The present invention provides a scroll compressor which includes a housing, a stationary scroll including a stationary wrap, an orbiting scroll having an orbiting wrap, a receiving portion formed in the housing, a self-rotation preventing eccentric shaft installed in the receiving portion with a bearing interposed therebetween, a self-rotation preventing mechanism including a stopper formed in the housing to support the front of the bearing, and a bearing tube fixed to the housing to support a drive shaft, the scroll compressor including: an annular groove formed in the stationary scroll or in the orbiting scroll; a dust seal fitted in the annular groove and having first and second ends at both ends; and a stationary block including a first support member and first and second elastic members which extend from the first support member and face the first and second ends, the stationary block being fitted in the annular groove.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a scroll compressor and, more particularly, to a scroll compressor which can prevent damage due to expansion of a dust seal with an increase in temperature and, at the same time, reduce noise by absorbing vibration of a self-rotation preventing mechanism.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a scroll compressor comprises an orbiting scroll supported on an eccentric shaft portion of a drive shaft and a stationary scroll including a stationary end plate having a stationary wrap.
An orbiting wrap on an orbiting end plate of the orbiting scroll is engaged with the stationary wrap to form a sealed chamber between the stationary wrap and the orbiting wrap.
Moreover, the scroll compressor comprises a self-rotation preventing device for preventing the orbiting scroll from rotating on its own axis.
By the eccentric shaft portion of the drive shaft and the self-rotation preventing device, the orbiting scroll is eccentrically revolved such that the volume in the sealed chamber gradually decreases toward the center to be compressed or gradually increases away from the center to be depressurized to discharge from the outer circumference.
Meanwhile, the ends of the orbiting and stationary wraps have engagement grooves in which tip seals being in sliding contact with the opposing end plates are fitted sealingly, and the tip seals are fitted in the engagement grooves.
Moreover, in the scroll compressor, a dust seal on the outer circumference of an engagement area of the orbiting and stationary wraps.
A representative example of this scroll compressor is disclosed in patent document 1 (hereinafter referred to as "prior art 1").
However, the dust seal and the tip seals of the scroll compressor prior art 1 have the following problems:
(a) Circle
The circular dust seal fitted in an annular groove requires very precise dimensions and significant efforts and techniques. Moreover, heat or lateral pressure generated during operation stretches the dust seal or deforms the annular groove to cause unsuitable fitting. Deviation of the dust seal in the annular groove causes failure in sealing;
(b) Partially Separated Circle Whose Ends are in Contact with or Close to Each Other
To absorb thermal expansion of the dust seal, a slight gap is formed between the ends in advance. However, it is impossible to completely prevent dust from entering through the gap. To prevent this, the ends of the dust seal are tilted or overlapped: which is cumbersome and expensive. The dust seal tends to move in the annular groove toward the periphery;
(c) Partially Separated Circle Whose Ends are in Contact with the Outer Surface of the Outermost Tip Seal
The annular groove must be formed into a non-circular shape, which is not so easy to achieve. During operation, a gap is formed between the end of the dust seal and the outer surface of the tip seal, and thus dust enters through the gap; and
(d) When the Tip Seals are Worn Due to Sliding Contact, the Sealability is Reduced.
Moreover, the scroll compressor comprises a self-rotation preventing mechanism for preventing the orbiting scroll from rotating on its own axis.
Furthermore, by the eccentric shaft portion of the drive shaft and the self-rotation preventing device, the orbiting scroll is eccentrically revolved such that the volume in the sealed chamber gradually decreases toward the center to be compressed or gradually increases away from the center to be depressurized to discharge from the outer circumference.
A representative example of this scroll compressor is disclosed in patent document 2 (hereinafter referred to as "prior art 2").
However, the scroll compressor of prior art 2 does not disclose a means for reducing vibration generated by the revolution of a self-rotation preventing eccentric shaft of the self-rotation preventing mechanism.
Therefore, the noise due to the vibration increases, and the durability of the scroll compressor is reduced.
Moreover, in the scroll compressor of prior art 2, a bearing tube for supporting a bearing installed in the drive shaft is integrally formed with a housing.
Therefore, when the housing is made of aluminum alloy, the bearing tube is thermally expanded during operation of the scroll compressor, which reduces the force for supporting a ball bearing, causing the ball bearing to rotate in the bearing tube.
When the housing is made of cast iron to prevent the rotation of the ball bearing in the bearing tube, the force for supporting the ball bearing is sufficient, but the total weight of the scroll compressor increases, which is problematic.
To solve the above problem, a scroll compressor in which the housing is made of aluminum alloy and the bearing tube is made of cast iron is disclosed in patent document 3 (hereinafter referred to as "prior art 3").
However, in the scroll compressor of prior art 3, the bearing tube supporting the drive shaft is detachably assembled to the housing and is fixed to the housing with a bolt, and thus the number of assembling processes increases, which is problematic.
Moreover, the number of total processes such as processing for the bolt connection area between the housing and the bearing tube, etc. increases, and thus the manufacturing cost of the scroll compressor increases.
Therefore, there is a need to develop a scroll compressor which solves the problem due to the thermal expansion of the dust seal, increases the sealing force of the tip seals, reduces the noise due to the vibration of the self-rotation preventing mechanism, and solves the problem due to the thermal expansion of the bearing tube.
Patent document 1: U.S. Pat. No. 6,695,597 (Anest lwata Corporation) 2004.02.24
Patent document 2: Korean Patent Publication No. 2007-0049556 (2007.05.11)
Patent document 3: Korean Patent Publication No. 2006-0045343 (2006.05.17)

Scroll compressor for accommodating thermal expansion of dust seal


A Viterbi decoding system includes a characteristic estimator for estimating a characteristic of a system, and an equalizer for receiving an input signal from the system and for equalizing a waveform of the input signal so that an equalized waveform of the input signal is varied based on the characteristic of the system estimated by the characteristic estimator. A Viterbi decoder generates an output signal showing a maximum-likelihood path by using the equalized waveform of the input signal from the equalizer.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a Viterbi decoding system used to decode a digital signal in a digital signal processing system, such as a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus.
(2) Description of the Related Art
In a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus, such as a magnetic disk apparatus, intersymbol interference of a read signal increases as the recording density of the apparatus increases. A Viterbi decoder, which is based on a maximum-likelihood sequence, is used to decode such a read signal having intersymbol interference.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional data transmission system, which includes a convolutional encoder 11, a transmission path 12, a waveform equalizer 13 and a Viterbi decoder 14. The convolutional encoder 11 positioned on the transmitter side convolutionally codes transmission data. The coded data is affected by intersymbol interference while it is transmitted via the transmission path 12. That is, data received by the waveform equalizer 13 has intersymbol interference. The waveform equalizer 13 shapes the waveform of the received data signal. The Viterbi decoder 14 corrects an error in the data signal having the shaped waveform. The Viterbi decoder 14 includes an ACS (Adder/Comparator/Selector) circuit, a path memory and a path selector. These structural elements are based on a constraint length of a convolutional code. The read signal of a magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus, such as a magnetic disk apparatus, has a waveform affected by intersymbol interference like the transmission signal as described above. Hence, it is possible to decode the read signal by the maximum-likelihood process.
FIG.2 is a block diagram of a conventional recording/reproducing apparatus. The apparatus shown in FIG.2 uses a partial-response maximum-likelihood technique. Recorded data is precoded by a precoder 21 and then coded into an NRZI (Non Return Zero Inverse) code by an NRZI encoder 22. The NRZI code is recorded on a magnetic recording/reproducing device 23. The NRZI code is read out from the magnetic recording/reproducing device 23 and is then waveform-equalized by an equalizer 24. The waveform-equalized signal from the equalizer 24 is decoded by a Viterbi decoder 25.
Assuming that a delay time of a bit period of the recorded data is D, an NRZI recording system in which only data "1" is magnetically inverted by the NRZI encoder 22 has a characteristic described by [1/(1-D)]mod2. Further, the characteristic of the magnetic recording/reproducing device 23 is written as (1-D), and the characteristic of the equalizer 24 is written as (1+D). Assuming that the precoder 21 has a characteristic of [1/(1+D)]mod2, a composite characteristic of the precoder 21 and the NRZI recording system is the reverse of a composite characteristic of the magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus 23 and the equalizer 24. Hence, the Viterbi decoder 25 receives the read signal in which it alternately has plus and minus polarities and hence the characteristics of the recording and reproduction are canceled.
FIG.3 is a block diagram of the Viterbi decoder 25 shown in FIG.2. As shown, the Viterbi decoder 25 is composed of an assumed-path memory 31, an ACS circuit 32, a path memory 33 and a path selector 34. The assumed-path memory 31 stores expected values obtained from the waveform of a data train composed of a number of bits corresponding to the constraint length. The ACS circuit 32 includes an adder (A), a comparator (C) and a selector (S). The adder adds, for each of the expected values, a square of the difference between a sampled value of a waveform-equalized read signal from the equalizer 24 and the expected value and a path metric value previously calculated. The comparator compares the added values. The selector selects the smallest one of the added values. The value positioned at the end of a selected assumed path is written into the path memory 33. The value written into the path memory 33 is not a maximum-likelihood value as decoded data, but a likelihood value obtained at the present time. The path selector 34 selects the smallest one of the path metric values obtained at the present time, and selects a path related to the selected smallest path metric value. Data located at the end of the selected path is output as decoded data. The read signal of the magnetic recording/reproducing device 23 has the plus and minus polarities. With the above in mind, each of the assumed-path memory 31 and the path memory 33 is capable of storing three different numerals "-1", "0" and "1".
It is desired that the decoding system composed of the equalizer 24 and the Viterbi decoder 25 shown in FIG.2 be capable of decoding the read signal even if it has a low S/N ratio. The ability of the decoding system is primarily based on increase/decrease in high-frequency noise in the equalizer 24 and a lower limit of the S/N ratio at which the waveform-equalized read signal can be decoded. The above depends on the magnitude of intersymbol interference and the shape of the equalized signal. However, conventional Viterbi decoding systems as described above do not have an arrangement which adjusts the ability of the decoding system in accordance with the magnitude of intersymbol interference so as to maximize ability of the decoding system.

