Supervisory computers are individually disposed in a molding line for molding a pair of shell halves, a cartridge assembly line for assembling a cartridge shell from the pair of shell halves and other parts, a winding line for producing and winding each individual filmstrip into each individual cartridge shell, a packaging line for packaging the photo film cartridges, and those of other lines or other processes. Each supervisory computer controls process controllers of the associated line. The supervisory computers are controlled by a production information supervisory computer. Data obtained from the process controllers is sent through the line supervisory computers to the production information supervisory computer, to be stored therein.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information management method for managing information about production or manufacture of photo film cartridges, each of which contains a roll of photo filmstrip in a light-tight cartridge shell. More particularly, the present invention relates to a production information management method, by which the operation of production facilities for the photo film cartridges is efficiently controlled, and various kinds data obtained from these facilities are efficiently utilized for manufacturing the photo film cartridges.
2. Background Arts
Photo film cartridge containing a roll of photo filmstrip in a light-tight cartridge shell are widely used for photography. The photo film cartridges can be sorted into various types according to the film speed, the number of available exposures, whether it is a color film or a black-and-white film, etc., so that photographers may chose appropriate types in accordance with their needs or intentions. To show the type of each photo film cartridge, information or indicia is printed on the cartridge shell and on the packaging casket, e.g. a cardboard box. The indicia on the casket and the cartridge shell must precisely indicate the type of photo filmstrip contained therein. Accordingly, it is necessary to supervise the production process of the photo film cartridges so as to prevent confusion between different type parts, that is, prevent combining a filmstrip with a different type cartridge shell or a different type casket.
For such production management, papers, e.g. slips, labels and books, have been popularly used. First when manufacturing the filmstrip, an emulsion, whose type is determined according to a production plan, is applied on one surface of a wide web of base film, to produce a master roll. Next the master roll is slit into continuous strips of a constant width. The continuous strips are each individually formed into a roll, and a label is attached to the roll, indicating the number of the emulsion used, the production date and time, the production lot number and other data about the rolled continuous strip. On the other hand, the cartridge shells and the caskets are produced with indicia indicating a film cartridge type determined according to the production plan. The productions are collected in containers according to the kind of parts, the production date, and the production lot number. A label indicating the production date and the production lot number is attached to each container in the same way as the productions.
Since the film cartridge type is assigned to the respective parts, i.e., the continuous strips, the cartridge shells and the caskets, in the respective production stages, it is possible to correlate the film cartridge type with the production lot numbers of the respective parts, for example, by use of a parts management table. Thereby, the production management department can designate the film cartridge type to produce by the production lot numbers of the respective parts. With reference to the production lot numbers on a production order slip issued by the production management department, the manufacture department can chose an appropriate kind of parts by identifying the production lot numbers indicated by the labels on the containers. The chosen parts are supplied to the respective production apparatuses on the manufacture lines.
In order to improve the efficiency of the paper-based production management, the way to utilize computers for the production management has been studied. Generally, production facilities for photo film cartridges consist of a plurality of manufacture lines. Therefore, disposing a line supervisory computer in each of the manufacture lines make it possible to check if the parts supplied to each line are proper or not. By entering data of the production lot numbers of the parts and production conditions into the line supervisory computers with reference to the production order slips issued from the production management department, it is possible to check the production lot number of the parts as being supplied to each production apparatus, or setup conditions of each production apparatus prior to actuation.
The production conditions include production conditions and inspection conditions. As examples of the production conditions, the length of individual filmstrips to be cut from the continuous strip, and side-printing format for printing an ID number and frame serial numbers on the sides of each individual filmstrip are designated according to the type and the number of available exposures of the photo film cartridges to produce. As the inspection conditions, there are threshold data for appearance tests and performance tests, timing data and sampling number data for sampling inspection, and so forth.
The setup data of the production conditions and the inspection conditions used for each kind of parts is entered in the books along with the production date data. Alternatively, hard copies of the setup data are printed out from a terminal computer, and are stored with the books. This allows to trace the records or history of any photo film cartridge after the shipment, such as the production conditions and the inspection conditions used for the photo film cartridge, if only the production lot number is determined. Therefore, storing the setup data in or with the books is very useful for the quality management or supervisory. After storing the setup data, the production apparatuses are actuated to manufacture and pack the photo film cartridges in accordance with production order table.
Recently, a new type photo film cartridge, called IX 240 type or Advanced Photo System type, was brought into market. The new type uses completely different cartridge shell and filmstrip from those of the conventional ISO 135 type. The new cartridge shell is constituted of a pair of plastic shell halves, a spool, a light shielding door and other plastic parts, and functions such that the leader of the filmstrip fully wound into the cartridge shell is advanced out of the cartridge shell responsive to unwinding rotation of the spool.
As described above, when manufacturing various types photo film cartridges, parts management is necessary to sort the parts and the packages of the photo film cartridges and chose correct parts and packages in accordance with the film cartridge type. Especially in the production facilities for IX 240 type photo film cartridge, which consists of a lot of parts and some of them vary depending upon the filmstrip format, the parts management can be complicated. According to the conventional paper-based production management method, management of an increasing number of papers themselves can be time- and labor-consuming: It is necessary to write setup data in the papers along with the other production information, or preserve hard copies of setup data in association with the papers containing other information. The operators can misread the information on the papers, especially when the film cartridge type to produce should be changed on a manufacture line.
Regarding the setup of the production conditions and the inspection conditions on the line supervisory computers in the respective manufacture lines, data input operation can be time- and labor-consuming, as the number of film cartridge types increases, or as the installation number of production apparatuses increases for a larger scale of mass-production. Moreover, when to change the production conditions or the inspection conditions, that is often necessary if any parts are disqualified in an inspection step, manual revising of the setup data in the line supervisory computers is also time- and labor-consuming, and can cause setup errors.
In addition, since IX 240 type photo film cartridges after development are expected to be returned to the photographer with the developed filmstrip rewound into the same cartridge shell as before, each cartridge shell is provided with the same ID number as the filmstrip contained therein. Accordingly, it is necessary to correlate the ID numbers of the filmstrips with those of the cartridge shells precisely one by one during the manufacture. To make this correlation on the conventional paper-based system is extremely time- and labor-consuming, and lacks reliability. A single computer supervising the entire manufacture lines involves disadvantages like longer data processing time and slower response with the increasing number of manufacture lines or manufacture steps or parts of the article.

Method of managing information exchanged between production information supervisory computer and line supervisory computers for production of photo film cartridge


An electrical connector (10) includes an insulative housing (20) and a number of terminals received in the insulative housing (20). Each terminal includes an engaging portion (54) for mating with a mating connector, a middle portion (56) interconnected with the engaging portion (54), and a soldering portion (55) interconnected with the middle portion (56). A dimension of the middle portion (56) in a thickness direction is greater than a dimension of the engaging portion (54) in the thickness direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector, and more particularly to an electrical connector with high speed signal transmission.
2. Description of Prior Arts
A conventional electrical connector comprises an insulative housing and a plurality of terminals received in the insulative housing. The terminal comprises an engaging portion, a soldering portion, and a middle portion interconnected between the engaging portion and the soldering portion. The engaging portion is used for mating with a mating terminal. The soldering portion is used for soldering with a wire. When the engaging portion is mated with the mating terminal, a combined dimension of the engaging portion and the mating terminal in a thickness direction will be greater than a dimension of the middle portion in the thickness direction. When the soldering portion is soldered with the wire, a combined dimension of the soldering portion and the wire in the thickness direction is also greater than the dimension of the middle portion in the thickness direction. So, when the terminal of the electrical connector is mated with the mating terminal and is soldered with the wire, a characteristic impedance of the terminal may have an abrupt change. This could make the transmission of signals unstable.
An electrical connector with stable signal transmission is desired.

Electrical connector having improved characteristic impedance


An object of the present invention is provide a disperse dye composition that has the light fastness required of synthetic fiber materials for automotive interiors that are exposed to sunlight at high temperature and high humidity, and that has good blue, red, and yellow dyeability. This object is achieved by a mixed disperse dye composition comprising a blue disperse dye composition having a specific composition ratio of five specific types of disperse dyes, and other specific yellow and/or red disperse dyes. The invention makes it possible to provide a disperse dye composition having not only high fastness of each color but light fastness with a favorable balance of the three primary colors, with the dye properties of each color equal during dyeing, and good dye color reproducibility, as well as by a dyeing method using this dye.

Synthetic fiber materials for use in automotive interior materials are required for having a high temperature resistance and a high light resistance because automotive interiors reach high temperature and high humidity and the synthetic fiber materials are exposed to sunlight over a much longer time than other common clothing fiber materials. In order to meet such a requirement, a method is adopted in which dyes having a high light resistance are used to dye fibers. However, if a yellow dye, a red dye and a blue dye are not in balance of light resistance, only a part of colors is faded due to a long period of light exposure, easily resulting in that discoloration of these dyes as a whole gradually appears larger over time. Therefore, a yellow dye, a red dye and a blue dye to be used are required for achieving a balanced light resistance so that these colors are equally faded, but no dyes have been obtained which satisfy such a requirement.
In addition, the synthetic fiber materials achieve a different depth of dyeing, different dyeing shade, and the like from one another even by the same dyeing method, due to the differences in yarn thickness and yarn shape as well as the difference of blended fibers or the like in which a polyester fiber to be used is blended with other material. In order to dye and process such synthetic fiber materials having a different shape and different properties equally each time, there is a need for dyes excellent in dyeing reproducibility even under various dyeing conditions.
In particular, when automotive interior materials are dyed, dyeing is performed with the use of disperse dyes having a high fastness to environmental conditions as much as possible. However, if a yellow dye, a red dye and a blue dye are not even with one another in terms of dyeing properties, such unevenness causes the difference in dyeing reproducibility among synthetic fiber materials dyed. Accordingly, in order to dye automotive interior materials, there are needs for high light fastness of each colors of a yellow dye, a red dye and a blue dye, which are also in balance with one another, as well as for even dyeing characteristics and a favorable dyeing reproducibility.
Although various disperse dye compositions have been disclosed in Patent Literatures 1 to 3 etc. below, no dye compositions satisfying the above needs have not been described therein.

