An apparatus for electrolytically coating small parts, e.g. by electrophoretic deposition from a liquid coating agent, has a screw-type conveyor which can have a tube open at opposite ends to form an inlet and outlet for the parts which are advanced through the tube by screw conveyor means like a helical ribbon. The inlet side of the tube is immersed in a basin of the liquid coating agent whose side walls and front wall form weirs determining the level of the liquid coating agent in the tube while the liquid passes from the tube into a catch basin beyond the rear wall through perforations in the tube. The contacts traversing the tube wall are electrically-conductively coupled to the parts and are tied to one terminal of the DC power source whose other terminal is connected to a plate immersed in the dipping basin.

Electrophoretic enamelling is performed with known apparatuses in which a coating agent is deposited cathodically or anodically on small metal parts. This apparatus can consist of a closed drum in which the small metal parts are placed.
In addition, the coating agent is also placed in the drum; the inside of the drum is made so as to be electrically conductive and is connected to one pole of a power source, whereas the coating agent is connected to the other pole of the power source.
During operation of the drum, the small metal parts assume the same potential as the drum, so that the coating agent with the opposite potential is deposited on the small parts. The process for coating such small parts is extremely costly because the drum must first be filled with the small parts, and then the coated or electrophoretically enamelled small parts have to be removed from the drum once again. Using the prior art, only a discontinuous mode of operation is possible, so that the production rate per unit time of small parts is confined to narrow limits.

Apparatus for electrolytically coating small parts


An improved dual metallization process in which self-aligned tungsten contacts are formed to closely-spaced emitter or source sites in RF power silicon devices. Low-resistivity ohmic contacts are made by selectively depositing tungsten on the exposed silicon surfaces as a first metal layer without a photomasking process and after a dielectric layer deposition and via opening process. The metallization process is completed by depositing a second metal or polysilicon layer on the dielectric layer and through vias to selected tungsten contacts. The tungsten combines with doped silicon in the emitter or source regions to form the low-resistivity ohmic contacts without the requirement of a platinum or palladium deposition and siliciding step as in prior art. The tungsten is preferably chemical-vapor-deposited in a two-temperature step when a first few hundred Angstroms of tungsten are grown at a low temperature on the order of 250.degree. C.-350.degree. C. to avoid metal encroaching into the side of the shallow emitter or source diffusions and shorting the device. After a few hundred Angstroms of slow tungsten growth, the temperature may be raised up to the order of 400.degree.C.-650.degree. C. to increase the deposition rate of the tungsten.

This invention relates generally to semiconductor devices such as RF transistors, and more particularly the invention relates to RF transistors and integrated circuits employing dual metallization (including polysilicon) with a self-aligned first metal layer.
High-power, high-frequency silicon transistors have low pitch or closely-spaced emitter or source sites. As the device pitch or distance between emitter or source sites is reduced, single-layer metallization becomes difficult to employ in device fabrication. Accordingly, a number of dual-metallization schemes has been proposed to relieve the fabrication constraints as well as improve reliability encountered by the single-layer metal system. However, these dual-layer metal systems for high-power, high-frequency devices utilize conventional techniques that require a mask alignment and photoresist patterning of the first and second metal layers with associate problems of image positioning, photoresist development, accuracy of image transfer, and etch. Thus, there exists a need for providing a method of processing dual-layer metal RF power silicon device structures to overcome the problems attendant with prior-art devices and techniques.

Method of making RF transistor employing dual metallization with self-aligned first metal


An image processing apparatus includes: a data storage section configured to store image data as a density image containing a fingerprint or a palm print and ridge pattern direction distribution data which shows a direction distribution of a ridge pattern in a fingerprint or a palm print; a direction usage image enhancing section configured to execute ridge direction usage image enhancement processing on the density image based on the ridge pattern direction distribution data; and a direction extracting section configured to extract a first direction distribution of a first pattern which is contained in a ridge direction usage image enhanced image, from the ridge direction usage image enhanced image as a result of the ridge direction usage image enhancement processing to the density image. The direction usage image enhancing section executes first direction usage image enhancement processing on the density image based on first direction distribution data which shows a first direction distribution.

A fingerprint including a plurality of ridges like a curved stripe pattern is characterized by permanence and uniqueness. Therefore, the fingerprint has been used for criminal investigation since long ago. In particular, matching using latent fingerprints left at a crime scene is effective investigating means. In recent years, many police agencies have introduced a fingerprint matching system using a computer.
However, many of images of latent fingerprints are low quality and include noise, and therefore judgment by a judge or automatization of the judgment is difficult. The images of the latent fingerprints include: an image of overlapped fingerprints in which ridges of two fingerprints overlap with each other; and an image including blur that forms into a curved stripe pattern. If one of the overlapped fingerprints is handled as a processing target, the other one can be regarded as background noise like a curved stripe pattern. The background noise like a curved stripe pattern is hereinafter referred to as curved stripe pattern noise. The blur forming a curved stripe pattern also corresponds to the curved stripe pattern noise.
The curved stripe pattern noise is the same as a fingerprint as a processing target (a target fingerprint) in that the both have curved stripe patterns. Accordingly, it is difficult to extract only a target fingerprint from the overlapped fingerprints, or remove blur forming a curved stripe pattern to prevent a target fingerprint from deteriorating.
An image processing method related to the present invention will be described below.
Non-patent literature 1 discloses a technique that applies a Fourier transformation to remove background noise. This technique is thought to be effective when periodic noise linearly appears in one direction, but have only a limited effect for curved stripe pattern noise. For example, in a region where a direction of a ridge of a target fingerprint and a direction of curved stripe pattern noise are close to each other, not only the curved stripe pattern noise but also the ridge of the target fingerprint may disappear. Further, even a ridge of a target fingerprint in a region where there is no noise may be deteriorated.
Patent literature 1 discloses a method for obtaining a direction distribution of a stripe pattern. In this method, an operator specifies a region and a direction indicating line in an image of the stripe pattern. The direction distribution of the stripe pattern in the region is obtained on the basis of the direction indicating line.
Also, various methods that extract directions and periodicity of fingerprint ridges, and perform a filtering process suitable for the directions and periodicity to enhance the fingerprint ridges are proposed. For example, Non-patent literature 2 and Patent literature 2 disclose such a method. However, such a method is thought not to be effective when directions and periodicity of ridges of a target fingerprint cannot be accurately extracted due to the influence of curved stripe pattern noise.
On the other hand, it is known that a local image enhancement method such as an Adaptive Contract Stretch method or Adaptive Histogram Equalization method is effective in removing local background noise. In the local image enhancement method, it is important to appropriately set a reference region for image enhancement.
Patent literature 3 discloses a technique that, by executing local image enhancement to a curved stripe pattern image including target fingerprint ridges and the curved stripe pattern noise based on directions of curved stripe pattern noise, a component of the curved stripe pattern noise is removed to enhance the target fingerprint ridges. In the local image enhancement, a reference region as a local region including a pixel of the curved stripe pattern image is set so as to be along a direction of the curved stripe pattern noise at a position of the pixel, and a density value of the pixel after the local image enhancement is calculated on the basis of a density histogram of the reference region.
According to the technique in Patent literature 3, when the number of curved stripe pattern noises is one (e.g., when the curved stripe pattern image includes, in addition to a target fingerprint, only one fingerprint that overlaps with the target fingerprint), the target fingerprint ridges can be enhanced. However, when the number of curved stripe pattern noises is two or more (e.g., when the curved stripe pattern image includes, in addition to the target fingerprint, two or more fingerprints that overlap with the target fingerprint), it is impossible to enhance only the target fingerprint ridges. Further, in a region where a direction of the curved stripe pattern noise is coincide with a direction of any of the target fingerprint ridges, the target fingerprint ridge is removed by the local image enhancement based on the direction of the curved stripe pattern noise.
Patent literature 4 discloses a stripe pattern direction determining system. The stripe pattern direction determining system uses a fact that a change in density along the same direction as stripes in a stripe pattern grayscale image is small, and a change in density along a direction orthogonal to the stripes is large, and thereby obtains a direction of a stripe in a pixel of the stripe pattern grayscale image.
Patent literature 5 discloses an image processing apparatus. The image processing apparatus divides an inputted fingerprint image into a plurality of small regions, performs a two-dimensional Fourier transformation for each of the small regions, and determines a direction of a fingerprint ridge in each of the small regions on the basis of a result of the two-dimensional Fourier transformation.