Viterbi decoding system including variable-order equalizer


A new and distinct cultivar of Poinsettia plant named xe2x80x98Dueroyalxe2x80x99, characterized by its inflorescences with inflorescences with bright red-colored flower bracts; medium green-colored leaves with red purple-colored petioles; uniform and rounded plant habit; early flowering; and excellent post-production longevity.

Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. cultivar Dueroyal.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Poinsettia plant, botanically known as Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd., and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Dueroyalxe2x80x99.
The new Poinsettia is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Rheinberg, Germany. The objective of the breeding program is to create new Poinsettia cultivars with uniform plant habit and attractive flower bract coloration.
The new Poinsettia originated from a cross made by the Inventor of a proprietary selection of Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. identified as code number 94-513-8, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent, with a proprietary selection of Euphorbia pulcherrima Willd. identified as code number 95-867-1, not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The cultivar Dueroyal was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in Rheinberg, Germany. The selection of this plant was based on its attractive flower bract coloration and uniform plant habit.
Asexual reproduction of the new Poinsettia by vegetative terminal cuttings taken at Rheinberg, Germany, has shown that the unique features of this new Poinsettia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Dueroyalxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Dueroyalxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Inflorescences with bright red-colored flower bracts.
2. Medium green-colored leaves with red purple-colored petioles.
3. Uniform and rounded plant habit.
4. Early flowering; response time, about eight weeks.
5. Excellent post-production longevity.
Compared to plants of the female parent, the selection 94-513-8, plants of the new Poinsettia are more compact, have darker green leaves, and have more intense red-colored and smoother flower bracts. Compared to plants of the male parent, the selection 95-867-1, plants of the new Poinsettia are more uniform in plant habit and have smoother flower bracts.
Plants of the new Poinsettia can be compared to plants of the cultivar 490, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,825. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Rheinberg, Germany, plants of the new Poinsettia differed primarily from plants of the cultivar 490 in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Poinsettia had shorter internodes than plants of the cultivar 490.
2. Plants of the new Poinsettia had more leaves per lateral branch than plants of the cultivar 490.
3. Plants of the new Poinsettia had slightly smaller flower bracts, but more flower bracts per inflorescence than plants of the cultivar 490.
4. Plants of the new Poinsettia had larger cyathia clusters and more cyathia per corymb than plants of the cultivar 490.


The invention relates to polymeric ultrafiltration or microfiltration membranes of, for instance, Halar, PVDF or PP, incorporating PVME or vinyl methyl ether monomers. The PVME may be present as a coating on the membrane or dispersed throughout the membrane or both. The membranes are preferably hydrophilic with a highly asymmetric structure with a reduced pore size and/or absence of macrovoids as a result of the addition of PVME. The PVME maybe cross-linked. The invention also relates to methods of hydrophilising membranes and/or preparing hydrophilic membranes via thermal or diffusion induced phase separation processed.

The following discussion is not to be construed as an admission with regard to the common general knowledge.
Synthetic membranes are used for a variety of applications including desalination, gas separation, filtration and dialysis. The properties of the membranes vary depending on the morphology of the membrane i.e. properties such as symmetry, pore shape and pore size and the polymeric material used to form the membrane.
Different membranes can be used for specific separation processes, including microfiltration, ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis. Microfiltration and ultrafiltration are pressure driven processes and are distinguished by the size of the particle or molecule that the membrane is capable of retaining or passing. Microfiltration can remove very fine colloidal particles in the micrometer and sub micrometer range. As a general rule, microfiltration can filter particles down to 0.1 μm, whereas ultrafiltration can retain particles as small as 0.01 μm and smaller. Reverse Osmosis operates on an even smaller scale.
As the size of the particles to be separated decreases, the pore size of the membrane must decrease and the pressure required to carry out the separation increases.
A large surface area is needed when a large filtrate flow is required. One known technique to make filtration apparatus more compact is to form a membrane in the shape of a hollow porous fibre. Modules of such fibres can be made with an extremely large surface area per unit volume.
Microporous synthetic membranes are particularly suitable for use in hollow fibres and are produced by phase inversion. In this process, at least one polymer is dissolved in an appropriate solvent and a suitable viscosity of the solution is achieved. The polymer solution can be cast as a film or hollow fibre, and then immersed in a precipitation bath such as water. This causes separation of the homogeneous polymer solution into a solid polymer and liquid solvent phase. The precipitated polymer forms a porous structure containing a network of uniform pores. Production parameters that affect the membrane structure and properties include the polymer concentration, the precipitation media and temperature and the amount of solvent and non-solvent in the polymer solution. These factors can be varied to produce microporous membranes with a large range of pore sizes (from less than 0.1 to 20 μm), and altering chemical, thermal and mechanical properties.
Microporous phase inversion membranes are particularly well suited to the application of removal of viruses and bacteria. Of all types of membranes, the hollow fibre contains the largest membrane area per unit volume.
Flat sheet membranes are prepared by bringing a polymer solution consisting of at least one polymer and solvent into contact with a coagulation bath. The solvent diffuses outwards into the coagulation bath and the precipitating solution will diffuse into the cast film. After a given period of time, the exchange of the non-solvent and solvent has proceeded such that the solution becomes thermodynamically unstable and de-mixing occurs. Finally a flat sheet is obtained with an asymmetric or symmetric structure.
Hydrophobic surfaces are defined as "water hating" and hydrophilic surfaces as "water loving". Many of the polymers used in the manufacture of porous membranes are hydrophobic polymers. Water can be forced through a hydrophobic membrane, but usually only under very high pressure (150-300 psi). Membranes may be damaged at such pressures and under these circumstances generally do not become wetted evenly.
Hydrophobic microporous membranes are characterised by their excellent chemical resistance, biocompatibility, low swelling and good separation performance. Thus, when used in water filtration applications, hydrophobic membranes need to be hydrophilised or "wet out" to allow water permeation. Some hydrophilic materials are not suitable for microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes that require mechanical strength and thermal stability since water molecules present in the polymer can play the role of plasticizers.
Currently, poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE), Polyethylene (PE), Polypropylene (PP) and poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) are the most popular and available hydrophobic membrane materials. Poly(ethylene-chlorotrifluoroethylene) sold under the trademark HALAR is another hydrophobic material showing promise as a membrane polymeric material.
Poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) is a semi-crystalline polymer containing a crystalline phase and an amorphous phase. The crystalline phase provides good thermal stability whilst the amorphous phase adds some flexibility to the membrane. PVDF exhibits a number of desirable characteristics for membrane applications, including thermal resistance, reasonable chemical resistance (to a range of corrosive chemicals, including sodium hypochlorite), and weather (UV) resistance.
While PVDF has to date proven to be one of the most desirable options from among those materials suitable for microporous membranes, the search continues for membrane materials which will provide better chemical stability and performance while retaining the desired physical properties required to allow the membranes to be formed and worked in an appropriate manner.
Given the good membrane forming properties of hydrophobic membranes and their favourable mechanical and chemical properties, as well as the general familiarity in the industry with such materials, one approach to hydrophilic membranes is to synthesise membranes based around a hydrophobic polymer but with modification of the hydrophobic/hydrophilic balance of the membrane. The two main modes of modifying membrane property are (i) to modify the starting materials, reagents or conditions used to produce the membrane or (ii) to modify the membrane after production (post-treatment). Combinations of the two approaches are also possible, for example, introducing components into a membrane which alone may not alter membrane function, but which do interact with reagents subsequently applied to produce a membrane with a modified property.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Described is a method of charging a sorption store with a gas. The sorption store comprises a closed container which is at least partly filled with an adsorption medium and has an inlet and an outlet which can each be closed by a shut-off element. The method comprises the steps: (a) closing of the outlet shut-off element and opening of the inlet shut-off element, (b) introduction of gas to be stored under a predetermined pressure through the inlet, (c) rapid opening of the outlet shut-off element with the inlet shut-off element open so that a gas flow having a predetermined flow rate is established in the container, (d) reduction of the flow rate as a function of the adsorption rate of the gas adsorbed in the store, and (e) complete closing of the outlet shut-off element.

To store gases for stationary and mobile applications, sorption stores are increasingly being used nowadays in addition to pressurized gas tanks. Sorption stores generally comprise an adsorption medium having a large internal surface area on which the gas is adsorbed and thereby stored. During filling of a sorption store, heat is liberated as a result of the adsorption and has to be removed from the store. Analogously, heat has to be supplied for the process of desorption when taking gas from the store. Heat management is therefore of great importance in the design of sorption stores.
The patent application U.S. 2008/0168776 A1 describes a sorption store for hydrogen which comprises an external container which is thermally insulated from the surroundings and in the interior of which a plurality of pressure containers comprising an adsorption medium are arranged. The intermediate spaces between the pressure containers are filled with a cooling liquid in order to be able to remove the heat evolved during adsorption.
The patent application WO 2005/044454 A2 describes an apparatus for storing gaseous hydrocarbons, which comprises a container filled with an adsorption medium. An external circuit for the gas to be stored and in which the gas stream is cooled in order to remove heat evolved in the adsorption is provided.
A disadvantage of known sorption stores is that filling with gas proceeds only slowly. Especially in the case of mobile applications, for example in motor vehicles, this disadvantage is particularly serious.

