15. Nevertheless, all the reflected light is not collected by the first concave mirror 8, but a part of it is radiated outside so as to become an impediment to light collection efficiency.
To collect all the reflected light of the second concave mirror 9 on the focus Y, it is necessary to expand the reflection plane of the first concave mirror 8 by an equivalent of an area 150. However, this leads to a larger size of the light source apparatus so that the light collection efficiency and the larger size of the light source apparatus will be in a trade-off relation.
The light radiated from a lamp 5 and directly reaching the first concave mirror 6 in an upper half in the light source apparatus of the first conventional example of FIG. 12 is taken in by the second concave mirror 9 in the light source apparatus of the second conventional example of FIG. 15. In this case, the light reflected on the second concave mirror 9 passes through the vicinity of the light-emitting portion 10 of the lamp again so as to get to the first concave mirror 8. In the case of using a metal halide lamp or a mercury lamp as the lamp, much of the light passing through the light-emitting portion again is lost due to light absorption and light scattering of light-emitting materials and materials configuring the lamp. Thus, it has a problem that the amount of luminous fluxes emitted to the focus Y is consequently reduced and optical usable efficiency is lowered as the entire light source apparatus.
The present invention was made in order to solve these problems of the conventional examples, and an object thereof is to provide the light source apparatus of which optical usable efficiency is not lowered by miniaturizing it and the lighting apparatus and projection display apparatus of higher efficiency and capable of miniaturization by having the light source apparatus.

Light source apparatus, lighting apparatus and projection display apparatus


A pre-load mechanism has a self-mounting coil spring that resiliently forces a pre-loading member against a pre-loaded member. The spring has an active helical-coiled portion that is resiliently expandable and contractible in axial length to set the pre-load force and a mounting coil portion that has an interference fit with the mounting member for allowing the pre-load force to be set by forced positioning of the mounting coil portion on the mounting member to a calibrated position, and once the pre-load has been so set, for maintaining the mounting coil portion in the calibrated position as the active coil portion expands and contracts in axial length. The mounting coil portion has non-circular helical convolutions with protruding lobes that bear against the mounting member.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to pre-load mechanisms, and more particularly to a pre-load mechanism having a self-mounting coil spring that resiliently forces a pre-loading member against a pre-loaded member. The inventive principles are especially advantageous in electric-operated fuel injectors of the type used in internal combustion engines that power automotive vehicles, although it is believed that inventive principles may be utilized to advantage in various valves and in detent mechanisms.
2. Background Information
Each of U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,494,224 and 5,494,225 describes an electric-operated fuel injector for an internal combustion engine. The fuel injector has an armature/needle valve assembly that, in closed condition of the fuel injector, is resiliently biased by a helical coil pre-load spring to cause a tip end of the needle valve to forcefully seat against a valve seat member in closure of a through-hole at the center of the valve seat member. The fuel injector also has an electromagnet coil that, when energized by an electric control circuit to which it is connected, operates the fuel injector to open condition. The electromagnetic force acts on the armature to overcome the pre-load force and unseat the tip end of the needle valve from the valve seat member, thereby opening the through-hole in the valve seat member so that pressurized liquid fuel can be injected into the engine from a nozzle end of the fuel injector.
Calibration of the fuel injector comprises setting axial compression of the pre-load spring in an amount that results in the exertion of a certain axial pre-load force on the valve seat member by the seated tip of the needle valve when the electromagnet coil is not being energized.
The fuel injector further comprises a fuel inlet tube through which fuel passes axially from an inlet end into the interior of the fuel injector. One axial end of the pre-load spring is disposed within a lower axial end of the fuel inlet tube; the opposite axial end of the spring is received within a counterbore in one axial end of the armature, bearing against an internal shoulder at an internal end of the counterbore. In a calibrated fuel injector, the one axial end of the spring that is disposed within the lower end of the fuel inlet tube bears axially against an axial end of an adjustment tube which is telescopically received within, and joined with, the fuel inlet tube, and which serves to convey fuel along that portion of the length of the fuel inlet tube with which it is axially coextensive.
The calibration process comprises axially positioning the adjustment tube relative to the fuel inlet tube, before the two tubes are joined together, to set the axial compression of the pre-load spring in an amount that results in the exertion of a certain axial pre-load force on the valve seat member by the seated tip of the needle valve. Then the two tubes are joined, such as by mechanically staking, or crimping, one to the other.
Calibration may, for example, be performed at a station of an automated fuel injector processing line where a fuel injector is operated to open condition and liquid is flowed through it. A servo-motor-controlled actuator at the station positions the adjustment tube axially within the fuel inlet tube, compressing the pre-load spring in the process, as liquid flow through the open fuel injector is measured. When a desired flow is achieved, the two tubes are axially locked together by crimping the outside diameter (O.D.) of the fuel inlet tube such that its inside diameter (I.D.) deforms sufficiently onto the O.D. of the adjustment tube to prevent relative axial movement between the two tubes without impeding flow through the adjustment tube.
It is believed that this crimping step may at times cause an unintended component of relative axial movement between the two tubes that affects the intended calibration. Accordingly, replacement of this crimping step by a different step that would eliminate the possibility of accompanying, unintended, relative axial movement between a fuel inlet tube and an adjustment tube is seen to be desirable.
It has heretofore been proposed to employ a roll pin in place of an adjustment tube. The roll pin is increasingly pressed, with a press-fit, into the fuel inlet tube by a mandrel until the intended calibration is attained. While this process eliminates the crimping step, it is not reversible. Hence, it is believed that extensive care must be taken in order to avoid the occurrence of irreversible axial overtravel when pressing a roll pin into a fuel inlet tube. Lack of adequate control may produce excessive axial overtravel of a roll pin that results in scrapping of in-process parts.