Image processing apparatus for analyzing and enhancing fingerprint images


A heat-developable image-recording material comprising an organic silver salt, a reducing agent, and an organic binder, wherein the material further comprises a compound represented by the following formula (I) or (II): ##STR1##. wherein R.sup.1 is a group selected from the group consisting of hydrogen atom, an alkyl group, an aryl group, hydroxyl group, amino group, thiol group, an alkoxyl group, and thioether group; and R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 may be the same or different and represent hydrogen atom or 1 to 4 functional groups.

Heat-developable image-recording materials that can produce images by using the heat development process have been known, and disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,152,904, 3,457,075, and "Imaging Processes and Materials", Neblette's 8th edition, pp.279-291 (1969). The image-recording materials disclosed in the aforementioned literature comprise a silver source which can be reduced (for example, organic silver salt), a catalytically active amount of photocatalyst (for example, silver halide), a color-tone adjustor for controlling tonality of silver, and a reducing agent, which are dispersed in a binder. Such heat-developable image-recording materials are stable at an ambient temperature, but they form blackened silver through oxidation-reduction reaction of the reducible silver salt and the reducing agent when they are heated to an elevated temperature (e.g., 120.degree. C.) after light exposure. This reaction is promoted by catalytic action of latent image generated by the light exposure.
As another image-forming scheme, when the materials do not contain the catalytic amount of silver halide, blackened images can also be obtained by imagewise tracing at an elevated temperature on the materials with a thermal head.
Such image-formation methods require no processing solution such as a developer, and provide images only by heating. The methods do not generate sulfite gas, ammonia gas and the like, and therefore, the materials have been focused as recording materials used in image-forming apparatuses utilizing laser rays. Laser image-forming apparatuses have been used in various fields such as image-forming apparatuses for medical use, photomechanical reproduction, and other industrial use.
These heat-developable recording materials generally require heating at a temperature of 110.degree. C. or higher for 10 seconds to 60 seconds. Output speeds have become faster with the progress of laser image-forming apparatuses, and it has been desired to improve sensitivity and developing speed of the recording materials. In recent years, especially as heat-developable recording materials for photomechanical reproduction, materials utilizing infectious development with an ultrahigh contrast agent have been developed. However, since the infectious development requires prolonged heating time, it has been desired to realize more faster developing speed. Since fog is generally enhanced when the development temperature is elevated to obtain a faster developing speed, an increase of the developing temperature is limited. Therefore, there has been desired a heat-developable recording material that can be developed at a high developing speed within a temperature range that does not enhance the fog.
As conventional high contrast agents for producing high contrast images, there have been disclosed, for example, acylhydrazine derivatives (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,464,738, 5,512,411, 5,496,695, and 5,536,622), acrylonitrile derivatives (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,545,516 and 5,635,339), malondialdehydes (U.S. Pat. No. 5,654,130), isoxazoles (U.S. Pat. No. 5,705,324) and the like. As method for accelerating development processes, uses of amine compounds (U.S. Pat. No. 5,545,505), hydroxamic acids (U.S. Pat. No. 5,545,507), hydrogen donors (U.S. Pat. No. 5,637,449) and the like are disclosed.
However, they are still insufficient to achieve a desired high developing speed, and a further effective means has been desired.


Disclosed is an apparatus and method of mirroring firmware and data of an embedded system. The embedded system mirrors a boot loader image, a kernel image, a RAM disk image and data that are stored on a main flash memory to be operated onto a secondary flash memory. Therefore, when a main flash memory does not normally work, the firmware and data that are stored on the main flash memory to be operated is mirrored onto the secondary flash memory, which prevents the loss of data and maintains the operation of the embedded system. As a result, it is possible to secure the reliability and operability of the system.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method of mirroring firmware and data, and in particular, to an apparatus and a method of mirroring firmware and data for an embedded system that mirrors firmware and data stored on a main flash memory of the embedded system to be operated on a secondary flash memory and when the main flash memory is damaged, the mirrored secondary flash memory is used instead of the damaged main flash memory to prevent the loss of data and stably maintain the system operation.
This work was supported by the IT R&D program of MIC/IITA [2006-S-038-02, Development of Device-Adaptive Embedded Operating System for Mobile Convergence Computing].
2. Description of the Related Art
An embedded system refers to a control system that has a processor built therein to manipulate the device in order to perform a predetermined specific function and is used to control the functions of various electronics, electric home appliances, and mechanical apparatuses. The embedded system includes a main control unit (MCU) and programs that are loaded therein so as to perform a specific function by operating the MCU. The embedded system has a basic computing ability that becomes compatible for the purpose of an apparatus and uses an application suitable for the purpose thereof to perform the control operation. The embedded system uses a small sized memory, which minimizes the size of the hardware while reducing the cost and optimizing the performance. Generally, the embedded system uses an embedded Linux as an operating system (OS). However, the embedded system does not use a high capacity hard disk in order to store the OS and programs, but manages the programs and resources through a memory apparatus.
A basic structure of an embedded system according to the related art is configured by a boot ROM, a flash memory, an SDRAM, a network device, and other devices in addition to a CPU. The boot RROM is a nonvolatile memory and stores a boot loader that is a start code of a system. The SDRAM (Synchronous Dynamic RAM) is a volatile memory and manages the application and the resources. The flash memory is a nonvolatile memory and manages the data backup.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the data backup of an embedded system according to the related art.
A backup method of an embedded system according to the related art includes: allocating a flash disk space for storing back-up data to a flash memory where an OS image storage and an RAM disk image storage are allocated thereto; formatting data of the flash disk; registering a file system for managing files and folders, which are stored on the flash disk, as a kernel of the OS; and storing back-up data on the flash disk as units of blocks.
The registering of a file system in the flash disk mounts JFFS2 (Journaling flash file system version 2) onto the flash disk.
The storing of backup data on the flash disk as units of blocks accesses to the flash disk as units of blocks using an MTD (Memory Technology Devices). This method further includes: converting the backup data stored on the flash disk into one backup file; uploading the backup file onto a memory of an external apparatus connected through a LAN (Local Area Network) using an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) method; and downloading and storing the backup file from the external apparatus connected through the LAN when rebooting the system.
As shown in FIG. 1, a flash disk 38 for storing the backup data is allocated into a storage of a flash memory on which a kernel 34 and a RAM disk 36 are stored and accessed as units of blocks to transmit and read out the data. In the case of total 16 Mbytes of flash memory, the flash memory for the embedded system divides 2 Mbytes into 1 Mbyte of first kernel 34 and 1 Mbyte of second kernel, and 10 Mbytes into 5 Mbytes of first RAM disk 36 and 5 Mbyte of second RAM disk, respectively. Further, 4M bytes of storage space is allocated as a data backup storage to be used as a flash disk 38.
The space that is allocated as a data backup space for the flash disk 38 is accessed using the MTD (Memory Technology Devices) which is used to access a block device. Therefore, it is possible to use the flash memory as a hard disk. In this case, the backup data that is stored on the flash disk 38 is managed using a JFFS2 (Journaling flash file system version 2) file system as a file and a directory structure. Accordingly, a file can be stored and readout from the flash disk 38 in the unit of sector, which simplifies the memory management.
On the RAM disk 36 of the flash memory, a RAM disk image is stored. The RAM disk image is a file that is designed to have an EXT2 format and any necessary files are put on the RAM disk, and then the contents of the RAM disk are copied as a file format. When a location of a content of the file is designated, a Linux kernel 34 transfers the corresponding content onto the RAM disk 36 while booting. In this case, it is assumed that the RAM disk image is compressed in the kernel 34. The boot loader BOOT copies the compressed RAM disk image into a SDRAM 32, and indicates the location of the image data to the kernel 34 before booting. Thereby, the kernel 34 uses the RAM disk image as a route after booting.
With this structure, in order to secure the flash disk 38 for data backup, the embedded system allocates a memory space for data backup in the entire flask memory in consideration of the reasonable size of the kernel (OS image storage) 34 and the RAM disk (RAM disk image storage) 36. Accordingly, 4 Mbytes space for the flash disk 38 is secured, and the space is formatted. Thereafter, the embedded system performs a mounting process that registers in a system kernel in order to provide as a pass available for the Linux kernel 34 and applications to registers a file system (for example, JFFS2) in the kernel, which embodies the flash disk 38 on the flash memory.
Generally, when the embedded system is turned on, the start code of the booting ROM is executed to initialize the CPU, a memory manager, and on-chip devices and configure a memory map. Thereafter, the boot loader is executed. In the flash memory, a Linux kernel image and an RAM disk image are mounted so as to operate the embedded Linux OS by the boot loader. The kernel image and the RAM disk image mounted in the flash memory are copied and extracted onto the SDRAM through the boot manager BOOTM. After performing the boot loader, the embedded system executes the extracted kernel, recognizes the extracted RAM disk and mounts them.
However, the embedded system according to the related art has complex processes and requires a large amount of time to protect the firmware and data. Further, the embedded system has a drawback in the response ability when irregularity occurs in the embedded system. Therefore, the embedded system according to the related art does not provide a method of protecting the boot loader, the firmware including the kernel image and the RAM disk image, and the data and normally driving the system when the main flash memory is damaged.