Method of charging a sorption store with a gas


The present invention provides an automatic message capturing system including a recording device in a first location adapted to receive a spoken message and preserve the spoken message as a recorded message, a translation device adapted to automatically translate the recorded message into a text format, and at least one presentation device in a second location adapted to automatically display the text format of the message as a viewable message.

Various message-recording systems and devices are known. Past systems have ranged from very low tech, i.e., pen and paper, to very high tech, i.e., electronic organizers, and analog or digital voice recorders. In many instances voice recorders are a preferred method of capturing ideas and messages, as they can record a user's spoken thoughts without requiring the user to stop other activities, e.g. they can be used while the user is driving, shopping, in the shower, etc. However, it is often desirable to view the messages in text format.
Some digital voice recorders are sold with speech recognition software that can be downloaded to a personal computer. A user may then connect the digital voice recorder to the computer with a cable and initiate downloading of a digital voice recording to the computer. Upon a command from the user, the speech recognition software can then translate the digital recording into an electronic text format. Once the electronic text file is created, the user may choose to save the file to the computer, email the file, and/or present the file.
However, these systems do not automatically provide a text format of the spoken message, instead they require the user to connect various pieces of electronic equipment together and initiate the message capturing, message processing, and message display steps. Furthermore, these systems require the user to have access to a computer before the message can be translated into text format and presented on a viewable medium. There exists a need for a message capturing system that allows a user to capture a spoken message and automatically obtain a text format of the message without additional input from the user.

Device for automatically translating and presenting voice messages as text messages

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A powered winch driver is disclosed for operating a winch having a rotatable, typically ratcheted capstan including a socket for receiving a star stub. The driver comprises: a water proof housing having an upper plate including a socket for receiving a manual winch handle and a lower body having an opening therethrough; a battery powered motor connected by an on/off switch to a rechargeable battery contained by the water proof housing; a rotatable shaft mounted for rotation relative to the water proof housing and having a star stub extending through the opening in the lower body of the water proof housing; a water tight seal for sealing the opening in the lower body through which the rotatable shaft extends; and a drive unit connecting the battery powered motor to the rotatable shaft for rotatably driving the shaft when the motor is operated and for locking the shaft against rotation when the motor is stationary.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a powered driver for driving a rotatable item, and more particularly, to a self-locking, cordless, rechargeable, powered winch driver adapted for use with existing winches and manual winch handles.
2. Background Discussion
It is well known for marine craft, such as sailboats, to utilize a number of lines that are hauled in or let out to raise and lower various types of sails as well to control the shape of such sails. In order to reduce the level of effort required to control these lines, both manual or power winches have been employed to ease the effort of pulling in lines under tension.
It is common to use winch handles to drive manual winches which typically comprise a capstan mounted for rotation about an axis of rotation, the capstan being provided with a socket for removably securing the winch handle to manually rotate the capstan. Power winches usually employ a motor, generally mounted below decks, for rotating the capstan.
It is relatively common to use releasable winch handles on marine craft, particularly when different winches at various locations on the vessel require operation over a short period of time, for example, during a tacking maneuver. In this regard, it is also well known to provide such winch handles with a locking mechanism which locks the handle to the winch during use and releases the handle for removal. Also known are manual winch handles which float.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,386,970 discloses a power handle for operating a winch. Although operationally efficient, the power handle of the '970 patent requires an external power source, is relatively large, bulky and unwieldy, cannot float and requires the use of a fixed handle such that if the drive motor is not operated, the power handle cannot be manually operated to turn a winch.
Moreover, the power handle of the '970 patent makes no provision for releasably locking the handle to the winch during use and therefore, is prone to uncontrollable release during high torque driving of the winch. Further, a standard, manual winch handle cannot be used by the power handle of the '970 patent.


A new enzyme, alternanase, which is effective for the endo-hydrolytic cleavage of alternan, producing a thinned composition of low molecular weight fractions which exhibit reduced viscosity and increased solubility relative to native alternan, is described. The enzyme is produced and secreted extracellularly by a plurality of novel bacteria isolated from soil. One of the fractions present in the thinned alternan resulting from hydrolysis with alternanase is a the cyclic tetrasaccharide, cyclo{-6)-.alpha.-D-Glcp-(1,3)-.alpha.-D-Glcp-(1,6)-.alpha.-D-Glcp-(1,3)-. alpha.-D-Glcp-(1-}. A novel method for isolating strains of microorganisms which produce endo-.alpha.-D-glucanases such as alternanase effective for the endo-hydrolytic cleavage or thinning of alternan is also described. Cultures of the subject strains are contacted with a test substrate of alternan coupled to a detectable indicator. Detection of released indicator provides an indication of endo-.alpha.-D-glucanase activity.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to bacteria and enzymes effective for hydrolyzing alternan to lower molecular weight fragments having reduced viscosity.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The polysaccharide alternan was first described by Jeanes et al. (1954, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 76:5041-5052) as one of two extracellular .alpha.-D glucans, referred to as fraction S, produced by Leuconostoc mesenteroides NRRL B-1355. The structure of this fraction was later determined by Misaki et al. (1980, Carbohydr. Res., 84:273-285) to consist primarily of an alternating sequence of .alpha.-1,3-linked and .alpha.-1,6-linked D-glucose residues, with approximately 10% branching. Because the .alpha.-1,3-linkages are part of the linear chain of the S fraction and there are not any consecutive .alpha.-1,6-linkages, the fraction is not a true dextran, and Cote and Robyt (1982, Carbohydr. Res., 101:57-74) therefore named this fraction alternan. These authors also isolated the enzyme alternansucrase which synthesizes alternan from sucrose.
Native, high-molecular weight alternan may be produced fermentatively as described by Jeanes et al. (1954, ibid) or enzymatically as described by Cote and Robyt (1982, ibid). This compound, its low molecular weight derivatives produced by sonication, and limit alternan produced by hydrolysis with the isomalto(G.sub.2)-dextranase of Arthrobacter globiformis T6 (Misaki et al., 1980, ibid), have properties resembling certain functional characteristics of gum arabic, maltodextrins, or Polydextrose (Cote, 1992, Carbohydrate Polymers, 19:249-252). The low viscosities of these products lend themselves to potential commercial applications as substitutes for gum arabic, for use as bulking agents and extenders in foods and cosmetics, particularly as noncaloric, carbohydrate-based soluble food additives in artificially sweetened foods.
Although alternan is an .alpha.-D-glucan, no endo-hydrolytic enzymes have been described which are capable of hydrolyzing alternan to any great extent (Cote, 1992, ibid). Misaki et al. (1980, ibid) reported that an endo-dextranase from a Penicillium species hydrolyzed alternan to a small degree, 7.3%. However, in subsequent work, Cote and Robyt (1982, ibid) examined the effect of this and other endo-dextranases upon alternan and found that the enzymes were unable to hydrolyze alternan, and no measurable low molecular weight products were produced. This lack of activity was not surprising, because the endo-dextranases are specific for dextrans, requiring consecutively linked .alpha.-1,6-D-glucose residues as substrates, while alternan is composed of alternating .alpha.-1,3- and .alpha.-1,6-linkages.
In contrast to what one may expect, alternan is considerably resistant to microbial degradation and is also not attacked by enzymes that degrade starch, nigeran or pullulan (Cote, 1992, ibid). The only enzymes that have been reported to hydrolyze alternan to any significant extent are isomaltodextranases, which are not endo-hydrolases but rather exo-hydrolases or exo-dextranases. Two isomaltodextranases were examined for hydrolysis of alternan (referred to as B-1335 fraction S), the isomaltodextranases produced by Arthrobacter globiformis (Sawai et al., 1978, Carbohydrate Res., 66:195-205) and by an actinomycete Actinomadura (Sawai et al., 1981, Carbohydrate Res., 89:289-299). The authors concluded that the isomaltodextranases release mainly isomaltose units from the non-reducing ends of alternan chains that are terminated with an .alpha.-1,6-linked D-glucopyranosyl residues.
Although there is firmer evidence for exo-action of the Actinomadora isomaltodextranase (Sawai et al., 1981, ibid), the information on the mode of action of the A. globiformis enzyme is not so straightforward. Its alternan digest also contained, besides isomaltose, some larger oligosaccharide fragments, identified by Sawai et al. (1981, ibid) as .alpha.-D-Glcp-(1,6)-.alpha.-D-Glcp-(1,3)-.alpha.-D-Glcp-(1,6)-.alpha.-D-G lc, and .alpha.-D-Glcp-(1,3)-.alpha.-D-Glcp-(1,6)-.alpha.-D-Glcp-(1,3)-.alpha.-D-G lcp-(1,6)-D-Glc. The authors suggested that these larger products represented either fragments that originated in the reducing-end terminals remaining after an exo-pattern of alternan digestion or, they were transisomaltosylation products. The second alternative finds support in the fact that isomaltodextranase is a glycanase retaining the anomeric configuration of attacked linkages in the hydrolysis products (Sawai & Niwa, 1975, Agr. Biol. Chem., 39:1077-1083). The A. globiformis isomaltodextranase has also been shown to cleave all types of .alpha.-glucopyranosyl linkages following an isomaltosyl unit towards the reducing end of the substrate. In other words, the enzyme liberates terminally linked isomaltose whether the linkage is .alpha.-1,6-, .alpha.-1,4-, .alpha.-1,3- or .alpha.-1,2- (Torii et al., 1976, Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm., 70:459-464).
The recent observation by Okada et al. (1988, Agr. Biol. Chem, 52:829-836) that A. globiformis isomaltodextranase is capable of attacking pullulan in an endo-fashion cleaving the .alpha.-1,4-linkages following the .alpha.-1,6-linkage, raised again the question concerning the exo- or endo-character of the enzyme. However, studies with A. globiformis isomaltodextranase purified in this laboratory according to Okada et al. (1988, Agric. Biol. Chem., 52:495-501) have confirmed that the enzyme is not capable of endo-hydrolytic cleavage of alternan, but functions in an exo- fashion.