Pre-load mechanism having self-mounting coil spring


An anti-slip separator sheet that increases friction and reduces slippage when handling, storing and shipping goods and packages. The sheet is preferably a plastic net with polymer beads protruding from the top and bottom surfaces of the net. The polymer beads are preferably secured to the net by bonding the polymer beads to each other in the openings of the net. The polymer beads protrude from the surfaces of the net, increasing the coefficient of friction. The anti-slip net is used between goods and packages to reduce slippage.

Many companies handle, store and ship goods. In many instances, to take advantage of economies, goods are handled, stored and shipped in bulk, which results in the stacking and packaging of the goods. For example, it is common to package goods and then stack the packages on a pallet so that the goods can be maneuvered by a forklift truck or the like. These loaded pallets are in turn stored and stacked, and are shipped both short and long distances via trucks, trains, sea, air, etc.
Accordingly, the packages are subjected to forces that cause them to shift and slip against each other and/or the pallet. This causes damage to the packages and the goods they contain.
In an attempt to reduce such damage, companies often create customized packaging for the goods. For example, companies can incorporate additional padding within the packaging, create form-fitting packages, use tie-bands or wraps, etc. However, customized packaging results in added complexities, time, weight and cost. In other instances companies have used cardboard as separator sheets between the packages and/or pallets in an attempt to increase padding an increase friction. Cardboard, however, is bulky and expensive and doe., not significantly increase friction.
In addition, many companies store and ship goods that have metal parts that are particularly susceptible to denting and damage during handling, and are also susceptible to rust or corrosion. In an attempt to reduce such corrosion, some companies use costly and cumbersome sealants or wraps and the like.
Consequently, it is desirable to provide a durable, lightweight and inexpensive anti-slip separator sheet for handling, storing and packaging goods. It is also desirable to provide a durable, lightweight and inexpensive anti-slip separator sheet for metal goods that reduces corrosion and prolongs the life of the goods.


This brushless motor according to the present invention is provided with: a tubular stator case; a stator core; a rotor; a plurality of teeth which are integrally formed on an inner peripheral surface of the stator core; a coil bobbin mounted between the mutually adjacent teeth, which has a winding portion around which a coil is wound; a lead wire; and a wiring substrate which relays a connection between the lead wire and the coil, wherein: the coil bobbin has flange portions; one of the flange portions which is located on the inward in the radial direction has an enlarged member which protrudes outward from the surface of the flange portion; a pair of terminals which is connected to the wiring substrate is provided on the enlarged portion so as to be located more inward than a tip of the tooth in the radial direction.

Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-287863, filed on Nov. 5, 2007, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inner rotor type brushless motor which has, for example, a rotor and a stator.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an inner rotor type brushless motor has a stator core fitted into and fixed to a stator case, and a rotor rotatably provided with respect to the stator core, and includes permanent magnets at an outer peripheral portion thereof. This stator core includes a plurality of teeth which protrude radially inward. A coil bobbin around which a coil is wound is mounted on each of the teeth. As electric current flows into the coil, an attractive or repulsive force is generated between the rotor and the stator to rotate the rotor.
Among this type of coil bobbin, for example, there is one which is constituted by a connecting portion connecting an inner bobbin and an outer bobbin, and in which a coil is wound around the connecting portion (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent, First Application Publication No. 2004-194458). Further, an upper end of the inner bobbin is provided with a coil holding portion made of resin to which a coil starting portion of the coil is fixed, while an upper end of the outer bobbin is provided with a coil holding portion to which a winding finishing portion of the coil is fixed. After a plurality of coil bobbins is mounted on the stator core, the coil holding portion is joined to a through-hole of a substrate by soldering, and is electrically connected with lead wires drawn in from the outside.
However, in the above-mentioned brushless motor, the through-hole should be formed inside the substrate by a distance required for forming lands or patterns due to the lands or patterns being formed on the substrate. Along with this, the position of the coil holding portion to be inserted into the through-hole should be arranged more inward than necessary. That is, useless space may be created in a portion more radially outside than the through-hole, and accordingly, the wall thickness of the stator core should be made large. Thus, there is a problem in that a large winding space for the coil cannot be secured. As a result, since the occupancy of the coil decreases, an increase in loss and a decrease in motor torque may be caused. Further, in order to improve the occupancy of the coil, a motor should be made large.


A clip for assisting in fastening and stretching of sheet material, such as a cover, a tarpaulin, a tent, a trampoline pad, etc. The clip is constructed to include an upper plate and a lower plate with each plate having a securing hole at one end. When the plates are in their cooperative position, the securing holes are in alignment with each other. A first one of the plates is constructed to have a plurality of pins extending from one surface with a second one of the plates being constructed to have a plurality of cavities arranged therein. The pins and the cavities are arranged in matching patterns so that when the upper and lower plates are pressed together the pins enter the cavities.

This invention relates to a clip for use with trampolines. The clips are employed to clasp the edge of a trampoline pad and to provide engagement for the springs which secure the pad to a support in a stretched and taught manner. The clips may also be employed for use with covers, tarpaulins, tents, etc. to function in the same manner.
The usual arrangement for trampoline pads is to stitch a plurality of canvas strips in the form of loops about the edges of the pad. The loops engage with the springs in the above described manner and the pad is held taught. The problem with this approach is that the stitching threads have a tendency to deteriorate before the pads do and the loops tear out.
Another approach is to provide metal or plastic eyelets about the edge of the pad. The springs, then engage between the support rail and the eyelets. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,991,841 and 3,767,192.
Because of the intense pressure exerted on the pad due to jumping, the eyelets have a tendency to pull out or the small area of pad fabric engaged by the eyelets tears.
An attempt to overcome the above shortcomings is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,156. Here a continuous loop of material is arranged about the trampoline pad. The edge of the pad is looped over and about the loop about the entire periphery. A crimpable fastening means is then crimped over the loop and pad edge about the periphery. The cost of this arrangement is considerably more than the previous arrangements. Also, there is a tendency for the fabric to slip through the clamp due to the intense pressures the pad sustains in use.
Clips, such as taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 787,719; 1,564,424; and 3,225,408 are old and well known. These clips are not of a sufficiently sturdy construction to function as trampoline clips. None of these clips envision both clamping and penetrating the fabric to ensure positive non-yielding engagement.
It is an object of this invention to provide a clip which overcomes the shortcomings of the prior art as outlined above.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a clip which penetrates the fabric without damage to the fabric construction.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a clip which engages both fabric surfaces of a sufficiently large area and also penetrates the fabric so as to provide horizontal and perpendicular holding action.
It is a further object of this invention to provide an improved trampoline construction through the use of unyielding clips engaging with the pad so that it may be drawn and maintained in a taught condition.