Apparatus and method of mirroring firmware and data of embedded system

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


Emulator performance can be improved by recognizing repeated sequences of the same instruction, or commonly groups of instructions. For example, it is very common to see a three instruction sequence of MOVEM, UNLK A6, and RTS instructions for a 68020 processor in procedure exit code. By looking for these sequences, and combining the operations performed by the separate sequences, overhead of decoding and dispatching the individual instructions in the sequence can be eliminated, and performance improved. Common instruction sequences or repeated sequences in a guest program are detected during emulation of the guest program on a host processor, and performance of the emulation optimized based on the detected sequences. Thus, the emulation logic comprising host instructions embedded within a particular emulation program for a particular guest instruction, detects a particular sequence of guest instructions and in response to detection of the particular sequence bypasses the dispatch logic for guest instructions within the particular sequence. The sequences detected can comprise repeated guest instructions, or common sequences of two or more than two guest instructions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the emulation of software written for a given computer on a different computer which executes a different set of instructions; and more particularly to a system for decoding guest instructions into host instructions by the host computer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Central processing units for computers are designed to execute a specific set of instructions unique to a particular central processing unit. Thus, a microprocessor in one family, such as the Motorola 68000 family, executes software written in a language unique to the 68000 family, while processors in the Intel 80286 family execute software written with another language which is unique to that family of processors. A need often arises to execute software written for a particular processor in a host processor that utilizes a different language. For the purposes of this application, the language for the host CPU is based on "host instructions", while the language for other CPUs are referred to as "guest instructions".
Because of the large body of software written for existing processors, such as the Motorola 68000 series, new processors which are designed often attempt to emulate the 68000 series processors in software. This emulation process involves first decoding the 68000 series guest instructions into a sequence of host instructions which accomplish the result intended by the guest instruction. The routines needed to emulate a given instruction are stored in a host addressable table. For instance, in one prior art system, each guest instruction is used to generate a jump table pointer which points to a table that includes one entry for each of the possible combinations of operational code and addressing mode for a guest instruction. The jump table stores a pointer to the particular code segment adapted to a particular code combination. See, ARRANGEMENT FOR SOFTWARE EMULATION, International Application No. PCT/GB87/00202; invented by MacGregor.
A disadvantage of this prior art technique arises because of the delay involved in composing a jump table pointer based on the guest instruction, looking up a second pointer in the jump table, and then accessing the emulation segment. Because of data access latencies and the like, this can significantly slow down the emulation routine.
At least one prior art system based upon a jump table includes an ability to detect common opcode sequences, so that optimized emulation programs may be used for such sequences. This prior art system is based on eight bit opcodes, and forms a 16 bit index using the two 8 bit opcodes in the sequence. Using the 16 bit index, a jump table entry can be found to an optimized emulation program. This approach works well with eight bit opcodes, which result in an index of manageable size. However for current 16 bit opcode systems, this approach would require a 32 bit index--or with over 4 billion possible entries. The prior art has not provided a practical technique for optimizing the emulation of commonly occurring guest instruction sequences for longer opcodes.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an emulation system which enhances the performance of the host processor in emulation of guest instructions sequences particularly suited to longer opcodes of current processor architectures.

Method for decoding sequences of guest instructions for a host computer


A storage control unit which processes an I/O request from a host apparatus is provided in the storage apparatus and the storage control unit creates a host group by mapping same to each supported OS type and configures a function according to the corresponding OS type for each of the host groups, creates a first volume on the storage apparatus and creates a second volume to which a physical storage area is dynamically allocated from a storage device, according to a volume creation instruction, and the storage control unit creates, according to an instruction to create a volume path from the first volume to the second volume, a volume path which passes through a third volume which is interposed between the first volume and second volume and has been allocated to the host group according to the OS type of the host apparatus provided by the first volume.

In recent years, a method in which a cluster is configured from a plurality of storage nodes (storage apparatuses) and the whole cluster is provided to a host apparatus as a single storage apparatus by virtualizing these storage nodes by means of SDS (Software Defined Storage) technology has been proposed. Here, SDS denotes a virtual storage apparatus which is constructed by installing software, which functions as a controller in a storage apparatus, on a general-purpose server apparatus.
When a storage system with such a cluster configuration is operated in an environment where host nodes of a plurality of OS types such as Linux (registered trademark), VMware (registered trademark) and Windows (registered trademark) coexist, in order for each storage node to be able to execute a request operation from each host apparatus normally, the internal operation of the storage node must be switched according to the type of OS installed on the host apparatus (hereinafter called the host apparatus OS type).
Note that, in relation to this kind of technology, PTL 1 below discloses a method of determining the OS type of data which is written to a logical volume that has been allocated to the host apparatus.

Storage apparatus and control method thereof


A kit for dispensing disposable stethoscope covers is provided. The kit may include a cartridge and a dispenser for automatic touch-free dispensing of disposable stethoscope covers. The kit further includes a first spool having a roll of backing member with disposable stethoscope covers disposed thereon and a second spool for receiving the spent backing member after a disposable stethoscope cover has been removed, self-contained within the cartridge. The cartridge is inserted within the dispenser so that a user may insert a stethoscope head through a window of the dispenser to attach to a disposable stethoscope cover. The kit may further include a proximity sensor for detecting a user. Upon detection of the user, the first and second spools rotate to align a disposable stethoscope cover with the window of the dispenser in a ready-to dispense position.

A hospital-acquired infection (HAI), also known as a nosocomial infection, is an infection that is acquired in a hospital or other health care facilities. HAIs can be caused by bacteria, fungi, viruses, or other less common pathogens. These infections lead to the loss of tens of thousands of lives and cost the U.S. health care system billions of dollars each year. All hospitalized patients are susceptible to contracting a nosocomial infection. Some patients are at greater risk than others—young children, the elderly, and persons with compromised immune systems are more likely to get an infection. On any given day, about one in 25 hospital patients has at least one HAI.
The role of medical devices in the transmission of (HAIs) has long been recognize. With numerous studies demonstrating the transmission of pathogens from surface to patients and decades of medical literature chronicling stethoscope bacterial contamination rates to be consistently high (average of 85%), stethoscopes are considered to be a potentially significant vector for HAIs.
Although current standard of care guidelines recommends stethoscopes to be disinfected before and after each patient auscultation, it is generally recognized that most physicians and nurses do not disinfect their stethoscopes routinely. Survey and research data support this perception and reveal compliance to be less than 30%. Documented reasons for non-compliance include; current recommended practice is tedious and time consuming, supplies not available and/or not located within workflow, concerns about wear and tear on stethoscope, and lack of visual reminders. Addressing these issues is critical to developing an optimal solution that will be readily adopted by clinicians.
Disposable stethoscope covers provide a potential solution to protect against HAI. A stethoscope cover is a material that covers the surface of a stethoscope head, the portion of the stethoscope that comes into contact with the skin of a patient, and acts as a barrier to prevent the transfer of bacteria from the patient to the stethoscope, or vice versa. The disposables either cover or adhere to the stethoscope head for one-time use and may be discarded afterward. However, health care workers may still inadvertently forget to or purposefully avoid the hassle of using and/or replacing the stethoscope covers due to time constraints. Additionally, known storage devices for storing and dispensing disposable stethoscope covers all require manual activation, which may result in transmission of bacterial contamination from clinician's hands. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,117,971 to Cornacchia describes a stethoscope cover applicator for facilitating application of stethoscope covers. The applicator includes a base having a support surface, a cutting edge, and a spindle carrying a roll of a membrane for inhibiting contact between the stethoscope head and the patient during use. However, the applicator requires the health care worker to contact the stethoscope head with the membrane against the support surface, then manually unroll the spindle until the stethoscope and the attached membrane is past the cutting edge of the base, and subsequently apply pressure to tear the membrane via the cutting edge to separate the membrane attached to the stethoscope head and the rest of the membrane on the spindle.
U.S. Patent Application No. 2011/0186590 to Lee describes a stethoscope cover and carrier strip assembly and a stethoscope cover dispenser. The dispenser requires a medical professional to manually advance a cover from a rolled carrier strip into a staging area where the cover is stretched in both a longitudinal and a lateral direction to allow unencumbered insertion of the stethoscope head. U.S. Patent Application No. 2008/0257637 to Miller describes a dispensing apparatus that places a disposable stethoscope head cover in an attachment station for attachment to a stethoscope head. The dispensing apparatus requires a dispensing arm to move a disposable cover from a pre-staging shelf into the attachment station. The dispensing apparatus may also determine when there are no disposable covers left in the pre-staging shelf when the dispensing arm is in a home position.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a touch-free stethoscope dispenser that may automatically dispense disposable stethoscope covers for attachment to a stethoscope head.
It would further be desirable to provide a touch-free stethoscope dispenser that may automatically alert a health care worker when the supply of disposable stethoscope covers is low or empty.