Disperse dye composition and dyeing method for hydrophobic fiber material using same


The instant invention relates to a combination of an alpha-2-delta ligand and a PDEV inhibitor for use in therapy, particularly in the treatment of pain, particularly neuropathic pain. Particularly preferred alpha-2-delta ligands are gabapentin and pregabalin. A particularly preferred PDEV inhibitors is sildenafil.

Alpha-2-delta ligands may be defined as compounds which selectively displace 3H-gabapentin from porcine brain membranes indicating a high affinity interaction with the alpha-2-delta (α2δ) subunit of voltage-gated calcium channels. Alpha-2-delta ligands also includes compounds which do not displace 3H-gabapentin, but are structurally similar to compounds that do, which might be expected to bind alpha-2-delta at a slightly different site than 3H-gabapentin or may bind to human brain alpha-2-delta but not porcine alpha-2-delta. They may also be known as GABA analogs.
Alpha-2-delta ligands have been described for a number of indications. The best known alpha-2-delta ligand, gabapentin (NEURONTIN®), 1-(aminomethyl)-cyclohexylacetic acid, was first described in the patent literature in the patent family comprising U.S. Pat. No. 4,024,175. The compound is approved for the treatment of epilepsy and neuropathic pain.
A second alpha-2-delta ligand, pregabalin, (S)-(+)-4-amino-3-(2-methylpropyl)butanoic acid, is described in European patent application publication number EP641330 as an anti-convulsant treatment useful in the treatment of epilepsy and in EP0934061 for the treatment of pain.
Further WO0128978, describes a series of alpha-2-delta ligands, particularly (1α,3α,5α)(3-amino-methyl-bicyclo[3.2.0]hept-3-yl)-acetic acid, depicted below:

More recently, International Patent Application Number PCT/IB02/01146 (unpublished at the priority date of the present invention) and published as WO02/085839, describes a series of alpha-2-delta ligands of the following formulae:

wherein R1 and R2 are each independently selected from H, straight or branched alkyl of 1-6 carbon atoms, cycloalkyl of from 3-6 carbon atoms, phenyl and benzyl, subject to the proviso that, except in the case of a tricyclooctane compound of formula (XVII), R1 and R2 are not simultaneously hydrogen; for use in the treatment of a number of indications, including pain.
International Patent application No. PCT/IB03/00976, unpublished at the filing date of the present invention, describes compounds of the formula I, below:

wherein R1 is hydrogen or (C1-C6)alkyl optionally substituted with from one to five fluorine atoms;
R2 is hydrogen or (C1-C6)alkyl optionally substituted with from one to five fluorine atoms; or
R1 and R2, together with the carbon to which they are attached, form a three to six membered cycloalkyl ring;
R3 is (C1-C6)alkyl, (C3-C6)cycloalkyl, (C3-C6)cycloalkyl-(C1-C3)alkyl, phenyl, phenyl-(C1-C3)alkyl, pyridyl, pyridyl-(C1-C3)alkyl, phenyl-N(H)—, or pyridyl-N(H)—, wherein each of the foregoing alkyl moieties can be optionally substituted with from one to five fluorine atoms, preferably with from zero to three fluorine atoms, and wherein said phenyl and said pyridyl and the phenyl and pyridyl moieties of said phenyl-(C1-C3)alkyl and said pyridyl-(C1-C3)alkyl, respectively, can be optionally substituted with from one to three substituents, preferably with from zero to two substituents, independently selected from chloro, fluoro, amino, nitro, cyano, (C1-C3)alkylamino, (C1-C3)alkyl optionally substituted with from one to three fluorine atoms and (C1-C3)alkoxy optionally substituted with from one to three fluorine atoms;
R4 is hydrogen or (C1-C6)alkyl optionally substituted with from one to five fluorine atoms;
R5 is hydrogen or (C1-C6)alkyl optionally substituted with from one to five fluorine atoms; and
R6 is hydrogen or (C1-C6)alkyl;
and the pharmaceutically acceptable salts of such compounds.
Inhibitors of the cyclic guanosine 3′,5′-monophosphate phosphodiesterase type five (cGMP PDEV) enzyme ('PDEV inhibitors') may be characterized by compounds with high affinity and selectivity for the PDEV enzyme with little or no affinity for the other phosphodiesterase isoforms and they have been described as being useful for treating a number of indications. In particular, sildenafil (5-[2-ethoxy-5-(4-methyl-1-piperazinylsulphonyl)phenyl]-1-methyl-3-n-propyl-1,6-dihydro-7H-pyrazolo[4,3-d]pyrimidin-7-one) (VIAGRA®) has been described for the treatment of a number of cardiovascular disorders and has proved to be successful as the first orally effective treatment for male erectile dysfunction (MED). The use of PDEV inhibitors in the treatment of neuropathy has been described in European Patent Application Number EP1129706 and WO01/26659. Analgesic effects of sildenafil have recently been described in Jain et al, Brain Research, 909, 170-178 (2001); Asomoza-Espinosa et al, Eur. J. Pharm., 418, 195-200 (2001); and Mixcoatl-Zecutal et al, Eur. J. Pharm., 400, 81-87 (2001).

Synergistic combinations of an alpha-2-delta ligand and a cGMP phosphodieterse 5 inhibitor


