A distinct cultivar of Heuchera plant named xe2x80x98Canyon Chimesxe2x80x99, which is characterized by its compact habit and flowers with dark pink calyces and barely protruding white petals.

The present invention is hereby cross-referenced to three related claimed inventions entitled Heuchera xe2x80x98Canyon Bellexe2x80x99 (Ser. No. 09/203,862), Heuchera xe2x80x98Canyon Duetxe2x80x99 (Ser. No. 09/203,861), and Heuchera xe2x80x98Canyon Melodyxe2x80x99 (Ser. No. 09/203,863) which all four together resulted from the same breeding program as herein described.
This new cultivar of Heuchera is the result of a long-term, controlled breeding program that was conducted by Dara Emery, Plant Breeder at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden (SBBG), from the early 1980s until his death in 1992. xe2x80x98Canyon Chimesxe2x80x99 is a hybrid of female or seed parent Heuchera xe2x80x98Canyon Delightxe2x80x99 (unpatented) and male or pollen parent Heuchera elegans (unpatented).
The objective of this breeding program was to select for compact, floriferous forms of Heuchera that were more diminutive than other forms in the nursery trade. Plants that exhibited an overall dwarf stature of low-growing, mounding foliage and flowers that are similarly proportioned were selected from the various crosses made. At least one of the parents had to be a native California species, in keeping with the overall mission of SBBG""s breeding program to develop garden-worthy plants from the state""s native flora. In this case, H. elegans is the California native; it has white-pink flowers and was used for its compact size. Heuchera xe2x80x98Canyon Delightxe2x80x99 is an earlier selection bred by Mr. Emery that is an F1 hybrid of Heuchera elegans and a hybrid form of Heuchera sanguinea, the latter being an Arizonan species that is much larger in habit and used for its red flowers.
The closest comparison plants are the female or seed parent Heuchera xe2x80x98Canyon Delightxe2x80x99 and the male or pollen parent Heuchera elegans. xe2x80x98Canyon Chimesxe2x80x99 is distinguishable from xe2x80x98Canyon Delightxe2x80x99 by its more compact habit, smaller foliage, shorter flower stalks and flower color. xe2x80x98Canyon Chimesxe2x80x99 is distinguishable from Heuchera elegans by its dark pink flower color.
The cultivar was first and subsequently asexually reproduced by the inventor at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden in Santa Barbara, Calif. by vegetative cuttings. Tip cuttings 2 to 3 inches long were put in flats of medium grade perlite and placed in a lath house mist bed with bottom heat and intermittent mist of de-ionized water. All plants so obtained exhibited identical characteristics, which were true to the original plant.
One of the parents is the variety Heuchera xe2x80x98Canyon Delightxe2x80x99 (unpatented), which was selected by the inventor at an earlier stage in the breeding program and introduced to commerce. It is referred to and described herein as a comparison variety but is not the subject of any claim.
The features that together distinguish this cultivar from other Heuchera cultivars are as follows:
1. Compact habit.
2. Dark pink flowers.


The present application includes methods for using IL-8 as a biomarker for, e.g., tumor size, for example, during course of treatment with an anti-cancer agent such as an ERK inhibitor.

Mitogen activated protein (MAP) kinases include the extracellular signal regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1 and ERK2). MAP kinases play a role in the regulation of biological processes including cell growth, proliferation, differentiation, inflammatory responses and programmed cell death. Unregulated activation of MAP kinases has been linked to cancer cell proliferation and tissue inflammation. Activation of ERK proteins often occurs through a process wherein a ligand-activated plasma membrane receptor facilitates the sequential activation of the Ras G-proteins, Raf kinases, and the MAP or ERK kinases-1 and 2 (MEK1/2), which are activators of ERK1 and ERK2.
Development of biomarkers for use in connection with anti-cancer chemotherapeutic agents has proven to be of enormous utility. For example, biomarkers may be employed to monitor, quickly and conveniently, the therapeutic effect of a given agent, for example, the effect of the inhibitor on the intracellular pathway it is targeting or the tumor it is treating. Biomarker genes that prove useful in the evaluation of a given agent often appear, at first glance, to be unrelated to the function of the molecular target of the agent. This makes the prediction of what biomarkers will be useful with a given agent difficult. For example, IL-8 is a pro-inflammatory cytokine whose upregualtion is associated with various inflammatory disorders. Any prediction that IL-8 may be useful for monitoring the efficacy of, for example, an ERK inhibitor, based on knowledge held in the art, would have been unlikely.

IL-8 level as a determinant of responsivity of a cancer to treatment


Improved coupling point for a couple of pipes characterized by realizing direct die-injection in plastic material on both pipe ends, a spacing element (31) inserted on the pipes both ends (1,2), and respective sleeves (33) which are inserted on the pipe ends (1,2) and extend beyond the pipe ends (1,2), the extension inside diameter of the sleeves (331) being the diameter for the keying to the pipes to be jointed; at least a part of the sleeve being inserted on the pipe (332) up to coating a suitable protrusion (11) of the pipe.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention has for object an improved coupling joint for a couple of pipes.
The present invention is preferably, even if not necessarily, applied in the installation of air-conditioning systems (i.e. heating systems) i n vehicles.
The vehicles equipped with this device are also objects of the present invention.
2. Description of the Related Art
In prior art the production of heat exchangers for air-conditioning systems in vehicles or motor cars, which is carried out by prearranging a suitable expansion in the coupling pipes which in this case are made up of aluminium, to be connected to the radiator of the vehicle, is known.
The present sealing couplings are therefore obtained by plastic deformation of the aluminium (or copper) pipes ending part. The rising problems consist of:
dimensional problems (difficult observance of tolerances)
roughness
cost of the double work.
EP-A-0603302 discloses a coupling joint for a couple of pipes at the ends of which a spacing plastic insertion with single flange-shape abutment is made, covering both ends of the pipes, extending from one side over the ends of both said pipes and from the other side to realize prolongation of the pipes themselves. This solution regarding covering a cylindrical extension of said pipes, the covering joint surface having no-change in diameter.
The purpose of the present invention is that of obviating the above mentioned drawbacks.
The problem is solved by the joint as defined in independent claim 1.
With this solution:
a low cost material can be used
only a single moulding operation is carried out;
the tolerances obtained are optimal since during the moulding they are able to use respective axial bushes directly from the die also obtaining a total observance of the roughness in order to avoid the danger of the coupling""s leakage, generally made up of sealing gaskets.
Preferably, said spacing element, and said sleeves are connected by a corresponding extension to a coating section extending above said pipes making up a moulding single piece.
In this way
the costs are further reduced
a more effective and stronger coupling structure is obtained.
As much advantageously said extension extends up to being inserted on a respective outside backed circumferential rib of said pipe. In this way the advantage of making not axially movable (unlineable) said coating which makes up the coupling sleeve is obtained.


Apparatus for controlling the placement of seeds deposited by a seed placement device in a furrow. The apparatus comprise a guide member connected to the seed placement device adjacent an exit of the seeds from the placement device adapted to urge seeds discharged from the exit toward a sidewall of the furrow. The guide member of the present invention acts to stop seeds from bouncing off the sidewalls of the furrow and into the centre of the furrow. The guide member organizes the seeds to create one or more seed rows where the seeds are optimally positioned and prevents seeds from ending up in the middle of the furrow. If a fertilizer row is present below the seed furrow, this prevents damage to the seeds by preventing them from being too close to the fertilizer. The guide member also stops the seeds from being swept back into the central region of the furrow with the loose soil that flows back into this area after the knife implement has passed.

Planting equipment for delivering seeds into the ground are well known. Generally, the equipment comprises a knife arrangement for creating a trench or furrow into which seeds from a seed source are dropped. The seeds are delivered from the seed source by gravity or pneumatically, and are deposited into the furrow from an opening adjacent the knife arrangement. A packing implement follows behind and closes and compacts the soil over the seeds.
It is common that planting equipment for delivering seeds is used in conjunction with equipment for distributing fertilizer into the soil in proximity to the seeds.
An example of this type of planting equipment is a paired row opener that creates a seed furrow having a central trough with a pair of sloped sidewalls above a row of buried fertilizer. Seeds are delivered from the seed source to the spaced, sidewalls of the seed furrow to create a pair of spaced seed rows above the fertilizer.
Another example of dual material planting equipment for efficiently delivering both fertilizer and seed into furrows in the ground is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,331,907 and 5,396,851 both to Norbert Beaujot. These patents are directed to a planting equipment that employs a side-band opener arrangement The patents describe the general planting process of opening a first furrow in the ground into which fertilizer is deposited and opening a second furrow laterally and vertically spaced from the first into which seed is deposited. Generally, the placement of fertilizer and seed is accomplished by separate material dispensing implements such as knives or discs that are towed across a field by a tractor or suitable vehicle equipped with a supply of fertilizer and seed.
Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 6,955,131 issued Oct. 18, 2005 discloses a dual material planting assembly that maintains a constant relative vertical separation between the fertilizer and seed dispensing implements regardless of the depth to which the assembly is set to plant.
Agronomic research indicates that the two furrows should preferably have a lateral separation of approximately 38 mm (1.5 inches) and a vertical spacing of approximately 19 mm (0.75 inches) for optimal germination and growing conditions. Therefore, the material dispensing implements of the planting equipment need to be vertically and horizontally spaced, correspondingly.
Once the fertilizer and seed have been deposited, a packer wheel compresses the soil that has flowed back into the furrows to bury the fertilizer and seed bringing the soil into contact with the seed, which is essential for germination, and sealing the soil surface over the furrows. The depth of the seed and fertilizer placement is measured from the compacted surface left by the packer wheel.
In order to obtain the best placement of the seeds, it is desirable to better control the movement of the seeds into the furrow. Current equipment tends to deliver the seeds at high speed into the furrow with the result that the seeds tend to bounce and tumble within the furrow. A portion of the seeds may land toward the bottom of the furrow in close, undesirable proximity to the fertilizer or at a different planting depth than was intended.