Cartridges, dispensers, and kits for dispensing stethoscope covers


An image forming apparatus capable of preventing meandering of a transfer belt. The image forming apparatus includes a main body, including an image forming unit; and a transfer device to transfer an image formed by the image forming unit to a printing medium. The transfer device includes a transfer belt; at least one pair of rollers to rotatably support the transfer belt; a supporting unit to rotatably support both ends of the pair of rollers; and an eccentric unit to movably support a first end of a first roller of the pair of rollers with respect to the supporting unit, the first end deviating from an axis of the first roller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to a transfer device which transfers an image to a printing medium, and an image forming apparatus having the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, image forming apparatuses, such as copiers, printers, facsimile machines, and multi-function machines embodying the functions of the above mentioned devices in a single device, have a function of printing an image on a printing medium. Such image forming apparatuses include a feeding unit to feed the printing medium, a developing unit to develop an image on an photoconductive medium, a transfer device to transfer the developed image onto the printing medium, a fixing unit to fix the transferred image onto the printing medium, and a discharging unit to discharge the printing medium to the outside. Among these units, an example of the transfer device is illustrated in FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 1, a transfer device of a conventional image forming apparatus includes a transfer belt 20, which is supported and rotated by a pair of rollers 11 and 12. The transfer belt 20 receives an image from a photoconductive medium and transfers the received image onto a printing medium while rotating. At this time, one of the pair of rollers 11 and 12 is a driving roller 11, which receives a driving force from a driving source, and the other is a tension roller 12. Both ends of the tension roller 12 are supported by an elastic member 12a to apply a tension to the transfer belt 20.
However, the transfer belt 20 meanders in an axial direction of the tension roller 12 while rotating. Such a meandering operation of the transfer belt 20 during rotation causes the transfer quality to deteriorate and damages the transfer belt 20. In order to address such a problem, a method is provided in which a supporting projection 21 is formed on an inside surface of the transfer belt 20, and a guide groove 12b is formed in the tension roller 12 to engage with the supporting projection 21.
However, even if the supporting projection 21 and the guide groove 12b are provided, the transfer belt 20 continuously meanders due to changes in the elastic force of the elastic member 12a which is applied to the transfer belt 20, and deviates from the rotation path of the transfer belt 20. If the transfer belt 20 meanders for an extended period of time, the supporting projection 21 may also become disengaged from the guide groove 12b.

Transfer device and image forming apparatus having the transfer device


A filter punch construction is provided for use in conjunction with a multiwell filtration device wherein each well includes a filtration membrane. The punch has a leading flat surface to which is secured an elongated piercing member having a sharp point and a following surface to which is secured a guide member. The piercing member pierces the filtration membrane in each well and the flat leading surface pushes the entire membrane and retentate thereon into a receptacle vial.

This invention relates to a filter punch construction and to a system utilizing the filter punch for collecting sample deposited on a filter.
Test plates for in vitro analysis which contain a multiplicity of individual wells or reaction chambers are commonly known laboratory tools. Such devices have been employed for a wide variety of purposes and assays as exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,694,464; 4,304,865; 4,276,048; 4,154,795; 4,427,415; 4,526,690 and Re. 30,562. Microporous membrane filters and filtration devices containing such microporous membranes have been especially useful with many of the recently developed cell and tissue culture techniques and assays, particularly those in the field of virology and immunology, wherein the material of interest is retained by the filter. Typically, ninety-six well filtration plate is used to conduct multiple assays simultaneously, some steps of which last several hours prior to performing filtration. Subsequent to filtration, it is common practice to utilize a die-punch having a flat face which is inserted into the well and through the filter paper bearing the retentate in order to direct the filter paper and retentate from the well into a vial for subsequent testing. This system has two major problems. First, many times only a portion of the filter paper circumference is sheared and the filter disc remains attached to the well. Secondly, the flat face of the punch tends to remove some of the retentate from the filter paper so that the subsequent testing is inaccurate. An alternative system utilizes a hollow tube as a punch to minimize the contact face of the punch and reduce the amount of sample accidentally transferred to the punch. In another system, the filter is scored about its circumference in order to facilitate subsequent punching. This system is undesirable since accidental rupturing of the filter paper along the scoring can occur.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a means for removing retentate and filter paper from a multi-well filtration plate which assures that the filter paper will be completely removed from the well without loss of a portion of the retentate for purposes of subsequent testing. Furthermore, it would be desirable to provide such means which permits removal of the filter and retentate from a plurality of wells simultaneously.

Filter punch and filter collection system


An air cleaner including a front housing, a rear housing, and a filter. The filter includes a plurality of parallel folds and partitions a pre-filtering chamber and a post-filtering chamber. The air cleaner circulates air, which enters the pre-filtering chamber through an inlet port, to the post-filtering chamber to filter the air. The pre-filtering chamber includes a diffusion zone located outward from an end of the filter in a folding direction of the filter. The inlet port extends in a direction orthogonal to the folding direction of the filter along a plane parallel to the filtering surface of the filter and opens in the diffusion zone.

As described in, for example, Patent Publication 1, an intake system for an internal combustion engine normally includes an air cleaner to capture foreign material such as dust that is suspended in the intake air. The air cleaner includes a housing, the interior of which is partitioned into a pre-filtering chamber and a post-filtering chamber by a filter. The pre-filtering chamber includes an inlet port. Atmospheric gas, namely, air, is drawn into the pre-filtering chamber through the inlet port. The air drawn into the pre-filtering chamber is drawn into the post-filtering chamber through the filter. As the air passes through the filter, the filter captures foreign particles that are suspended in the air. Then, the air passes through an outlet port, which is arranged in the post-filtering chamber, and enters combustion chambers of the internal combustion engine. In this manner, purified air from which foreign particles have been removed by the filter is drawn into the combustion chambers. This prevents problems such as foreign particles from being caught by engine pistons.
As such an air cleaner, a planar filter, which includes a plurality of parallel folds, is often used. In such an air cleaner, when the air in the pre-filtering chamber enters the post-filtering chamber through the filter, the air must be dispersed throughout the entire filtering surface of the filter. Otherwise, most of the air may pass through a particular portion of the filter. In such a case, most of the foreign particles are captured in only the particular portion of the filter. Accordingly, the filtering capacity of the filter cannot be used to its full extent. Further, the pressure loss of the air increases as it passes through the filter.
To solve these problems, for example, the distance between the inlet port and the filter, that is, the volume of the pre-filtering chamber, may be increased as much as possible. This would sufficiently disperse the air in the pre-filtering chamber before the air passes through the filter. Accordingly, the air passes throughout the entire filtering surface of the filter thereby allowing the filtering capacity of the filter to be used to its full extent.
However, such a structure would add limitations to the shapes and layout of the air cleaner and conduits, which are located upstream relative to the air cleaner. Therefore, there may be cases in which there is no way to avoid shortening of the distance between the inlet port and filter. In such cases, an increase in the pressure loss and decrease in the filtering capacity cannot be avoided.
The air cleaner discussed above is used in an intake system for an internal combustion engine. However, the afore-mentioned problems are not unique to air cleaners and may also occur in other types of gas filtering apparatuses.
Patent Publication 1: Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 7-54109