The method of process control is for a Hall-Héroult process of aluminum production from alumina ore in an industrial potline. The method includes measuring an array of sampled potline data including a plurality of cell voltages (V) and a plurality of line amperages (A) at a plurality of time points. The method also includes calculating a predicted voltage (PV) for each cell voltage and line amperage in the array. The method further includes controlling a plurality of alumina ore feed rates and a plurality of pot voltage settings based upon the predicted voltages. The method also includes calculating a plurality of bath temperatures based upon the predicted voltages. The PV variable is preferably used in an automated control environment. The PV variable is also preferably used to monitor cell noise levels, operating temperature, metal pad roll, and oscillatory electrical shorting events.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to the field of the industrial electrolytic production of aluminum. More particularly, the invention pertains to the automated control by process variables in the Hall-Héroult method of primary aluminum production.
2. Description of Related Art
The production of primary aluminum metal is a highly energy-intensive industry. A substantial portion of the cost of aluminum production is in the enormous amount of electrical energy required. Increasing energy costs and increasing requirements for low levels of polluting emissions place increasing demands on the primary aluminum production industry. There is therefore always a need for methods that improve the energy efficiency of the aluminum production process and decrease fluoride emissions, including greenhouse perfluorocarbons (PFCs). The Hall-Héroult process for primary aluminum production, which is used by all major industrial aluminum producers, utilizes direct electrical current passing through a molten chemically-modified cryolite electrolyte, or "bath", to produce aluminum metal from alumina (Al2O3). In the process, the alumina is dissolved in an electrolyte composed primarily of molten cryolite (Na3AlF6) and other additives such as excess aluminum fluoride (AlF3) and calcium fluoride (CaF2) at temperatures above 900° C. As current is passed through the electrolyte, aluminum metal is deposited at the molten aluminum cathode, and oxygen evolves at the surface of a solid carbon anode and combines with the carbon to produce mostly carbon dioxide and lesser amounts of carbon monoxide gas. The dissolved alumina in the electrolytic cells, or "pots", is depleted in direct proportion to the amount of aluminum metal produced.
The concentration of alumina in the electrolytic bath is of critical importance to the efficiency of the aluminum production process. As the alumina concentration in the electrolytic bath decreases, a point is reached where a phenomenon known as an "anode effect" occurs, typically in the concentration range of 1.5% to 2% alumina. When an anode effect occurs, the voltage drop across the cell, which is normally between about 4 to 4.5 volts, may rise very rapidly to a level of about 15-30 volts. The actual concentration of alumina in the electrolyte at the onset of this effect depends upon the critical anode current density. Other variables, such as temperature and composition of the electrolyte, also play a role, but anode effects usually occur at an alumina concentration below about 2% by weight of the electrolyte. A cell in the anode effect state becomes less productive and consumes a large amount of power, thus seriously compromising the efficiency of the process. Additionally, during anode effects, the cryolite electrolyte enters into chemical reactions at the anode leading to the production of gaseous fluorinated products including perfluorocarbons (PFCs) and hydrogen fluoride (HF). The emission of PFCs has become a point of concern since PFCs have thousands of times more infrared radiative capture capacity than CO2. Hydrogen fluoride (HF) releases to the environment are especially deleterious to plant life. The release of greenhouse PFCs and HF to the atmosphere is becoming increasingly restricted by environmental legislation.
Although the anode effect presents serious problems in the control of aluminum reduction cells, this phenomenon is generally a less serious commercial problem than the overfeeding of alumina to the cell. A cell with a continuing excess of added alumina may enter an operational stage commonly termed a "sick pot" or "sick cell." The upper practical limit for alumina concentration for operation is approximately 4%, above which alumina no longer dissolves sufficiently fast. The ideal operational concentration and solubility of alumina in the bath therefore falls within a narrow window of about 2-4% alumina. If a cell is overfed, all of the alumina does not immediately dissolve in the electrolyte and a fraction of it therefore tends to settle at the top of the metal cathode or at the bottom of the cell, thereby seriously increasing a cell's electrical resistance and promoting non-uniform current distribution. These effects also decrease a cell's cathode life. Un-dissolved alumina that settles to the bottom of a cell is called cathode "sludge" or "muck" and is difficult to remove quickly by the dissolution process. Additionally, residual un-dissolved alumina muck on the bottom carbon cathode surface promotes erosive effects, since the alumina itself is extremely abrasive and scours the carbon cathode surface due to the motion of alumina particles by the magneto-hydrodynamics of the metal pad. Hence cathode life is significantly reduced. This necessitates capital expenditures for rebuilding the cathode shell after it fails. During a failure episode, iron levels may rise either gradually or sharply, thereby degrading the quality of the aluminum produced during the remaining shortened life of the cathode. While it may take a short period, on the order of one to ten minutes, to extinguish an anode effect, an overfed cell takes considerably longer time to allow carbon cathode muck levels to be decreased. Thus it is has been usual industrial practice to operate as much as practical nearer the lower part of the operational alumina concentration range to specifically avoid the problems of cathode sludge or muck. Indeed, many automated control strategies have in the past attempted to promote at least one anode effect about every day or so, specifically to prevent the overfeeding of alumina ore to the cell. However, in light of the increased sensitivity to the atmospheric release of un-capturable perfluorocarbons (PFCs), which accompanies anode effects, as well as the metal production decrease, this strategy needed to be replaced to conform with more stringent environmental laws and to address the increased cost of electrical power.
Ideally, to maintain optimal production efficiency, the concentration of dissolved alumina is preferably held at moderate levels as much as possible by adding alumina at the same rate it is being consumed in a cell. Unfortunately this is not always possible to achieve due to the physical characteristics of the pots and the difficulty of accurately monitoring the actual in situ concentration of dissolved alumina in the electrolyte bath on a continuous real time basis. In practice, the voltage drop across each cell and the current passing through the potline are used to compute a pseudo-resistance (PR) variable to estimate the state of the cells and the need for the addition of alumina and changes in pot voltage. Cell voltage changes are achieved by controlling the distance between the carbon anode surface and the aluminum cathode surface (anode/cathode gap). The cells in a commercial aluminum production plant are connected in electrical DC series and most often number a hundred or more (referred to collectively as a potline). The measured raw data that is sampled by a computer or microprocessor to assess the status of the individual pots is typically limited to the voltage drops (V) across the individual cells and the simultaneous amperage through the potline (A). Extrapolating from these measured parameters to calculate the dissolved alumina level on a real time basis is a goal of great practical interest and is a complex problem that has been the subject of much research. Each cell behaves differently at a given moment as a result of differences in numerous factors including the bath alumina level and its rate of change, the age of the cell, the electrolyte composition, the anode-cathode distance, the condition of the anodes and cathodes, and the operating temperature. Thus the relationship between changes in the current-voltage profile and the dissolved alumina level may be somewhat different for each cell in a potline. This situation is further complicated by a number of factors which affect the operating current and voltage of the cells. As a result of the interdependence of a large number of cells in a potline, the potline amperage generally fluctuates to a greater or lesser degree because of changes occurring in one or more cells at any given instant, including occasional power changes in the rectifier. Cells in a potline typically experience voltage changes from two primary sources: the internal changing levels of alumina (assuming other bath variables do not change significantly in a short time period) and the external fluctuating potline amperages. Cell voltage changes over several seconds or more are affected mostly by fluctuating potline amperages and not the subtle voltages from very small changes in bath alumina levels, when these levels are not so low that an anode effect is pending within a minute or so. Amperage levels may also fluctuate whenever power loads in the rectifier change.
In present practice, a cell's voltage/amperage data is sampled over time and processed to yield a variable known as pseudo-resistance (PR) that attempts to factor out voltage changes from external fluctuating potline amperages, while retaining the changes indicative of the cell's alumina level (see e.g. Dirth et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,573,179).
The definition of a cell's pseudo-resistance value is:PR=(V−I)/A  (1)                where                    V=cell voltage at a given instant            A=line amperage at the same instant            I=the extrapolated cell voltage at zero amps (an estimated and generally inaccurate value is arbitrarily chosen)
Processes for automated alumina feed, using feedback from measured pot voltage and line amperage parameters from the electrolytic cells, have been described in the following patents: French patent FR 1 457 746, in which the variation of the internal pseudo-resistance of the cell is used as the key parameter reflecting the concentration of alumina, and French patent FR 1 506 463, in which control is based on measurement of the time elapsing between halting the alumina supply and the appearance of an anode effect. More recently, a process based on controlling the alumina content has been described in particular by Wakaizumi et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,126,525).
In addition to attempted efforts to achieve accurate control of the alumina concentration in the cells, it is common practice to automate the control of the anode-cathode distance or gap to optimize cell voltage levels. Adjustments are typically made by raising or lowering the carbon anodes in the bath. The anode-cathode distance has a strong effect on what is commonly labeled as pot noise, so this variable is also tied to the pseudo-resistance (PR) process control variable already discussed. If the anode-cathode gap has been either squeezed too much or driven to higher than optimal levels, a PR sourced calculated noise level is used to make a statistically derived anode/cathode adjustment to the cell to maintain thermal balance in order to reduce the loss in production efficiencies that can occur if high temperature excursions are encountered.
A Hall-Héroult electrolytic cell is not a classic resistor. Hence the relationship between cell voltage and cell current is not, strictly speaking, linear over the entire amperage range with a zero/zero intercept. In an operating potline, the amperage fluctuates to some degree about an average operating level which is never anywhere near an amperage of zero. In potline practice the relationship between voltage and amperage is most often a linear one for all practical purposes. A cell's total impedance does include classic ohmic resistances including the electrical connectors, anode and cathode bus conductors, carbon anode drop, cathode drop, and the cell's intrinsic electrolytic resistivity, anode gas bubble resistance, and an ohmic component of the electrolytic bath itself. The voltage drop across the anode-cathode gap, where there is a small separation between the two electrodes, includes components that are not ohmic in nature. They generally include cathode-anode over-voltages (dependent upon alumina level, bath ratio, and temperature) and a back electromotive force (emf) value which is not the same as the extrapolated intercept value (I) of the operating voltage/amperage linear relationship. Direct measurement of the back emf necessitates lowering the amperage to almost zero values, which is neither practical nor useful for an operating potline, especially since the voltage/amperage is not linear over the entire range starting at zero amps. The alumina concentration over-voltages at operating potline amperages may vary rapidly in a relatively short time period, since alumina concentration changes quickly if alumina consumption is not compensated by the correct and commensurate amount of alumina feed. However, the rate of increase of the over-voltage component due to decreasing changes in the alumina concentration may be on the order of magnitude of a few millivolts per minute, which is very daunting to nearly impossible for the PR variable to confidently predict in the short time period of several minutes. This required sensitivity is simply not within the grasp of the PR variable. There is therefore an ongoing and pressing need for an accurate in situ method which is capable of accurately estimating in a short time period the amount of alumina dissolved in the electrolyte of a given cell and which is also relatively impervious to the noise and complications created by interference from changes in other process variables.
A plot of a cell's voltage (V) versus potline amperage (A) over a short time period is mostly linear with a positive non-zero intercept (I) value that is almost impossible to accurately measure in a practical way at any given moment. The slope of this line is another way to describe the PR variable. It seems that the choice of the PR variable as the control variable was the logical one, when automated control was first instituted because the linear relationship of V and A was so obvious to everyone. Thus it may have happened that the choice for using another control variable less subject to intrinsic error was overlooked, since the slope (i.e. PR) relationship between voltage and amperage was so obvious. There is a general agreement that the use of the term pseudo-resistance is an appropriate one for the slope of this relationship. PR is not a true resistance value even though it often incorrectly appears in the literature bearing units of micro-ohms. It is well known that different combinations of bath variables and anode/cathode gaps produce different linear relationships of voltage versus amperage. This has been shown to be true from many years of experience using the PR variable in potline control since the advent of process computer control decades ago. It became generally obvious from the beginning of the automated control period that there would be utility in calculating a slope value (PR) for a given voltage/amperage data point to obtain a hopefully useful predictor of the state of a cell, as potline amperages varied for reasons pointed out previously. It seemed reasonable and prudent to select the obvious pseudo-resistance (PR) value as a control variable in potline automated control at that time, since the linear voltage relationship was so well known in all quarters. The PR variable was adopted throughout the industry as a first step in describing the state of the cell as voltage/amperage data is sampled from cells in a potline. The PR variable is still very widely, if not exclusively, used for process control in modern aluminum smelters.
Downstream processing of the PR variable to obtain a better image of the state of a pot and what changes may be taking place on a real time basis is common practice and takes many forms. These innovations have taken on sophisticated roles and have been used for improving aluminum process control over the years and have resulted in significant cell voltage reductions and alumina feed control improvements. The industry has made large strides in reducing unit energy consumption as well as environmental fluoride emissions using these methods, but there is a never ending need in the art for further progress.