Apparatus for controlling the placement of seeds within a furrow


A method for recommending real-time information includes: obtaining user behavior data of a user; based on the user behavior data, respectively calculating a short-term interest, a long-term interest, and a real-time interest of the user; determining an interest of the user according to the short-term interest, the long-term interest, and the real-time interest of the user; and recommending real-time information to the user based on the interest of the user.

With the rapid increase of Internet information, people are drowning in the sea of information. How to find needed information in the wide sea of information is an important problem.
To resolve such "information overload" problem due to massive Internet information resources, and to help users to rapidly obtain information they need from overwhelming massive information, the existing technology provides various information recommendation solutions. Information recommendation refers to recommending, according to interests and behaviors of a user, information in which the user is interested.
Existing recommendation algorithms can be mainly classified into two classes: the first is a behavior-based recommendation algorithm, and the second is a content-based recommendation algorithm. For the behavior-based recommendation algorithm, in general, statistical analysis is performed on a user's behavior on information, similarities among information items in a recommendation pool are calculated, and then information items having a higher information similarity and corresponding to the user's behavior is recommended to the user. For the content-based recommendation algorithm, keywords are given for various information categories, and interests of a user are analyzed. Thus, a key word interested by the user can be determined and, based on the interested keyword and the keywords of the various information categories, a recommendation list is calculated to be recommended to the user.
According to this disclosure, the existing recommendation solutions often need to rely on participation of a large number of users, or do not consider any change in interests of users. Thus, the timeliness is relatively poor. However, for real-time information such as news information, which has the characteristic of one-time consumption (that is, for news of same content, a user reads only once), the timeliness is extremely important. Therefore, for the real-time information, the recommendation effect of the existing recommendation solutions is not desirable.

Method, apparatus, and system for recommending real-time information

TENCENT TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) COMPANY LIMITED


The connector includes: a male connector; a female connector which fits to the male connector when the male connector enters inside the female connector; a lever which is rotatably attached to one of the male connector and the female connector, and rotates so as to allow the male connector and the female connector to approach or leave each other; and a pressing projection which projects from one of the lever and the female connector toward the other of the lever and the female connector, wherein when the male connector and the female connector fit to each other, the pressing projection presses the female connector in a direction in which the male connector and the female connector adhere to each other. The male and female connectors can be easily securely fit to each other, and the male and female connectors after fitting can be maintained watertight to each other.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connector including: a male connector and a female connector which are fit to each other; and a lever rotatably provided to one of the male connector and the female connector.
(2) Description of the Related Art
So far, various types of lever-type connector have been utilized for fitting easily a male connector and a female connector to each other (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H11-102747).
A so-called lever-type connector includes: a male connector; a female connector which receives the male connector therein so as to fit to the male connector; and a lever rotatably attached to the male connector. The male connector is formed in a box-shape and attaches a packing for maintaining a watertight characteristic between the male connector and the female connector.
The female connector is formed in a box-shape. The lever rotates relative to the male connector so as to let the male and female connectors approach or leave each other. That is, the lever allows the male and female connectors to approach or leave each other so as to fit the male and female connectors to each other or separate the male and female connectors from each other.
However, as for the conventional lever-type connector described above, there has been a tendency that after the male and female connectors fit to each other, in particular, an end part of a housing of the female connector situated in the proximity of the male connector extends, said part also being a central part in the width direction of the housing of the female connector, by resilient restoring force of the packing. Therefore, it has been difficult for the conventional lever-type connector to maintain a watertight characteristic between the male and female connectors.
Moreover, as for the conventional lever-type connector described above, in order that the packing can securely maintain a watertight characteristic between the male and female connectors, it may be a good idea to increase an amount of resilient deformation of the packing upon fitting of the male and female connectors. However, in such a case, operation force required to rotate the lever upon fitting of the male and female connectors becomes stronger, causing the fitting of the connectors to be difficult or resulting in that the packing is turned up by the housing of the female connector and therefore, the packing is unable to maintain watertight characteristic between the male and female connectors.


Provided are an apparatus and method for processing a light field image that is acquired and processed using a mask to spatially modulate a light field. The apparatus includes a lens, a mask to spatially modulate 4D light field data of a scene passing through the lens to include wideband information on the scene, a sensor to detect a 2D image corresponding to the spatially modulated 4D light field data, and a data processing unit to recover the 4D light field data from the 2D image to generate an all-in-focus image.

1. Field
The following description relates to an image processing technology, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for processing a light field image that is acquired and processed using a mask that spatially modulates a light field.
2. Description of the Related Art
Imaging systems that view only one image by taking a picture once are commercially available. Recently, research has been conducted on a plenoptic camera that may recombine the focus of the image. The plenoptic camera is also called a light field camera, and may use a microlens array (in general, a lenticular lens array) to capture information on 4-dimensional (4D) light fields for a scene. The plenoptic camera may provide users with a re-focusing function by changing a focus plane after taking a picture. In doing so, the plenoptic camera may generate a view variation in which the user experiences a view of a scene from various angles.
However, in the light field data acquisition method, the angular data corresponding to the direction of light and the spatial data corresponding to the number of sensor pixels may be acquired at the same time. Therefore, the method has a problem in that the resolution becomes deteriorated as much as the angular data. For example, when the required angular resolution size of a main lens is 12×12 (i.e., 144), the resolution of the acquired image is 1/144 times the resolution corresponding to the entire sensor pixels.

Apparatus and method for processing light field data using a mask with an attenuation pattern


A sling for suspending an archery bow from an archer's shoulder comprises a pair of retracting mechanisms, each being attached to a shoulder pad using cords. The cords balance the bow while being suspended from the shoulder pad. The sling allows a supported carry position for the bow about the upper leg and hip of the archer. When ready to shoot an arrow, as the bow is brought to the shooting position, the shoulder pad slides off the archer's shoulder allowing the retracting mechanisms to draw the sling out to an offset position. In this manner, as the bow is taken from the archer's shoulder, the sling is quietly drawn tight between the retracting mechanisms and out of the way of the archer's use of the bow.

There modern advances in bow hunting equipment have enhanced the sport, providing hunters with increased success. Hunters commonly transport gear to a field site in a backpack or special case, however transporting the bow itself presents a problem. Many hunters simply carry it in their hand which quickly becomes heavy no matter how light the bow is. Others may place it in a case, but removing it from the case is a noisy and time consuming process if it is quickly needed for a shot. Some hunters may carry it with the bow string over their shoulder which subjects the bow to damage and can become painful to one's shoulder. Accordingly, there exists a need for a means by which a hunting bow can easily be carried, without the disadvantages as described above.


An elevator fall-prevention apparatus includes a holding member, which is shaped approximately like a rectangular tube, secured to a base part of an elevator guide rail. The holding member supports a locking support member that is rotatable about a spindle from a standby position into a blocking position.

It is known to provide a car fall-prevention device with a plate that contacts the back surface of a guide rail installed upright in the elevator shaft, and that is fastened to the guide rail. A support member is provided to the plate that supports the bottom part of the car, which is guided along the guide rail by guide rollers.
A projecting part that projects from the back surface of said guide rail in the direction of separation is integrally formed on said plate, and a hinge part that supports said support member so that it can rotate is also attached to said projecting part.
Said support member is able to rotate about said hinge part into a first position to avoid said guide rollers and a second position to support the bottom part of said car.
During elevator installation operations or the like, the mechanic rotates the support member to the second rotational position using a round rod as the operating member. The car is then lowered to be supported by the top surface of the support member so that the car can be used as a working base.
When the installation operation or the like is completed, said support member will be rotated to said first position, using said operating member while the car is raised and held in the standby position.
Such a system is well known and described in Japanese Patent No. 3209931, issued Jul. 13, 2001 to the Hitachi Building Systems Company, Ltd.


A method according to the invention makes it possible to make a check of the correct installation and operation of piston cooling nozzles (10) in a cold text prior to the final assembly of the engine by applying compressed air to each piston cooling nozzle (10) and directing the jet of compressed air emitted by the piston cooling nozzle (10) to be checked toward a surface pressure sensor (24). This makes it possible to record the position of the compressed air jet generated by the piston cooling nozzle (10) and preferably also the geometry of the jet. It is thereupon possible to draw conclusions concerning the proper operation and installation of the respectively checked piston cooling nozzle (10).