Bacteria and enzymes for production of alternant fragments

The United States of America, as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture


The present invention intends to improve the accuracy of temperature measurement when measuring the temperature of a semiconductor wafer by a radiation thermometer on the basis of the idea of virtual blackbody simulated by multiple reflection of light. A system includes a wafer (W), a circular reflector 1 of a radius R disposed opposite to the wafer (W), and a probe (2) disposed in a through hole formed in the reflector (1). The probe (2) is a through hole. The radiation intensity of radiation passed the through hole is determined by image data provided by a CCD camera disposed behind the back surface of the reflector (1). An error in measured radiation intensity of radiation falling the probe (2) due to light that enters a space between the wafer (W) and the reflector (1) and a space between the reflector (1) and the probe (2) and light leaks from the same spaces is corrected, the emissivity of the wafer (W) is calculated and the temperature of the wafer (W) is determined.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radiation temperature measuring method and a radiation temperature measuring system to be applied to, for example, the temperature of a semiconductor wafer.
2. Description of the Related Art
A single-wafer heating apparatus is one of heating apparatus for heat-treating semiconductor wafers. Such a heating apparatus heats a wafer for an annealing process by heat generated by heating lamps. To anneal a wafer in a high intrasurface uniformity, it is necessary to measure the temperature of the wafer, and to regulate the temperatures of the heating lamps on the basis of measured temperature in a feedforward or feedback control mode. Some methods of measuring the temperature of the wafer use a radiation thermometer.
These methods measure the emissivity of the wafer and determine the temperature of the wafer on the basis of the emissivity and measured intensity of radiation emitted by the wafer. Methods of measuring the emissivity are classified roughly into two methods. In one type of methods, light having a known wavelength and a known intensity is emitted, then reflected light from the surface of the wafer is detected to determine the emissivity. In the other type of methods, radiation emitted by the wafer is subjected to multiple reflection, then reflected radiation is detected in a plurality of environments respectively having different geometric factors, then the emissivity is calculated on the basis of a plurality of data.
A temperature measured by any one of those methods includes a measuring error caused by a loss due to the scattering of the reflected light outside a probe principally owing to scattering on the measuring surface of the wafer, and noise caused by the unnecessary detection of light emitted by the heating lamps. Therefore, the probe must be set very close to the measuring surface of the wafer, i.e., the probe must be set at a position at 0.5 to 5 mm from the measuring surface of the wafer, to suppress the effect of those causes of measuring error. Such a requirement with the probe places significant restrictions on the design of the radiation thermometer and there is the possibility that the probe affects adversely to the uniform heating of the wafer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,660,472 discloses a correcting technique for measurement employing a virtual blackbody included in a multiple reflection system. Basically, this correcting technique is practiced as follows. As shown in FIG. 13, the measuring system includes, as basic components, a wafer W, a reflecting plate (bottom wall of a vessel) 101, and first and second probes (two sapphire rods) 102. The temperature of the wafer W is measured by the following procedure.
(i) The first probe 102 of a diameter dp is inserted in a first aperture of a diameter d1 (d1 greater than dp) formed in the reflecting plate 101.
(ii) Since the aperture of the finite size exists when virtual blackbody cavity is formed, reflected light is reduced by an amount. Therefore, an effective reflectivity R1 is determined taking into consideration a decrement in reflected light.
(iii) The second probe 102 of a diameter dp is inserted in a second aperture of a diameter d2 (d2 greater than dp) formed beside the first hole.
(iv) An effective reflectivity R2 is determined taking into consideration a decrement in reflectivity.
(v) The reflectivities R1 and R2, measured temperatures T1 and T2 measured respectively by the probes 102 are substituted into a specific equation to calculate the temperature of the wafer.
The foregoing correcting technique has the following problems:
{circle around (1)} Basically, the virtual blackbody is composed of a flat plate of an infinite dimensions, however, the characteristics of the virtual blackbody is spoiled by the two apertures formed therein for the probes.
{circle around (2)} Normally, the reflectivity of the virtual blackbody is not affected by the emissivity of the wafer. As obvious from the fact that the virtual black body takes the effective reflectivities into consideration, the reflectivity of the reflecting plate 101 is not xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d; that is, the reflectivity of the reflecting plate 101 is affected to the emissivity of the wafer, so that accurate measurement of thermal emissive cannot be achieved.
{circle around (3)} The radiation thermometer cannot measure low temperatures.
The present invention has been made to solve the foregoing problems and it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a radiation temperature measuring method capable of measuring the temperature of a measuring object in a high accuracy by using a multiple reflection system.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a radiation temperature measuring system suitable for carrying out the radiation temperature measuring method.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, a radiation temperature measuring method is provided, which determines the temperature of a flat measuring surface of a measuring object on the basis of a measured radiation intensity obtained by using an optical reflector having a flat reflecting surface narrower than the measuring surface and disposed with the reflecting surface thereof facing the measuring surface, and optical path extending through the optical reflector and respectively having an exposed light-receiving plane surrounded by the reflecting surface, and by receiving radiation undergone multiple reflection between the measuring surface and the reflecting surface through the light-receiving plane of the optical path. The method including the following steps:
(a) setting four combinations of measuring conditions (S1, d1), (S1, d2) (S2, d1) and (S2, d2), where S1 and S2 are the areas S of the reflecting surfaces, and d1 and d2 are distances d between the reflecting surfaces and the measuring surface, and measuring radiation intensities Esid1, Es1d2, Es2d1 and Es2d2 for the four combinations;
(b) substituting the areas S, and an area of a side surface of a cylindrical space between the reflecting surface and the measuring surface (a product of perimeter D of the reflecting surface and the distance d) and the measured radiation intensity E into an expression:   E  =                              ϵ                                xe2x80x83                                          E            0                                    1          -                      R                                      xe2x80x83                                                  (                              1                -                ϵ                            )                                          ·      S        +                  D        ·        d                          xe2x80x83                          (                              E            N1                    -                      E            L1                          )              +          (                        E          N2                -                  E          L2                    )
where xcex5 is an emissivity of the measuring surface, E0 is a blackbody radiation intensity at a temperature T, R is a reflectivity of the reflecting surface, EN1xe2x88x92EL1 is a correction for correcting an error due to noise entering and leaking from the cylindrical space between the reflecting surface and the measuring surface, and EN2xe2x88x92EL2 is a correction for correcting an error due to noise entering and leaking from the space between the reflector and the optical path, to calculate EN2xe2x88x92EL2 for each of the four combinations;
(c) substituting calculated EN2xe2x88x92EL2 into the expression, setting two combinations of measuring conditions of the area S and the distance d, the two combinations being different from each other, measuring radiation intensities for the two combinations, and substituting the measured radiation intensities into the expression to determine EN1xe2x88x92EL1;
(d) correcting the measured radiation intensity on the basis of the expression into which EN1xe2x88x92EL1 and EN2xe2x88x92EL2 are substituted;
(e) calculating the emissivity of the measuring surface on the basis of a measured radiation intensity measured with the reflector removed and the corrected measured radiation intensity corrected in step (d); and
(f) determining temperature of the measuring surface on the basis of the emissivity of the measuring surface and the measured radiation intensity measured with the reflector removed.
The two combinations used in step (c) may be selected from the combinations in step (a).
According to a second aspect of the present invention, a radiation temperature measuring system for measuring the temperature of a flat measuring surface of a measuring object comprises: a rotating plate disposed opposite to the measuring surface; at least five sets of light-receiving parts P1 to P5 disposed in a circumferential arrangement on the rotating plate and smaller than the measuring surface; at least five optical path forming members disposed in a space between the measuring surface and the rotating plate opposite to the measuring surface so as to correspond to the light-receiving parts P1 to P5; and a radiation intensity measuring unit for measuring the respective intensities of radiation passed the light-receiving parts disposed on the rotating plate.
Each of the light-receiving parts P1 has a through hole, and each of the light-receiving parts P2 to P5 has a reflector having a flat reflecting surface facing the measuring surface and provided with a through hole formed therein in a direction along the thickness of the rotating plate and having one end opening in the reflecting surface. The areas of the reflecting surfaces of the light-receiving parts P2 and P3 are S1 and those of the light-receiving parts P4 and P5 are S2. The distance between the reflecting surface of the light-receiving parts P2 and the measuring surface and the distance between the reflecting surface of the light-receiving part P3 and the measuring surface are D1 and D2, respectively, and the distance between the reflecting surface of the light-receiving parts P4 and the measuring surface and the distance between the reflecting surface of the light-receiving part P5 and the measuring surface are D1 and D2, respectively. The rotating plate is rotated to locate the light-receiving parts P1 to P5 sequentially opposite to the optical path forming members, and the emissivity of the measuring surface is determined on the basis of radiation intensities measured by the radiation intensity measuring unit.
In this radiation temperature measuring system, it is preferable to cover a space through which the radiation leaving the exit ends of the light-receiving parts travels with a black cover. It is preferable that the radiation intensity measuring unit is capable of collectively measuring errors caused by the radiation leaving the light-receiving parts as two-dimensional data.