A fastener assembly which allows relatively heavy objects to be attached to either a hollow or a solid core wall by distributing the weight of such objects along a relatively long axial plane of support defined by an elongated cantilever structure. The apparatus includes an elongated tubular body having a flange or face plate at its proximal end. The tubular body defines an axial cavity dimensioned to receive a correspondingly dimensioned support member. When inserted into a properly dimensioned hole formed in a suitable support structure such, for example as a wall, ceiling, or floor, the rear face of the face plate contacts the portion of the support structure surface which surrounds the hole. The elongated tubular body, as well as the support member received therein, is maintained in position by an anchoring member which is disposed proximate the distal end of the tubular body. The anchor member comprises a base portion defining a central, threaded aperture. A plurality of elongated wings extend from the base portion in a direction toward the face plate of the tubular body. The wings are bendable in the direction of the tubular body to allow the anchoring member to be inserted through the wall hole. A threaded member inserted through the elongated body into the threaded aperture of the anchoring member is rotated to draw the wings of the anchoring member into contact with the inside surface of the wall panel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to wall fasteners and in particular to fasteners used to secure objects to both solid core walls and hollow walls made of lightweight material, such as gypsum board or the like.
2. Description of the Background Art
Wall fasteners are typically installed in solid core walls or in hollow walls made of lightweight material, such as gypsum board, to attach objects to the wall. Such fasteners are useful in supporting relative heavy objects, such as framed pictures or shelves that are attached to the wall. According to prior practice, for example, fasteners installed in hollow walls are comprised of a threaded member, such as a bolt or screw, and an anchoring mechanism. Rotation of the threaded member causes the anchoring mechanism to expand and contact the inside of the wall to anchor the fastener in place. Common examples of such fasteners are the so-called "toggle" bolts and "moly" bolts. Various types of fasteners are described in the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 4,136,599; 4,086,840; 4,077,300; 3,905,570; 3,874,264; 3,869,958; 3,752,032; 3,701,302; 3,605,846; 3,555,960; 3,534,797; 3,487,746; 3,366,405; 3,315,558; 3,211,044; 3,136,350; 3,104,582; and 1,978,935.
One problem associated prior art fasteners of the above type is that a portion of the anchoring mechanism is usually received within the hole in the wall through which the fastener is inserted. Therefore, stress exerted by heavy objects attached to the fastener on the outside of the wall may cause the fastener to pull outwardly through the opening. Another problem is that the fasteners must be carefully installed to insure that they are not over-torqued. Continued twisting of the threaded bolt or screw after the anchoring mechanism has contacted the inner surface of the wall will cause the anchoring mechanism to twist and dig into the inner surface of the wall. This digging action gouges the periphery of the wall hole, which causes the fastener to fit loosely within the wall and thereby increases the likelihood that the fastener will become dislodged from the wall.
Additionally, the supporting capacity/strength of conventional fastening structures is limited by a relatively short axis of rotation in the axial plane. As will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art, this axis is defined by the distance between the points of support provided by the anchoring assembly and threaded member. In the case of prior art configurations such, for example, as the "moly" bolt, this distance is equivalent to the thickness of the wall or wallboard and is typically far too short to support large or heavy objects due to the high concentration of stresses over such a small area.


The present disclosure provides step-down rectifier circuit includes a rectifier module, a charge pump module, a filter unit, and a control unit. The rectifier module includes a first bridge arm unit connected to in-phase output terminal of an alternating current signal and a second bridge arm unit connected to out-of-phase output terminal of the alternating current signal. The charge pump module includes a first voltage converter unit and a second voltage converter unit in parallel. The control unit is configured to output a first pulse width modulation signal to control the on and off of the switch transistors in the rectifier module, and output a second pulse width modulation signal to control the on and off of the switch transistors in the charge pump module, such that an operating frequency of the charge pump module is a positive integer multiple of the frequency of the alternating current signal.

At present, it is common to wirelessly charge batteries in smart phones. Since a wireless charging transmitter transmits energy in the form of a magnetic field, the energy of the magnetic field needs to be converted to electric energy using a wireless charging receiver. For high efficiency, coils of the wireless charging receiver are capable of operating at an operating voltage reaching 20 V to reduce power consumption of resistance in the coils. However, a maximum operating voltage of a single battery is less than 5 V. For a minimum power loss during charging of the battery, a high-efficient DC/DC conversion is needed to lower the output voltage of the wireless charging receiver to 5 V or even lower. A charge pump-based DC/DC converter is a main topological structure for achieving such voltage conversion. Under a 2:1 voltage down conversion ratio, the efficiency may reach 98%.
For a single-battery power supply system, two charge pump-based DC/DC converters need to be cascaded (first 4:2 and then 2:1), to lower the output voltage (up to 20 V) of the wireless charging receiver to the voltage (up to 5 V) of the single battery. Therefore, three integrated circuit chips are used in front of the battery.
In practice, the wireless charging receiver and the high-voltage 4:2 charge pump are generally placed together to be proximal to the coils of the wireless charging receiver, and the low-voltage 2:1 charge pump is placed to be proximal to a battery connector. This is because an output current of the 2:1 charge pump is four times an output current of the wireless charging receiver. A device with such high output current needs to be placed close to the load thereof, to reduce power consumption of the resistors in a PCB as much as possible. In a smart phone system, configuration of such components allows the wireless charging receiver and the high-voltage charge pump to be integrated in a single device.
A conventional down converting and rectification scheme in a wireless charging receiver is generally as illustrated in FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, although the wireless charging receiver and the charge pump are integrated, the two parts of circuitry operate independently. The characteristic lies in that output of the wireless charging receiver circuit Vrect and input of the charge pump down converting circuit VPMID are filtered by CRECT and CPMID respectively to achieve the behavior of a voltage source, such that the two parts of circuitry are cascaded but capable of operating relatively independently.
However, in some applications that impose a stricter requirement on output ripples, capacitances of filter capacitors CRECT, CPMID and COUT (including the input capacitance of a latter-stage circuit) in the circuit of FIG. 1 are often far greater than those of CFLY1 or CFLY2. In this case, during the process of charging the capacitor CFLY1 or CFLY2, due to the very uneven current distribution, a lot of additional charge transfer loss may be caused, thereby resulting in that power conversion efficiency is not optimal. In some applications which are sensitive to the number of peripheral devices and an occupied board area, the output filter capacitor COUT, capacitances of the input filter capacitors CRECT and CPMID tend to be close to that of CFLY1 or CFLY2 even less than that of CFLY1 or CFLY2. In this case, the output ripples of the rectifier may be passed on to the charge pump circuit, such that the two parts cannot operate fully decoupled, resulting in a reduction in power conversion efficiency. In addition, since the traditional system control scheme adopts a charge pump operating frequency that is not related to a coil current frequency, the operations of the rectifier and the charge pump fail to be coordinated to optimize the power conversion efficiency.

Step-down rectifier circuit, wireless charging receiver chip, and wireless charging receiver


To suppress a decrease in durability due to abrasion or breakage caused by a reduction of a supporting area of a stopper at the time a wrench is inputted. An inner cylinder and an outer cylinder are connected by an insulator. An inner cylinder side stopper of concave curve surface is formed on an outer circumference of an intermediate part in the longitudinal direction of the inner cylinder. On the other hand, an outer cylinder side stopper that projects toward the inner cylinder side stopper is provided on an outside of the inner cylinder side stopper. The outer cylinder side stopper is relatively moved in a recessed space of the inner cylinder side stopper so as to regulate the reduction of the supporting area.

There is publicly known a suspension bushing of the type that is used in a connecting portion between a suspension arm and a vehicle body. As this type of bushing, there is known the bushing which has an inner and outer cylinders which are arranged concentrically with each other, an elastic body which provides a connection between these cylinders, and a pair of stoppers which projects in an opposed fashion from the inner and outer cylinders (as an example, see a patent reference 1).
This example is shown in FIG. 6. FIG. 6 is a longitudinal cross sectional view of a suspension bushing taken in the axial direction of an inner cylinder, in which the suspension bushing is provided with the inner cylinder 110, an outer cylinder 120 and an insulator 130.
In a middle portion in the longitudinal direction of the inner cylinder 110, there is provided a pair of inner cylinder side stoppers 140 which has a substantially globular shaped curve and projects outwardly. In a middle portion in the longitudinal direction of the outer cylinder 120, there is provided a pair of outer cylinder side stoppers 150 which projects inwardly in opposed positions to the inner cylinder side stoppers 140. Each of surfaces of the inner cylinder side stoppers 140 and the outer cylinder side stoppers 150 is covered with an elastic body layer.
This suspension bushing is arranged in such a condition that a center axis L0 of the inner cylinder 110 extends in the vertical direction of a vehicle body (in the upward and downward direction of the drawing). The outer cylinder 120 is fixed on the vehicle body and the inner cylinder 110 is mounted on a suspension arm. This type of arrangement of the suspension bushing is referred to as "vertical insertion". In accordance with movement of the suspension, an input in the vertical direction, an input in the horizontal direction lying at right angles to the vertical direction and an input in the wrenching direction in which the center axis L0 is tilted by a suitable angle θ for example so as to become L1 are applied to the suspension bushing. These vibration inputs are absorbed by an insulator 130, and at the time of the large inputs in the horizontal direction and in the wrenching direction, the inner cylinder side stopper 140 and the outer cylinder side stopper are brought into contact with each other to regulate large displacement.