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a method for checking nozzles of internal-combustion engines, with the nozzles being installed and in particular checked for their correct installation and/or operation prior to the complete assembly of the respective internal-combustion engine.
2. Prior Art.
Internal-combustion engines are usually equipped with fuel injection nozzles. In addition, more modern internal-combustion engines, in particular high-performance engines, have piston cooling nozzles, which spray oil against the bottom end of the piston, in particular in cooling ducts or supply ducts emanating from the bottom end of the pistons. These types of nozzles must not only generate a jet having a certain geometry, in particular a certain cross-section, but more importantly the jet must also follow a precisely determined direction in order that the oil of the piston cooling nozzles reaches the respective cooling duct or supply duct at the lower end of each piston. Consequently, the checking of injection nozzles as well as piston cooling nozzles must primarily be capable of determining jet geometry and jet direction.
Known prior to the invention has been the checking of nozzles, in particular injection nozzles, after they have been installed in the cylinder head but before the cylinder head has been mounted on the engine block. Here only the function of the injection nozzles is checked by an operating test, which merely shows whether or not the injection nozzle is in order. However, the jet geometry and particularly the jet direction cannot be determined by this known test. The same holds true for piston cooling nozzles. Here it is particularly crucial to test their jet direction in order to ensure that the jet of oil emitted from the piston cooling nozzles in the assembled engine also reaches the correct position at the bottom side of the respective piston, in particular the piston cooling duct or supply duct.

Method for testing nozzles of internal-combustion engines


A technique for manufacturing floating bodies, such as a boat""s hull or part of such a hull, made of synthetic resins reinforced by continuous fibers, said technique including at least one filament winding step.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to the technique of manufacturing floating bodies made of synthetic resins reinforced by continuous fibers and produced on a winding apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
Floating bodies made of synthetic resins reinforced by fibers are conventionally manufactured by contact molding, of resin-impregnated chopped fibers, on female molds or master patterns in several parts. The cutting, laying-down and impregnating phases, excluding the case of pre-impregnated fibers, are generally carried out manually. The fibers are in the form of unidirectional, two-directional or three-directional fabrics or in the form of randomly oriented short fibers.
This process has the drawback of contacting noncontinuous and nonstressed reinforcing fibers, hence unpredictable mechanical properties, and a resin applied manually, hence in general an irregular resin content. These two characteristics result in an unnecessary increase in the weight.
This process is only partly automatable. Because of the necessarily manual work, the manufacturing times cannot be improved.
This long manufacturing time does not allow a large complex part to be manufactured easily, such as the deck and the hull of a yacht, which are rarely solidified in just one go and at the same time; thus, the mechanical properties of the end product are limited because of the joining operations carried out after solidification which weaken the structure, for example the deck-hull junction on a boat. In addition, these joining operations increase the risks of the composite delaminating or debonding at the junction points, with the presence of edges at the bonded joints on the various parts joined together, risks which are not negligible in water.
In addition, contact impregnation of the fibers does not allow certain resins having high properties, and harmful via the airways or on contact with the skin, to be used.
There is a processxe2x80x94filament windingxe2x80x94which consists in winding, over a mandrel having the shape of the part desired, resin-impregnated continuous fibers placed in predetermined directions. Using this filament winding process, the continuous fibers are wound, on the one hand, homogeneously in the direction of the main stresses and, on the other hand, locally in the highly stressed regions.
This technique has the drawback of not being able to guarantee the external surface finish of the wound parts and of requiring, for some applications, finishing treatments, the use of a countermold before solidification or a machining operation after solidification. In this field, we mention document U.S. Pat. No. 3,265,795 which describes xe2x80x9ca method of molding a fiber-reinforced plastic shellxe2x80x9d. This process, which uses an inflatable mandrel and a countermold, provides one solution to the problem of the external surface finish but does not describe the manufacture of products having a nondevelopable surface. Another solution is given in document U.S. Pat. No. 4,849,150 A which describes xe2x80x9ca method of manufacturing a pipe made of fiber-reinforced resinxe2x80x9d. This method consists in injecting resin into a countermold, but is described only for pipes, and requires the use of specific materials.
Another drawback of the filament winding relates to the winding of structures having decreasing cross sections, a common case in floating craft. The difficulty is to maintain the fiber orientations and the thicknesses defined for the mechanical strength of the structure. Firstly, in decreasing cross sections, the fibers can slide over the mandrel and the additional thicknesses obtained in the small cross sections do not correspond to the desired thicknesses. Secondly, the structure obtained is not symmetrical with respect to the plane of symmetry of the mandrel. On this subject, document FR 1,590,718 A describes a xe2x80x9cprocess for manufacturing a structure of any shape, the machine for implementing said process and the structures produced by said processxe2x80x9d. This process makes it possible to lay down tapes on a body with decreasing cross sections but does not describe either the use of a fiber-reinforced thermosetting plastic or a lay-up other than radial lay-up. In this field, we also mention document U.S. Pat. No. 3,300,355 A which describes xe2x80x9ca method of manufacturing hollow bodies of irregular shapexe2x80x9d. This method makes it possible to lay down tapes on a body, with decreasing cross sections and groovings for producing reinforcements, but does not describe either the use of fiber-reinforced thermosetting plastic or a lay-up other than radial lay-up. Document U.S. Pat. No. 4,849,150 A, which describes xe2x80x9ca method of manufacturing fiber-reinforced resin pipexe2x80x9d, already mentioned, does not describe a specific winding method allowing a symmetrical structure without an overthickness to be obtained.
Another drawback of the filament winding process is the manufacture and the recovery of the mandrel after the winding. Document U.S. Pat. No. 4,494,910 A, which describes the manufacture of xe2x80x9cstructural components having a large surface area; especially rotor bladesxe2x80x9d, presents a technique in which the mandrel is kept in the final part, but does not describe the manufacture of hollow parts. Document EP 0,216,695 A describes xe2x80x9ca process and a machine for the manufacture of axisymmetric hollow parts formed from filaments extending along three different directionsxe2x80x9d. This process presents a solution in which the mandrel is machined on the winding apparatus, but it is described only for axisymmetric hollow parts. Document U.S. Pat. No. 3,265,795, already mentioned, which describes xe2x80x9ca method of molding a fiber-reinforced plastic shellxe2x80x9d, presents a method for recovering the mandrel, using two parts together, but does not describe a method for manufacturing a single part.
The invention can provide a solution to the drawbacks currently encountered in the manufacture of floating bodies made of synthetic composites, by producing them with continuous fibers on a winding apparatus, after having solved the problems posed by this manufacturing process currently unsuitable for producing such products.
The invention relates especially to a process for manufacturing a floating body, such as a boat""s hull or part of such a hull, defined in the claims and which includes at least one filament winding step. This process comprises, depending on the embodiments, the combination of steps providing for:
producing a first mandrel in the form of a preform, having substantially the external shape of the floating body to be manufactured;
mounting this first mandrel on a winding apparatus and, optionally, subjecting it to a treatment of refining its external shape;
covering this first mandrel, at least partly, by winding or filament winding resin-impregnated fibers so as to obtain an outer mold or countermold, whose internal surface will undergo a treatment, such as coating with a mold release and/or with a topcoat forming the external surface of the floating body to be manufactured;
after solidification, cutting the countermold into at least two demoldable portions, for example along a longitudinal plane of symmetry;
producing a second mandrel in the form of a preform, having substantially the internal shape of the floating body to be manufactured;
mounting this second mandrel on a winding apparatus and, optionally, subjecting it to a treatment of refining its external shape;
covering the second mandrel, at least partly, by winding or filament winding, with or without resin impregnation, in order to obtain a wound body which will be the floating body;
putting the materials of the floating body between the second mandrel and the countermold under pressure;
after solidifying the materials of the floating body, such as curing, disengaging the countermold and/or subjecting the floating body to a refining treatment, cutting out at least one reservation in the latter, for example for the passage or the joining of items of equipment such as masts, keel, deck house or the like and/or for removing at least one portion of the mandrel.
A second subject of the invention is a formation of the mandrels intended for implementing the process according to the claims. A third subject of the invention is the apparatus for implementing the process according to the claims.
According to the characteristics of the invention:
The treatments of refining the external surfaces of the mandrels entail the fitting of winding-assistance devices, of suitable material and of suitable dimensions, such as pegs and/or nonslip products, making it possible to increase the adhesion between the mandrel and the fibers which will cover it.
The step of covering the first mandrel includes at least one phase of laying down at least one continuous fiber, which may or may not be impregnated with resin, along directions defined during the design of the countermold. The paths of the fibers are symmetrical with respect to at least one plane of symmetry of the first mandrel, with turnover regions in various sections of the mandrel so as to obtain at least one ply of fibers whose thicknesses are defined during the design of the countermold.
The step of covering the second mandrel includes at least one phase of laying down at least one continuous fiber, which may or may not be impregnated with resin, along directions defined during the design of the floating body. The paths of the fibers are symmetrical with respect to at least one plane of symmetry of the second mandrel, with turnover regions in various sections of the mandrel so as to obtain at least one ply of fibers whose thicknesses are defined during the design of the floating body.
The step of putting the materials of the floating body under pressure provides for an increase in the volume of the second mandrel and/or an infusion and/or an injection of resin and/or an expansion of resin, such as foaming resin, so as to obtain, on the one hand, a surface finish identical to that of the internal surface of the countermold and, on the other hand, a defined resin content.
By way of example, one embodiment of the subject of the invention is described below and illustrated schematically in the appended drawings, FIGS. 1 to 14, in which figures three orthogonal directions L, T and E are shown. The longitudinal direction, called L, corresponds to the axis of rotation of the winding apparatus and to the direction of normal movement of the floating body. The transverse direction, called T, is orthogonal to the direction L and lies in a horizontal plane passing through L. The height direction E is orthogonal to the directions L and T.