A method and apparatus for dry etching changes at least one of the effective pumping speed of a vacuum chamber and the gas flow rate to alter the processing of an etching pattern side wall of a sample between first and second conditions. The first and second conditions include the presence or absence of a deposit film, or the presence, absence or shape of a taper angle. Various parameters for controlling the first and second conditions are contemplated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a dry etching method and a dry etching apparatus, and, more particularly, to a high-speed exhaust dry etching method and apparatus suitable for highly selective, fine anisotropic patterning on a semiconductor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Anisotropic patterning is important in the fine patterning of semiconductor integrated circuits. In particular, dynamic random access memories (DRAMs), having a high degree of integration, require ultra fine patterning for etching the gate and storage capacitor of the MOS transistors that constitute a DRAM. Preferably, highly anisotropic patterning is realized through dry etching.
Recently, to increase the degree of integration on the DRAM, the storage capacitor has been formed on the MOS transistor. To pattern the storage capacitor, step etching has been necessary. In highly anisotropic etching, etching residue is produced on the step wall when the etching step only performs etching for film thickness. To remove the etching residue, overetching is necessary (that is, etching of more than the film thickness).
One example of an overetching method is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 61-61423. As disclosed, a side-wall protective film is formed after the etching step before removing the etching residue through isotropic etching. To prevent an underlayer from being cut during the overetching, the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-65628 includes highly-selective etching after the formation of a side-wall protective film.
Frequently, the gate and storage capacitor of the MOS transistor are formed of polycrystalline silicon, or polycide. A method for etching polycrystalline silicon or polycide with a resist mask and chlorine- or bromine-based gas plasma is shown in xe2x80x9c26p-ZF-1xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9c26p-ZF-4xe2x80x9d of the 51st Japan Society of Applied Physics Autumn Meeting in 1990.
The method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-105413 improves the etching anisotropy by changing gases to correspond to the fine patterning. The method realizes a high anisotropy by periodically changing an etching gas and a depositing gas.
To further improve the degree of element integration, a vertical shape should be formed through highly anisotropic etching. However, the side wall should be tapered by giving an angle to it, depending upon the patterning condition after etching. An example of tapered etching is given in Proceedings of Symposium on Dry Process (1986), page 48, in which a depositing gas is added. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-32633 discloses a method for performing tapered etching by utilizing the substrate temperature to control the side etching speed.
Previous techniques for changing to isotropic etching, or periodically changing the etching gas and depositing gas during overetching, require change of etching gas. Therefore, the throughput decreases because of the excessive time to change gases, and the process conditions should be optimized for each etching gas.
The known method for utilizing a resist mask and chlorine- or bromine-based gas plasma for the etching of polycrystalline silicon produces reaction products in the mask and etched layer that are activated in the plasma and reattached to a sample. This deposition from the reaction products acts as a side-wall protective film to prevent side etching, so that highly anisotropic etching can be performed. However, the amount of the deposition from the reaction products is not conventionally controlled. Therefore, excessive amounts of deposition of reaction products may produce dust and cause the yield to decrease.
When forming a side-wall protective film, the amount of deposition from reaction products changes during the etching step. For example because the etching speed is not completely constant for a single wafer, and because the thickness of an etched layer is not completely uniform, the area of the etched layer slowly decreases immediately before the etching step ends. Accordingly, the amount of reaction product deposition decreases because the number of reaction products to be produced decreases. That is, the thickness of the side-wall protective film decreases immediately before the etching step ends. As a result, the side-wall protective film becomes thin around the interface between the etched layer and the underlayer. This thin portion of the protective film is subject to breakage, causing abnormal side etching around the interface.
A similar problem may result from the method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,242,539 to Kumihashi et al. Kumihashi et al disclose a high-speed exhaust dry etching method for improving throughput by increasing the speed of the etching process, in which the effective exhaust rate is set at 500 liters/second or higher. In this method, reaction products are quickly exhausted from the processing chamber to increase the processing speed. The reaction products form side-wall protective films to suppress side etching. In this high-speed exhaust dry etching method, however, the side-wall protective film may fail to be formed to a desired thickness, resulting in side etching, which in turn deteriorates the geometrical anisotropy. Further, because the high speed exhaust dry etching also increases the etching rate of a mask, there are cases where a desired selectivity cannot be obtained. For example, where the material to be etched consists of two or more layers having different etch rates, as in a laminated film, and a layer with a low etch rate is etched, the selectivity is degraded.
Also, previous methods for performing tapered etching by adding a deposit gas have resulted in dust production and yield decrease. Controlling the tapered etching by controlling the substrate temperature has been difficult to carry out because of the difficulty in stably controlling the substrate temperature, and because much time is required to adjust the substrate temperature for fine control.
The present invention has been designed to easily carry out anisotropic etching and overetching. Further, an objective of this invention is to make the high-speed processing afforded by high-speed exhaust dry etching compatible with anisotropy and selectivity.
In a preferred embodiment, the inventive dry etching method comprises the steps of setting a sample in a vacuum chamber, supplying gas to the vacuum chamber and etching the sample with the supplied gas. At least one of the effective pumping speed of the vacuum chamber and the flow rate of the gas is changed from conditions under which a deposit film is produced on the etching pattern side wall of the sample, to conditions under which a deposit film is not produced on the side wall, or vice versa. The dry etching method may further include a step of periodically changing at least one of the effective pumping speed of the vacuum chamber and the flow rate of the gas.
In another embodiment, the inventive dry etching method may comprise the steps of setting the sample in the vacuum chamber, supplying gas to the vacuum chamber, and etching the sample, wherein at least one of the effective pumping speed of the vacuum chamber and the flow rate of the gas is changed from conditions under which the etching pattern side wall of the sample is formed into a tapered shape, to conditions under which the etching pattern side wall is formed in a vertical or undercut shape, or vice versa.
Alternatively, the conditions of the effective pumping speed of the vacuum chamber or the flow rate of the gas, or both, may be changed so that the shape of the tapered etching pattern side wall of the sample changes, or so that the number of particles of the gas entering the vacuum chamber may either increase to beyond the predetermined value, or decrease to beyond the predetermined value. In such a case, the predetermined value may be determined in accordance with the type of gas, the conditions for changing gas to plasma, or the material of the sample portion to be etched, or more than one of the above. More particularly, the predetermined value is preferably three times the number of particles entering the sample.
In a further embodiment, the dry etching method may include a step of etching a layer of the sample into a mask pattern, and an overetching step for removing etching residue, wherein the effective pumping speed of the vacuum chamber in the overetching step is set higher than that in the etching step. Further, as before, at least one of the effective pumping speed of the vacuum chamber and the flow rate of the gas may be changed from conditions under which a deposit film is produced on the etching pattern side wall of the etched layer in the etching step, to conditions under which no deposit film is produced on the etching pattern side wall of the etched layer in the overetching step.
In a further embodiment, the intensity of the plasma emission may be measured to control at least one of the effective pumping speed of the vacuum chamber and the flow rate of the treated gas in according with the measured intensity.
Finally, the area of the underlayer exposed by the etching step may be measured to control at least one of the effective pumping speed of the vacuum chamber and the flow rate of the gas in accordance with the measured area.
The invention is further directed to a dry etching apparatus for carrying out each of the methods set forth above. Thus, the inventive dry etching apparatus preferably includes a vacuum chamber, an inlet for leading gas into the vacuum chamber, and a sample stage for supporting a sample to be etched in the vacuum chamber. Means for measuring the intensity of the plasma emission, control means for controlling the effective pumping speed of the vacuum chamber, control means for controlling the flow rate of the gas, and means for controlling at least one of the two types of control means in accordance with signals from the measuring means are preferably also included.
In another embodiment, the invention may include means for measuring the area of the underlayer exposed by the etching, means for controlling the effective pumping speed of the vacuum chamber, control means for controlling the flow rate of the gas, and control means for controlling at least one of the pumping speed and flow rate control means in accordance with signals from the measuring means.
In yet further embodiments, during the overall etching process, the effective exhaust rate in the etching chamber is changed from a first effective exhaust rate to a second effective exhaust rate. At this time, the first effective exhaust rate, which is set higher or lower than the second effective exhaust rate, may be progressively changed to the second effective exhaust rate. The change may occur between main etching and overetching steps, or may be accompanied by a change in pressure or gas flow rate.
Preferably, when a material that remains at stepped portions after the main etching stepxe2x80x94which etches planar portions of the materialxe2x80x94is etched by an overetching step, the effective exhaust rate during the overetching step is set higher or lower than that of the main etching step.
Also, in a process of etching a material made up of two or more layers over a plurality of layers, the effective exhaust rate is changed at least once.