The present disclosure discloses a distributed radio management system that is capable of dynamically tuning a radio antenna to a particular radio frequency channel and/or radio frequency band. The disclosed network device includes a transceiver, an antenna, and a component on a wireless signal path between the transceiver and the antenna. The component includes functionality to dynamically switch between processing signals corresponding to a first radio frequency band and processing signals corresponding to a second radio frequency band. Moreover, the component also may include functionality to dynamically switch between processing signals and refraining from processing wireless signals that are received by the component.

Wireless digital networks, such as networks operating under the current Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards, are spreading in their popularity and availability. In a wireless local area network (WLAN) deployment, a number of clients can be connected to the same wireless network via one or more access points. The speed of WLAN has been drastically improved and will likely match the wired speed in the edge networking in the near future. Also, wireless management and security are both in a rapidly growing area. Meanwhile, IEEE 802.11 a/g radios are available as a single chip solution at a cheap cost, which allows most clients to be dual band capable.
The load on a wireless medium is typically handled by one or more radios residing on an access point (AP). Conventionally, APs are designed to use the radios statically. For example, one radio may be assigned to serve as an IEEE 802.11 a radio, whereas another radio may be assigned to serve as an IEEE 802.11 g radio. Thus, to support dual band mode, the AP will need at least two radios to be powered up, which consumes more power than a single radio. On the other hand, it shall be noted that the WLAN chipset supports both IEEE 802.11 a and IEEE 802.11 g radios in a single chip. The chip is usually statically programmed to be supporting either an IEEE 802.11 a or an IEEE 802.11 g radio.
Also, multiplexing operations may overload the radio, and thus causing compromised transmission quality and/or radio performance. In some scenarios, in order to serve the area better, one of the AP's radios needs to be disabled. The AP vendor will need to statically define when programming the WLAN chip whether and which steams should be disabled when deploying the AP, so that the AP can serve its installed area better.
Conventionally, an AP is powered by a Power over Ethernet (PoE) port in compliance with IEEE 802.1 of standard. With the latest technologies, APs are equipped with high capabilities and may require high power from a PoE+ port in compliance with IEEE 802.1 at standard. Nonetheless, using the PoE+ port requires infrastructure changes that may not be desirable to be configured in the AP statically.
Sometimes, a separate AP is dedicated for spectrum monitoring. This approach has the drawback of requiring more APs to be installed. Sometimes, an AP is configured to be running in a hybrid mode that performs both air scanning and air monitoring functions. This approach may compromise the performance in serving clients, because the AP needs to switch off its operating channel (on which the AP's clients are connected) to collect Fast Fourier transform (FFT) samples on other channels and performing other air monitoring functionalities.
In order to provide a secure network environment, an AP needs to perform air scanning periodically to detect rogue APs. Adaptive Radio Management (ARM) is one of major functionality of the AP to switch off the operating channel, to scan other channels, and to collect statistical data, including interference data, etc. The ARM functionality is useful in poor radio frequency (RF) environments with a large number of clients and AP's. On the other hand, when the network load is very high and clients are more active, it can be difficult for the AP to switch off its operating channel to perform ARM functionalities.
Last but not least, currently, the wireless intrusion and protection is usually performed by parsing all incoming packets to an AP. However, the AP may hit its limitations to receive packets if its radios are serving a large number of clients. Moreover, the wireless intrusion and protection may also require the AP to switch off channel to perform scanning on other channels, for example, when an intrusion is detected near the AP's physical location on a different channel. As mentioned above, with a heavy load of clients, the AP may not have the capacity to perform such wireless intrusion and protection functionalities.


A bone cutting assembly includes a manually actuated upper cutting element that carries a plurality of cutting blades configured to cut through frozen bone segments. A lower cutting element supports a bone segment to be cut and can include cutting blades aligned with the cutting blades of the upper cutting assembly. A pivoting linkage or a rack and pinion arrangement can be provided between the upper cutting element and a manually operated handle to provide sufficient mechanical advantage or leverage to allow an operator to manually cut through the bone.

The present disclosure concerns an apparatus useful for recovering live bone marrow.
Bone marrow for clinical purposes is harvested from HLA matched siblings or optimally matched unrelated donors (MUD). Other graft sources are mismatched haploidentical related or unrelated donors and umbilical cord blood (CB). When transplanted into patients with certain diseases, the hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in the donor bone marrow engraft in the patient and reconstitute immune and hematopoietic systems.
Bone marrow is also a source for mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs) which are self-renewing, multipotent progenitor cells with multilineage potential to differentiate into cell types of mesodermal origin, such as adipocytes, osteocytes, and chondrocytes. In addition, MSCs can migrate to sites of inflammation and exert potent immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory effects through interactions between lymphocytes associated with both the innate and adaptive immune system.
Currently bone marrow is typically collected through a hole created in the outer bone with a trocar needle. A bone marrow aspiration needle is then introduced into the hole and a syringe is used to draw the marrow out of the bone. The syringes are then removed from the sterile field and connected to a collection bag containing anticoagulants. The marrow is pushed into the bag. This step is repeated many times, typically in both pelvic bones, and can often result in contamination of the aspirate.
Once recovered, bone marrow can be cryopreserved and banked for future use. This is typically done using a cryoprotectant agent (CPA) such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) with or without a carbohydrate, such as hydroxyethyl starch (HES), in a balanced electrolyte solution with or without a protein supplement, such as human or animal serum, platelet lysate, or albumin and with or without added growth factors. Cells are cooled slowly (−1° C. to −5° C./min) down to an intermediate, low sub-zero temperature and then transferred to final storage in vapor or liquid nitrogen.
Optimal cryopreservation techniques for bone marrow should be effective when applied to the whole tissue, with the idea that stem cells would be isolated following thawing, assuming adequate permeation of the cells to the CPA. Immediate cryopreservation of tissues is more practical than direct primary isolation of stem cells, which requires further processing and expense.
It is often optimal to cryopreserved whole bone to be subsequently processed for extraction of the bone marrow. To adequately cryopreserve bone for subsequent post thaw processing, the bone must be cooled very slowly (with cryoprotective agents) e.g. with cooling rates of −0.1° to −4.0° C. per min. However, to successfully recover live cells rapid warming is required (e.g. >50° C./min). While cooling rates can readily be applied in a slow manner, warming large volumes of bone quickly is problematic. Consequently, there is a need for an apparatus that can reduce the whole cryopreserved bone to smaller pieces that can then be placed into a warming medium immediately to allow rapid thaw.

Cutting apparatus for bioprocessing bone


A strain-gauge transducer comprises a strain gauge enclosed between pressure members which deform the strain gauge, the strain gauge comprising a plate-shaped substrate provided with strain-detection elements. At least one spring having a flexibility larger than that of the substrate is arranged between the strain gauge and at least one of the pressure members, said substrate and said spring being in contact with one another so as to be jointly subjected to deformations. The spring may be a blade spring, a helical spring, or a cylindrical buffer spring. The excursions of the pressure members can be limited by means of stops. In the case of a blade spring the contact between the substrate and the spring can be controlled by giving the substrate a toothed shape or by providing it with contact elements.

The invention relates to a strain-gauge transducer comprising:
a strain gauge enclosed between pressure members, the strain gauge comprising a plate-shaped substrate provided with strain-detection elements, PA1 at least one spring arranged between said substrate and one of the pressure members so as to be deformed in conjunction with said substrate by pressures exerted by the pressure members.
Such a transducer is used for the detection or measurement of forces, in particular in force transducers. By means of these transducers it is possible to construct, for example, scales, load detectors etc.
In the analysis of the strength of materials it is known to place a sample on two supports and subsequently exert pressure on the other side of the sample in the middle of the two supports, use being made of its bending capacity. A similar device is utilised for measuring forces in transducers employing strain gauges formed by resistors arranged on a rigid substrate: two supports are fixedly connected to a first pressure member and the support arranged opposite thereto is fixedly connected to a second pressure member. This is described in, for example, "Strain sensitivity of thick-film resistors", J. S. SHAH, IEEE Trans. CHMT-3, no. 4, 1980, p. 554. The supports may be knife-edge supports. The knife-edge supports should be accurately parallel to one another, which requires accurate machining of the various elements.
A strain gauge generally comprises resistive elements whose resistance value varies with the deformation of the support on which they are arranged. Generally, several resistive elements are used which are connected in a Wheatstone bridge arrangement. In this way it is possible to obtain an electric signal which is directly proportional to the flexure of the support independently of temperature variations.
Thus, the document DE-B-1,001,832 describes a transducer element constructed as a symmetrical spring having two blades, of which one blade is provided with resistive elements, the deformation of the blade enabling pressure forces applied to the transducer element to be determined. The two blades are connected to one another in such a way that their deformations are equal and oppositely directed.
In order to ensure that the measurement by means of a transducer is linear and accurate the support which is used should have reproducible and linear mechanical properties. This is an advantage of gauges formed by a ceramic plate on which a resistive ink is deposited by screen-printing. Indeed, the ceramic plate has a very large elasticity range, which is limited only by the breaking point of the ceramic plate itself. There is neither plastic deformation nor hysteresis. For operation near the breaking point a means is required which prevents this point from being overstepped.
On the other hand, a strain-gauge transducer is mainly intended for use in consumer applications, for example in scales or all kinds of force transducers. For such consumer applications perfectly machined elements cannot be used for reasons of cost. This leads to the use of elements of imperfect flatness, parallelism and structure. The technologies used should therefore be free from the restraints associated with large series, in particular spreads of mechanical tolerances of the parts. It is to be noted that for the ceramic plates used the deflection to be utilised is small. Moreover, the ceramic plates for mass-production uses are commercially available plates, which are generally non-polished and have a surface roughness or a curvature which may be even of the order of magnitude of the deflection amplitude. The mechanical tolerances are not constant from plate to plate. An adjustment may be correct for one plate and may be destructive or lead to inadequate deflection amplitudes for another plate. In practice, it is therefore difficult to limit or adjust the maximum deflection that can be handled by such a plate so as to obtain a correct operation without breaking.