Technique for making floating objects in synthetic resins reinforced with continuous fibers and made on winding machinery


A multi-driver, coaxially mounted loudspeaker array utilizing a high frequency bi-morph driving element (tweeter) that is preferably contained within the air-core of the voice coil former of a lower frequency loudspeaker (woofer). The outwardly extending conical edge of the high frequency device's diaphragm is annularly fixed by a compliance to the inner surface of the referenced voice coil former or to the woofer diaphragm which extends outwardly therefrom. Alternately, the bi-morph element is attached to other dynamic parts of the woofer such as the dust cap or at the rim of, or otherwise on, an extension of the former. In this mode, the bi-morph element may first be mounted to a section of a cylinder or cone which acts as a frame of the same circumference or more/less than that of the coil former. Thereafter, the frame is mounted to the end of, over or inside the coil former, or any moving part of the woofer.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to loudspeaker systems and, more particularly, to a sound system in which the audio frequency is divided into upper and lower ranges. The instant invention concerns itself with the particular location of a high-frequency (HF) transducer with respect to certain elements of a low-frequency (LF) transducer, and the particular means for attachment of various elements of the high-frequency transducer to various moving (dynamic) elements of the low-frequency transducer. The collocation of both high-and low-frequency transducers on the same axis is referred to herein as coaxial mounting.
2. Prior Art Discussion
The goal in loud speaker design is to create a device which will accurately transform an electrical signal wave form voltage into an exact replica of the original acoustic pressure wave form which created it. The typical music wave form is a complicated combination of continuous tones, overtones and transient sounds. Also, several instruments or voices are usually superimposed and thus, the total wave form can be thought of as the summation of all the different frequencies which make up the sound as perceived by the listener. The primary characteristics of sound wave forms are phase, amplitude and frequency. The first, phase, refers to the timing relationship of the various frequencies and the transients as they reach the listener's ear. Amplitude is relative size, magnitude or intensity of the various frequencies and transients. Frequency refers to the number of cycles per second of the audio signal, (termed) its pitch. It is possible to identify each instrument or voice of a sound replication by its distinctive combination of overtones and by its location in the stereophonic image. Because of such physiological characteristics as persistence, the human ear is fooled into a "recognition" of the original sound. The ideal speaker device (also referred to herein as a "transducer") is one which is perfectly faithful in phase, amplitude and frequency response--high fidelity, or high "faithfulness".
In the beginning of high fidelity sound replication, the most prevalent form of loud speaker, or electro-audio transducer, was the dynamic radiator speaker. This device essentially comprised a permanent magnet with an air gap and a concentric pole piece on which was mounted a hollow, nonmagnetic, conducting shell known as a former and which was wrapped with an insulated wire termed a voice coil. The former was directly coupled at its outer margin to the apex or minor perimetral margin of a conical paper shell, known as a diaphragm and which projected outward of the permanent magnet assembly. As the voice coil was excited within its permanent magnet environment, the voice coil moved longitudinally and the diaphragm was caused to vibrate, thus replicating the audio (air pressure dynamic) signal that had generated the electrical current passing through the voice coil by pressing dynamically on the contact air mass in front of the diaphragm. The dynamic radiator had several characteristics that were noteworthy, and necessary, to the high fidelity replication of sound at that time: it was relatively efficient; it had a fairly wide frequency range; and it could be used as a low-range, mid-range or high-range electro-audio transducer. Concomitantly, and more so in present context, the dynamic radiator has notable limitations: a single driver cannot cover the entire audible frequency range of 20 hz. to 20 KHZ; multiple drivers (coils) must be used for different parts of the audio spectrum; cross over circuits must be used to separate the audio spectrum; and oftentimes, heavy magnets and rigid support frames are necessary to construct the assembly.
The quest for high fidelity sound reproduction which began in the early 40's, has continued unabated to the present. Of significant relevance to the instant invention is U.S. Pat. No. 2,269,284, issued to Olson in 1942. This patent, referred to in a host of applications since that time, has set the stage for much of the sound reproduction devices relating to high fidelity and stereophonic sound. Olson taught, basically, the coaxial arrangement of multiple speakers, one within the other, and aligned along a central, common core. In the Olson art, the diaphragms of the various loud speakers are generally conically shaped and are arranged in nested, overlapping relationship with their cylindrical driving coils that are arranged concentrically in radially spaced relationship in the air gap formed between the pole pieces of a suitable magnetic structure. The base conical section, or low range speaker (hereinafter referred to as a "woofer") is the first of the loud speakers to be mounted, relative the pole piece. Thereafter, succeedingly smaller conical sections of the relatively smaller loud speakers are nested one within the other, digressing in size to the physically smallest, highest frequency range electro-audio transducer (hereinafter referred to as "tweeter"), with all their diaphragms and respective driving coils forward of the base woofer assembly. Many modifications of the basic invention are referred to in the Olson patent, but it may be generally summarized as a system having the equivalent of large cones and coils for the low audio frequencies, medium size cones and coils for mid-range sound reproduction, and small cones and coils for high-frequency reproduction. The voice coils are generally connected in series with a predetermined capacitance connected across each of the specific coils. With such an arrangement, at low frequencies, a signal flows through all three coils. Concurrently, the reactance and the compliances are small compared to the mass reactance of the several coils; thus, all parts of the system move in (with the same) phase. In the mid-range, very little current appears in the woofer coil because of the effective shunt provided by its capacitance. The mass reactance of the coil is large compared to the compliance; therefore, at such ranges, the diaphragms of both the mid-range and high-range cones are driven by their respective coils. At the high frequencies, the compliance between the tweeter coil and the mid-range coil is small compared to the mass reactance of the mid-range coil, and practically all the current appears in the tweeter coil because of the shunting effected by the woofer and mid-range capacitors, causing the tweeter driver to vibrate its respective cone and produce the desired audio radiation at the higher frequencies. It may be said generally that, since Olson, most of the significant advancements have been made in the placement of the various mid-range and high-range (tweeter) transducers, as well as in the use of different driving mechanisms, such as piezo-electric, electrostatic, magnaplanar, ribbon, plasma, etc. Of the many types of current speaker design (driver mechanisms), the most common and least expensive are the dynamic radiator and piezo-electric. The instant invention contemplates exclusive use of these two types of speaker design.
In 1947, Preston, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,426,948, disclosed a Coaxial Dual-Unit Electrodynamic Loud Speaker in which the tweeter unit was electrically crossed and capacitively coupled to the woofer unit, and coaxially mounted, so that its permanent magnet supporting base resided within the woofer central pole piece. As with the Olson art, however, Preston continued to arrange the driving coils concentrically and in basically the same transverse plane in which the woofer voice coil resided. A compliant member was used to essentially join the tweeter diaphragm to that of the woofer. Compliances are generally used for joining purposes.
In 1985, two patents issued to House, U.S. Pat. No. 4,497,981 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,414 for a Multi-Driver Loudspeaker. In the first, '981, a multi-driver loud speaker assembly having high- and low-frequency transducers is realized in which the high frequency transducer is directly coupled to the diaphragm of the low frequency transducer and is movable therewith. In the later patent, '414, a multi-driver loud speaker combination includes a first transducer of the dynamic radiator type (previously discussed), which is designed to reproduce sound in the lower portion of the audio frequency range. The radiator of the first transducer includes a diaphragm and, concentrically aligned and coaxially mounted therein is the second transducer, or tweeter assembly. A horn shaped base support is mounted on the first transducer diaphragm, a voice coil former, or the dust cap which is generally employed with singular mechanizations of the dynamic radiator type transducers. In this arrangement, House suggests more than one type of orientation of the tweeter assembly with respect to the woofer. Significantly different from the previously mentioned prior art is the utilization by House of a piezo-electric transducer for driving the tweeter assembly. Later, in this disclosure references will be made to the general art disclosed by House; and, the piezo-electric tweeter driver shall be referred to more casually as "bi-morph" element. The House art, clearly relevant art at this late date, will be discussed in greater detail and in contrast to the techniques embodied by the instant inventor in realizing this improved, dynamic, bi-morph speaker.
Since the piezo-electric bi-morph element comprises a prominent part of the instant invention, a few words descriptive of its structure are in order. By definition, the driving element of the tweeter loud speaker is known colloquially as a "bi-morph", i.e., a bi-layer, amorphic ceramic element. The bi-morph wafer is composed, essentially, of two ceramic plates in the form of discs, with a voltage conductor (plane) sandwiched therebetween. When a driving electromotive force is applied to both of the ceramic plates and at the conducting voltage plane, piezo-electric effect causes flexure of the element in a direction normal to the plane of the element plates. The apex of the tweeter diaphragm cone is affixed proximate the center (and maximum flexure point) of the bi-morph wafer. Thus, the diaphragm of the tweeter translates the dynamics of the bi-morph element radially outward from its apex towards its largest or major perimetral margin. Conventionally (in the current art), the larger perimetral margin of the tweeter, or any mid-range speaker, is joined to the diaphragm of another speaker by some compliant material (compliance).
The instant inventor believes that because Olson and Preston did not have the advantage of the bi-morph element, they were not impelled to greater innovation in the coaxial mounting scheme that they pioneered. Because House was concerned with the structural dynamics of plural tweeters or mid-range speakers, he strayed somewhat from the pure coaxial mounting scheme and thus failed to give greater definition to an allusion of mounting the bi-morph element on (to) the woofer voice coil former.
The final piece of relevant art to be discussed is Japanese Application No. 57-122303, laid open 59-12700(A), issued to Ishikawa for a Composite Type Speaker. It was Ishikawa's purpose to obtain a composite type speaker of low cost and high efficiency by providing a piezo element, constituting a tweeter, and position it at a prolonged part of a woofer voice coil former. Ishikawa allowed the bi-morph element to merely touch the rim of a voice coil former extension while coupling the edge or rim of the element to the woofer cone via a paper extension which served as a (form of) cone for the tweeter. Illustrations in the Ishikawa disclosure, notably FIGS. 5 and 7, clearly indicate that the piezo element was not rigidly or fixedly secured to the voice coil former, nor any portion thereof. Thus, Ishikawa speaks of "coupling" rather than fixedly attaching (or securing) the piezo element to the voice coil former. In contrast, it shall be seen hereinafter that the instant inventor expressly attaches at least a portion of the piezo element margin (or periphery) to a dynamic part of the woofer. Where Ishikawa attempts to show that the posturing of the piezo element so that it touches the rim of the former extension, and suffers no ill effect thereby, the instant inventor contrarily secures it thereto and literally invites, rather than seeks to avoid, concurrent movement of both piezo element and woofer parts.
The instant inventor, wishing to develop a more highly efficient and higher fidelity coaxial (general, but not insistent) arrangement was inspired to perform a wide variety of experiments with placement and attachments of the bi-morph driven tweeter. The instant improvement is the result of his efforts.
Hereinafter the instant invention will be briefly disclosed, and in the following Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment, a comparison to the prior art of House and (later) Ishikawa shall be made; and, the benefits and improvements of the instant invention shall be clearly discussed and detailed.