A turbo burner assembly provides for dispersion of liquid fuel into a flame region adjacent a burner head of the assembly by using compressed air to force a fine spray through apertures in an atomizing assembly. The dispersed fuel is supplied at a variable rate that corresponds to the combustion settings of the burner over the entire operating range of the burner. The dispersed fuel becomes entrained into a low quantity flow of high velocity turbo air. The quantity or rate of flow of the high velocity turbo air corresponds to the combustion air required for the correct air to fuel mixture at the lowest fuel flow rate. At increasing fuel flow rates for increased combustion settings a second low velocity stream of turbo air is introduced at a variable volume flow rate to provide together with the first stream of turbo air a correct combustion mixture with the introduced fuel over the entire range of combustion settings of the burner assembly. A gaseous fuel can be substituted for the liquid fuel.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to industrial type burner units and more particularly methods of and apparatus for supplying and mixing fuel and combustion air within such burner units.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Industrial drying operations, for example, aggregate heating and drying operations of hot asphalt material production processes make use of high capacity burner units. State of the art burner units are capable of generating 250 million or more BTU (British Thermal Units) per hour. These high capacity burner units are typically operated with industrial grades of fuels, such as a burner grade diesel oil or special heating oils which may be heavier and more viscous than diesel oil. Dispersing fuel into combustion air and mixing the liquid fuel with combustion air to obtain quickly a most uniform mixture has been a problem over the years. Much development work has been applied to improve on fuel and air mixing devices and to thereby improve on the efficiencies of burner units. It is generally recognized that gaseous fuels are more readily mixed with combustion air than liquid fuels. Liquid fuels typically need to be first "atomized", meaning they are mixed with high pressure air and the high pressure air and liquid fuel mixture is released in a typically conical configuration as a spray of fine fuel droplets.
A problem occurs with fuel mixing provisions that even after liquid fuel has been "atomized" into fine droplets, the fuel is carried off by the air without being mixed. The conical shape of outwardly moving fuel droplets tend to make only surface contact with a stream of axially flowing volume of combustion air. For optimum combustion mixtures, it would be desirable to disperse the fuel uniformly throughout the combustion air. The dispersion process becomes more complex, when burner units are to be operated at non-constant energy output rates, as is desirable, when the burner units are used in aggregate drying and heating applications in the production of asphalt, for example. A further complication with respect to such aggregate drying and heating operations relates to the availability of fuel. Often the operators of the asphalt production equipment need to shift from one type of fuel supply to another. Fuel changes from coal dust to liquid fuel and to gaseous fuel need to be accommodated.
An optimization of one type fuel and air mixing system may have negative effect on another system for mixing air with another type fuel. The prior art shows various patents which seek to improve mixing of liquid fuel with combustion air.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,473,347 shows a central spray nozzle from which a conical shape of fine fuel droplets is emitted. An annular, axial air path is intersected by the conically outward proceeding spray of fuel. Thereafter the conically shaped fuel approaches a swirling volume of combustion air which volume is peripherally supplemented by secondary air which is also mixed through swirling vanes. The various volumes of air, except for that of the initial atomizing air are supplied at substantially the same pressure energy level and are combined in a swirling generally outward flow direction. Incomplete dispersion of the fuel into the various volumes of gas may result because the gases and the fuel progress at similar velocities and somewhat tangentially with respect to each other. Because of the speed at which combustion typically occurs after the fuel becomes mixed with primary air and is ignited, the mixture will be well toward the completion of the combustion process well before complete mixing can take place.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,526,322 seeks to improve the dispersion of fuel with initial combustion air by introducing fuel in a counterflow direction into a primary air stream. The impact of fuel and primary air is expected to enhance the mixing of the primary air with the fuel prior to the initiation of the actual combustion of the air.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,298,337 introduces liquid fuel which is atomized with high pressure air into a swirling primary air stream. An alternate gaseous fuel is distributed into the primary air by being routed together with the primary air through swirl plates.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,009 atomizes fuel oil by introducing the fuel oil in a continuous sheet into an inner stream of air and then collides the inner stream of air with an outer stream of air. The specification also discloses an annular pipe for introducing a gaseous fuel. The primary air intersects the annular axial flow pattern of the gaseous fuel to promote mixing.


This invention relates to thermosetting powder coatings formulated with a polyisocyanate and a blend of a hydroxylated polyester resin having a low hydroxyl number and a hydroxylated resin based on tris(hydroxyethyl)isocyanurate having a high hydroxyl number. Powder coatings from this blend exhibit high hardness and good caking stability.

Plastic materials used in the manufacture of powder coatings are classified broadly as either thermosetting or thermoplastic. In the application of thermoplastic powder coatings, heat is applied to the coating on the substrate to melt the particles of the powder coating and thereby permit the particles to flow together and form a smooth coating.
Thermosetting coatings, when compared to coatings derived from thermoplastic compositions, generally are tougher, more resistant to solvents and detergents, have better adhesion to metal substrates and do not soften when exposed to elevated temperatures. However, the curing of thermosetting coatings has created problems in obtaining coatings which have, in addition to the above-stated desirable characteristics, good smoothness and flexibility. Coatings prepared from thermosetting powder compositions, upon the application of heat, may cure or set prior to forming a smooth coating, resulting in a relatively rough finish referred to as an "orange peel" surface. The "orange peel" surface problem has caused thermosetting coatings to be applied from organic solvent systems which are inherently undesirable because of the environmental and safety problems that may be occasioned by the evaporation of the solvent system. Solvent-based coating compositions also suffer from the disadvantage of relatively poor percent utilization, i.e., in some modes of application, only 60 percent or less of the solvent-based coating composition being applied contacts the article or substrate being coated. Thus, a substantial portion of solvent-based coatings can be wasted since that portion which does not contact the article or substrate being coated obviously cannot be reclaimed.
RUCOTE 103 polymer (Ruco) technical bulletins describe increasing hardness by blending RUCOTE 107 with a high hydroxyl number resin RUCOTE 103 to provide coatings having improved hardness.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,229,470 describes low gloss polyurethane powder coatings prepared by blending hydroxyl polyesters having a difference in gel time of at least three minutes.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,211,585 describes polyesters comprising the reaction product of a polymeric ester of a polycarboxylic acid of the group consisting of terephthalic acid, isophthalic acid and tris(hydroxyethyl)isocyanurate, with 10-40 % of an organic polyisocyanate which is useful for coating electrical conductors.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,249,578 describes polyesters prepared from tris(hydroxyethyl)isocyanurate used to coat electrical conductors.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,646,374 describes polyester-imide resins comprised of tris(hydroxyethyl)isocyanurate used for coating and electrically insulating core members of dynamoelectric machines.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,476,279 discloses a magnet wire enamel comprising a high solids low viscosity organic solvent solution of a tris(hydroxyethylisocyanurate)polyester having a hydroxyl number of 216 to 316, and a ratio of hydroxyl to carboxyl groups of 1.65 to 2.0:1.
The present invention, as described below, relates to novel polyurethane powder coatings exhibiting high hardness upon cure and good caking stability during storage. Prior to the present invention, polyurethane coatings having high hardness were prepared by mixing two types of polyester resins having low and high hydroxyl numbers. This is generally accomplished by preparing resins having high hydroxyl numbers due to increased use of a polyol such as trimethylolpropane; however, this approach lowers the Tg of the composition and hence detracts from the caking stability.
It has now been found that a polyester resin with a high hydroxyl number and high Tg can be made based on isophthalic acid and tris(hydroxyethyl)isocyanurate. This resin can be blended with polyester resins having low hydroxyl numbers to produce powder coating compositions having good caking stability and coatings having high hardness after application by electrostatic spraying and curing.