A gas-assisted food decorating system is provided for applying frosting and the like to an item of food. The system includes a foot pedal assembly having a pedal housing and a movable pedal. A variable pressure valve assembly is disposed in the foot pedal assembly between the pedal housing and the pedal. An input hose extends between a source of pressurized gas and an input opening in the valve. An output hose extends between an output opening of the valve and a dispenser. The dispenser includes a chamber for holding the frosting, and a nozzle in communication with the chamber for dispensing the frosting. The flow of frosting can be controlled by manipulating the foot pedal assembly.

The subject invention relates to pressurized dispensing systems for dispensing a viscous liquid, and more particularly to systems for dispensing such liquid in a controlled way under variable pressures.
Persons skilled in the food dispensing arts have devised a number of systems for dispensing food in a controlled way. This is usefull in the case where the food is a viscous liquid, and it is desirable to dispense the food in a decorative or aesthetically pleasing way. For example, one age-old technique involves a hand-held frosting bag having a nozzle at one end for dispensing the frosting. There are a number of more sophisticated arrangements for dispensing frosting and the like under pressure for the purpose of decorating pastries, cakes, cookies, and other baked goods. U.S. Pat. No. 3,272,393 to Roeser shows a system having a pedal-operated dispenser that includes a variable pressure valve in fluid communication with a dispensing nozzle. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 6,041,977 to Lisi shows another pedal-operated system for dispensing frosting and the like. The Roeser system may provide somewhat better control over the fluid; and it does not rely on the undesirable use of water to drive the dispensing. But Roeser is unduly complicated and not sufficiently compact. Moreover, its configuration may lead to problems with fluid weeping out of the dispenser due to residual pressure acting on the dispenser.
The art needs a more efficient and elegant arrangement for dispensing food in a controlled way.
The present invention overcomes the problems of the prior art and provides a simple and useful gas-assisted food decorating system for applying a viscous fluid to an item of food. The system includes a foot pedal assembly having a pedal housing and a pedal movably secured to the pedal housing. A variable pressure valve assembly is disposed in the foot pedal assembly between the pedal housing and the pedal, the variable pressure valve assembly having an input opening and an output opening. An input hose is provided and has a first end connected to the input opening of the variable pressure valve and a second end adapted to connect to a source of pressurized gas. There is also an output hose having a first end connected to the output opening of the variable pressure valve and a remote second end. A dispenser is attached to the second end of the output hose, the dispenser including a chamber for holding the viscous fluid, and a nozzle in communication with the chamber for dispensing the fluid.
Foot pedal assemblies tend to be preferred over hand-actuated or trigger assemblies because the dispensers are not as bulky, and therefore permit a greater amount of control. The present invention is simple, compact, easy to use, and effective. The present invention is also configured to minimize the problem of material weeping out of the dispenser.


A lens barrel capable of preventing reflection of rays of light from a rectilinear motion-causing restriction member on the inner surface of the lens barrel. In a photographic lens unit, to drive an actuator provided on a third lens unit, a flexible wiring board as a current carrying member is connected thereto. This flexible wiring board is disposed in a manner covering the inner surface of a rectilinear motion-causing restriction portion to prevent the same from being exposed toward the optical axis. Further, the flexible wiring board has a surface thereof toward the optical axis subjected to antireflection processing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lens barrel and an image pickup apparatus provided with the lens barrel.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, film cameras using a silver salt film have been in widespread use, but recently, digital cameras which are capable of capturing an image into a memory without using a film have sprung into wide use. These digital cameras include one provided with a zoom mechanism for moving a plurality of optical lenses along the optical axis to thereby change the photographing magnification.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-324663 discloses an example of the construction of a zoom lens barrel. In this zoom lens barrel, a plurality of lens holding parts holding a plurality of lens are moved along the optical axis by a cam ring, and at the same time the motion of the lens holding parts in a direction of rotation is restricted by a rotation restricting part. With this construction, the optical lenses can be moved to a designated position.
In recent years, a rapid progress has been made toward a higher photographing magnification, and with this progress, the number of lens groups and the length of a lens barrel in its fully extended state tend to be increased, i.e. a zoom lens barrel tends to be increased in size. On the other hand, there is a strong demand for reduction of the thickness of a camera, and hence it is required to minimize the size of the zoom lens barrel in its retracted state. For the reduction of the thickness of a camera, it is envisaged to reduce the size of each of barrels of a zoom lens barrel in the optical axis direction and connect the barrels each having a reduced size such that the zoom lens barrel has a multi-stage construction with an increased number of barrels. For such reduction of camera thickness, there have already been proposed various methods.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-66081 shows an example of a lens barrel using a prism-shaped metal for size reduction. With this construction, barrels of the lens barrel can be partially held by the metal key which is reduced in thickness such that they can be moved rectilinearly. A lens barrel of this type is more excellent in space efficiency than a conventional lens barrel held by a plastic molded barrel for rectilinear motion, and therefore it is suitable for size reduction.
Further, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-21776 shows an example of a lens barrel having cam barrels connected in multiple stages. In this case as well, barrels of the lens barrel are partially held for rectilinear motion by a thin metal key, and therefore a lens barrel of this type is also suitable for size reduction.
In the case of the lens barrels disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-66081 and Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-21776, if a metal key for restriction to rectilinear motion is disposed on the inner peripheral surface of the lens barrel, rays of light having passed through the photographic lens are reflected from the metal key to form adverse effect-causing rays, which causes a phenomenon called "ghost". When this phenomenon is caused, an image different from an image which is actually picked up of an object appears in the output image, and hence it is required to prevent generation of "ghost".
As a preventive measure against the ghost, there has been proposed a method of directly applying antireflection coating to the metal key. In this case, it is required to properly apply the coating and obtain the antireflection effects. However, since the coating is performed on the metal surface, the resulting surface is sometimes still somewhat shiny, and it is difficult for the current techniques to fully prevent reflection of rays of light from the metal key. In view of these circumstances, a lens barrel is desired which is not only small-sized and thin, but also free from ghost.


A power distributing apparatus is provided to reduce the number of voltage converters. The power distributing apparatus 1 includes a power source part 4 for supplying a power of 42V, an electrical connection box 7 connected with the part 4 through a power line 5, and a plurality of electronic control units 8a, 8b . . . , 8n. The electrical connection box 7 has a regular-supply converter 9 to convert a high voltage of 42V to an intermediate voltage higher than a load voltage of 5V. The regular-supply converter 9 can exhibit a high conversion efficiency when the apparatus is operated under high load. Each of the electronic control units 8a, 8b . . . , 8n has a series regulator 14 to convert the intermediate voltage to the load voltage. Owing to the supply of voltage higher than the load voltage by the regular-supply converter 9, there is no need to consider inconvenience due to voltage drop between the converter and a remote load.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power distribution apparatus mounted on a vehicle (or the like) to distribute an electrical power to a variety of electrical loads in the vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
In the conventional vehicle adopting a power source part of 14V (voltage), the power distribution apparatus includes an electrical connection box to which high-voltage power is supplied from the power source part, and a plurality of electronic control units connected to the electrical connection box through power lines, the electronic control units each having a built-in series regulator to which the high-voltage power is distributed. In operation, the high-voltage power from the electrical connection box is converted into a low-voltage power by the series regulators in the electronic control units. Then, the so-converted, low-voltage is supplied to a plurality of electrical loads connected to respective electronic control units.
Meanwhile, recently, there has been developed a "high-voltage" vehicle using a voltage of 42V, which is loaded with a motor generator effective to reduce fuel consumption. However, if the above-mentioned power distribution apparatus is applied to such a high-voltage vehicle, then the power distribution apparatus exhibits a remarkably-deteriorated conversion efficiency and also a great heat generation. That is, if the vehicle adopts a power source of 14V and further a voltage for each load is equal to 5V, then the series regulators each has an efficiency of 35.7% [=(14−5)/14]. While, if the vehicle adopts a power source of 42V and further a voltage for each load is equal to 5V, the series regulator will have an efficiency of 11.9% [=(42−5)/42].
Although there might be supposed a method of adopting a switching regulator in place of the series regulator, it is impossible to prevent a battery from going flat because the switching regulator has a deteriorated conversion efficiency when the apparatus is operated under light load. In order to solve this problem, there has been proposed a system where all electronic control units that require stand-by currents (e.g. keyless unit) are respectively equipped with stand-by current suppliers. In this system, when an ignition switch is turned on, the power supply is accomplished by the switching regulators. On the other hand, when the ignition switch is turned off, the power supply is accomplished by the stand-by current suppliers. However, since this system requires expensive switching regulators for the respective electronic control units and also requires stand-by current suppliers for all of the electronic control units that require stand-by currents, the manufacturing cost for the same system is elevated excessively.
In connection, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 10-84626 discloses another conventional power distributing apparatus where the electrical connection box is supplied with high-voltage power from the power source and also provided with a voltage converter which converts a high voltage into a low voltage (5V), so that the resultant low-voltage power is supplied to respective electronic control units. Owing to the provision of a single voltage converter, it is possible to construct the power distributing apparatus at low cost.
In this power distributing apparatus, however, there arises a problem of voltage drop in case of the power supply against electrical loads far from the voltage converter. In order to prevent such a faraway power supply, it is necessary to increase the number of voltage converters, causing the manufacturing cost to be elevated.
In addition, the voltage converter is required to meet requirements of the most severe electrical load in terms of converted voltage and temperature characteristics, causing the production cost of the apparatus to be elevated. Since the converter is apt to output with power fluctuations due to gain and loss in load currents, it is difficult to supply the plurality of loads with accurate powers.