A pair of eyeglasses include a frame having two endpieces and two temples each pivotally mounted on the respective endpiece of the frame. Each of the endpieces has a T-shaped receiving slot, and each of the temples has a T-shaped retaining flange mounted in the receiving slot of the respective endpiece. The retaining flange of each of the temples has a pivot shaft pivotally mounted in the receiving slot of the respective endpiece. Thus, a user only needs to rotate each of the temples relative to the respective endpiece to attach each of the temples to the respective endpiece so that the eyeglasses are assembled easily and quickly. In addition, each of the temples is combined with the respective endpiece without needing co-operation of any screw member and hand tool.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to glasses and, more particularly, to a pair of eyeglasses that are assembled easily and quickly.
2. Description of the Related Art
A pair of conventional eyeglasses 1 in accordance with the prior art shown in FIG. 9 comprise a frame 10 having two endpieces 13, two temples 11 each pivotally mounted on a respective one of the two endpieces 13 of the frame 10, and two fastening screws 12 each extending through a respective one of the two endpieces 13 of the frame 10 and a respective one of the two temples 11 to combine the respective endpiece 13 of the frame 10 and the respective temple 11. However, a user needs aid of a hand tool, such as a screwdriver and the like, to screw or unscrew the fastening screws 12 so as to assemble or detach the two temples 11 and the two endpieces 13 of the frame 10, thereby causing inconvenience to the user. In addition, each of the fastening screws 12 is easily loosened from the respective endpiece 13 of the frame 10 and the respective temple 11 so that the fastening screws 12 are easily missed or lost.

Eyeglasses that are assembled easily and quickly


An improved system and method is provided for managing system-level privileges and for granting access rights to system resources within a data processing system. System-level privileges are assigned directly to individual users. In contrast, access rights are assigned to individual users and/or to groups of users using data constructs known as Access Control Records (ACRs). Each ACR associates one or more user groups and/or one or more individual users with a set of access rights. A system resource is then associated with an ACR. The users identified within the associated ACR are thereby granted access to the object using the access rights specified by the ACR. An ACR may define multiple sets of access rights, with each set of access rights being associated with one or more user groups and/or one or more individual users.

Most modern data processing systems include some mechanism to control system access, and further to control access to the various resources available within the system. Generally, a user gains access to a system by supplying a user identification ("userid") and password. This information is compared against previously stored authorization information, and if a favorable compare occurs, the user is granted access to the system.
Once the user has gained system access, other types of access control mechanisms are used to limit the types of operations the user may perform. In many systems, the types of operations a user may perform are generally associated with a user's role with respect to the data processing system. For example, a system administrator may be granted the right to back up and restore files, perform security tasks, or engage in tasks that produce system-wide changes. The right to perform these types of operations is controlled by assigning each user a set of "system privileges".
Another type of control mechanism is generally provided to control the types of files, directories, and other resources a user may access. This type of control mechanism involves the assignment of "access rights" that allow a user to perform certain operations on a resource. For example, such access rights may be granted to allow a user to read from, and write to, a file. A user may also be allowed to create or delete a file. Other types of access rights may include executing or launching a program.
Prior art systems generally control the granting of access rights by creating groups of users. Each group associates one or more users with a common set of access rights. A group is then associated with one or more system resources such as files. In this manner, the users in a group are allowed to access the system resources that have been associated with the group. This access is provided according to the common set of access rights specified by group.
The creation of groups simplifies some of the tasks associated with managing access to files, directories, and other resources, since multiple users can be treated as a single unit for purposes of granting access rights. However, inefficiencies exist within this prior art system. For example, a group is generally associated with a resource such as a file by updating the file to include some type of data that identifies the group. A file may store hundreds of such identifiers, each identifying a corresponding group. This increases the size of the file, and creates administrative inefficiencies. Every time a new group of users is created, each file that is to be associated with this new group must be updated to include the group identifier. The same is also true when a group is deleted. Because large data processing systems store thousands, if not millions, of files, maintaining a system that is current may become a daunting management task. This process is further complicated in systems having a large number of users, many having access rights that are often changing.
Another problem associated with the prior art system involves the fact that a group is used to assign both access rights and system privileges to the users that are members of the group. Thus, even though a large number of users share a common set of access rights, these users cannot be members of the same group if they do not also share a common set of privileges. This greatly increases the number of groups that must be created, increasing system overhead, and also consuming storage space.
An improvement to the foregoing system creates groups of users that are assigned a common set of access rights, but are not assigned system privileges. The system privileges are instead assigned directly to the users themselves. In this manner, users may be grouped in a manner that does not take into consideration the privileges. This allows for the creation of fewer groups, making group management more efficient. However, this approach does not address inefficiencies that exist when associating system resources to the groups of users.
What is needed, therefore, is an improved system and method for managing system privileges and access rights within a data processing system.

System and method for managing access rights and privileges in a data processing system


To provide laminated type semiconductor memory devices that can improve the yield of chips without complicating wirings and components. There are provided a plurality of laminated semiconductor chip layers, and chip selection pads provided on each of the chip layers, which are mutually connected across the chip layers, respectively, such that a chip selection signal for selecting each of the chip layers is commonly inputted in each of the chip layers. Each of the chip layers is equipped with program circuits each of which is capable of programming an output signal, and a chip selection judging circuit that judges a chip selection based on the chip selection signal and an output signal of the program circuit. The program circuit is equipped with writable nonvolatile memory cells, and a logical circuit that is connected to the nonvolatile memory cells and outputs a signal that is different depending on a recoded content in the nonvolatile memory cells, such that a step of melting fuses is not necessary.

The present invention relates to semiconductor memory devices such as ferroelectric memory devices, and more particularly to a packaging technology in which a plurality of semiconductor chips are laminated, thereby achieving a three-dimensional mounting to multiply a per area memory capacity by the number of layers of the laminated chips, and a technology that makes it possible to optionally select each of the chip layers.
Laminating a plurality of semiconductor chips is known to make a semiconductor integrated circuit to have a higher density. In order to drive the laminated semiconductor chips, it is necessary to provide a structure for selecting as to which one of the chips in the layers is made active. For example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Application HEI 5-63138 describes a structure in which one ends of lead lines are connected to semiconductor chips laminated on a carrier substrate, respectively, and the other ends of the lead lines are connected to conductive pins provided standing on the carrier substrate.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Laid-open Patent Application HEI 5-63138.