Radiation temperature measuring method and radiation temperature measuring system


A vehicular bumper structure includes plural load detection sensors (28, 30, 32, 34, 52) disposed at predetermined intervals in a vehicle body vertical direction between a load transmitting plate (36, 50) disposed with a bumper touch sensor and a front wall portion (20C) of a bumper reinforcement. The load transmitting plate (36, 50) is configured so as to be displaced towards a vehicle body rear side with respect to the front wall portion (20C) of the bumper reinforcement (20).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicular bumper structure. In particular, the present invention relates to a vehicular bumper structure that can detect a collision body in a vehicle such as an automobile.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, with respect to a vehicular bumper structure that detects a collision body in a vehicle such as an automobile, the following configuration has been known. This is a configuration where a groove that extends in a longitudinal direction is formed in the front surface of a bumper reinforcement, a collision detection sensor is housed inside this groove, a pair of upper and lower grooves are formed in the rear surface of an impact absorber, and a push-in portion with respect to the collision detection sensor is formed.
In this configuration, the entire areas of the upper portion and the lower portion of the pair of upper and lower grooves in the rear surface of the impact absorber abut against a front wall portion of the bumper reinforcement. Part of a load acting on the impact absorber is directly transmitted from the impact absorber to the bumper reinforcement via these abutment portions. For this reason, the load acting on the collision detection sensor is reduced.


In producing thin slabs by continuous casting, a method is developed in which internal defects are reduced to improve a production yield. Narrow sides of cast slabs are cooled in a controlled manner to produce cast slabs having a projection in a center of each of the narrow sides to a height of 5-10 mm above the level of the edge portions, and squeeze reduction with a reduction of 10-45% is carried out while an unsolidified portion of the narrow sides of the slab is within 50-80% of the thickness of the cast slab.

A typical process for making thin plates comprises continuously casting slabs, cooling the slabs, and then subjecting the once-cooled slabs to hot rolling. According to this process, however, it is necessary to heat the slabs which have been air-cooled after casting, and this process is disadvantageous with respect to energy consumption.
Recently, in view of the advantage that it can reduce energy costs markedly, a direct rolling process has been employed. The direct rolling process is a process for directly supplying cast slabs from a continuous casting machine to a hot rolling mill without intentional cooling. When thin cast slabs are used, it is possible to omit rough hot rolling steps from the direct rolling process. Currently, many attempts have been made to develop a new and practical continuous casting process for such thin slabs.
The direct rolling process using such thin slabs is advantageous because it is possible to omit rough hot rolling steps and because it is possible to achieve a less-energy consuming and more simplified process as a whole process for making steels in more efficient manner.
One such process for producing thin slabs is a process for casting slabs using a rectangular mold, in which a cast slab is rolled under a controlled roll pressure with controlled reductions using a plurality pairs of rolls while unsolidified portions remain in central portions of the slab. See Japan Unexamined Patent Application Laid-Open Specification No. 2-52159.
Using such processes in which cast slabs are reduced in thickness while unsolidified portions remain in central portions thereof (hereunder called "squeeze reduction"), it is possible to force out a molten phase enriched in solutes in the central portion of the slab upwardly to a mold so that cast slabs substantially free from segregation in liquid core can be obtained. Such segregation in the central portion is caused by the solidification of molten steel enriched in solutes. When the amount of rolling reduction during the molten state is adjusted, it is possible to manufacture thin slabs having a given range of thickness from slabs cast in a mold having a predetermined size of thickness.
According to a process disclosed in the above-mentioned JP-A 2-52159, however, cast slabs are produced with a rectangular mold, and tensile stresses are found along a solid-liquid interface in a longitudinal section during squeeze reduction. Such tensile strains sometimes cause cracking within the slabs.
Such a tendency is remarkable when the casting is carried out at a high speed and the reduction is relatively large. If there are many internal cracks in a cast slab, it is impossible to manufacture a rolled product through finish rolling. Thus, the reduction in thickness during squeeze reduction is restricted, and the merits of squeeze reduction cannot be enjoyed sufficiently when high speed casting is carried out.
On the other hand, as the casting speed increases, the pouring rate of molten steel into a mold through an immersion nozzle and the flow velocity are also increased, resulting in insufficient separation of inclusions within a residence time of molten steel in the mold. An increase in the amount of inclusions within slabs is inevitable. Thus, even if segregation in central portions can be forced out by squeeze reduction, it tends to be impossible to suppress an increase in inclusions, and clean steels free from internal defects cannot be obtained when the casting speed is high. In such a case, the advantages of squeeze reduction cannot be attained sufficiently.
In order to cope with an increase in casting speed, which is required recently, it is necessary to suppress the formation of internal cracks of cast slabs as well as segregation in the central portions, and it is also necessary to improve the cleanliness of cast slabs.

Process for continuously casting thin slabs


A user interface is provided having a display for displaying information about a system, wherein said system is comprised of a plurality of elements. The user interface is provided with a plurality of modes of user operation, including an installment mode which allows the user to configure the user interface to perform in a desired manner while the element is being installed.

The present invention relates to a computerized system for monitoring a facility comprised of one or more buildings. For safety and security, such facilities are provided with monitoring systems that employ detectors distributed throughout the facility and a central monitoring station, such as a control panel, operatively connected to detectors to receive messages and to control the devices. Such systems generally include varying types of detectors such as smoke detectors, heat detectors, motion detectors and security detectors that determine when doors or other entry points have been tampered with.
The problem with prior control panels is that the user interfaces generally provided are not designed to be used with different types of users. Further, such control panels do not provide sophisticated users with several different modes of operation allowing the user the ability to generate reports, performance system maintenance, and install new nodes, modules and devices from the control panel using the user interface.


Various embodiments of the present invention are directed to photonic-interconnection-based compute clusters that provide high-speed, high-bandwidth interconnections between compute cluster nodes. In one embodiment of the present invention, the compute cluster includes a photonic interconnection having one or more optical transmission paths for transmitting independent frequency channels within an optical signal to each node in a set of nodes. The compute cluster includes one or more photonic-interconnection-based writers, each writer associated with a particular node, and each writer encoding information generated by the node into one of the independent frequency channels. A switch fabric directs the information encoded in the independent frequency channels to one or more nodes in the compute cluster. The compute cluster also includes one or more photonic-interconnection-based readers, each reader associated with a particular node, and each reader extracting the information encoded in the independent frequency channels directed to the node for processing.

Recent developments in distributed computing platforms, called "compute clusters," show that considerable progress has been made in increasing data processing speed and reducing platform sizes. In general, a compute cluster comprises a number of interconnected nodes, each of which is capable of performing a number of independent data processing tasks. A node can be a processor, memory, computer server, storage server, an external network connection or any other data processing or data transmitting device. Compute clusters are typically employed in either data reduction applications or data generation applications. In data reduction applications, large input data sets, such as data provided by a scientific instrument, are processed by identifying patterns and/or producing aggregate statistical descriptions of the input data. For example, in order to analyze and interpret the large amounts of image data obtained from an optical scan of a microarray, the image data can be reduced to smaller aggregate statistical descriptions. In data generation applications, small input data sets typically provide initial conditions for simulations that generate large output data sets that can be further analyzed or visualized. Combustion models, weather prediction, and computer graphics applications that generate animated films are examples of data generation applications.
Compute cluster applications are typically partitioned into hundreds, thousands or even millions of tasks by identifying specific individual tasks that can each be independently performed. Applications are often partitioned by a message-passing interface computer program and execution environment. Tasks can be distributed to different nodes based on the following criteria: (1) the order in which each task is received, (2) the configuration of the nodes in the cluster, (3) the computational demand of each task, (4) the amount of memory needed for each task, (4) the amount of data transmitted between nodes, and (5) the input/output requirements of the application.
Compute cluster nodes are typically interconnected via a network of high-speed, low latency, electrical interconnections that transmit data between nodes through a switch fabric. FIG. 1A illustrates a representation of a 4-node switch-fabric architecture 100. In FIG. 1A, physical nodes are interconnected via a switch fabric 102, where each physical node is represented by a first virtual node and a second virtual node. The first virtual node represents an input connection with the switch fabric 102, and the second virtual node represents an output connection with the switch fabric 102. For example, an input connection between physical Node 0 and the switch fabric 102 is represented by a rectangle 104 and a directional arrow 106, and an output connection between the switch fabric 102 and the physical Node 0 106 is represented by a rectangle 108 and a directional arrow 110. Switch fabrics provide interconnections so that nodes can simultaneously transmit data to different nodes in the compute cluster. For example, the switch fabric 102 provides interconnections so that the Node 1 can be simultaneously transmit data to the Node 2 and the Node 3, as indicated by dashed-line directional arrows 112 and 114.
The data processed by each node is typically partitioned into smaller fixed-sized packets that are then distributed through the switch fabric to particular nodes for processing. FIG. 1B illustrates an example implementation of the switch fabric 102, shown in FIG. 1A. In FIG. 1B, the switch fabric 102 includes input and output line cards, such as an input line card 118 and output line card 120, a permutation network 122, and an arbiter 124. Data is first transmitted from the nodes to the input line cards. The input line card partitions the data streams into fixed size packets. The packets are then transmitted to the switch fabric 102 and distributed to one or more first-in-first-out electronic-based data structures called "virtual queues." The arbiter 124 receives information regarding the packets stored at the head of each virtual queue and accordingly configures the interconnections within the permutation network 122 to distribute a first batch of packets stored at the head of each virtual queue to particular nodes. The output line cards assemble the packets received by the permutation network 120 and transmit the assembled packets to nodes for processing. After the arbiter 124 has distributed the first batch of packets, the arbiter 124 reconfigures the permutation network 120 in order to distribute a second batch of packets stored at the head of each virtual queue for processing.
In general, switch fabrics uniformly distribute data between nodes. However, compute clusters often have a number of nodes that exchange large amounts of data more frequently than other nodes, and the low latency interconnections provided by switch fabrics have limited bandwidths. As a result, the amount of data that can be transmitted between nodes is not well matched to the data transfer needs of the particular nodes at each point in time, resulting in data processing delays. In addition, arbiters can delay data processing, because arbiters typically rely on receiving information regarding all packets located at the head of each queue before distributing a batch of packets. Manufacturers, designers, and users of compute clusters have recognized a need for an interconnection architecture that provides large bandwidth, high-speed interconnections, and a switch fabric that does not rely on an arbiter to distribute packets.