Power distribution apparatus for distributing power to various electrical loads


A composition comprising an aromatic carbonate polymer and an amount of at least one solid cyclic aliphatic alcohol stabilizing compound sufficient to inhibit yellowing of the composition upon exposure to a sterilizing radiation, wherein said stabilizing compound is selected from the group consisting of 2,2,4,4-tetramethylcyclobutane-1,3-diol, 1,4-cyclohexanediol, and wherein said stabilizing compound is present in said composition in an amount of at least about 0.2 parts by weight per 100 parts by weight of said aromatic carbonate polymers.

The present disclosure relates to aromatic carbonate polymers and blends rendered resistant to coloring caused by exposure to sterilizing irradiation. More particularly, this disclosure relates to aromatic carbonate polymers and blends containing cyclic aliphatic alcohol compounds that are effective for color stabilizing the polymers and blends.
Aromatic carbonate polymers are well-known engineering thermoplastics with an excellent balance of optical, physical, mechanical, and processing characteristics. Various grades of aromatic carbonate polymers are widely used in a range of medical applications because of the material's transparency, toughness, rigidity, heat resistance, dimensional stability, and moldability in intricate parts. Many medical devices produced from aromatic carbonate polymers for example, dialysis and anesthesia canisters, syringes, stopcocks, blood oxygenators, cardiometry reservoirs, intravenous connectors and accessories, blood filters, trocars, stopcocks, luer locks, Y-sites, catheters, trays, dental instruments, pipettes, glucose meters, inhalers and centrifuge bowls, require sterilization to help ensure product safety. One of the most popular medical sterilization techniques includes exposing the device containing an aromatic carbonate polymer to ionizing irradiation. However, exposure of the aromatic carbonate polymers to radiation causes color formation, e.g., yellowing of the aromatic carbonate polymer.
A variety of additives have been tried to retard color formation, e.g., yellowing, to aromatic carbonate polymers after exposure to sterilizing radiation. Some additives e.g., liquid additives have shown positive effects towards retarding discoloration of the polymer after radiation sterilization, but these additives have certain disadvantages. They have lower flash points and hence at least some part of the additives lost during processing and also potential hazard while extruding the aromatic carbonate polymers comprising the liquid additives at elevated temperatures.
Hence, there is a need for new additives for use with aromatic carbonate polymer compositions that are easier to incorporate into the composition and at the same time provide inhibition to color formation that occurs after exposure to sterilizing radiation.

Radiation stable aromatic carbonate polymer compositions


A spectacle lens structure includes a light transmitting base plate having a serrated surface defining a hologram. A thin reflective coating having a planar outer surface is provided on the serrated surface to partially reflect an incident light and allow the remaining portion of the incident light to penetrate and diffract about the serration for the formation of the holographic image. The reflective coating may be of a refractive index quite different from that of the base plate so as to provide a brazed 3-D image. If the reflective coating is made of a material having a refractive index close to the base plate, then a further coating having a high refractive index, such as ZnS, has to be provided on the reflective coating to provide a brazed 3-D image.

Spectacles of different uses are known, among which sunglasses are used to protect the wearer's eyes from being damaged by intense sun light in outdoors activity or other intense light. Conventionally, some of the lenses of the sunglasses are made of PMMA (polymethyl methacrylate) acrylic material. An anti-ultraviolet agent may be mixed within the PMMA acrylic material, The PMMA acrylic material is molded, for example injection molding, to form a "primary lens" to be further processed. The "primary lens" may then be strengthened by for example soaking in chemicals and high temperature treatment, to enhance for example surface hardness. Finally, a thin layer of for example Cr is coated in a vacuum environment on the strengthened lens to (1) reflect a portion of the incident light and (2) provide the lens with different colors.
The conventional sunglass lens, however, provides very limited variation in the decorative surface aesthetics. Thus, sunglass lens having hologram structure formed thereon was developed, such as U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,665 which discloses a composite optical structure comprising a substrate having surface variation defining a hologram on which a thin layer of uniform thickness made of a partially light reflecting material having a uniform thickness is coated and an overcoat provided on the partially light reflecting material. The structure disclosed in the U.S. patent requires a sandwich structure wherein a partially light reflecting layer, such as an aluminum layer, is sandwiched between two outside layers. This increases the manufacturing cost for it has to provide a uniform thickness of the partially light reflecting layer.
Also, if a dielectric material, such as SiO, having a diffractive index very close to the substrate material, such as PMMA, is coated on the surface variation of the substrate, then the 3-D image formed by the hologram may not be bright enough to be observed by other persons.
It is therefore desired to provide a spectacle lens structure which is capable to provide a 3-D holographic image without the above-mentioned problems encountered in the prior art.