Stacked layered type semiconductor memory device


A data, which is used for raising-and-lowering a magazine holder on which a magazine for storing articles such as lead frames is placed in a magazine elevator device, being set by the steps of: placing a magazine on the magazine holder, storing in a memory the number of article storing sections of this magazine, aligning the lowermost article storing section of the magazine with the level of a lead frame conveying path by moving the magazine holder, storing in the memory the positional data of the thus moved magazine holder, aligning the uppermost article storing section of the magazine with the level of the frame conveying path by further moving the magazine holder, and then storing in the memory the data of the thus further moved magazine holder.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data setting method and more particularly to a method for setting data used for raising and lowering a magazine by an elevator means during the manufacture of, for instance, semiconductor devices.
2. Prior Art
Generally, as shown in FIG. 4, in an assembly machine used in the manufacture of semiconductors, particularly in a bonding apparatus such as a wire bonding apparatus and a die bonding apparatus, a loader side magazine 2A and an unloader side magazine 2B are respectively installed at either end of a conveying path 1 of a feeder means for a workpiece (including lead frames, wafers, semiconductor substrates, etc.), and these magazines 2 (2A, 2B) are positioned and carried on the respective magazine holders 4 of the loader side elevator device 3A and the unloader side elevator device 3B. A bonding apparatus 5 such as a wire bonding apparatus, a die bonding apparatus, etc. is installed on one side of the conveying path 1.
The following description will be made with reference to a case wherein lead frames are processed.
In the above described structure, lead frames 6 stored in the loader side magazine 2A are pushed out onto the frame conveying path 1 by a pusher 7. Each lead frame 6 that is pushed out onto the conveying path 1 is conveyed to the working position (for instance, a bonding position) 1a by a feeder means (not shown), and bonding is performed by the bonding apparatus 5. When the bonding is completed, the lead frame 6 is conveyed by the feeder means and accommodated in the unloader side magazine 2B.
FIG. 5 shows one type of magazine used in the system above for storing workpieces, that is, lead frames, therein. The magazine has a plurality of article storing sections 2a though 2g so that a plurality of lead frames are accommodated in the magazines 2 (2A, 2B) in a stacked fashion with a fixed spacing in between. Thus, each time a lead frame is fed onto the conveying path 1 (see FIG. 1) from the loader side magazine 2A, or each time a lead frame is accommodated in the unloader side magazine 2B from the conveying path 1, the respective magazine 2 (2A or 2B) is lowered by one pitch, so that the article storing section of the magazine 2 (2A or 2B) which stores the next lead frame to be fed out or which stores the next lead frame to be fed thereinto is positioned at the level of the conveying path 1.
If two or more magazines 2 (2A or 2B) are placed in a stacked configuration on the magazine holder 4 of each elevator device 3 (3A or 3B), when the last lead frame has been fed out of the uppermost article storing section 2g of the loader side magazine 2A or when the last lead frame has been fed into the uppermost article storing section 2g of the unloader side magazine 2B at the level of the conveying path, then it is necessary to further lower the magazine 2 (2A or 2B) so that the lowermost storing section 2a of the next magazine is positioned at the level of the conveying path 1.
One example of such a magazine conveying device is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication (Kokoku) No. 1-32127.
In this device, as seen from FIG. 6, an article storing section/position detecting plate 130 is attached to a magazine holder 104 of the elevator device 100. Magazines 150A, 150B, 150C are set on the magazine holder 104 of this elevator device 100. This storing section position detecting plate 130 has a slit group as shown in FIG. 7, which comprises a plurality of slits 130a and a separated slit 130b. The slits 130a are formed at the same pitch and number as the number of the article storing sections of the magazine, and the separated slit 130b is formed above the slits 130a with a distance equal to the distance between the uppermost article storing section of a first magazine (150A) to the lowermost article storing section of a second magazine (150B) which is placed on the first magazine. Furthermore, a photo sensor 133 is provided for detecting the slits 130a and 130b of the detecting plate 130. The elevator device 100 further includes an externally threaded screw shaft 114 installed uprightly and driven by a motor 118. The magazine holder 104 is provided with an internally threaded screw which is engaged with the externally threaded screw shaft 114 so that the magazine holder 104 is raised and lowered when the externally threaded screw shaft 114 is rotated by the motor 118. The reference numeral 135 is a lower limit switch that detects the magazine holder 104 reached to its lowest moving point.
In this prior art, each time the article storing section of the magazine comes to the conveying path level 132 by way of the lowering movement of the magazine holder 104 that holds the magazine thereon, an article (for example, a lead frame) is fed out of (or fed into) the magazine, and this movement of the magazine holder 104 is detected by the photo sensor 133 that faces the slits 130a and 130b of the detecting plate 130 attached to the magazine holder 104.
As seen from the above, it is necessary to use the article storing section position detecting plate 130 which is specially designed (particularly with regard to the number of the slits) for each type of the magazine to be handled. Furthermore, when there is a change in magazines due to a change in the type of product (lead frames, wafers, etc.) to be worked on the positional relationship between the article storing section position detecting plate 130 and the photo sensor 133 must be adjusted.
In addition, the magazine holder raising and lowering elements (including the screw shaft 114 and others) that render the magazine holder 104 to move up and down customarily have working errors and assembly errors. Accordingly, the elevator device inevitably contains a positional deviation error in raising and lowering the magazine holder 104.

Raising-and-lowering data setting method for magazine elevator device


A system for recovering subterranean fluids from a site contaminated by hazardous waste is disclosed. The system for recovering the fluids in a wellbore comprises pump unit means for pumping the subterranean fluid from the wellbore, liquid level sensing means for sensing the liquid level within the wellbore, and activation means for activating the pumping unit means in response to the fluid level sensing means. The system may also include microprocessor means for storing and interpreting the data from the sensing means.

This invention relates to an environmental recovery system. More particularly, but not by way of limitation, this invention relates to a system for recovering subterranean liquids from a site contaminated by hazardous waste.
During the course of industrial activities, such as petrochemical operations, certain hazardous materials are discharged unintentionally into the environment. As those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate, these materials can ultimately contaminate the site above which the industry is situated. Furthermore, these materials can penetrate the ground soil and enter into the underlying water aquifers.
As a result, both state and federal regulatory agencies have promulgated hazardous waste clean-up programs. One of the approved methods is the extraction of the contaminated soil. Another approved process is the recovery of the insitu contaminated water through the use of recovery wells which is referred to as "pump and treat".
In the retrieval of underground water by using the recovery well process, one of the concerns is the preservation of a hydraulic gradient across the waste site which will contain the contaminated liquids in the immediate area of the recovery site. Another concern is the removal of source contaminates such as nonaqueous phase liquids (NAPL).
At the outset, it should be noted that many underground reservoirs will be shallow, and highly permeable. Thus, at the recovery site, by extracting the subterranean fluids, the hydraulic gradient in that area is lowered thereby precluding the contaminated water's migration to other uncontaminated area's. Therefore, underground water from uncontaminated areas is flowing into the site area rather than flowing out of the site area.
Various systems have been designed in order to extract the contaminated groundwater and non-aqueous phase liquids. One of the systems is the use of pumping units typically found in oil and gas fields when the hydrocarbon reservoir has ceased flowing and artificial means of producing the oil is required.
The artificial lift pumping unit utilized in the oil and gas industry comprises of a downhole pump located in a wellbore. The downhole pump is actuated by means of a string of sucker rods which extends to the surface. The sucker rod is attached to polished rod which is moved up and down by a surface pumping unit. A pumping unit is a mechanism which imparts reciprocating motion to a polished rod.
In normal oil well applications, the pump piston would be actuated by an electric motor connected to a "walking beam" arrangement. In the environmental area, the rate of groundwater recovery is generally much slower and more volatile than oil well flows; therefore, this method of actuation would be very inefficient. Flow rates from recovery wells can be as low as 0.001 gallons per minute, but can vary greatly depending on influencing conditions (e.g. local rainfall, or recharging from high levels on nearby rivers and streams, or the permeability and porosity of the reservoir, etc). Also, the size of the contaminated site may vary from several acres to several hundred acres. At the larger recovery sites, this may mean having 200 to 500 hundred pumping units.
If a conventional electric actuator was used under these conditions to maintain the recover well level below a certain point, then either the motor would be starting and stopping very frequently or the pump piston would be pumping dry. Neither of the above conditions are desirable.
Further, there is no teaching in the prior art of a system that checks whether in fact the system is pumping any of the contaminated fluid. As noted earlier, the significant amount of government regulation in this area makes having a system of checks and balances imperative. Also, the prior art does not teach, disclose nor suggest a system to insure that the proper hydraulic gradient is being maintained at the recovery site.
Therefore, there is a need for a system that will continuously monitor recovery wells and insure that the site is maintaining the proper pressure gradient in the aquifer in order to maintain the hydraulic containment. There is also a need for an apparatus which will activate only when fluid is in the wellbore thus eliminating the pump pumping dry. A system is also needed which will provide for the proper system of checks and balances for the appropriate government agency.


A lubricating oil composition has an oil of lubricating viscosity, plus minor portions of alkylated aminophenol and zinc dithiophosphate. Preferably, about 75 mol % of the alkyl groups of the zinc dithiophosphate are derived from primary alcohols. The alkylated aminophenol can be a borated 4-alkyl-2-aminophenol having, as its alkyl group, a polypropylene tetramer having from 18 to 30 carbon atoms.