Compute clusters employing photonic interconnections for transmitting optical signals between compute cluster nodes


A network-wide traffic measurement/analysis problem is formulated as a series of set-cardinality-determination (SCD) problems, using probabilistic distinct sample counting techniques to compute network-wide traffic measurements of interest in a distributed manner via the exchange of light-weight traffic digests (TD's) amongst network nodes/routers. A TD for N packets uses only requires O(loglog N) bits of memory storage, making it possible to distribute nodal TD's to all routers within a domain by piggybacking them as opaque data objects inside existing control messages, such as OSPF link-state packets (LSPs) or I-BGP control messages. A router receiving the TD's can estimate the traffic measurements of interest for each of its local links by solving a series of set-cardinality-determination problems. The traffic measurements of interest are typically per-link, per-traffic-aggregate packet (or flow) counts, where an aggregate is defined by the group of packets sharing the same originating and/or destination nodes (or links) and/or some intermediate nodes (or links).

In recent years, the world has witnessed the proliferation of high-speed data networks and the rapid expansion of the set of protocols/services supporting these networks. The development of network monitoring and traffic measurement techniques have, so far, failed to catch up with the operating speed as well as the large-scale deployment of these networks. Because of this shortfall, network operators are increasingly losing their grasp on what exactly occurs in these networks. This, in turn, has jeopardized the ability to operate and manage the networks properly and efficiently. There is an urgent need of a comprehensive, yet deployable, network monitoring and end-to-end traffic analysis infrastructure for large-scale, high-speed networks. Such infrastructure is particularly important for connectionless data networks such as the Internet, in which routes of traffic flows can change dynamically and unpredictably in the middle of a session due to different types of expected or unexpected events. Such events include network component failures, non-deterministic load-balancing schemes (e.g. Equal Cost Multiple Path (ECMP)), software/hardware bugs and protocol mis-configurations. At present, most network operators can only rely on rudimentary diagnostic tools such as "traceroute", to obtain woefully inadequate samplings of end-to-end routes of individual traffic flows within the network.
Recent research in traffic measurement/analysis methodologies and infrastructures has been strongly driven by the demands of a number of critical real-life applications such as the Origination-to-Destination (O-D pair) traffic matrix estimation for large scale ISPs and the support of traceback services in IP-based networks to tackle spoofed DDoS attacks. In the traffic matrix estimation problem as discussed in A. Medina, N. Taft, K. Salamatian, S. Bhattacharyya and C. Diot, "Traffic Matrix estimation: Existing Techniques and new directions," in Procs. of ACM Sigcomm, August 2002 [Medi 02]; Y. Zhang, M. Roughan, N. Duffield, A. Greenberg, "Fast Accurate Computation of Large-Scale IP Traffic Matrices from Link Loads," in Procs. of ACM Sigmetrics, June, 2003 [Zhang 03a]; and Y. Zhang, M. Rough, C. Lund and D. Donoho, "An Information-Theoretic Approach in Traffic Matrix Estimation," in Procs. of ACM Sigcomm, August 2003 [Zhang 03b], the objective is to estimate traffic demands between O-D node-pairs in a large scale IP network using link-load measurements only. The origin of this problem stemmed from the lack of support of inexpensive, scalable per-flow counters by most commercial gigabit routers in the market. For example, while the Cisco Netflow technology, Cisco, IOS NetFlow. http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/732/Tech/nmp/netflow/index.shtml, can be used to collect fine grain per-flow traffic statistics, its formidable storage and bandwidth requirements make it unsuitable for 10 Gbps networks. To address such inadequacy/deficiency in the measurement infrastructure, researchers have resorted to combine link-load measurements with additional assumptions on O-D pair traffic distribution in order to estimate the required O-D pair traffic matrix. For instance, in [Medi 02, Zhan 03a, Zhan 03b], different variants of the gravity model are adapted from the field of transportation to model the network traffic distribution between all O-D pairs ; in [Vard 96] Y. Vardi, "Network Tomography: estimating source-destination traffic intensities from link data," Journal of American Statistics Association, 91, pp. 365-377, 1996, [Vard 95], a Poissonian assumption is used to relate the 2nd order link-load statistics with O-D pair traffic distribution. Similar Gaussian assumption is made by J. Cao, D. Davis, S. V. Wiel and B. Yu, "Time-varying network tomography," Journal of American Statistics Association, 95, pp. 1063-1075, 2000 [Cao 00] as well. In fact, the problem of estimating the O-D traffic matrix given only link-load measurements has led to the formation of a new field research called "Network Tomography". Unfortunately, most of the network tomography-based solutions proposed to-date are highly sensitive, i.e. not robust, with respect to the validity of their traffic distribution assumptions. The tomography-based approach also heavily relies on the correctness, synchronization and consistency amongst multiple operational databases from which measurements/configuration information have to be extracted and collated. (Such databases include forwarding tables in the routers, the router configuration files, as well as SNMP MIBs for the link-load.) The aforementioned modeling and operational assumptions also render the tomography-based traffic measurement/estimation schemes of little use for network failure detection/diagnosis where neither the proper functioning of network elements/databases nor the normality of traffic distribution can be assumed.
Recently, an alternative packet trajectory-based traffic monitor/analysis approach has been proposed by N. G. Duffield, M. Grossglauser, "Trajectory Sampling for Direct Traffic Observation," in Procs. of ACM Sigcomm, August 2000 pg. 271-282 [Duff 00] and A. C. Snoeren, C. Partridge, L. A. Sanchez, C. E. Jones, F. Tchakountio, S. T. Kent and W. T. Strayer, "Hash-based IP Traceback," in Procs. of ACM Sigcomm, August 2001, pg. 3-14 [Snoe 01] in which each node (router) maintains a compressed summary, or a digest, of all the packets it recently handled. In both [Duff 00] and [Snoe 01], the digest is in the form of a Bloom filter, see, for example, B. Bloom, "Space/Time trade-offs in hash coding with allowable errors," Communications of the ACM 13, July 1970, pp. 422-426, [Bloo 70] and , A. Broder, M. Mitzenmacher, "Network Applications of Bloom Filters: A Survey," Allerton Conference, 2002, available at http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/˜michaelm , [Brod 02] which is updated for every packet arriving at the node and periodically uploaded to some centralized server to support future offline traffic analysis as well as archival purposes. Armed with these very informative nodal traffic digests, the centralized server can not only construct the traffic flow pattern and per-flow/commodity measurements throughout the network, but also answer queries regarding the end-to-end path, or the so-called trajectory, of any given packet traversing the network in the (recent) past. The ability of answering trajectory query for any given individual packet does come with a heavy cost: the Bloom filter has to be big enough to store sufficient information for every individual incoming packet. Even with the efficient memory vs. false-positive-trade-off of a Bloom filter, it still requires O(N) bits of memory to capture and correctly distinguish the signatures of N different packets with high probability. In [Snoe 01], it is estimated that such a system requires approximately 0.5% of link capacity of the node per unit time in storage. For a 10 Gbps link, this translates to 50 Mbits of storage for every one second of monitoring time. Such a heavy-weight traffic digest approach not only stresses the memory storage and communication requirements of the system but also scales poorly as the link speed and/or monitoring duration increases.

High-speed traffic measurement and analysis methodologies and protocols


This invention relates to a new and distinct mint plant of Mentha arvensis xe2x80x98Sakshamxe2x80x99, developed through tissue culture, possessing the following combination of characters namely producing higher amount of menthol with high essential oil yield as well as herbage yield; possessing better growth and vegetative growth with high regenerability; has distinct molecular profile by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD); retains the characteristics of tolerance to leaf spot, rust and powdery mildew as in the parent variety xe2x80x98Himalayaxe2x80x99; has light greenish leaves, pinkish white flowers like the parent plant xe2x80x98Himalayaxe2x80x99, this new plant is able to produce higher herbage, oil and menthol yield per unit area as compared to other existing improved varieties.