A ring-shaped or plate-like element, in particular for a metal-sealing material-feedthrough, for example for devices which are subjected to high pressures, such as igniters for airbags or belt tensioning devices, includes a feedthrough opening, whereby the feedthrough opening is located substantially in the center of the ring-shaped or plate-like element and whereby the ring-shaped or plate-like element has a thickness. The ring-shaped or plate-like element has a relief region in the area of the feedthrough opening. Further, the ring-shaped or plate-like element in the relief region has at least one thickness which is reduced by the height of the relief region and which is selected so that the feedthrough opening can be punched out of the ring-shaped or plate like element having the reducing thickness.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ring-shaped or plate-like element, in particular for a metal-sealing material-feedthrough, in particular for devices which are subjected to high pressures, for example igniters for airbags or belt tensioning devices, as well as a method of utilization of such a metal-sealing material-feedthrough.
2. Description of the Related Art
Metal-sealing material-feedthroughs are already known in various forms from the current state of the art. Metal-sealing material-feedthroughs are to be understood to be vacuum-tight fusions of sealing materials, especially glasses, glass ceramics or synthetics in metals. The metals function hereby as conductors. We refer you in this context to representative documentation U.S. Pat. No. 5,345,872 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,274,937. Feedthroughs of this type are common in electronics and in electrical engineering. The material used for sealing, especially glass serves hereby as an insulator. Typical metal-sealing material-feedthroughs are constructed such that metallic internal conductors are sealed into a pre-formed sintered glass component, whereby the sintered glass component or the glass tube is sealed into an outer metal component with the so-called base body which is formed by a ring-shaped or plate like element. Preferred applications for metal-sealing material-feedthroughs of this type are, for example, ignition devices. One area of application is in air bags or belt tensioning devices in motor vehicles. In this case the metal-sealing material-feedthroughs are a component part of an ignition device. The entire ignition device includes in addition to the metal-sealing material-feedthrough an ignition bridge, the explosive agent as well as a metal shrouding which tightly encloses the ignition mechanism. Either one or two, or more than two metallic pins may be inserted through the feedthrough. In a preferred embodiment with one metallic pin the housing is grounded, in a preferred two-pin embodiment one of the pins is grounded.
Metal-sealing material-feedthroughs, especially for igniters for airbags or belt tensioning devices which distinguish themselves in that the feedthrough opening for the metal pins is punched out of the base body have become known from US 2006/0222881 A1, US 2004/0216631, EP-A-1 455 160, US 2007/0187934 A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 1,813,906. During the production of the base bodies from a strip stock having a thickness in the range of between 1 mm and 5 mm, preferably 1.5 mm and 3.5 mm, especially between 1.8 mm to 3.0 mm, more especially preferably between 2.0 mm to 2.6 mm the openings are punched through the entire thickness of base body D by means of a punching process, according to US 2007/0187934 A1. The metal pin in the sealing material is embedded into the opening punched into the base body across the entire thickness of the base body which is in the aforementioned range. Moreover, the feedthrough opening in feedthroughs with more than one pin is arranged off-center according to US 2007/0187934 A1.
According to US 2007/0187934 A1 punching sheet metal has a multitude of disadvantages. One disadvantage is that when punching a strip stock, for example sheet metal of the base body, a great amount of material waste occurs.
An ignition device for a pyrotechnic protective device has become known from DE 10 2006 056077 A1 which has a casing for positioning the current feedthrough of the metal pin and means to avoid a relative movement between casing and metal pin. As in the case of US 2007/0187934A1 the base body is also punched from a sheet metal, for example a strip stock. Moreover, the feedthrough openings were arranged off-axis, as in US 2007/0187934A1.
EP 1 491 848 A1 shows a current feedthrough with a centrally located feedthrough opening for a pin-type conductor. The production method for the feedthrough opening is not described and it extends over the entire thickness of the base body.
Especially in metal-sealing material-feedthroughs with two metal pins and an off-center opening the problem arises that the off-center opening results in a weakening of the glazing.
What is needed in the art is to avoid the described disadvantages according to the current state of the art and to cite in particular a base body in the form of a ring-shaped or plate-like element for a metal-sealing material-feedthrough which can be produced with lesser material waste than is the case in the current state of the art, in particular also in a cold forming process. Moreover, to produce the base body should be especially simple.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Ring-shaped or plate-like element and method for producing same


According to some embodiments, an apparatus for securing railcar doors comprises a staple affixed to a portion of a railcar. The staple defines a staple hole. The apparatus further comprises a hasp. The hasp comprises a hinge. The hasp further comprises a first portion pivotally coupled to the hinge. The first portion is affixed to the railcar. The hasp further comprises a second portion. The second portion comprises a first end and a second end. The first end of the second portion is pivotally coupled to the hinge. The second end is opposite the first end. The second portion of the hasp comprises a square key plug configured to be inserted into a square key hole of a railcar door. The second portion of the hasp defines a first hole through which a portion of the staple may pass when the hasp is in a closed position.

Railcars are integral to the transportation of goods across the country. Railcars come in many configurations depending on their intended cargo. For example, railcars can be configured to carry automobiles. Such railcars, also known as auto racks, may be the target of thefts. Certain security measures have been developed to protect railcars from unauthorized entry. The main measure used to secure railcars is a latch between the doors on the railcar, which is secured by a locking mechanism, such as a bolt seal or padlock. The latch may deter thieves and other persons from accessing the cargo. For example, a latch and bolt seal combination requires the removal of the bolt seal before moving the latch in order to open the doors. The added step of removing the locking mechanism, which may require specialized tools, may increase the time for detecting unauthorized individuals, deterring persons from attempting to access the cargo.
In order to protect cargo, such as automobiles in auto racks, additional security measures have been proposed. These include additional means to prevent the doors or other access points of the railcar from opening by holding the doors or other access points together or closed against another part of the rail car.

Apparatus and method for securing railcar doors

Trinity North American Freight Car, Inc.


A wheel bearing assembly for supporting a wheel is provided. The assembly includes a spindle defining a rotational axis and a support member for supporting the spindle. A wheel hub has a flange for securing the wheel thereto. The wheel hub is supported on the spindle and is rotatable about the rotational axis. A bearing assembly has first and second bearing members in spaced relationship from one another with a plurality of bearings interposed between the bearing members to permit relative rotation between the bearing members about the rotational axis. The first bearing member is arranged adjacent to the spindle and the second bearing member is arranged adjacent to either the wheel hub or the support member. An inner surface of the first bearing member has an annular counterbore. The spindle is deformed into the counterbore to axially secure the first bearing member to the spindle and prevent relative rotation between the spindle and the first bearing member about the rotational axis. This minimizes both axial bearing length and spindle member distortion.

This invention relates to a wheel bearing assembly for supporting a wheel, and more specifically, the invention relates to an apparatus and method for securing a wheel bearing assembly to a wheel assembly member.
Wheel bearing assemblies are used between spindles and either a support member or a wheel hub, depending on the particular configuration, for permitting relative rotation between the spindle and the support member or wheel hub. For wheel bearing assemblies that do not have raceways integrally formed with the wheel assembly members, the raceway adjacent to the spindle must somehow be secured to the spindle to prevent the bearing from separating axially. This has been accomplished in several manners which have presented unique problems. One such manner was by machining grooves in the spindle using C-keepers or lock rings to capture the raceway. However, these rings and grooves must be precisely machined and ground so that they mate properly with one another. Yet another manner in which the spindle was secured to the bearing member was to plastically deform the end of the spindle along its axis to axially retain the bearing member on the spindle. One difficulty with this method was that in plastically deforming the spindle the end of the spindle was typically rolled over the end of the bearing member which added length to the spindle assembly. Another problem with this method was that in plastically deforming the spindle the outer diameter of the bearing member was increased thereby affecting the fit between a seal that was placed between the bearing members. As a result, the performance of the wheel bearings and the fit of the bearing seal between the bearing members would vary from assembly to assembly. This method was also prone to residual stresses under load.
Therefore, an apparatus and method for securing a wheel bearing assembly to a wheel assembly in which the overall length of the spindle is reduced is desired. It is also desired to have a method of securing the wheel bearing assembly and spindle together. This will better control expansion of the bearing member during the deformation process of the spindle. It will result in the bearing seal having a consistent fit between wheel assemblies and reduction of residual stresses.
The present invention provides a wheel bearing assembly for supporting a wheel assembly member. The assembly includes a spindle defining a rotational axis and a support member for supporting the spindle. A wheel hub has a flange for securing the wheel thereto. The wheel hub is supported on the spindle and is rotatable about the rotational axis. A bearing assembly has first and second bearing members in spaced relationship from one another with a plurality of bearings interposed between the bearing members to permit relative rotation between the bearing members about the rotational axis. The first bearing member is arranged adjacent to the spindle and the second bearing member is arranged adjacent to either the wheel hub or the support member. An inner surface of the first bearing member has an annular counterbore. The spindle is radially deformed into the counterbore to secure the first bearing member to the spindle and prevent relative rotation between the spindle and the first bearing member about the rotational axis.
Another aspect of the present invention provides a method of securing a wheel assembly member to a bearing member. First, a bearing member is provided having a shape with an inner surface that includes an annular counterbore. The wheel assembly member has an interior cavity defined by an interior surface. Second, the bearing member is arranged onto the wheel assembly member. Third, materials provided about the bearing member to significantly maintain the shape of the bearing member. Next, a cold forming tool is inserted into the interior cavity of the wheel assembly member. Finally, the interior surface of the wheel assembly is engaged with the cold forming tool and deforms a portion of the wheel assembly into engagement with the annular counterbore.
Accordingly, an apparatus and method for securing a wheel bearing assembly to a wheel assembly in which the overall length of the spindle is reduced is provided. Additionally, a method of securing the wheel bearing assembly and spindle together is provided so that the expansion of the bearing member during the deformation process of the spindle is controlled. Thus, the bearing seal has a consistent fit between wheel assemblies and residual stresses are reduced.