One of the primary purposes of the crankcase oil is to prevent engine wear. The wear requirements for crankcase oils will become more stringent during the 1990's. Gasoline engine manufacturers are requesting lower phosphorus oils to prevent catalyst and oxygen sensor deactivation, while still maintaining minimum valve train wear.
One obvious approach is to take advantage of the powerful wear inhibiting properties of the zinc dialkyl dithiophosphates (ZnDTP) that constitute the major wear inhibiting additives in modern crankcase formulations. In particular, zinc dialkyl dithiophosphates can be primary alcohol derived or secondary alcohol derived. In recent studies, S. H. Roby of Lubrizol, reported that secondary alcohol-derived ZnDTP appears to moderate abrasion, fatigue, and pitting wear rates. See "Investigation of Sequence IIIE Valve Train Wear Mechanism," Lubr. Eng., 47, 5, pp 413-422 (1991). The primary alcohol-derived ZnDTP formulation was not effective in reducing valve train wear in full-length 64 hour Sequence IIIE engine tests. These studies were done at current phosphorus levels of 0.11-0.13%.
One possible approach would be to maximize the amount of secondary alcohol-derived ZnDTP in the formulation for effective wear protection at low phosphorus levels. It is conceivable, however, that this approach might someday become impractical, when the wear inhibiting properties of the secondary alcohol-derived ZnDTPs become ineffective at increasingly lower phosphorus levels.
Another, equally plausible approach, is to boost the valve train wear performance of the primary alcohol-derived ZnDTP with ashless, nonphosphorus-containing inhibitors. In this approach, one adds a new inhibitor to a baseline formulation containing primary alcohol-derived ZnDTP. The combined effect should turn a marginal wear inhibiting package into a package with good valve train wear protection. In addition, the relative thermal stability of the primary ZnDTP versus the secondary ZnDTP maintains strong oxidation inhibition characteristics. Such cost/performance properties are a prime consideration for formulating oils.
It is well known that hydrocarbon oils are partially oxidized when contacted with oxygen at elevated temperatures for long periods. The internal combustion engine is a model oxidator, since it contacts a hydrocarbon motor oil with air under agitation at high temperatures. Also, many of the metals (iron, copper, lead, nickel, etc.) used in the manufacture of the engine and in contact with both the oil and air, are effective oxidation catalysts, which increase the rate of oxidation. The oxidation in motor oils is particularly acute in the modern internal combustion engine that is designed to operate under heavy work loads and at elevated temperatures.
The oxidation process produces acidic bodies within the motor oil that are corrosive to typical copper and lead engine bearings. It has also been discovered that the oxidation products contribute to piston ring sticking, the formation of sludge within the motor oil, and an overall breakdown of viscosity characteristics of the lubricant.
Several effective oxidation inhibitors have been developed and are used in almost all of the conventional motor oils today. Typical of these inhibitors are the sulfurized oil-soluble organic compounds, such as aromatic or alkyl sulfides and polysulfides, sulfurized olefins, sulfurized carboxylic acid esters, and sulfurized ester-olefins, as well as the oil-soluble phenolic and aromatic amine antioxidants. These inhibitors, while exhibiting good antioxidant properties, are burdened by economic and oil contamination problems.
It is therefore natural that modern formulations rely on zinc dithiophosphates to improve their load-bearing properties, such as extreme pressure and antiwear properties, and oxidation inhibition.
ZnDTP is one of the metal salts of dihydrocarbyl dithiophosphoric acids. Metal salts of dihydrocarbyl dithiophosphoric acids are well known as load-bearing additives for lubricating oils. Such salts may be represented by the formula: ##STR1## wherein: R is the same or different optionally substituted hydrocarbyl group;
M is a metal, and PA1 n corresponds to the valence of the metal M.
Many types of metal salts of dihydrocarbyl dithiophosphoric acids have been proposed. U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,410,642, 2,540,084, and 4,212,751, and U.K. Patents 723,133 and 852,365 proposed those in which the optionally substituted hydrocarbyl groups represented by R are the same or different alkyl, cycloalkyl, aryl groups. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,102,096 and 4,288,335, and U.K. Patent 2,070,054 disclose groups derived from alkoxylated alcohols and monoester alcohols.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,466,895 discloses metal salts of one or more dialkyl phosphorodithioic acids where a mixture of primary and secondary alcohols is used as a starting material, and the total number of carbon atoms per phosphorus atoms is less than 8. Preferably, n-butyl and isopropyl alcohols are used in this invention.
Zinc dithiophosphates can be derived from primary alcohols, secondary alcohols, and phenols. Zinc dithiophosphates derived from primary or secondary alcohols have certain advantages over the alkaryl type of zinc dithiophosphate. These advantages include (1) good antiwear properties in 0.10-0.14% P-containing oils, if properly formulated, and (2) relatively cheap oxidation inhibition properties. While primary alcohol-derived zinc dithiophosphates are more thermally stable than secondary alcohol-derived zinc dithiophosphates, primary alcohol-derived zinc dithiophosphates have the disadvantage of not being as effective in valve train wear inhibition as the secondary alcohol-derived zinc dithiophosphates. This could be a real problem in the low phosphorus oil environment ahead.

Lubricating oil composition having an ashless wear inhibitor


A wireless polymeric twist tie that includes a wing portion and at least one rib portion. The polymeric twist tie is formed from a non-metallic polymeric composition that includes an alloy of polycarbonate and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene or an alloy of polycarbonate and polybutylene terephthalate.

The present invention relates generally to a wireless polymeric twist tie. More particularly, the present invention relates to a wireless polymeric twist tie formed from a polycarbonate alloy.
Twist ties are used for various fastening and closing purposes. Typically, twist ties are used to seal a package having an open end, such as a bag. To seal the package, packaging material adjacent to the open end is gathered. The twist tie is extended around the gathered packaging material until end portions of the twist tie are adjacent to each other. The end portions are then twisted relative to the remainder of the twist tie to fasten the twist tie onto the package.
Twist ties typically include a wire that is enclosed in a paper or plastic wing. Twist ties that include the paper or plastic enclosed wire are subsequently referred to as wire twist ties. Wire twist ties have many advantageous properties that have led to widespread use of wire twist ties. For example, wire twist ties are readily applied using either manual or high speed mechanical operations. In addition, multiple fastening and unfastening cycles do not significantly affect the fastening capability of wire twist ties. Wire twist ties are also functional over a wide range of temperatures without a significant reduction in fastening capability.
There are many food packaging applications where wire twist ties play an important role because wire twist ties enable consumers to quickly access and reseal a product container numerous times. One disadvantage of existing wire twist ties is that consumers desire food to be packaged in a material that enables heating of the food in its original packaging. One type of heating where it is particularly desirable to heat food in its original packaging is in a microwave oven. Existing wire twist ties, however, are not suitable for use in microwave ovens because wire twist ties generally cause undesirable arcing when the twist tie is subjected to microwave radiation at an intensity conventionally found in microwave ovens.
Another disadvantage of existing wire twist ties concerns conventional food distribution. When food is commercially packaged for distribution to the public, it is desirable to insure that the food is free from contamination by foreign objects. Therefore, commercially packaged food is typically inspected after the food is package. A common method of inspecting food products involves the use of metal detectors. One drawback of using wire twist ties is that wire twist ties preclude the use of metal detectors.
To overcome these difficulties, a variety of non-metallic closures, such as polymeric closures have been developed. Polymeric twist ties are an example of the polymeric closures. There have been numerous attempts to develop a polymeric twist tie that exhibits desirable toughness and flexibility characteristics while also being easily fastenable and unfastenable over numerous cycles.
For example, Feltman, U.S. Pat. No. 5,607,748, which is assigned to the assignee of the present application, describes forming wireless polymeric twist ties that exhibit a tensile strength and a yield strength of greater than 9,000 psi Stolk et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,797,313, discloses using polymeric materials that provide a yield stress of less than 9,000 psi and preferably between 2,000 and 4,000 psi. Stolk et al. indicates that a yield stress of less than 9,000 psi is necessary so that the polymeric materials exhibit a desired glass/rubber transition behavior.
There have been numerous other attempts to provide an entirely polymeric closure. For example, Thomas, U.S. Pat. No. 3,535,746; Moon, U.S. Pat. No. 3,604,066; and Hoard, U.S. Pat. No. 3,945,086, disclose polymeric closure devices. However, none of these polymeric closure devices are believed to be suitable for substitution in place of wire twist ties in machinery that presently handles high speed mechanical packaging with wire twist ties.


A superconducting magnetic energy storage system (SMES). The SMES includes a toroidally wound super conducting magnet having a toroidal magnetic core with a charging winding and a discharging winding. The charging winding and discharging winding are wound on the toroidal magnetic core. The SMES also includes a DC power source, the DC power source operable to provide DC current to the charging winding of the toroidally wound superconducting magnet, and a modulator operably connected to the DC power source and the charging winding, the modulator operable to modulate at least a portion of the DC current applied to the charging winding of the superconducting magnet. The energy is stored in a magnetic field of the superconducting magnet by applying a current to the charging winding of the superconducting magnet, and energy is withdrawn from the magnetic field by a current flowing in the discharging winding.