Mentha arvensis Linn./Japanese Mint Plant.
cv. Saksham.
The present invention is related to the development of a novel high menthol producing plant obtained through a unique method of screening of the somaclones in poison agar medium containing toxic level of menthol. The selected plant is tolerant to high concentration of menthol in cultures and hence possesses property of accumulating more menthol per unit leaf mass due to shifted feed back inhibition by menthol as end product. The essential oil yield from the said plant is high coupled with the property of being rich in menthol. This plant is unique and clearly distinct from all other existing varieties of Mentha arvensis L. The new variety was initially designated GRB 30. The new variety has been named as xe2x80x98Sakshamxe2x80x99 (meaning capable) which can be propagated vegetatively through suckers for commercial cultivation.
Mentha arvensis Linn. Var piperescens. Holmes (menthol or Japanese mint) is a highly valued industrial crop due to menthol, which is purified by crystallisation through freezing from its essential oil. In the varietal improvement programs, the genetic alternations leading to enhancement in the menthol content in the essential oil and improving other adaptive characters determining the yield and quality of essential oil are most desirable. Menthol is produced from geranyl pyrophosphate through a series of intermediates and the level of production of the high value product menthol is controlled through feed back inhibition of the accumulated end product (which is menthol here). It appears that beyond a certain limit of menthol during the biosynthesis the enzymes involved are inhibited by the end product preventing further forward reaction. Also, monoterpenes are known to be cytotoxic to plant tissues, by inhibiting respiration and photosynthesis by drastically affecting the mitochondria, golgi bodies etc and decreasing cell membrane permeability (Brown J T, Hegarty P K, Charlwood B V, 1987. The toxicity of monoterpenes to plant cell cultures. Plant Science 48: 195-201). Monoterpenes are either sequestered in the plants in specialized structures like glandular hairs in Pelargonium (Brown J T, Charlwood B V, 1986, Differentiation and monoterpene biosynthesis in plant cell cultures. In Morris P, Scragg A, Stafford A and Fowler M, ed Secondary Metabolism in Plant Cell Cultures. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1986, p. 68), trichomes in Mentha or stored in the form of non-toxic glycoside derivatives in vacuoles e.g. Rosa spp. The end product toxicity in such cases can be related to the feed back inhibition to regulate the extent of monoterpenes that can be accumulated within tolerance limits. Menthol, the major component of the essential oil, which is considered to be cytotoxic to the plant, could be so due to toxicity mechanism related to the end product. To this corollary, the level of menthol accumulated in leaf tissues may be linked to the level of menthol tolerance. Uncoupling of these two factors may thus deregulate the rate-limiting step in the production of menthol. With this rationale, the applicants attempted to screen the somaclones available with us and tested to select clones tolerant to high level of menthol with the possibility of selecting high menthol yielding clones. It was assumed that through certain alternate mechanism cellular components may escape toxicity and damaging effect of higher menthol in the tissues by circumventing feed back inhibition level. Such a condition may lead to more menthol accumulation in the trichomes of the regenerated menthol tolerant plant which indeed happened and the applicants could screen out a stable high menthol containing clone showing enhanced tolerance to menthol in vitro.
The main object of the invention is to develop a new and distinct plant through tissue culture, said plant being capable of producing higher menthol with high essential oil yield as well as herbage yield.
Another object of the invention is to develop a new plant which possesses better vegetative growth with high regenerability.
Still another object of the invention is to retain certain original characters of the parent plant.
This invention provides a new and distinct mint plant of Mentha arvensis xe2x80x98Sakshamxe2x80x99, developed through tissue culture, possessing the following combination of characters namely producing higher amount of menthol with high essential oil yield as well as herbage yield; possesses better growth and vegetative growth with high regenerability; has distinct molecular profile by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD); retains the characteristics of tolerance to leaf spot, rust and powdery mildew as in the parent variety xe2x80x98Himalayaxe2x80x99; and has light greenish leaves, pinkish white flowers like the parent plant xe2x80x98Himalayaxe2x80x99. This new plant is able to produce higher herbage, oil and menthol yield per unit area as compared to other existing improved varieties.
The new plant xe2x80x98Sakshamxe2x80x99 of the present invention was produced at the Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants field station Pant Nagar, Lucknow, India.
The new variety of the present invention commonly produces a significant number of suckers, and has been asexually reproduced at the same location in India by division. The xe2x80x98Sakshamxe2x80x99 plant is firmly fixed in its characteristics and has been found to reproduce true to type through successive generations of such asexual reproduction.
The invention provides a new and distinct mint plant of Mentha arvensis xe2x80x98Sakshamxe2x80x99, developed through tissue culture, possessing the following combination of characters:
a) Produces higher amount of menthol (83% of oil) with high essential oil yield (0.8 to 1.0%) as well as herbage yield (at least 1.83 Q per 100 m2),
b) Possesses better growth and vegetative growth with high regenerability covering at least 77 cm canopy area and a height of at least 72 cm in a maximum of 100 days,
c) Has a distinct molecular profile by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) using 20 random primers distinguishing the plant from the other existing varieties,
d) Retains characteristics of tolerance to leaf spot, rust and powdery mildew as in the parent variety xe2x80x98Himalayaxe2x80x99.
e) Has light greenish leaves (138B), pinkish white flowers (56C) like the parent plant xe2x80x98Himalayaxe2x80x99, and
f) Produces higher herbage, oil and menthol yield per unit area as compared to other existing improved varieties.
The applicants used the plant xe2x80x98Himalayaxe2x80x99 (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 10,935), an elite mint genotype for large scale screening of in vitro raised clones (Khanuja S P S, Shasany A K, Dhawan S, Sushil Kumar, 1998, Rapid procedure for isolating somaclones of altered genotypes in Mentha arvensis. J medicinal and Aromatic Plant Sciences 20:359-361) to select clones tolerant to high menthol concentration in the medium (An efficient in vitro selection procedure for large scale screening of mint clones to isolate high menthol genotypes. Khanuja et al, Procedure patent pending, 1999).
While testing the tolerance of in vitro regenerates in presence of menthol in the MS based medium (Murashige T and Skoog F, 1962, A revised medium for rapid growth and bioassay with tobacco tissue cultures; Physiol. Planta. 15 473-497), the initial toxicity symptoms were first observed at the menthol concentration of 40 xcexcg mlxe2x88x921 menthol after 7 days. The immediate symptoms of menthol toxicity were observed at menthol concentration of 70 xcexcg mlxe2x88x921 within 24 hours. Here it was immediate chlorophyll loss and irreversible wilting of the shoots, non-rescuable even by culturing these regenerates in normal medium without menthol. Lowest survival was detected at a concentration of 70 xcexcg mlxe2x88x921, where only 1% shoots could survive. Since at 50 xcexcg mlxe2x88x921 concentration of menthol, also typical symptoms of toxicity were observed, a stepwise selection pressure of menthol concentration in the medium was employed in the large scale screening experiment, to enrich for the potentially tolerant shoots which presumably resort to the adaptive response by tolerating this medium level of menthol concentration through the induction of genes required for the tolerance, before transfer to the higher level. Ultimately 36, clones were selected for tolerance at 70 xcexcg mlxe2x88x921 menthol by screening about 2950 clones. These were transferred to field for evaluation in a plant test area at Lucknow, India. Out of all the clones selected and grown outdoors in the field, one clone GRB-30 was observed to be growing better with high essential oil yield and higher menthol content. Further, on retesting in vitro, this clone could tolerate even 80 xcexcg mlxe2x88x921 menthol in the culture medium. Considering the stability of the multiplied clone for menthol tolerance and increased menthol production it was logically assumed that the mother cells in vitro might have undergone some genetic changes to give rise to these variant (clones) and as a consequence of selection pressure of menthol, ultimately got selected as menthol tolerant genotypes with much higher tolerance level than the control plant xe2x80x98Himalayaxe2x80x99. The selected clone named xe2x80x98Sakshaxe2x80x99 (meaning capable) demonstrated significantly high menthol production per unit biomass and hence represents the superior genotype with the capability for large-scale commercial cultivation. The comparative field evaluation for two years 1998-1999 and 1999-2000 for growth and yield traits is given in Table 1, where the checks included parent variety xe2x80x98Himalayaxe2x80x99 and another superior genotype xe2x80x98Kosixe2x80x99 (non-patented in the United States) in addition to a high menthol tolerant but low herbage yielding variety xe2x80x98Kalkaxe2x80x99 (non-patented in the United States).

Mint plant named xe2x80x98Sakshamxe2x80x99

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research


A bale carrier for carrying first, second and third rows of bales. The first row of bales are positioned on cradles positioned at one side of the carrier while the second row of bales are positioned on cradles at the other side of the carrier. A third row of bales is positioned on the tops of the first and second rows. A hydraulic cylinder having a push-off arm at the upper end thereof is positioned between bales in the first and second rows and is adapted to engage the underside of the bale in the third row of the bales positioned thereon so that the bale in the third row will be moved upwardly and laterally with respect to the bales and will be dumped from the right side of the carrier.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a bale carrier and more particularly to a bale carrier which is designed to carry first and second rows of bales with the bales in each row being arranged in an end-to-end relationship with the first and second rows being positioned adjacent one another and a third row of bales positioned on top of the first and second rows of bales. A means is provided for pushing the bales of the third row of bales from the bale carrier.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many types of apparatuses have been previously provided for carrying or transporting large round bales. Prior to applicant's invention of U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,800, applicant had no knowledge of any bale carriers which had the ability to discharge the bales therefrom at either side of the wheeled frame means which could take the form of a pick-up truck, truck or trailer. In the invention of U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,800, a bale carrier is disclosed wherein the bales are positioned on the carrier in an end-to-end relationship with the bale carrier having the ability to dump the bales from either side of the bale carrier. In the co-pending application of Ser. No. 07/861,062 filed Mar. 31, 1992, a bale carrier is disclosed wherein first and second rows of bales are positioned on the bale carrier with the bales in each of the rows being arranged in an end-to-end relationship. The bales in the first row can be dumped from one side of the carrier while the bales in the second row can be dumped from the other side of the carrier.
Although the bale carrier of U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,800 is believed to represent a significant advance in the art and although the bale carrier of Ser. No. 07/861,062 is believed to represent a significant advance over applicant's earlier bale carrier and the prior art, it has been found that it is desirable to be able to carry or transport a third row of bales on top of the first and second rows of bales. By positioning the third row of bales above the first and second rows of bales, the carrier is able to transport additional bales from one location to another. In conjunction with the ability to transport a third row of bales, it is desirable to be able to provide some mechanism on the carrier to dump the bales of the third row of bales from the bale carrier.
Therefore, it is a principal object of the invention to provide an improved bale carrier.
A further object of the invention is to provide a bale carrier wherein a third row of bales is positioned on top of first and second rows of bales.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a bale carrier of the type described including means for dumping or pushing the bales of the third row of bales from the bale carrier.
Still another object of the invention is to provide a bale carrier including the means for dumping or pushing the bales of the third row of bales in a direction which would not dump the bales onto the road in the event of a malfunction.
These and other objects of the present invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art.