An acoustic transducer system includes a plurality of individual transflexural piezoelectric elements potted in a plastic or rubber compound. The panel is able to radiate broad-band, high intensity sound waves in a controllable radiation pattern.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electroacoustic transducer device for converting an electrical signal into sound, including subsonic or ultrasonic sound, in a gas such as air or in a liquid such as water. More particularly, the invention relates to the combination of a driver and a structural radiation aide for an electroacoustic transducer device. Still more particularly, the invention relates to an electroacoustic transducer device in which the driver is in the form of a plurality of piezoelectric driver elements and the structural radiation aide is a flexible panel.
2. Description of Related Art
A piezoelectric material is a material which, upon application of an electrical voltage, converts the voltage into a mechanical vibration or, conversely, converts mechanical vibrations into electrical signals. Consequently, piezoelectric materials have long been used in electroacoustic receivers and transmitters.
A drawback of using piezoelectric materials in electroacoustic transducer devices is that such devices generally perform much better at high frequencies than at low frequencies because, although very large forces can be produced by applying electric fields to the constrained piezoelectric crystals or ceramics used as driver elements in electroacoustic transducer devices, the accompanying strain is relatively small. In other words, it is difficult to get the large vibrational amplitudes needed for high intensity, low frequency sound using piezoelectric devices. In addition, the mechanical impedances of piezoelectric materials are generally closest to those of liquids and solids, rather than gases, thus limiting the energy transfer efficiency of piezoelectric electroacoustic devices designed for use in air, such as loudspeakers.
A number of ingenious schemes have been devised for introducing a mechanical advantage that would reduce the driving force in exchange for increasing the force distance of a piezoelectric driver element. One such scheme is to provide the commercially available device 1 illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2. The device 1 includes a thin layer of piezoelectric ceramic material 2 bonded to a thin conductive metal disc 3, made for example of brass, bonded via a flexible adhesive layer 7 to a conductive metal ring 6, also made of brass. When an electric voltage is applied between the surfaces of the thin ceramic disc, the disc varies in thickness, and also in radius. The relatively large forces of expansion and contraction produced are transferred to the surface of the metal disc 3 to which the ceramic is bonded, with the effect that the disc bows up in the center when the ceramic disc expands, and down when the ceramic disc contracts.
Performance is improved by loosely bonding a second conductive metal disc 5, including a second piezoelectric layer 4, to the metal ring 6 to form a capsule 1. When the two ceramic layers are subjected to attenuating electrical fields, the thickness of the capsule varies with the frequency of the applied voltage, thereby changing the electrical signal into a radiated soundwave.
While the low frequency performance of the above-described transducer, also known as a transflexural piezoelectric element, is greatly improved relative to other conventional piezoelectric drive arrangements, the intensity of sound which can be radiated is nevertheless limited, and the directionality of the sound cannot be controlled. In addition, the radiating area possible with such transducers is relatively small, the bandwidth is relatively narrow and, in the case of ordinary loudspeakers, expensive and difficult-to-design enclosures are needed in order to eliminate the effect of cancellation between positive and negative pressures which occurs at low frequencies because the wavelengths generated are greater than the size of the enclosure. Further, the problem of impedance mismatches makes this type of element unsuitable for use in air. The specific driver shown in FIG. 1, for example, has previously been used only as a single element for sensing and generating underwater vibrations.
In an extension of the well-known concept of placing a driver in a paper speaker cone for purposes of controlling the mechanical impedance and frequency range of an audio loudspeaker element, it has also previously been proposed to arrange a plurality of piezoelectric elements between two opposed rigid plane resin foam plates, each having multiple recesses, each of the recesses accommodating a piezoelectric driver. The recesses are bigger than the drivers and extensions of the plate are provided for supporting the substantial centers of the drivers.
The plane resin foam plate type of piezoelectric speaker structure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,969,197 and 5,031,222, both to Takaya. The intent of the two patents is to provide a device in which the two rigid resin foam plates forming the speaker diaphragm or radiation aide are vibrated by driving the piezoelectric drivers, causing sound to be emitted from both main surfaces of the diaphragm. Significantly, each piezoelectric driver is in the form of a single metal disc with a piezoelectric material bonded to it and which is contained in the space of the diaphragm without being contacted by any other element, except for the center supports. Consequently, the rigid resin foam plates do not restrict vibration of the edges of the piezoelectric driver.
As is best shown in FIG. 1 of U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,197, the multiple driver piezoelectric speaker structure of Takaya was intended to be an improvement over prior art structures in which the piezoelectric driver is completely enclosed in foam. The completely enclosed driver was believed to be impractical because the vibration of the piezoelectric driver element, which is simply a vibrating film on which the piezoelectric elements are attached, cannot overcome the resistance of the foam plate in order to provide sufficient output intensity.
Therefore, although it has previously been proposed to enclose piezoelectric driver elements completely within a foam element to form a diaphragm or sounding board, the approach was found to be unsatisfactory because the foam overly restricted the vibration of the conventional piezoelectric element. The present invention makes it possible to overcome this problem and provide a piezoelectric panel in which recesses of the type disclosed by Takaya are unnecessary by utilizing a different type of piezoelectric driver element, shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, which had previously not been considered for use in panel arrangements.
In addition, the previous foam plate diaphragm structures suffered from the limitations that foam is porous, and therefore not suitable for use in liquids and corrosive environments, and that the foam used could not easily be shaped or bent for use in restricted spaces. The present invention overcomes these limitations by potting the driver elements in a material which is both non-porous and flexible.


First and second elongated large and small diameter tubular members rotatably and telescopically engaged with each other are provided. The first and second members include exposed remote ends with one of the remote ends including a terminal end structure adapted to frictionally engage a floor surface and the other remote end includes a terminal end adapted to engage the shank portion of the doorknob. The large diameter elongated member is provided with a pair of diametrically opposite parallel outwardly opening first slots formed therein and the small diameter elongated member is provided with longitudinally spaced pairs of corresponding second slots with which the first pair of slots are selectively registrable. The adjacent marginal edges of the legs of a U-shaped lock structure are receivable through the first slots and in the pair of second slots with which the first slots are registered for releasably locking the large and small diameter members against relative rotation and relative longitudinal shifting. The lock structure is anchored to the exterior of the large diameter tubular member through the utilization of an elongated flexible tether member.

Various forms of doors and windows are not provided with locks while other doors and windows include ineffective locks. One means of assuring a reasonably tightly locked door or window is to provide a prop structure therefore. The prop structure may be inclined relative to and engaged against a doorknob of a horizontally swingable door, horizontally disposed and abutted against the side of a horizontally slidable door or window which is advanced when the door or window is shifted to an open position, and interposed between the upper edge of the inner window of a double hung window and the under surface of the upper frame of the double hung window. However, various doors and windows of these types require props of different lengths. Accordingly, a need exists for an adjustable length door and window prop which may be utilized to prop various types of doors and windows against being opened.
Examples of previously known door and window props including some of the general structural and operational features of the instant invention disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 190,392, 219,098, 324,083, 467,589, 468,987, 598,405, 825,810, 3,583,743, 4,019,765, 4,036,518 and 4,136,899, as well as Canadian Pat. No. 1,019,016 and West German Pat. No. 1,067,392.

Adjustable door and window security prop


An improved outer layer of plating comprising a binary metal alloy of gold and palladium is employed on connector contacts. The binary metal alloy is plated on at least the contact surface of the contacts. Intermediate plating layers can be applied between the outer layer of gold and palladium and the conductive base of the contacts. The binary metal alloy of gold and palladium may be configured to have a mostly gold or a mostly silver appearance, depending upon the relative concentration of gold and palladium in the binary metal alloy.

A wide variety of electronic devices are available for consumers today. Many of these devices have connectors that that facilitate communication with and/or charging of a corresponding device. These connectors often interface with other connectors through cables that are used to connect devices to one another. Sometimes, connectors are used without a cable to directly connect the device to another device, such as a charging station or a sound system.
As smart-phones, media players and other electronic devices become more compact, their corresponding connectors play a greater role in the ultimate market success of the device. For example, in many nano-scale MP3 players and compact flash storage devices, the connectors actually dominate the physical geometry, the aesthetics and sometimes the cost of the electronic device.
One of the most critical components of a connector are the contacts. The contacts are the portions of the connector that physically touch each other and are responsible for conducting the electrical signals between the mated connectors. Not only must these contacts survive sometimes thousands of mates and de-mates, they must also withstand the rigors of today's consumer, remaining with them throughout the day as they travel in and out of fitness centers, kitchens, offices, factories, automobiles, and many other places. Many of these locations provide opportunities for exposure to chemicals that pose little or no risk to the consumer, but present a harsh environment for the connector contacts. For example, connectors regularly come into contact with food, sweat, and other elements that corrode the materials that make up the connector contacts.
Connector contacts are often made primarily of copper alloys, due to the advantageous electrical properties of copper. However, copper alloys are highly susceptible to corrosion so the contacts are often covered with an outer layer of corrosion and oxidation resistant metal. One of the most common outer layers employed is gold because of its high electrical conductivity and resistance to corrosion and oxidation. While gold is an effective contact coating in many applications, alternatives to gold are desirable.

Connector with gold-palladium plated contacts