Spectacle lens structure with a planar reflective outer surface


This invention is directed to cryopreservation of harvested mammalian tissues and living cultured tissue equivalents made by in vitro technology. The invention involves immersing a mammalian tissue or cultured tissue equivalent in a cryoprotectant solution, agitating the cryoprotectant solution and the immersed tissue to achieve effective penetration of the cryoprotectant solution into the tissue, and then freezing the tissue at a very slow freezing rate at 0.3.degree. C. or less/min. In the freezing step, extracellular ice formation is initiated by seeding. The cryopreserved tissue may be stored for indefinite periods of time prior to use. The cultured tissue equivalent is an in vitro model of the equivalent human tissue, such as skin or cornea, which, when retrieved from storage can be used for transplantation or implantation in vivo or for screening compounds in vitro.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the cryopreservation of both harvested tissue and cultured tissue equivalents made using in vitro technology. By use of the cryopreservation technology, either cryopreserved harvested tissue or cryopreserved cultured tissue may be stored for indefinite periods of time prior to use. The cultured tissue is an in vitro model of the equivalent human tissue, which, when retrieved from storage, can be used for transplantation or implantation, in vivo, or for screening compounds in vitro.
2. Brief Description of the Background of the Invention
In vitro technology has developed tissue equivalents for the purposes of in vitro testing or in vivo grafting for wound repair. Methods of producing such tissue equivalents are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,485,096, 4,604,346, 4,835,102 and 5,374,515 and are incorporated herein by reference.
The shelf life of living tissues is limited and, subsequently, their window of use is short, resulting in much waste. There is a need to preserve such tissues for extended periods of time, as in shipping and storage, until their use. The development of a cryopreservation method would extend the window of use indefinitely, ease shipping and allow for the maintenance of an inventory. To enable an inventory of tissue at burn care centers and hospitals is also desirable. Other advantages are that samples can be retained from different stages of the manufacturing cycle for quality control archives and larger production batches can be made as they can be maintained in a frozen state.
Currently, the storage time of biological materials is extended by cooling to "cryogenic" temperatures. The transition from the liquid into the solid state by lowering the temperature of the system can take place either as crystallization (ice), involving an orderly arrangement of water molecules, or as vitrification or amorphization (glass formation), in the absence of such an orderly arrangement of crystalline phase. The challenge for a cryobiologist is to bring cells to cryogenic temperatures and then return them to physiological conditions without injuring them.
There are two basic approaches to cryopreservation of cells and tissues: freeze-thaw and vitrification. In freeze-thaw techniques, the extracellular solution is frozen (i.e., in crystalline form), but steps are taken to minimize the intracellular ice formation. In vitrification procedures, there is an attempt to prevent ice formation throughout the entire sample. The former approach is problematic in that if ice crystals are formed inside the cells, they are detrimental to cell viability upon thawing. However, cells could survive a freeze-thaw cycle if they are cooled at controlled rates in the presence of non-toxic levels of cryoprotectants. The latter approach of vitrification seeks to avoid potentially damaging affects of intra- and extracellular ice by depressing ice formation using very high concentrations of solutes and/or polymers. However, the cell damage may occur to long exposure to toxic levels of these additives required for vitrification.
Cryoprotectants protect living cells from the stresses involved in the freezing process. One way cryoprotectants protect cells is by diluting the salt that becomes increasingly concentrated in the unfrozen solution as water is transformed to ice. The amount of ice is dictated by the temperature and initial composition of the solution; whereas the amount of unfrozen fraction is a function of temperature only. Cryoprotectants have several other functions. An important one is that they usually reduce the intracellular ice formation temperatures. Another function is that they stabilize membranes and proteins.
All solutions will supercool below their freezing point until they find a random nucleation site for crystal formation. When cryopreserving by a freeze-thaw method, ice formation in the extracellular medium should be deliberately initiated by seeding at low degrees of supercooling. If ice formation is not induced by seeding, ice will form spontaneously when the solution is cooled sufficiently far below its equilibrium freezing point. Because this process is random in nature, ice formation will occur at random, unpredictable temperatures; consequently, survival rates will be highly variable between repeated trials with the same freezing protocol. Furthermore, the extremely rapid crystallization which results when ice forms in a highly supercooled solution can cause damage to cells and tissues. Moreover, it has been shown that if extracellular ice formation is initiated at high degrees of supercooling, the probability of intracellular ice formation is drastically increased. This phenomenon results from the delayed onset of freeze-induced cell dehydration, which results in increased retention of intracellular water, and thus higher likelihood of ice formation in the cell.
Once the extracellular ice is seeded and the sample is surrounded by the ice phase, it is necessary to cool the sample to a cryopreserved state. The cooling step is one of the most critical steps in a freeze-thaw protocol. Due to the formation of ice, i.e., pure water, the partially frozen extracellular solution is more concentrated than the intracellular compartment. As a consequence, the cell will dehydrate by losing water in an attempt to restore thermodynamic equilibrium. As the system cools, more extracellular ice is generated and the concentration of solutes rises and forces the cells to dehydrate further. There are three characteristics of the cells that control their rate of dehydration. One is the cell membrane water permeability; the lower the water permeability, the longer it takes for the cells to dehydrate. Another is the temperature dependence of the cell membrane water permeability; all cells decrease their water permeability with decreasing temperatures. The final is cell size; larger cells take longer to dehydrate than smaller cells. Given that each cell type may have drastically different characteristics, the optimal cryopreservation conditions can vary by orders of magnitude for different cell types.
Although the exact mechanisms of cell damage during cryopreservation has not yet been completely elucidated, characteristic survival signatures generated by measuring cell survival as a function of cooling rate appear to be qualitatively similar for all cell types and displays an inverted U shaped curve. Cell survival is low at very slow and very fast cooling rates, and there is an intermediate cooling rate yielding optimal survival. Even though the optimal cooling rate and the width of the curve can vary drastically for different cell types, the qualitative behavior appears to be universal. Faster cooling rates do not allow cells enough time to dehydrate and cells form ice internally. Cell injury at fast cooling rates is attributed to intracellular ice formation. At slow rates of cooling, cell injury is thought to be due to the effects of exposure to highly concentrated intra- and extracellular salt and cryoprotectant solutions or to the mechanical interactions between cells and the extracellular ice.
It is necessary to dehydrate the cells as much as possible before they cross the intracellular ice nucleation curve. It is at this point that practically all water remaining in the cell will nucleate and form ice. It is impractical to determine the exact temperature where this will happen but it is approximately -40.degree. C. to -50.degree. C. when the cells are slowly frozen in the presence of 1M to 2M concentrations of cryoprotectants. It is important to note that the amount of water that turns to ice inside a cell at this point may be innocuous when frozen, but if not thawed fast enough, it will expand and kill the cell upon thawing. (The Biophysics of Organ Cryopreservation, Pg. 117-140, edited by David E. Pegg and Armand M. Karow, Jr. NATO ASI Series A: Life Sciences Vol. 147 1987 Plenum Press, New York 233 Spring St., New York, N.Y. 10013).
Before the development of a commercially viable skin equivalent, cadaver skin was used for the purposes of grafting. Cryopreservation protocols were developed so that burn centers and hospitals could maintain skin banks. A number of different protocols were developed utilizing different cryoprotectants, freeze rates, packaging formats and storage conditions. Most researchers agreed upon a fast thaw protocol. The success or failure of the protocol was measured either by graft take to a wound bed or by cell viability assay.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,842,831 to Beisang is disclosed a method for the cryopreservation of cadaver skin patches. The method involves the attachment of the cadaver skin to a loosely woven scrim or backing and, together, the skin patches and the scrim are rolled prior to freezing. No cryoprotectant is employed, though the inventors suggest the use of either glycerin or DMSO. The freezing protocol employs a fast uncontrolled (fixed temperature) freeze rate protocol to a cryogenic temperature of -70.degree. C.
May S R and F A DeClement, Skin Banking Methodology, 17, 33-45 (1980), performed an evaluation of packaging geometry and cooling and warming rates using dermatome cadaver skin. The results suggested that cadaver skin be flat, rather than rolled, and that a slower controlled rate of freezing be employed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,770 to Tubo discloses a cryopreservation method for keratinocyte sheets that employs a cryoprotectant of a non-cell penetrating agent, such as dextran, and a cell penetrating reagent, such as glycerol, with a cooling rate of about -1.degree. C./minute. Similarly, EP 0 364 306 to Chao et al, discloses a method for cryopreserving a sheet of living, cultured epithelial cells but utilizing both DMSO and glycerol as a cryoprotectant and a freezing protocol of preferably -1.degree. C./minute.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,298,417 to Cancedda et al, discloses a cryopreservation protocol developed for single layer constructs such as epithelial sheets prepared as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,016,036, 4,304,866 and 4,456,687. Epidermal sheets were incubated with a cryoprotectant of either 8-15% glycerol or DMSO and were cryopreserved by employing a controlled rate protocol where the cooling rate is slower at the start than at the end of the protocol and is characterized by an increase in temperature before the culmination of the freezing procedure.
A method for the cryoprotection of dermal fibroblasts in a collagen gel was investigated by Teasdale et al, Burns, 19 (5) 406-410 (1993). Teasdale determined that optimum cell viability could be obtained by freezing at -0.5.degree. C./minute with DMSO as a cryoprotectant.
Nanchahal et al., "Cultured composite skin grafts: Biological skin equivalents permitting massive expansion," The Lancet, 2 (8565), 191-193 (Jul. 22, 1989), discusses a technique for storage of composite cultured tissue grafts utilizing a cryoprotectant of 15% glycerol and 10% FCS in Medium 199. The grafts and the cryoprotectant, were incubated at 37.degree. C. for two hours and were then frozen at -1.degree. C. per minute to -70.degree. C. and then stored in liquid nitrogen. After fast thawing of the grafts, their viability was determined by culturing for two weeks and by grafting to hairless mice. A final evaluation was made by grafting to three patients undergoing tattoo excision.
Johnstone et al. "Cryopreservation of Rabbit and Cat Corneas at -18.degree. to -24.degree. C.," Cornea, 11(3): 211-220 (1992), is directed to a simple procedure for cryopreservation of rabbit and cat corneas which utilizes a domestic freezer rather than liquid nitrogen or very low temperature freezers. Perfusion of cryopreservative is obtained by placing corneas in successive solutions of 50% fetal calf serum and McCarey-Kaufman medium with increasing glycerol and glucose content.
Using prior art methods, it is not possible to cryopreserve cultured tissue equivalents, in part because they are relatively thick and of heterogeneous cell layers. One of the functions of these tissues in vivo are to provide a permeability barrier. Tissue functions have to be considered in the development of a cryopreservation protocol. The present inventors have discovered a method for cryopreservation that is applicable to a number of cultured tissue equivalents and to mammalian skin, one that is a surprisingly effective and commercially practical method of cryopreservation.

Cryopreservation of harvested skin and cultured skin or cornea equivalents by slow freezing


A water tank overflow dechlorinating assembly is used with a water tank including an overflow pipe with exit above an overflow discharge region with an air gap between the two. The assembly includes a dechlorinating material delivery assembly comprising a guide tube having a material supply region and a perforated region positioned within the air gap. Overflow water passes through the perforated region for interaction with dechlorinating material therein. Depleted dechlorinating material within the perforated region is automatically replaced by dechlorinating material from the material supply region. A weight can be used to bias the dechlorinating material within the material supply region into the perforated region.

Potable water is typically stored in large tanks or similar structures so it is available for use at a later time. Chlorine is often used in the treatment process to ensure the water is potable and remains safe for use after it leaves the treatment facilities. As such, the potable water has a residual chlorine concentration while in the distribution system and in storage tanks. While there are valves and other operational controls to regulate the amount of water that goes into water storage tanks, there may be an occurrence where too much water is pumped into a water storage tank due to control or valve malfunctions. When this happens, the excess water flows out of the water storage tank through an overflow pipe where it is discharged directly, or indirectly, onto the ground adjacent to the water storage tank. This can be an environmental issue because of the possible deleterious effects of the chlorine in the discharged water on plant and animal life. This is reflected in the regulations limiting the concentration of chlorine in water that can be discharged into the environment to less than 20 parts per billion in some areas of California.
In addition to free chlorine, certain chloramines, such as NH2Cl, are also used as a disinfectant in municipal water supplies. As used in this application, chlorine shall include both free chlorine and chloramines. Therefore, removing or neutralizing or eliminating chlorine using dechlorinating material will refer to material suited for use with one or both of free chlorine and chloramines.
In response to the requirement for removing, neutralizing or eliminating chlorine from water being discharged into the environment, various types of flow-through devices have been created. One type of flow-through device, sold as the Dechlor Demon by Hydro Flow Products, Inc., of Arlington Heights, Ill., uses an in-line device to divert a portion of the water flowing through the device into a mixing tank containing a concentrated dechlorinating agent. That water, which has excess dechlorinating agent, is then directed back into the in-line device where it mixes with and dechlorinates the main flow of water through the device. Another type of a water diverter flow-through device introduces a measured amount of a dechlorination chemical into water passing through a pipe. The device uses a similar principle as used to meter fertilizer to water flowing through a hose. A third type of flow-through device passes all the water through a cup-shaped screen containing dechlorination tablets for removal of the chlorine. One example of this type of device is sold by Saratoga Safeguard Solutions of Ballston Spa, N.Y., as the Hydro Hitch Eco-Suspender. All of these devices are typically used to treat water being discharged from a fire hydrant.

Tank overflow dechlorinating assembly and method