A reference value generating unit (14b) generates a reference value which is equal to a speed command value taken when an override value is 1. A speed command value generating unit (14c) generates a speed command value taken when an override value is a set value. A position control gain generating unit (14d) generates a position control gain to be used by a motor controller (12) on the basis of the ratio of the speed command value to the reference value and a gain-related value relating to a gain which is set in accordance with an upper die (9a), and outputs the generated position control gain to a memory (11).

A motor controller which controls feedback control for a motor is used for causing the motor to drive a driven object. For that purpose, the motor controller generates a speed command value for the motor on the basis of an error between a position command value for the motor and the actual position (for example, the rotation angle) of the motor, and a position control gain.
The position command value for the motor is input from a host controller into the motor controller. The host controller generates the position command value for the motor by analyzing data included in an operation process program (for example, a press program) for a driven object driven by the motor to perform a predetermined operation. The host controller then outputs the generated position command value for the motor to the motor controller.
Conventionally, as a host controller that outputs a position command value for a motor to a motor controller, a host controller has been proposed that changes a parameter such as a position control gain based on the position of either the motor or the driven object driven by the motor in order to ensure the stability of control and the quickness of operations of the motor controller (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. JP-A-2004-30500).
In some situations, the speed of the motor needs to be reduced in order to operationally check and adjust the driven object driven by the motor before the driven object performs a predetermined operation. In such a situation, an override for changing the speed of the motor (for example, reducing the speed of the motor below a programmed speed) is performed while the driven object is being driven by the motor. In order to override, the host controller causes the motor controller to generate a speed command value for the motor which is set according to an override value. For example, the host controller causes the motor controller to generate a speed command value for the motor that is equal to the product of a speed command value for the motor taken when the override value is 1 and an override value (for example, 0.5). To accomplish this, the host controller generates a motor speed command value for the motor taken when the override value is a set override value (for example, 0.5) on the basis of a position command value for the motor taken when the override value is 1 and the set override value. The host controller then outputs the generated position command value to the motor controller.
However, the override changes the position deviation between a position command value for the motor and the actual position of the motor, leading to a change in the motion trajectory of the driven object driven by the motor. The change in the motion trajectory can adversely affect the stability of control and the quickness of operation of the motor controller. In order to avoid the adverse effect of a change in the motion trajectory on the control stability and operation quickness of the motor controller, the motor controller needs to be controlled so as to keep the motion trajectory of the driven object driven by the motor constant, irrespective of a change in the override value.
An object of the present invention is to provide a host controller capable of controlling a motor controller so as to keep the motion trajectory of a driven object driven by a motor constant, irrespective of a change in an override value.

Host controller generating position control gain


A quick-set hydraulic coupler for use with the standard telescoping-type fluid or gas connectors on equipment within the agricultural, trucking, or tractor-trailer fields. The quick-set coupler includes a female half and a male half whereby the female half is mounted and includes a ring for engaging a lever. Depressing the lever will extend a spring biased inner member of the female half and expose a ring of retractable ball bearings that engage the male half. The lever is then released and the inner member retracts along with the coupled male member to form a tight seal.

The present invention relates generally to the use of a quick-set hydraulic coupler to connect and disconnect fluid or gas lines in equipment within the agricultural, trucking, or tractor-trailer field. More particularly, the present invention relates to such hydraulic coupler systems having a female sleeve encircled with balls retractable into and extendable out of a housing, and specifically on such systems using a lever to extend the sleeve.
Connectors for fluid lines and the like are typically of the telescoping type. Such a design utilizes inner and outer telescoping members in which the inner telescoping member sealingly fits within an opening of the outer telescoping member to create a tightly sealed fit. This connection is held in retention by means of several spaced, metal balls which project through the wall of the aperture of the outer telescoping member, to fit into an outer circumferential groove of the inner member for retention thereof. The balls are held in their inwardly projecting, retaining position by an outer sleeve positioned on the outer member which presses the balls inwardly. To couple and decouple the connector, the outer sleeve is axially displaced to free the balls so that they may retract outwardly, in which position the inner telescoping member may slide into or out of the outer member.
Manually connecting and disconnecting such a coupler system creates several difficulties. Most important of these is the time and effort needed to connect the lines. Interconnecting the coupling parts requires that the worker exert a force on the female coupling member towards the male coupling member and while maintaining this force, apply a force to the sleeve in the opposite direction to free the metal balls so that the male member may slide into and out of the female member. This third step may require a third hand if the members are too big for a single person to connect. A second person may also be needed in the event that the equipment needs to be operated in the rain or when the equipment is oily and too slippery to grasp by a single person.
An advancement in such telescoping type connectors if found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,374,085, issued Dec. 20, 1994 which describes a locking device for fluid coupling. The purpose of this patent is to permit a conventional quick disconnect fluid coupling to be rendered more secure by a simple mechanical locking device. The locking device comprises upper and lower half shells that in turn define first and second axially spaced annular abutment surfaces. The first surface is adapted to engage the flange on the fluid coupling component carrying the release collar, and the second surface is adapted to engage the release collar itself. These half shells are held in place by means of one or more threaded fasteners. Although this device utilizing a locking collar does not solve the problem associated with the inadvertent release of such couplers, it unfortunately creates a few new problems. Such a locking collar tends to keep the two members connected when their break-away feature is most needed. Quick connect couplers typically have a safety feature that allows the connection to break-away during excessive axial loading. This prevents accidental damage upon both the supply equipment and the equipment receiving the fluid. A locking collar of this type may prevent the safety break-away and cause undesirable and unnecessary damage.
Attempts to solve the problems associated with manually connecting and disconnecting such couplers have fallen upon the use of levers to extend the female coupler so as to enable an attachment to its male counterpart. One such attempt was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,779,586, issued Dec. 18, 1973 on a hose coupling connect and disconnect mechanism. This patent makes it possible to easily effect a connection between hydraulic male and female members by the use of an actuator forming a part of the female member such that in grasping the lever elements of the actuator the female member is also being held for positioning relative to the male member. This requires the use of only one hand for holding the female coupling member and moving the locking sleeve. Although this does decrease the amount of time and effort needed to effect a connection, it still requires a certain amount of skill and patience. Both members are maneuvered by hand and need to be aligned correctly for attachment.
In order to prevent this problem of having to handle both members, there has been an effort in the art to develop a structure whereby one of these members is mounted onto a stable environment and only the other member needs to be maneuvered by hand for correct alignment. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,966,239, issued Jun. 29, 1976 describes a release for break-away coupling that attempts to do just that. A bracket is provided which is mounted on the supply source vehicle. A coupling is mounted on the bracket with a hinge collar, and on the coupling is a spacer sleeve having a radial flange which slidably moves the housing of the socket section. A lever is positioned on the hinge collar, and when its pivoted about its fulcrum it biases the spacer sleeve to position the coupling in a disengaging position.
Another attempt to mount one of the members was disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,386,754, issued Jun. 4, 1968. In this patent for a hose coupling connect and disconnect mechanism, a coupling is supported on the tractor by a member engaging the sleeve and the female coupling half and pivotally supported for swinging movement. A level is mounted on the sleeve-engaging member for displacing the female coupling half relative to its sleeve in order to facilitate coupling or uncoupling the male coupling half.
The combination of mounting the female member and biasing it for coupling and uncoupling by the use of a lever have been shown in the last two patents as a competent solution to some of the aforementioned problems with hydraulic couplers. However, such design structure as illustrated in this art has provided a somewhat awkward solution. These previous designs limit the positioning of the lever as they are only compatible with limited equipment, and at times place the lever in a position that may become difficult to reach by a worker or be inadvertently engaged.
In view of the aforementioned needs and the shortcomings of the prior art, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus that overcomes the deficiencies of the current practices whereby a device is provided to quickly connect and disconnect a hydraulic coupler with minimal time and effort.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a quick set hydraulic coupler utilizing a level which is positioned so that inadvertent actuation is minimized while still possessing the break away feature of common couplers.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a quick set hydraulic coupler whereby the female member is mounted and in engagement with a lever so as to more easily align the male member for connection.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a structural design of a quick set hydraulic coupler which utilizes a lever that is compatible and able to be added to equipment within the agricultural, trucking or tractor trailer fields.
It is yet another object of the present invention is to provide a quick set hydraulic coupler capable of using a single lever and pivot point to actuate two female couplings.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be clearly understood through a consideration of the detailed description.