Exemplary embodiments pertain to the art of a superconducting magnetic energy storage (SMES) device. More particularly, a SMES device with separated tightly coupled windings for charging and discharging wound in a toroidal fashion such that the magnetic field is largely contained within the bore of the magnet, thus producing a very low external field.
Superconducting magnetic energy storage devices have a number of advantages as storage devices. Electrical current is the input, output, and stored medium, which allows for complete solid-state energy conversion. The electromagnetic coils themselves have no moving parts. Round-trip efficiency is higher than for batteries, compressed air, or pumped hydro. Output power can be very high, allowing complete discharge of the unit within a few seconds. Finally, SMES devices can be designed for a very large number of cycles, limited essentially by fatigue in the structural components and material lifetimes.
In a SMES device, energy is stored in the form of a magnetic field generated by a coil made of superconducting material where a superconducting current circulates. The stored energy is ½LI2 where L is the inductance of the coil and I is the current circulating in the coil. Since the coil is superconducting, very small losses are present and the storage time is very long. When energy is required, the current can be redirected and the energy stored in the coil is transferred to work in the coil. Two types of electromagnetic coils have been considered for SMES: the solenoid, a circular loop of conductor; and the toroid, in which the circular or D-shaped coils are arranged in a circle to produce a doughnut-shaped field. A solenoid produces a magnetic field, B, which is external of the magnet, whereas a toroid produces a magnetic field that is contained primarily within the magnet's bore. However toroidal magnets have several advantages. First, because the magnetic field is closed within the bore of the magnet, the external field is very small. Generally, the external field is a product only of the toroid being composed of several individual coils. Leads and winding irregularities also produce small external fields. As a result, in many applications, such a mobile applications, a toroidal electromagnet may be more appropriate. Additionally, a toroidal SMES can be composed of several individual coils which would be fabricated and tested in a factory, transported by truck or rail to the site, and placed to form a circular arrangement.
Most, if not all, of the present day solutions for charging and discharging a SMES are based on redirecting the current into or out of the coil using switching devices. Generally the switching devices are electromechanical or semiconductor devices or a combination of both and can either be placed in the cooling medium conventionally known as a dewar that cools the superconducting coil or placed outside the cooling medium, e.g. at room temperature. However, in both cases, the direction and redirection of current into the SMES device to charge it and out of the SMES device is based on the principle of breaking the superconducting circuit to force the current to flow in a path through the load. In particular, in such known devices, the device user is forced to choose between a charging mode and a discharging mode, without the ability to perform both operations simultaneously.
Magnetic energy storage units have many applications for short term, high instantaneous power applications, an example of which is a buffer for the kinetic energy of an automobile, bus, or railcar. For example, about 30 kW of power is required to comfortably accelerate a small automobile into traffic, yet only about 8.5 kW is required to maintain the automobile at 55 mph on level pavement. Therefore, an automobile engine spends most of its time operating relatively inefficiently. Additionally, the present internal combustion engine does not allow for regenerative braking. Although battery-powered automobiles have certain advantages to offset the problems of the internal combustion powered automobile, they are often hampered by limitations on instantaneous current. Battery lifetime is limited by the total number of cycles. One possible way to circumvent these difficulties is to use a short-term, high specific power energy storage device.

Dual winding superconducting magnetic energy storage


A spindle includes a hollow central shaft having an upper end and a lower end. The hollow central shaft defines a channel for transmitting fluid through the spindle. A wafer backing plate is disposed at the upper end of the hollow central shaft. The wafer backing plate reduces particle recontamination on the backside of a semiconductor wafer disposed above the spindle by preventing particles from contacting the backside of the wafer during spin processing. A spin, rinse, and dry module includes a bowl and a hollow core spindle for rotating a wafer that extends into the bowl. The hollow core spindle has a channel defined therein for transmitting a fluid to the backside of the wafer and a wafer backing plate disposed at an upper end thereof for preventing particles from contacting the backside of the wafer during spin processing.

The present invention relates generally to semiconductor fabrication and, more particularly, to a hollow core spindle and a spin, rinse, and dry module including the hollow core spindle.
As the semiconductor industry moves to larger, e.g., 300 mm, wafers and to smaller, e.g., 0.18 xcexcm and smaller, feature sizes, it is becoming increasingly more important to control wafer contamination on the backside, i.e., the bottom side, of wafers during wafer preparation operations. In one conventional wafer preparation operation, a wafer is spin rinsed in a spin, rinse, and dry (SRD) module. During this spin rinsing operation, deionized (DI) water is sprayed onto the top side and the backside of a wafer as the wafer is spun at high speed. One problem with this spin rinsing operation is that recirculating air from above the wafer often causes particle recontamination on the backside of the wafer.
FIG. 1 is a simplified schematic diagram 10 illustrating the airflow around a wafer in a conventional bowl, which forms part of an SRD module. As shown therein, wafer 12 is disposed in bowl 14. For ease of illustration, the spindle, which spins the wafer, and the spindle fingers, which support the wafer above the spindle, have been omitted from FIG. 1. As wafer 12 spins in bowl 14, the spinning action of the wafer transfers energy to the air flowing to the top side of the wafer. This transferred energy causes the airflow above the top side of wafer 12 to become turbulent and creates recirculating air, i.e., eddies, as indicated by the arrows in FIG. 1. The amount of energy transferred to the air flowing to the top side of wafer 12 depends on the diameter and the rotational speed of the wafer. In general, the greater the amount of energy transferred to the air, the higher the eddies extend above the top side and the farther the eddies extend below the backside of wafer 12. The presence of eddies below wafer 12 is undesirable because particles or DI water droplets removed from the wafer can circulate in the eddies and be redeposited on the backside of the wafer, thereby causing recontamination.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a device for controlling the airflow on a backside of a wafer during spin processing to minimize the recontamination caused by particles and DI water droplets circulating in eddies below the wafer.
Broadly speaking, the present invention fills this need by providing a spindle having a hollow core through which fluids can be delivered to the backside of a semiconductor wafer. In combination with a wafer backing plate, the hollow core spindle enables the airflow on the backside of the wafer to be controlled. The present invention also provides a spin, rinse, and dry module including the hollow core spindle.
In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, a spindle is provided. The spindle includes a hollow central shaft having an upper end and a lower end. The hollow central shaft defines a channel for transmitting fluid therethrough. A wafer backing plate is disposed at the upper end of the hollow central shaft.
In one embodiment, the hollow central shaft is an actuator shaft and a hollow spindle shaft is concentrically disposed around the actuator shaft. In one embodiment, the hollow spindle shaft has a pair of high speed bearings and a housing mounted thereon. In this embodiment, the housing encloses the pair of high speed bearings. In one embodiment, the size of each of the high speed bearings is the same.
In one embodiment, a mounting plate is disposed at an upper end of the hollow spindle shaft, and a spin chuck is mounted on the mounting plate. In one embodiment, the actuator shaft is configured to move vertically to actuate the spin chuck for supporting the wafer as well as to rotate. In one embodiment, the wafer backing plate is mounted on the spin chuck. In one embodiment, the wafer backing plate is mounted on the spin chuck with at least three spring-loaded pistons. In one embodiment, the wafer backing plate has a shape that substantially corresponds with the shape of the wafer.
In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a spin, rinse, and dry (SRD) module is provided. The SRD module includes a bowl and a hollow core spindle for rotating a semiconductor wafer that extends into the bowl. The hollow core spindle has a channel defined therein for transmitting a fluid to the backside of the wafer and a wafer backing plate disposed at an upper end thereof. In one embodiment, the wafer backing plate is configured to block particles from contacting the backside of the wafer.
In one embodiment, the SRD module includes an internal air supply tube disposed within the channel and an air source in flow communication with the internal air supply tube. In one embodiment, the air source is an ultra low penetrating air (ULPA) filter unit. In one embodiment, the distance the wafer backing plate is disposed below the wafer is in a range from about 80 thousandths of an inch to about 275 thousandths of an inch.
The hollow core spindle of the present invention allows fluids, e.g., air and chemistries, to be delivered through the spindle directly to the backside of a semiconductor wafer disposed above the spindle for spin processing. This is beneficial in and of itself because it avoids the atomization problems that occur when chemistries are sprayed onto the backside of the wafer through rotating spindle components. In combination with the wafer backing plate of the present invention, the hollow core spindle is further beneficial because it enables the airflow on the backside of the wafer to be controlled so that contaminated air does not recirculate into the volume defined by the wafer and the wafer backing plate. Moreover, the wafer backing plate of the present invention advantageously reduces particle recontamination by preventing particles from contacting the backside of the wafer.
It is to be understood that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.

Hollow core spindle and spin, rinse, and dry module including the same


A new cultivar of Hydrangea macrophylla named ‘Dancing Snow’ that is characterized by its early spring blooming habit, its ability to re-bloom on new growth after deadheading into fall, its lacecap type inflorescences comprised of a ring of large double white flowers emerging from the central mass of smaller double white flowers, its flowers that are resistant to sun scorch, its compact growth habit, and its hardiness at least to U.S.D.A. Zones 5 to 9.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Hydrangea macrophylla and will be referred to hereafter by its cultivar name, 'Dancing Snow'. 'Dancing Snow' represents a new bigleaf hydrangea, a deciduous shrub grown for landscape use and for use as a potted plant.
'Dancing Snow' was derived from an ongoing controlled breeding program in a nursery that focuses on developing new cultivars of bigleaf hydrangea for container and landscape use. 'Dancing Snow' originated from a cross made in the Inventor's nursery in July 2003 between two unpatented proprietary selections of Hydrangea macrophylla; the female parent designated as 00-2A and the male parent designated as 98-50c. The new Hydrangea was selected as a unique single plant from the progeny of the cross in June 2006.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar was first accomplished by the Inventor using softwood stem cuttings in Shizuoka, Japan in July 2007. The characteristics of this cultivar have been determined to be stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations.