Disclosed herein is a Verbena plant having a decumbent growth habit and long stems. The plant forms flowers in clusters with a great profusion of blooms. The flowering duration is long and the entire plant remains in bloom for a considerable period of time. The flower size is large and the petal color of flowers is light purplish pink. The plant is highly tolerant to heat, pests and diseases, particularly powdery mildew, and is moderately resistant to cold. ‘Sunmarisakura’ does not freely set seed due to self-sterility.

The present new distinct cultivar of Verbena was created by heavy ion beam irradiation of the Verbena hybrid variety called 'Sunmarisa'. 'Sunmarisa' (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,130) is our Verbena hybrid variety grown at Yokaichi-shi, Shiga-ken, Japan.
In July 1998, 5Gy of ionic nitrogen (135 MeV) was irradiated onto 128 pieces of in vitro axillary bud of 'Sunmarisa' using the Ring Cyclotron at The Institute of Physical and Chemical Research. Two weeks later, elongated buds were grown from cuttings. In March 1999, five varieties were selected in view of self-sterility. These plants were propagated by cutting and then grown in pot and planter box on trial from May 1999 at Yokaichi-shi, Shiga-ken, Japan. Additionally, the plants were grown in pots and planter boxes during trial in 2000. Finally, one plant was selected from these five varieties in view of having a long flower duration. By November 2000, the botanical characteristics of the selected plant were examined. As a result, it was concluded that this new Verbena plant is distinguishable from any other variety, whose existence is known to us, and is uniform and stable in its characteristics. This new variety of Verbena plant was named 'Sunmarisakura'.
The new variety of the present invention can be distinguished from its parent 'Sunmarisa' in its self-sterility. Also the new variety can be distinguished from the similar variety 'Sunmaripi' in the flower color and self-sterility.
The new variety of Verbena plant 'Sunmarisakura' was asexually reproduced by cutting at Yokaichi-shi, Shiga-ken, Japan, and the homogeneity and stability thereof were confirmed. The instant plant retains its distinctive characteristics and reproduces true to type in successive generations.
In the following description, the color-coding is in accordance with The Horticultural Colour Chart of The Royal Horticultural Society, London, England (R.H.S.).
'Sunmarisa' was used to produce the new variety, 'Sunmarisakura'. The botanical characteristics of 'Sunmarisa' are as follows when grown at Yokaichi-shi, Shiga-ken, Japan.    Plant:                                Growth habit.—Decumbent.            Plant width.—Approximately 65-71 cm.            Plant height.—Approximately 8-9 cm.                            Stem:                                Diameter.—Approximately 1.7-2.2 mm.            Anthocyanin pigmentation.—Absent.            Pubescence.—Normal.            Branching.—A moderate level of branching is present.            Subterranean stem.—Absent but when the stems contact the surface of soil, the nodes take root in the ground and the plant growth thereby spreads.            Length of internodes.—Approximately 1.7-2.7 cm.                            Leaf:                                Phyllotaxis.—Opposite.            Shape.—Oblong-lanceolate.            Depth of incision.—Shallow.            Margin.—Serrate.            Length.—Approximately 2.9-3.6 cm.            Width.—Approximately 1.6-2.4 cm.            Leaf apex.—Mucronate.            Leaf base.—Petiolate.            Color.—Dark olive green (near R.H.S. 141A) on the upper surface.            Pubescence.—Sparse.            Petiole.—Present.            Thickness of petiole.—Approximately 1.0-1.2 mm.            Length of petiole.—Approximately 1.2-2.5 mm.                            Flower:                                Shape of cluster.—Obovate.            Length of cluster.—Approximately 2.3-4.4 cm.            Diameter of cluster.—Approximately 4.0-5.8 cm.            Facing direction.—Upward.            Outward curvature of petal.—Flat.            Diameter.—Approximately 1.8-1.9 cm.            Height.—Approximately 2.1-2.2 cm.            Color.—Light purplish pink (near R.H.S. 62C) on the upper surface.            Eye color.—Pale yellow (near R.H.S. 11D).            Variegation on petal.—Absent.            Color presentation.—Substantially even.            Color intensity.—Absent.            Overlapping of petals.—Separate.            Incision of petal.—Present.            Number of petals.—5.            Sepal.—Tubular in configuration.            Length of calyx.—Approximately 1.2-1.4 cm.            Anthocyanin pigmentation of calyx limb.—Absent.            Shape of pistil.—Two lobes.            Color of anther.—Yellowish green.            Diameter of peduncle.—Medium.            Length of peduncle.—Medium.            Number of flowers.—Many.            Flower bearing.—In a cluster.            Reproductive organs.—1 pistil and 4 stamens.            Pollen.—Brilliant greenish-yellow (near R.H.S. 6C) in coloration.            Flower fragrance.—Absent.            Flowering time.—Early.            Flowering duration.—Long. When planted during March, the plant commonly blooms from April to November. A bloom cluster commonly is present for approximately 2 to 3 weeks, and an individual bloom within the cluster commonly lasts for approximately 7 to 10 days on the plant. The plant is highly tolerant to heat, and exhibits a high resistance to diseases, particularly powdery mildew, and a high resistance to pests.
'Sunmaripi' was used as a comparison for this new variety 'Sunmarisakura'. The botanical characteristics of the 'Sunmaripi' are as follows when grown at when grown at Yokaichi-shi, Shiga-ken, Japan.    Plant:                                Growth habit.—Decumbent.            Plant width.—Approximately 60 cm.            Plant height.—Approximately 20 cm.                            Stem:                                Diameter.—Approximately 2.5 mm.            Anthocyanin pigmentation.—Present.            Pubescence.—Normal.            Branching.—A moderate level of branching is present.            Subterranean stem.—Absent but when the stems contact the surface of soil, the nodes take root in the ground and the plant growth thereby spreads.            Length of internode.—Approximately 4.5 cm.                            Leaf:                                Phyllotaxis.—Opposite.            Shape.—Oblong-lanceolate.            Depth of incision.—Shallow.            Margin.—Serrate.            Length.—Approximately 3.5 cm.            Width.—Approximately 2.2 cm.            Leaf apex.—Mucronate.            Leaf base.—Petiolate.            Color.—Grayish olive green (near R.H.S. 147A) on the upper surface.            Pubescence.—Sparse.            Petiole.—Present.            Thickness of petiole.—Approximately 1.0 mm.            Length of petiole.—Approximately 2.0 mm.                            Flower:                                Shape of cluster.—Obovate.            Length of cluster.—Approximately 3.2 cm.            Diameter of cluster.—Approximately 5.2 cm.            Facing direction.—Upward.            Outward curvature of petal.—Flat.            Diameter.—Approximately 1.7 cm.            Height.—Approximately 2.0 cm.            Color.—Deep purplish pink (near R.H.S. 77B) on the upper surface.            Eye color.—Pale yellow (near R.H.S. 11D).            Variegation on petal.—Absent.            Color presentation.—Substantially even.            Color intensity.—Absent.            Incision of petal.—Present.            Number of petals.—5.            Sepal.—Tubular in configuration.            Length of calyx.—Approximately 1.0 cm.            Anthocyanin pigmentation of calyx limb.—Present.            Shape of pistil.—Two lobes.            Color of anther.—Yellowish green.            Diameter of peduncle.—Medium.            Length of peduncle.—Medium.            Number of flowers.—Many.            Flower bearing.—In a cluster.            Reproductive organs.—1 pistil and 4 stamens.            Pollen.—Brilliant greenish-yellow (near R.H.S. 6C) in coloration.            Flower fragrance.—Absent.            Flowering time.—Early.            Flowering duration.—Long. When planted during March, the plant commonly blooms from April to November. A bloom cluster commonly is present for approximately 2 to 3 weeks, and an individual bloom within the cluster commonly lasts for approximately 7 to 10 days on the plant. The plant is highly tolerant to heat, and exhibits a high resistance to diseases, particularly powdery mildew, and a high resistance to pests.


An engine lubrication system including: an oil pump configured to be driven by an engine; an oil jet mechanism configured to inject oil pressure-fed by the oil pump to a piston; and circuitry configured to set a target hydraulic pressure of the oil injected from the oil jet mechanism according to an operation state of the engine; determine a hydraulic pressure state of the oil injected from the oil jet mechanism; and change a gear stage of the automatic transmission to a lower gear stage in a case that a predetermined condition between the determined hydraulic pressure state and the target hydraulic pressure is satisfied.

Conventionally, for a purpose of preventing burning and strength degradation of a piston that contacts high-temperature combustion gas, an oil jet mechanism that suppresses a temperature increase of the piston by spraying engine lubrication oil onto a piston inner surface from a connecting rod side has been known.
Such an oil jet mechanism sprays the lubrication oil that is pressure-fed from an oil pump on the piston inner surface using a hydraulic pressure. Thus, when the hydraulic pressure is excessively high, a flow speed of the lubrication oil becomes excessively high, which causes the lubrication oil to spread in the form of a fine mist. On the other hand, when the hydraulic pressure is excessively low, the flow speed of the lubrication oil is reduced, and thus an amount of the injection oil that is required to cool the piston cannot be sprayed. As a result, cooling efficiency is degraded.
To handle such problems, a technique of concurrently using a variable volume oil pump capable of changing a discharge volume for generating the hydraulic pressure of the lubrication oil and the oil jet mechanism has been proposed.
A hydraulic controller disclosed in JP-A-2018-189022 (patent document 1) includes: a variable volume oil pump that is driven by an engine; an oil jet mechanism; piston temperature estimation means that estimates a piston temperature on the basis of an operation state of the engine; and requested discharge volume setting means that sets a requested discharge volume to the oil pump in order to generate a requested piston cooling hydraulic pressure (a target hydraulic pressure) corresponding to the estimated piston temperature. The hydraulic controller is configured that, when the estimated piston temperature exists in a specified temperature range where a deposit is likely to be produced on a top surface of the piston, the requested hydraulic pressure is shifted to be higher than an actuation pressure of the oil jet mechanism and that, when the estimated piston temperature exists in a range other than the specified temperature range, the requested hydraulic pressure is shifted to be lower than the actuation pressure of the oil jet mechanism.


A sheet metal casket comprises a pair of side panels, a pair of end panels, a rounded corner between adjacent ends of the adjacent side and end panels, at least one rounded corner having a flat formed thereon, the flat having a hole formed therethrough, and a tube positioned in the hole and crimped in place.

Sheet metal has heretofore been employed as a material from which to fabricate caskets. A casket includes a shell to which is pivoted one or two caps or lids. The casket shell includes a pair of side walls or panels, a pair of end walls or panels and a bottom wall or panel. The panels are of course stamped from sheet metal. The stampings from which the shell is constructed may include decorative curves or the like or they may be simply planar in shape. The panels are interconnected along adjacent edges. The particular metal from which the casket is fabricated generally determines the means of mechanically joining the panels, e.g. brazing, soldering or welding.
Sheet metal caskets include a shell having a ledge around the periphery of an upper edge of the shell. A locking mechanism spans the length of the ledge therein. One type of locking mechanism employed is known as a wedge bar type locking mechanism, an example of which is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,439 assigned to the assignee of the present invention and hereby incorporated by reference herein as if fully set forth in its entirety. In this type of locking mechanism, an elongated bar includes a series of catches which, when the bar is translated in a first direction, engage with pulldown fasteners secured to the lid to lock the lid to the shell, and when the bar is translated in a second direction, disengage from the pulldown fasteners to allow the lid to be opened. An Allen head screw is utilized to actuate the bar. The screw may reside in a tube secured to an end panel of the shell.
A sheet metal casket may also include a record tube, i.e. a rather short, small diameter tube into which is inserted a small rolled-up piece of paper including information, for example, identification of the deceased. Such a tube may also be secured to an end panel of the shell.
Since the above described tubes may not be formed as part of the end panel during stamping of the panel, the tube must be somehow mechanically attached to the panel. The tube may be brazed, soldered or welded to the end panel, or the tube may be crimped to the end panel.
Crimping the tube to the end panel is much more desirable than brazing, soldering or welding the tube to the end panel, since all of these steps generate environmentally undesirable fumes and are labor intensive requiring a separate non-automatable hand operation. Further, some metals from which sheet metal caskets are fabricated do not lend themselves well to brazing, soldering or welding. Still further, the brazed/soldered/welded joint ("heat fused joint") must be dressed down by hand to present an aesthetically pleasing joint between the tube and the panel, thus making the operation even more labor intensive. Lastly, since the brazing, soldering and welding, and subsequent dressing down operations, are performed by hand, repeatability is difficult to control.
Crimping the tube to the end panel is much more desirable than heat fusing the tube to the end panel since crimping does not include the attendant disadvantages discussed above and because the crimping step is readily automated.
When the casket shell is constructed from flat or planar end panels, i.e. end panels without curved or rounded side edges, the tube, whether for the locking mechanism or for the record tube, is and has heretofore been readily crimped to the flat panel and is therefore well known in the art. This known crimping step is performed by inserting an end of the tube through a hole formed in the flat end panel, sliding an O-ring onto the inserted end of the tube and against the surface of the end panel and crimping the tube around the O-ring and towards the end panel surface. Since the tube includes a surface which is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the tube for abutting against the end panel, the installed tube is perpendicular to the plane of the end panel once installed and thus parallel to the longitudinal axis of the casket.
However, in casket designs which include curved or rounded corners in the regions where the shell side panels and end panels transition towards one another, crimping has heretofore not been employable as a means of attaching the tube. This is because the area where the tube is installed, i.e. at either corner near an upper end thereof, is rounded which effectively prevents the tube from being crimped in place, since it is preferable to install the tube parallel to the longitudinal axis of the casket. If the tube were crimped in place on such a corner, the installed tube would be perpendicular to the tangent plane of the corner, and thus would not be parallel to the longitudinal axis of the casket. Therefore, in casket designs utilizing rounded corners the tubes have heretofore been required to be heat fused in place, with all the attendant disadvantages discussed above.
It would therefore be desirable to be able to crimp a tube to a rounded casket corner or to a casket shell panel including a rounded corner, rather than having to heat fuse the tube in place.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a method of making a sheet metal casket including attaching a tube to a rounded corner of the casket shell by crimping, and a casket made according to that method.


A quantum memory device in which a memory operation is enabled even if the structure of a Josephson device is reduced in size. Each memory cell of the quantum memory device includes a superconducting quantum interference device having two Josephson junctions, a write word line for supplying a current to the superconducting quantum interference device, a write data line and a magnetic field detection line magnetically coupled with the superconducting quantum interference device, a three-terminal switching device for turning a signal of the magnetic field detection line on and off to transfer the signal to a read data line, and a read word line connected to a gate of the three-terminal switching device. The junction area of the Josephson junction is made small to oscillate a magnetic flux so that information is stored in accordance with the phase of oscillation of the magnetic flux. An induced current produced by an oscillating flux of a dummy cell and an induced current produced by an oscillating flux of each memory cell are compared to detect the phases of flux oscillation of the dummy and memory cells, thereby reading information.

The present invention relates to a memory which uses a quantum effect and from/into which information can arbitrarily be read/written.
A Josephson device is expected as the device which can achieve both a high speed operation and a low power consumption which cannot be realized by semiconductor devices, and the applications of the Josephson device to memories, logical circuits and sensors are proposed. For example, a memory using the Josephson device stores information in a manner of the presence/absence of a magnetic flux trapped in a superconducting ring or the direction of the magnetic flux. It is assumed that the magnitude of the trapped magnetic flux is limited to integer times of the magnetic flux quantum .phi..sub.0 =h/(2e) (h being the Planck's constant and e being the charge of an electron) and that there is a stable state when a magnetic flux integer times as large as the magnetic flux quantum is trapped in the superconducting ring.
An example of a conventional memory cell using Josephson devices is shown in FIG. 1. A superconducting ring 15 trapping a magnetic flux has a DC superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) structure in which Josephson devices J1 and J2 are inserted. A word line 11 is connected to the SQUID for supplying a current I.sub.w from the exterior. A write data line 12 and a read data line 13 magnetically coupled with the SQUID are provided adjacent to the ring, and a Josephson junction J3 is inserted in the course of the read data line 13. A superconducting loop current 14 (IL) flows in the superconducting ring 15 so that a magnetic flux is trapped in the superconducting ring 15. A relationship between the magnetic flux .phi. and the potential energy U of the system in the above SQUID structure is shown in FIG. 2. As shown in the figure, a plurality of stable magnetic flux states exist since the potential energy U takes the minimum values at two points of .phi.=0 and .phi.=.phi..sub.0 when the magnetic flux .phi. trapped in the superconducting ring is taken along the abscissa and the potential energy U is taken along the ordinate. Since these states semipermanently endure under a low temperature environment, it is possible to provide a memory by making each state correspond to information to be stored.
This memory cell operates in accordance with a timing chart shown in FIG. 3.
A bias current is flown in the write data line so that a bias magnetic field is applied to the SQUID. In a case where data "0" is to be written into the memory cell, the word line current I.sub.w is brought into a high level and a current larger than a critical current Ic, by which the Josephson junction is transited into a finite-voltage state, and smaller than 2Ic is flown in the word line. When a write data line current ID.sub.w is turned to 0, the devices J1 and J2 are both brought into zero-voltage states so that the current I.sub.w flowing through the word line is bisected. As a result, the magnetic flux passing through the SQUID becomes zero to realize a state of "0". On the other hand, when the write data line current ID.sub.w is turned to not 0 but a high level, a magnetic field produced by ID.sub.w increases the critical current of on of the devices J1 and J2 and decreases the critical current of the other device. As a result, only one of the devices J1 and J2 takes a nonzero-voltage state and the current I.sub.w flows into only the other device of a zero-voltage state so that data "1" is written. Even if ID.sub.w and I.sub.w are thereafter restored to non-write states, a superconducting loop current IL is maintained so that the magnetic flux .phi..sub. o is trapped in the loop.
When data is to be read, the current I.sub.w is brought into the high level in the same manner as at the time of write of data and a current ID.sub.R is flown in the read data line. In a case where data "1" is stored in the memory cell, a magnetic field produced by the current I.sub.w and a magnetic field produced by the current IL interact to enhance each other, thereby decreasing a critical current of the Josephson device J3. As a result, the device J3 exhibits a transition to a finite-voltage state and V.sub.out becomes high. In a case where the current IL is 0, the current ID.sub.R is smaller than the critical current and the output V.sub.out remains in a zero-voltage state.
In principle, a response on the order of subpicosecond is expected for a Josephson device when it is used as a single or discrete device. However, in a case where Josephson devices are used to form a system such as a logical circuit or an integrated memory circuit, there has not yet been developed a system which exceeds the limit of the response characteristic of a semiconductor integrated circuit. A further reduction in the size of a Josephson device is needed in order to further improve an operating speed.
However, it is pointed out that a new quantum effect having not hitherto been expected may occur as the area of the junction is reduced (see A. J. Leggett and Anupam Garg, Physical Review Letters, Vol. 54, pp. 857-820, March 1985). Namely, when the capacitance of a Josephson junction decreases as the junction area is reduced, an electrostatic energy possessed by a Cooper pair becomes innegligible as compared with the pairing energy of a Cooper pair. This condition is given by e.sup.2 /C.about..DELTA. where .DELTA. is an energy gap of the superconductor and C is the capacitance of the Josephson junction. The magnetic flux state of this SQUID is not localized at the minimum potential point but has a certain broadening based on the uncertainty principle, as shown in FIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 2, there are two states for magnetic flux allowed to settle and transition occurs between these two states due to quantum mechanical fluctuation. Such transition may be understood as tunnel phenominum. As a result, the magnetic flux trapped in a superconducting ring decays due to the tunnel effect with the reduction of the junction area, so that the flux state, in which the magnetic flux integer times as large as the flux quantum is trapped in the superconducting ring, becomes unstable. Therefore, the conventional Josephson memory as shown in FIG. 1 reaches a limit of a storage or memory operation.


A method of manufacturing a cobalt catalyst is described, which comprises the steps of forming an aqueous solution of a cobalt amine complex, oxidising said solution such that the concentration of Co(III) in the oxidised solution is greater than the concentration of Co(III) in the un-oxidized solution, and then decomposing the cobalt amine complex by heating the solution to a temperature between 80 and 110° C. for sufficient time to allow an insoluble cobalt compound to precipitate out of the solution. A catalyst intermediate is also described which comprises a cobalt compound, comprising a Co(II)/Co(III) hydrotalcite phase and a CO3O4 cobalt spine) phase, wherein the ratio of cobalt hydrotalcite phase: cobalt spine) phase is less than 0.6:1, said cobalt hydrotalcite phase and said cobalt spine) phase being measured by X-ray diffractometry.

Catalysts comprising cobalt on a support such as silica or alumina are known in the art for hydrogenation reactions, e.g. for the hydrogenation of aldehydes and nitrites and for the preparation of hydrocarbons from synthesis gas via the Fischer-Tropsch reaction.
In comparison with other catalytic metals such as copper and nickel used for hydrogenation reactions, cobalt is a relatively expensive and so, to obtain the optimum activity, it is desirable that as much as possible of the cobalt present is in an active form accessible to the reactants.
For hydrogenation reactions, the active form of the cobalt is elemental cobalt although in the active catalyst only some, rather than all, of the cobalt is normally reduced to the elemental form. Hence a useful measurers the exposed surface area of elemental cobalt per g of total cobalt present. Except where expressly indicated, as used herein, total cobalt contents are expressed as parts by weight of cobalt (calculated as cobalt metal, whether the cobalt is actually present as the metal or is in a combined form, e.g. as cobalt oxides) per 100 parts by weight of the catalyst or precursor thereto.
Cobalt catalysts on different carriers are disclosed in "Stoichiometries of H2 and CO Adsorptions on cobalt", Journal of Catalysis 85, pages 63-77 (1984) at page 67, table 1. From the total maximum H2 uptake, it is possible to calculate the cobalt surface area per gram of catalyst and the cobalt surface area per gram of cobalt.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,874,381 describes a cobalt on alumina catalyst which contains between 3 and 40% by weight of cobalt and which has a relatively high cobalt surface area of above 30 m2/g of total cobalt.
As indicated above, the dispersion of the cobalt on the carrier is important since it is the surface of the cobalt of the catalyst which is catalytically active. Therefore it is beneficial to maximise the surface area of the metal which is present so as to produce a catalyst which has a high cobalt surface area per unit mass of total cobalt. It may be expected that the dispersion of the cobalt on the catalyst would be maximised at relatively low loadings of cobalt and that, as the amount of cobalt contained in the catalyst is increased, the surface area per gram of cobalt would decrease because the cobalt becomes more difficult to disperse on the support.
The aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,874,381 suggests and exemplifies the production of the catalysts by impregnation of shaped transition alumina particles, e.g. extrudates, with a solution of cobalt ammine carbonate, followed by removal of the excess solution and heating to decompose the cobalt ammine carbonate. We have found that the preparation of cobalt catalysts by the decomposition of cobalt ammine carbonate may be improved.


A container, such as a bag or a pouch, is made from a fat-based confectionery material, including such as a chocolate, and is formed by crimping an end or ends of a hollowed tube of the material or crimping edges of a sheet or sheets of the material brought together. The tube or sheet which is crimped is an extrudate which is, upon being obtained from an extruder, temporarily plastically deformable and thereby has a temporary flexibility, and the crimping is carried while the material is plastically deformable.

The present invention relates to chocolate products, more particularly to chocolate products having one or more sealed edges to provide thereby a container, including such as a bag or a pouch, which may or may not contain a filling.
It is difficult to close the ends of solid tubular chocolate to form a bag or container by squeezing together to form a crimp-seal because the tube breaks before obtaining a seal owing to the brittleness of the chocolate. Therefore chocolate bags, pouches or similar containers having one or more crimp-sealed edges do not exist.

Crimping chocolate, chocolate analog and chocolate substitute articles to prepare containers


A hinge includes a bracket, a shaft rotatably received in the bracket, a engaging member, a pressing member, and a driving member. The bracket includes a casing portion defining a receiving space therein. The receiving space includes a circular part and a slot connecting the circular part. The engaging member is received in the slot of the bracket. The engaging member includes a slope surface and a screw hole. The pressing member is received in the slot of the bracket. The pressing member includes a pressing portion pressing firmly against the shaft, and a driven portion engaged with the slope surface of the engaging member. The driving member includes a screw pole capable of screwing in the screw hole of the engaging member to move the engaging member toward the pressing member, for driving the pressing member to press firmly against the shaft.

1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates to mechanical structures and, particularly, to a hinge.
2. Description of Related Art
A foldable device, such as a notebook computer or a clamshell mobile phone, generally includes two parts pivotally connected via a hinge. The hinge generally includes a bracket mounted to one part and a shaft with a first end mounted to the other part. The bracket includes a barrel rotatably receiving a second end of the shaft. For keeping the one part of the foldable device at any angle with respect to the other part, a frictional force is provided between the bracket and the shaft. However, over time, the fit between the bracket and the shaft may loosen, which may cause unwanted noise and poor performance.


A camshaft phaser having a vane-type phaser having a central-position locking device having locking pins lockable in a locking slot stationary with respect to the stator and locking in the locking slot from different directions. A locking pin has a blocking portion and a flow-through pressure medium conduit, by which a fluid connection between two working chambers of different directions of action can be established or blocked in the different positions of the first locking pin. The working chambers-of the different directions of actions are capable of being short-circuited by a switching device. At least one pressure medium conduit fluidically connectable to the pressure medium circuit by the flow-through pressure medium conduit of the locking pin has a check valve therein which allows the pressure medium to flow into one of the working chambers whose volume is increased during a rotation of the rotor from either of the advance or retard stop positions toward the central locking position, while at the same time preventing backflow from the same working chamber.

Camshaft phasers are generally used in valve actuation systems of internal combustion engines to vary the valve opening and closing times, thereby making it possible to improve the fuel consumption figures of the internal combustion engine and the general operating characteristics.
One camshaft phaser design that has proven suitable in practice features a vane-type phaser having a stator and a rotor defining an annular space which is divided by projections and vanes into a plurality of working chambers. The working chambers can be selectively pressurized with a pressure medium which is fed by a pressure medium pump in a pressure medium circuit from a pressure medium reservoir into the working chambers on one side of the vanes of the rotor, and returned to the pressure medium reservoir from the working chambers on the respective other side of the vanes. The working chambers whose volume is thereby increased have a direction of action opposite to that of the working chambers whose volume is decreased. The direction of action accordingly means that pressurizing one of the groups of working chambers with pressure medium causes the rotor to rotate in a corresponding clockwise or counterclockwise direction relative to the stator. The flow of pressure medium, and thus the adjusting movement of the camshaft phaser, is controlled, for example, by a central valve having a complex system of flow passages and control edges and a valve body displaceable within the central valve to close or clear the passage openings as a function of its position.
One problem of such camshaft phasers is that, during a starting phase, they are not yet completely filled with pressure medium, or may even have run empty, so that the rotor may perform uncontrolled movements relative to the stator as a result of the alternating torques exerted by the camshaft. Such uncontrolled movements may lead to increased wear and unwanted noise generation. To avoid this problem, it is known to provide a locking device between the rotor and the stator. When the internal combustion engine is stopped, this locking device locks the rotor relative to the stator in an angular position that is favorable for the starting procedure. In exceptional cases, for example when the engine stalls, it may happen that the locking device does not lock the rotor as intended, and that the camshaft phaser must be operated with the rotor unlocked during the following starting phase. However, since some internal combustion engines have very poor starting performance when the rotor is not locked in the central position, the rotor must then be automatically rotated to the central locking position and locked during the starting phase.
Such automatic rotation and locking of the rotor relative to stator is known, for example, from DE 10 2008 011915 A1 and DE 10 2005 011 916 A1. Both of the locking devices described therein include a plurality of spring-loaded locking pins, which successively lock in locking slots provided in the sealing cover or the stator during a rotation of the rotor. Before the central locking position is reached, the respective locking pins permit rotation of the rotor in a direction toward the central locking position, but inhibit rotation of the rotor in the opposite direction. After the internal combustion engine has warmed up and/or after the camshaft phaser has been completely filled with pressure medium, the locking pins are urged out of the locking slots under the action of the pressure medium, so that the rotor can then be rotated as intended to adjust the angular position of the camshaft relative to the stator.


The invention relates to an engine cooling system monitoring system. There is a need for a cooling system monitoring system for an engine system wherein the coolant is maintained at a precise temperature. Thus, a cooling system monitoring system is provided for an engine system having internal combustion engine, a fan driven by a variable speed fan drive, and a radiator for cooling coolant circulating through the engine. The monitoring system includes a fan speed sensor generating a fan speed signal, a control unit and a display device controlled by the control unit. The control unit generates a cooling system status signal as a function of the fan speed signal and a maximum fan speed value. The display device has visible position range associated with a normal engine operating temperature, and has an indicator movable within said position range in response to the cooling system status signal to indicate a status of the engine cooling system.

It is well known to use a coolant temperature indicator or temperature gauge with an internal combustion engine so that the operator can conveniently assess the engine operating temperature and estimate the likelihood that the engine may leave the range of acceptable conditions. However, with newer methods of controlling the coolant temperature, such as electronic thermostats and actively controlled fan speed, the coolant is maintained at such a precise temperature that the temperature gauge no longer provides information about the adequacy of the cooling system under current engine operating conditions. The operator cannot determine from the coolant temperature whether the cooling system is running at 10% or 98% of capability. Although displaying other parameters such as fan speed or thermostat position might allow an engine operator to make a more knowledgeable assessment, it would also increase the skill requirement of the operator. This is especially true for engines that are routinely operated over a range of speeds.


In transmitting images picked up by an intrabody introduced device to outside a test body, synchronizing signals of the image signal are set to signal patterns in the same high-frequency band as for the image signal and not used for the image signal. This enables a receiver to stably binarize the synchronizing signal and thus to acquire favorable image signal. For example, in a clipping circuit provided in a signal processing circuit in a capsule type endoscope (an example of an intrabody introduced device), image information of a high-intensity portion is clipped out of image information acquired by an imaging section and a pattern generation circuit allocates signal patterns within the clipped intensity range as horizontal and vertical synchronizing signals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an intrabody introduced device, which is introduced into a test body, or a medical device including the intrabody introduced device. This type of intrabody introduced device includes, for example, a swallowable capsule type endoscope.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a capsule type endoscope having an imaging function and a wireless function has emerged as one of the intrabody introduced devices in the endoscope area. The capsule type endoscope is swallowed by a test subject as a test body for observation (examination) and then moves inside the stomach, the small intestine, or other organs (in the body cavity) by the organs' peristaltic motion for the observation period until it is excreted naturally from the test subject. The capsule type endoscope sequentially takes images of the inside of the test body by using the imaging function while it moves inside the body cavity.
Image information captured in the body cavity by the capsule type endoscope during the observation of the organs while moving inside thereof is transmitted to an external device provided outside the test body by using a wireless function (radio communication or the like) of the capsule type endoscope and then stored in a memory provided inside the external device. The test subject carries the external device, whereby the test subject is not restrained in behavior during the observation period until the capsule type endoscope is excreted after the test subject swallows the capsule type endoscope. After the observation, images of the inside of the body cavity are displayed on a screen of a display or the like on the basis of the image information stored in the memory of the external device, whereby a doctor or a nurse can make a diagnosis.
In this type of capsule type endoscope, there is a swallowable capsule type endoscope such as, for example, one disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2002-345743. This capsule type endoscope includes a battery for power supply and an LED for emitting an illumination light by means of the power supplied from the battery. The capsule type endoscope then takes images of the inside of the test body illuminated by the illumination light by using an imaging device to acquire the image information and wirelessly transmits the image information from a transmitter circuit. In the aforementioned capsule type endoscope, the image information is composed of a frame and it is wirelessly transmitted with a horizontal synchronizing signal and a vertical synchronizing signal added at the beginning of the image frame. With synchronization based on the synchronizing signals, a receiver distinguishes the beginning of the image line for scanning the image information when capturing the images.
The capsule type endoscopes of the prior art can incorrectly recognize synchronizing signals as image information, and in such case, may use the synchronizing signals having signal patterns included in the image information. Accordingly, signals in a low-frequency band lower than the frequency of the image information are used as synchronizing signals in some cases. If the frequency band of the synchronizing signals is set to the foregoing frequency band (in the low-frequency band), however, a phenomenon of a fluctuation in the DC level of the signals appears.
Therefore, when the synchronizing signals are binarized at a predetermined level (a threshold value), a margin of the threshold is decreased due to the fluctuation of the DC level, so the receiver has a difficulty to binarize the synchronizing signals.
This invention has an object to provide an intrabody introduced device in which its synchronizing signals are well binarized in the receiver and good quality of images can be obtained.

Intrabody introduced device and medical device


An aqueous ink jet ink comprises water, a colorant selected from a dye or a pigment, and a diol derivative according to the following formula (Formula I): EQU HO--(CHX--CHYO).sub.j --(CH.sub.2).sub.a --G--(CH.sub.2).sub.b --(OCHW--CHZ).sub.k --OH (I). wherein G is independently selected from the group consisting of SO.sub.2, SO, and CO; X, Y, W, and Z are independently selected from the group consisting of H, CH.sub.3 and C.sub.n H.sub.2n+1 where n equals 2 to about 20; j and k independently equal from 0 to about 100; and a and b independently equal from 1 to about 20. In addition, a multi-color ink jet printing process comprises (1) printing at least one of aqueous ink jet inks comprising the above diol derivative onto a print substrate at any desired sequence by a printhead in a single or multiple pass method according to digital data signals and (2) optionally applying heat to the print substrate and the imaged inks at any stage of said ink jet printing process including before, during, and after printing as well as combinations thereof.

Ink jet printing is a non-impact printing method that produces droplets of ink that are deposited on a print substrate such as paper or transparent film in response to an electronic digital data signal. Thermal or bubble jet drop-on-demand ink jet printers have found broad applications as output for personal computers in the office and in the home.
In existing thermal ink jet printing processes, the printhead typically comprises one or more ink jet ejectors, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,601,777, 4,532,530, 4,412,224, 4,410,899, and 4,251,824. Each ejector includes a channel communicating with an ink supply chamber, or manifold, at one end and an opening at the opposite end, referred to as a nozzle. A thermal energy generator, usually a resistor, is located in each of the channels at a predetermined distance from the nozzles. The resistors are individually addressed with a current pulse to momentarily vaporize the ink within the respective channel to form a bubble that expels an ink droplet. As the bubble grows, the ink rapidly bulges from the nozzle and is momentarily contained by the surface tension of the ink as a meniscus. This is a very temporary phenomenon, and the ink is quickly propelled toward a print substrate. As the bubble begins to collapse, the ink still in the channel between the nozzle and bubble starts to move towards the collapsing bubble, causing a volumetric contraction of the ink at the nozzle and resulting in the separation from the nozzle of the bulging ink as a droplet. The acceleration of the ink out of the nozzle while the bubble is growing provides the momentum and velocity for propelling the droplet in a substantially straight line direction towards a print substrate, such as a piece of paper. Important properties of the ink in this context include the ink's viscosity and surface tension. Because the droplet of ink is emitted only when the resistor is actuated, this type of thermal ink jet printing is known as "drop-on-demand" printing.
Another type of drop-on-demand ink jet printing is called piezoelectric ink jet printing. This ink jet printing system has an ink filled channel with a nozzle on one end and a regulated piezoelectric transducer near the other end to produce pressure pulses according to the digital data signal.
A third type of drop-on-demand ink jet printing is called acoustic ink jet printing which can be operated at high frequency and high resolution. The ink jet printing system utilizes a focused acoustic beam formed with a spherical lens illuminated by a plane wave of sound created by a piezoelectric transducer. The focused beam reflected from a surface exerts a pressure on the surface of the liquid ink, resulting in ejection of small droplets of ink onto an imaging substrate. Aqueous ink jet inks can be used in this printing system.
An ink jet printing method that is different from the drop-on-demand ink jet printing is called a continuous ink jet printing. In this ink jet printing system, ink is emitted from a nozzle in a continuous stream under pressure. The stream is ejected out of orifice and perturbed, causing it to break up into droplets at a fixed distance from the orifice. At the break up point, the electrically charged ink droplets are passed through an applied electrode which is controlled and switched on and off according to the digital data signals. The charged ink droplets are passed through a controllable electric field which adjusts the trajectory of each ink droplet in order to direct it to either a gutter for ink deletion and recirculation or a specific location on a print substrate to create image. Multiple orifices or nozzles can be used to increase imaging speed and throughput.
In a drop-on-demand ink jet printing apparatus, the printhead typically comprises a linear array of ejectors, and the printhead is moved relative to the surface of the print substrate, either by moving the print substrate relative to a stationary printhead, or vice-versa, or both. In some types of apparatus, a relatively small printhead moves across a print substrate numerous times in swaths (i.e., multiple passes) to print a desired image. In this case, a desired image including a color image is completely produced on a print substrate in several swaths before the substrate is advanced. This type of printing is called multi-pass or checkerboard ink jet printing process. In checkerboard ink jet printing (or multiple pass method), the printhead passes over the print substrate and provides ink at a desired locations (e.g., printing only even or odd numbered dots in a swath). On one or more subsequent passes the remaining dots in the image are printed before the print substrate is advanced. This type of multi-color ink jet printing is commonly found in a desk-top ink jet printer including a thermal ink jet printer. It produces good color images on plain paper, but at a slower printing speed.
Alternatively, a stationary ink jet printhead that consists of an array of ejectors and extends the full width of a print substrate may pass ink down the print substrate to give full-page images, in what is known as a "full-width array" ink jet printer. When the printhead and the print substrate are moved relative to each other, image-wise digital data is used to selectively activate the thermal energy generators (e.g., resistors) in the printhead over time so that the desired image can be created on the print substrate quickly in a single pass mode. The full-width-array printhead is generally preferred to be in a stationary position while the print substrate is continuously moving to receive ink image as it passes through the printhead. However, the full-width array printhead can also be moved across the print substrate if it is desired. In a multi-color ink jet printing process, several "full-width array printheads" including cyan, magenta, yellow, and black printheads and their corresponding ink jet inks are used to provide different color images on the print substrate. Fast ink jet printing can be achieved by using the full-width array printheads.
With the demand for higher resolution printers, the nozzles of a printhead or full-width array printhead in ink jet printers are correspondingly decreasing in size. Nozzle openings of a printhead are typically about 50 to 80 micrometers (or microns) in width or diameter for 300 spots per inch (spi) resolution printers. With the advent of higher resolution (e.g., 400 spi and 600 spi) printers, these nozzle openings are smaller and are typically about 10 to about 49 micrometers (microns) in width or diameter. These printheads and full-width array printheads with small nozzle dimensions require special inks that do not easily clog the small nozzle openings.
A major concern with all ink jet printers, and high resolution ink jet printers in particular, is clogging of nozzles during operation and between operations. This is caused by evaporation of an organic solvent or water from the opening of the nozzle. In dye-based inks, this can cause crystallization or precipitation of soluble components such as dye or solid additives as well as viscosity increase of ink fluid. In pigment-based inks, this evaporation can cause precipitation of the pigment particles due to flocculation or aggregation, or precipitation of solid additives as well as viscosity increase of the ink fluid. Initial evaporation of water and solvent generally causes an increase in ink viscosity, which affects the ability of the heater (i.e., a resistor) of a printhead to fire a drop of ink properly through a nozzle.
The inception of clogging may cause distortion of the image or alphanumeric characters being printed by the printhead. This may appear as a drop of ink that is displaced from its intended position. Sometimes two drops of ink will be formed equally spaced from the intended target position. Sometimes small numerous satellite drops are produced. On some occasions the drop may even reach its intended position but at a lower drop volume or drop mass producing a lower optical density image. Ultimately, the clogged nozzle may fail to fire entirely, and no image can be generated on a print substrate.
Ink jet printers are designed to prevent excessive evaporation of solvent from printhead nozzles by sealing the printhead or printbar (comprising many butted printheads such as a partial width printhead and a full-width array printhead) in an air-tight chamber when not in use. These devices can become ineffective with continued printer use because dried ink deposits can be formed at the front face of a printhead due to ink flooding or at the rubber seals of the air-tight chamber, causing the system to lose its air-tight condition. Another device used to prevent clogging of the printhead nozzle is a wiper that removes solid formed near or at the opening of a nozzle. This device in some cases may become ineffective because of the depth of the plug or because of sufficient hardness of the plug, which thereby resists mechanical removal. Another clogging remedy is the use of vacuum suction to clear the nozzle of any deposits. These devices are effective only for soft ink clogging. They are usually inefficient to remove hard ink deposits, and add considerable expense to the costs of the printer.
Another commonly used mechanism to cure clogging is to clear the nozzle by firing the printhead in a non-image mode, e.g. into a collection receptacle. While this solution is an effective remedy, it requires that the ink forms a soft or non-cohesive plug. To make this non-image clearance process effective, the ink in the nozzle must be mechanically or cohesively weak for easy jetting or ink removal. Frequent firing of an ink jet nozzle for maintenance purposes may be needed in order to avoid the formation of hard solid plug.
Therefore, a critical requirement for an ink jet ink is the ability of the ink to remain in a fluid and jettable condition in a printhead opening that is exposed to air. The maximum idling time that still allows a printhead to function properly with a transit time .ltoreq.100 microseconds for an ink to travel a distance of 0.5 mm after a period of non-use or idling is called the latency or decapped time. This test is run with the printhead or nozzles uncovered or decapped and generally at a relative humidity of 15%. The time interval is the longest length of time that the printhead, uncovered, will still fire a specified drop without a failure. The longer the latency time rating, the more desirable is the ink for use in an ink jet printer. U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,674 to Schwarz, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, describes an ink jet ink having sulfone derivatives in combination with dyes and other ink additives. However, these sulfone derivatives were not used in pigment inks and they were not disclosed to have desirable anti-curl properties which are desired for ink jet printing with archival capability. Thus, there is a need to improve ink latency (particularly for high resolution printheads) and anti-curl property by using a novel water soluble or miscible humectant or co-solvent in inks.
Another important requirement for ink jet inks, especially for pigment-based inks, is for the pigment particles to remain stable and uniformly dispersed in the ink throughout the life of the ink jet cartridge. Dye-based ink jet inks suffer from deficiencies in waterfastness (water resistance) and lightfastness (light resistance) after being printed on various substrates. Pigments provide an image, on a wide variety of substrates, having high optical density and sharp edges with very good waterfastness and lightfastness. Therefore, pigments are a preferred alternative to dyes in an ink jet ink, provided that the pigment particles and dispersions can be made stable to prevent undesired flocculation and/or aggregation and settling. U.S. Pat. No. 5,281,261 to Lin, and pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/810,841 to Lin et. al., the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference, describe an ink jet ink having pigment particles in inks and in combination with dyes and other ink additives.
Great effort has been made in attempts to provide both dye-based and pigment-based ink jet inks with acceptable latency and stability for high speed and high resolution ink jet printing. However, there continues to have a demand for inks having many above-mentioned desirable characteristics.
Moreover, certain ink jet printers require ink jet inks to have sufficient optical density in a single pass method, i.e. without applying additional ink to the substrate or paper. Additionally, certain ink jet printheads in printers are designed to provide enhanced resolution such as, for example, a color ink jet printer capable of providing genuine 600 spi (printhead resolution) color ink jet printing as compared to the currently used 360 spi and 300 spi printers in the state-of-the-art commercial products. These devices (printheads or full-width array printheads or printbars) require specially refined inks that do not easily cause clogging or plugging of the ink jet nozzles that, as mentioned above, are significantly narrower than those of 360 spi and 300 spi printers. Many current state-of-the-art color printhead nozzles for commercial color thermal ink jet printers are limited to a resolution of equal to or less than 360 spi.
Many state-of-the-art commercial ink jet inks, including dye-based inks and pigment-based inks, show a short latency (about 10 sec.) when they are used in conjunction with a high resolution (>360 spi, for example 600 spi) printhead with a channel width or nozzle diameter of about 10 to 49 microns. Accordingly, such inks are not suitable for high resolution color ink jet printers because they have undesired jetting characteristics and large unstable pigment particles (>3 microns with agglomeration or flocculation) that can easily cause clogging of printhead nozzles. Thus, there is a need to provide dye-based and pigment-based inks that have good latency, especially when they are used in the aforementioned high resolution printheads.
There is also a need in the art for developing new aqueous ink compositions comprising a colorant of a dye or pigment and other ink additives that can be utilized in high resolution ink jet printers. There is also a need for inks that provide high optical density not only for printing in a single application or pass (for high speed printing) method but also in multiple passes (multi-pass) method. Furthermore, there is a need to provide inks that are capable of printing at high speed. This requires a high jetting frequency response (e.g., greater than 3.0 KHz, and preferably greater than 7.0 KHz).
Aqueous inks used in ink jet printing generally have water as a major component. Water has the advantage of being non-toxic, non-combustible and environmentally sound relative to non-aqueous inks, which are largely composed of organic solvents. Water is also an excellent medium for dispersing pigments or dissolving dyes.
The use of water in large concentrations, however, also has several disadvantages, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,464 to Hickman et al. Water has a fast evaporation rate relative to high-boiling organic solvents, which reduces the ink latency. Water also interacts with paper to cause two major distortions known as paper cockle and paper curl. Paper cockle is a distortion in which bumps, indentations and other irregularities are randomly produced on the printed paper, giving the paper a "wrinkled" or "wavy" appearance. Paper cockle can cause the paper in the deformed area to rub against the printhead in the printing process. Paper curl (or curl) is a phenomenon in which the edges of the paper migrate towards the center of the paper after the printing and aging. In extreme cases, curl causes the paper to assume the shape of a scroll upon aging. The curl direction may be on the printed side of the paper, or it may be on the non-printed side (the latter being known as "reverse curl"). U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,464 discloses aqueous ink compositions including anti-curl agents such as 1,3-diols, 1,3,5-triols, amino-1,3-diols and their polyoxyalkylene derivatives. Some of those materials have high viscosity at room temperature and cause poor jetting performance or jetting failure at a concentration in ink that is required to effectively reduce paper curl. Thus, there is a need for the development of anti-curl agents which give low ink viscosity to avoid poor jetting performance.
The use of heating elements (commonly employed to increase the rate of drying of aqueous inks) may be insufficient to reduce paper curl. Various mechanical devices to reduce curl such as heated rollers and tension applicators have been tried. These devices are only marginally effective and add considerably to the cost and size of the printer. Heated rollers used to reduce curl differ from the heaters used to increase drying rate, such as microwave heating, radiant heating, heated plate, heated drum, forced hot air heating, convection heating, and the like. In heaters to reduce curl, heat is typically applied to both sides of the paper after printing and can potentially cause ink smearing; in heaters to increase the drying rate, heat may be applied at any desired stage of printing including before, during, and after the printing process. Microwave dryers, for example, are set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,220,346 to Carreira et al. and 4,327,174 to Von Meer, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. The inks employed in ink jet printers having a microwave dryer comprise salts including mono-valent and multi-valent metal salts that improve the rate of drying. Such additives, however, do not reduce paper curl.
To reduce cockle and curl in ink jet printers, efforts have been made to provide anti-curl and anti-cockle agents to reduce this problem. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,464 to Hickman et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,169,437 to You, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference, describe anti-curl agents that may be utilized in ink jet inks. U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,824 to Moffatt et al. describes an ink jet ink comprising an anti-cockle agent for thermal ink jet printers. As mentioned above, some of the anti-cockle and anti-curl agents, especially the triols, are very viscous and can significantly increase ink viscosity, thereby causing poor jetting performance and jetting failure especially in a high resolution printhead with narrow nozzles.
Thus, there is a need for aqueous ink compositions that can reduce paper curl, thus eliminating the need for using expensive, ineffective and cumbersome mechanical devices or special print media. There is also a need to have an ink component that can be used in conjunction with known anti-cockle and anti-curl agents to reduce ink viscosity and to provide good jetting property. In addition, there is also a need for aqueous ink compositions that have low viscosity and can be used either with or without heaters in the printing process to increase ink penetration rate and image drying.
Another common problem encountered in employing aqueous ink jet ink compositions is kogation. Occasionally, as ink in an ink jet printhead is heated and vaporized, some ink component will undergo thermal breakdown. This decomposition leads to residue deposition on the resistor's surface in a process known in the art as "kogation." Such deposits prevents effective heat transfer from the heater to the ink on the heater (resistor) surface, thereby causing reduced bubble formation, decreased ejection velocity of the ink drops, and reduced ink drop volume delivered to the print substrate. Consequently, print quality is reduced and failure in bubble formation may result in failure of the ink jet printer to print. Thus, desirable humectants used in ink jet ink compositions must have the capability of not only reducing the rate of ink evaporation to avoid crusting and clogging of a printhead but also preventing the formation of undesired kogation.
Many known humectants employed in ink jet inks are diol derivatives such as ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, and the like. However, these diols do not have good anti-curl properties. An effective humectant and anti-curl agent should have a good water solubility and low vapor pressure. There is a need to have an ink component which can serve as humectant and anti-curl agent. Furthermore, there is also a need to have a novel humectant that can be used in conjunction with other known anti-curl agents in inks to reduce ink evaporation rate for long latency and to lower ink viscosity for achieving good jetting performance.

Ink jet inks comprising anti-curl agents and printing processes


Provided is a gear box including a lubricating oil pool arranged at a bottom of the gear box, and at least one oil stirring box that includes an oil storage chamber, the oil storage chamber being provided with an oil scooping port and at least one oil outlet. The at least one oil stirring box is arranged on a rotary component in the gear box and rotatable along with the rotary component. A lubricating oil in the lubricating oil pool is allowed to flow through the oil scooping port into the oil storage chamber when the at least one oil stirring box rotates to the lubricating oil pool. The lubricating oil in the oil storage chamber is further allowed to flow out of the at least one oil outlet to a lubrication point when the oil stirring box rotates to the vicinity of the lubrication point.

The gear box is an important assembly widely used in mechanical transmission, and gears are a basic part in gear box transmission. In order to reduce the friction generated in the gear meshing process, typically the gears need to be lubricated using a gear lubricating oil. However, in the gear lubrication process, the spattered lubricating oil is often insufficient in amount due to a relatively low liquid level. To increase the amount of spattered lubricating oil, in related art an oil scraping plate or oil scraping block is typically arranged in the gear box. Yet, the oil scraping plate or oil scraping block can provide very limited amount of oil, and require a particularly high assembly accuracy. In addition to the oil scraping plate or the oil scraping block, an oil collecting groove may alternatively be cast or machined in the inner chamber of the gear box, whereby the spattered lubricating oil can be collected by the oil collecting groove. Nevertheless, the oil collecting groove increases the difficulty of casting or machining the gear box, and the amount of spattered lubricating oil is also very limited.
To increase the amount of spattered lubricating oil, the oil level of the gear box needs to be increased, but if the oil level is too high, it will increase the oil stirring loss and reduce the transmission efficiency of the gear box. In addition, the risk of oil leakage at mechanical seals of the gear box is also increased.
Therefore, it is an urgent technical problem that needs to be solved as to how to increase the amount of spattered lubricating oil without increasing the oil level of the gear box.

NANJING HIGH-SPEED GEAR MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.


Disclosed is a method for the non-destructive testing of workpiece surfaces of a workpiece by means of fluorescent penetrant testing or dye penetrant testing. The method comprises applying a penetrant to the region of the workpiece surface to be examined, thereby allowing the penetrant to penetrate into possible recesses in the workpiece surface, applying a developer to the region of the workpiece surface to be tested; bleaching the penetrant by a gaseous or liquid oxidant; and visually assessing the penetrant that has remained in the recesses present in the workpiece surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for the non-destructive testing of workpiece surfaces by means of penetrant testing.
2. Discussion of Background Information
Methods for the non-destructive testing of workpiece surfaces are known. In what is termed penetrant testing, a penetrant is applied to a cleaned workpiece surface which is to be examined. The capillary action of fine surface cracks and pores promotes the penetration of the penetrant into such recesses on the workpiece surface. Dye penetrant testing methods use non-fluorescent dye solutions as the penetrant (e.g. "red-white method"). In what is termed fluorescent penetrant testing, use is made of a fluorescent penetrant. After a predetermined time of action, excess penetrant is then washed away in an intermediate cleaning operation. Then, a developer is applied to the workpiece surface which is to be tested. The developer promotes the re-wetting of the penetrant on the recess in the workpiece surface, the developer causing the penetrant to be drawn out of the recess to the surface. As a result, possible irregularities in the workpiece surface, e.g. crack-like material separations, become clearly visible.
Fluorescent penetrant testing is used in particular in aircraft construction, shipbuilding and automotive engineering and also other metalworking industries. However, it is also possible to examine other materials, e.g. ceramic, for corresponding surface cracks and pores.
However, a disadvantage of the known method, in particular when used in aircraft construction, is that, after the application of the developer and the corresponding mapping of the recesses or surface cracks, to verify the display, the corresponding regions of the presumed recesses have to be subjected to manual surface cleaning in order to remove excess penetrant which has been redistributed on the workpiece surface around the region of the recess by the application of the developer. Only after this mechanical cleaning does the penetrant which lines exclusively the recess or the surface crack become visible. An accurate assessment and measurement of the recess are made possible only in this way. However, this manual cleaning step is time-consuming and costly. Moreover, it can be standardized only with difficulty, as a result of which a standardized classification of possible recesses or defects in the workpiece surface is also difficult.
It would be advantageous to have available a method for the non-destructive testing of workpiece surfaces which makes a quicker and less expensive examination of the workpiece surfaces possible.

Method for the non-destructive testing of workpiece surfaces


A connecting structure for covered wires is provided. At first, a shield wire 1 and a ground wire 2 are prepared. After overlaying the ground wire 2 on the shield wire 1 cross each other, respective overlapping portions of the wires 1, 2 are interposed between an upper resin tip 13 and a lower resin tip 14. Next, the upper and lower resin tips 13, 14 are oscillated with ultrasonic waves while compressing the upper and lower resin tips 13, 14 from the outside. Consequently, respective outside rinds 1d, 2b of the wires 1, 2 are molten for removal, so that a braided wire 1c comes into electrical contact with a core line 2a. The upper and lower resin tips 13, 14 have wire receiving grooves 13a, 14a formed on their butt faces. Each of the groove 13a, 14a has a semi-circular cross section of a diameter corresponding to the diameter of the shield wire 1. The upper resin tip 13 is provided, at an intermediate portion of the wire receiving groove 13a in the longitudinal direction, with a press part 13b for urging the ground wire 2 against the shield wire 1.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a connecting structure for covered wires where their respective conductors are connected to each other by oscillating respective insulating covers of the wires with ultrasonic waves. More particularly, it relates to a connecting structure which is effective to connect a shield wire with a ground wire.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally speaking, it is complicated and troublesome to handle a shield wire having a braided wire coaxially disposed around a core line (or core lines) with the deteriorated workability in using the shield wire. As an effective measure for improving the deteriorated workability, there is provided a connecting structure for wires which takes advantage of inside heating due to the ultrasonic oscillation by Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (kokai) No. 7-320842.
In the publication, there are shown two kinds of covered wires. One is a shield wire which comprises a core line, an inside insulating rind arranged outside the core line, a braided wire as a shield conductor arranged outside the inside insulating rind, and an outside insulating rind. The other is a ground wire consisting of a core line and an outside resinous rind arranged outside the core line.
According to the disclosed method of connecting the braided wire of the shield wire being connected to a connector, to the core line of the ground wire being also connected to the connector, in front of the connector, the ground wire is firstly overlaid on the shield wire so as to cross each other at a connection point. Next, the overlapping portions are interposed between upper and lower resin tips. Then, while compressing the upper and lower resin tips from the outside, they are subjected to ultrasonic oscillation by making use of an ultrasonic horn and an anvil. Consequently, both of the outside rinds of the shield wire and the ground wire are molten for elimination, so that the braided wire of the shield wire comes into electrical contact with the core line of the ground wire. Simultaneously, the upper and lower resin tips are mutually welded to each other thereby to seal up the surroundings of the above connecting point. Note, in the modification, there is a case that the upper and lower resin tips are respectively provided, on bearing faces thereof, with wire-accommodating shallow grooves for positioning the shield wire.
In the above-mentioned connecting structure, however, there is sometimes observed a phenomenon that, when welding the upper and lower resin tips to each other, the outside insulating rind of the shield wire is disadvantageously torn or broken in the vicinity of a point where the periphery of the upper resin tip abuts on the shield wire, so that the braided wire of the shield wire is exposed outside the integrated tips. In such a case, the exposure of the braided wire causes the fixing force between the integrated resin tips and the shield wire, i.e. the strength of connection, to be reduced, also lowering the insulating effect brought by the integrated tips.
Under such a circumstance, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a connecting structure for covered wires, which is capable of improving the strength in connection and the insulating effect.
The object of the present invention described above can be accomplished by a connecting structure for covered wires, comprising:
a first covered wire having a first conductor covered with a first resinous cover;
a second covered wire having a second conductor covered with a second resinous cover, the second conductor being electrically connected with the first conductor of the first covered wire cross each other; and
an upper resin tip and a lower resin tip between which an electrical connecting part of the first and second conductors and the surroundings are interposed, the upper resin tip being welded to the lower resin tip while interposing the first and second covered wires between the upper resin tip and the lower resin tip;
wherein each of the upper and lower resin tips is provided, on its butt face being abutted against the other resin tip, with a wire receiving groove which has a semi-circular cross section of a diameter corresponding to the diameter of the first covered wire.
According to the connecting structure, since the diameter of the wire receiving groove corresponds to the diameter of the first covered wire, it is possible to weld the upper resin tip to the lower resin tip in the wrapping manner without compressing the first resinous cover of the first covered wire. Thus, since there is no possibility that the first resinous cover of the first covered wire is torn or broken by the upper or lower resin tip, the fixing force between the upper and lower resin tips and the first covered wire can be enhanced. In addition, it is possible to exclude a possibility that the first covered wire exposes the first conductor in the vicinity of the upper and lower resin tips. In the above-mentioned connecting structure, preferably, the first covered wire is a shield wire, while the second wire is a ground wire and wherein the first conductor is a shield conductor of the shield wire, while the second conductor is a core line of the ground wire.
According to the above-mentioned constitution, it is possible to weld an outside rind of the shield wire in the wrapping manner, whereby the damage on the outside rind can be prevented. Thus, owing to the reduced damage on the outside rind, the fixing force between the upper and lower resin tips and the shield wire can be enhanced to stabilize the connecting strength.
In the above-mentioned connecting structure, preferably, the upper resin tip is provided, at an intermediate portion of the wire receiving groove in the longitudinal direction, with a press part which serves to urge the second covered wire against the first covered wire and of which depth is smaller than the other portion of the wire receiving groove.
According to the above-mentioned structure, owing to the provision of the press part, it is possible to compress the overlapping portions of the covered wires intensely. Thus, it is possible to accelerate the progress of melting and welding. Moreover, since the provision of the press part allows the resultant connecting structure to restrict a portion where the first and second resinous covers are to be removed by the ultrasonic oscillation, it is possible to accomplish the stable electrical connection between the covered wires, thereby improving the reliability of electrical connection. Further, owing to the concentration of ultrasonic waves on the press part, it is possible to reduce the welding energy itself.
In the above-mentioned connecting structure, preferably, each of the upper and lower resin tips is provided, on an outer edge of the butt face, with a recess for fitting the second resinous cover of the second covered wire.
According to the above-mentioned structure, when abutting the upper resin tip against the lower resin tip, it is possible to accommodate the second resinous cover of the second covered wire in the recess in the wrapping manner. Thus, it is possible to hold the second covered wire securely and prevent the second conductor of the second covered wire from being exposed, whereby the insulating effect can be enhanced. Additionally, since the second covered wire is welded in a manner that the upper and lower resin tips envelop the leading end of the second resinous cover of the second covered wire, it is possible to enhance the waterproof capability of the second covered wire at the leading end.
In the above-mentioned connecting structure, preferably, the upper resin tip is provided, on a part of the butt face contacting the second covered wire, with a protrusion for concentrating an ultrasonic energy in oscillating the upper and lower resin tips with ultrasonic waves.
According to the above structure, owing to the provision of the protrusion, it is possible to concentrate the ultrasonic energy on a part of the second covered wire in contact with the protrusion, so that the second resinous cover of the second covered wire can be molten initially and thereafter, the butt faces of the upper and lower resin tips can be welded to each other. Thus, it is possible to weld the second covered wire to the first covered wire certainly, whereby the welding strength can be improved. Further, owing to the concentration of ultrasonic waves on the protrusion, it is possible to reduce the energy loss, thereby allowing the welding period to be reduced.
According to the present invention, there is also provided a method of producing a connecting structure for covered wires, the method comprising the steps of:
preparing a first covered wire having a first conductor covered with a first resinous cover and a second covered wire having a second conductor covered with a second resinous cover;
overlaying the second covered wire on the first covered wire cross each other;
interposing respective overlapping portions of the first and second covered wires between an upper resin tip and a lower resin tip; and
oscillating the upper and lower resin tips with ultrasonic waves while compressing the upper and lower resin tips from the outside, whereby the first and second resinous covers of the first and second covered wires are molten for removal thereby to bring the first conductor of the first covered wire into electrical contact with the second conductor of the second covered and simultaneously, the upper and lower resin tips are mutually welded to each other thereby to seal up the surroundings of a contact between the first conductor and the second conductor;
wherein each of the upper and lower resin tips is provided, on its butt face being abutted against the other resin, with a wire receiving groove which has a semi-circular cross section of a diameter corresponding to the diameter of the first covered wire.
Also in the above-mentioned method, preferably, the first covered wire is a shield wire, while the second wire is a ground wire and wherein the first conductor is a shield conductor of the shield wire, while the second conductor is a core line of the ground wire.
In the above-mentioned method, preferably, the upper resin tip is provided, at an intermediate portion of the wire receiving groove in the longitudinal direction, with a press part which serves to urge the second covered wire against the first covered wire and of which depth is smaller than the other portion of the wire receiving groove.
In the above-mentioned method, preferably, each of the upper and lower resin tips is provided, on an outer edge of the butt face, with a recess for fitting the second resinous cover of the second covered wire.
In the above-mentioned method, preferably, the upper resin tip is provided, on a part of the butt face contacting the second covered wire, with a protrusion for concentrating an ultrasonic energy in oscillating the upper and lower resin tips with ultrasonic waves.
These and other objects and features of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following description and appended claims taken in conjunction with the accompany drawings.


A component for an electrochemical cell comprises a thermally and electrically conductive core, wherein the conductive core comprises apertures, and wherein the conductive core further comprises an active area substantially covered by an electrically and thermally conductive polymeric composite. The conductive polymeric composite is adhered to the core by an adhesion promoter comprising electrically conductive particles to reduce the volume resistivity of the component, and an optional adhesive composition. Components may be manufactured having a volume resistivity of about 0.500 ohm-cm or less and a thermal conductivity of at least about 5 watts/meter ° K. In addition, the component is economical to produce due to inexpensive starting materials as well as the use of conventional processing equipment.

This invention relates to electrochemical cells, and in particular to electrochemical cell components and materials useful in the manufacture of electrochemical cell components.
Electrochemical cells may be classified as either electrolysis cells or fuel cells. Electrolysis cells act as hydrogen generators by electrolytically decomposing water to produce hydrogen and oxygen gases. Fuel cells function by electrochemically reacting a fuel gas such as hydrogen with an oxidant gas such as air or oxygen to generate electricity. A preferred type of electrochemical cell is the "proton exchange membrane" cell, wherein the cathode of the cell is separated from the anode by a proton exchange membrane that facilitates the diffusion of ions and/or water between the cathode and anode, but prohibits the diffusion of fuel and oxidant gases.
The typical electrochemical cell includes a number of individual cells arranged in a stack, with the working fluid directed through the cells via input and output conduits formed within the stack structure. The cells within the stack are sequentially arranged, each including a cathode, a proton exchange membrane, and an anode. Membrane electrode assemblies (MEA) for use in fuel cells are well known, being described for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,272,017 and 3,134,697, which are incorporated by reference herein. The MEA for each cell, sandwiched between electrically conductive gas diffusion layers, is placed between a pair of electrically conductive elements or plates which serve as current collectors for the anode/cathode, and which generally contain an array of grooves in the faces thereof for distributing the gaseous reactants (a fuel gas such as H2 and an oxidant gas such as O2 or air) over the surfaces of the anode and cathode. Such plates are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,988,583, 5,521,018, and 6,261,710B1. The gaseous reactants are usually saturated, typically with water. Each cathode/membrane/anode assembly (hereinafter "membrane electrode assembly", or "MEA") is typically supported on both sides by flow fields comprising screen packs. Such flow fields facilitate fluid movement and membrane hydration and provide mechanical support for the MEA.
A plurality of such cells may be stacked together as a fuel cell stack and connected in electrical series. The stack of cells is also called a "fuel cell" in the art. The cells are separated from each other by an impermeable, electrically conductive plate referred to as a bipolar plate. The bipolar plate thus serves as an electrically conductive separator element between two adjacent cells, and generally also has reactant gas distributing grooves on both external faces thereof. In most cases the bipolar plate also has internal passages through which coolant flows to remove heat from the stack. In the electrochemical cell environment, the active areas of the exterior faces of the bipolar plates are in constant contact with often highly corrosive, acidic solutions at elevated temperatures. Moreover, at least one of the electrode faces may be polarized in the presence of pressurized, saturated air or hydrogen. To survive in such an environment, the bipolar plates must be able to withstand these pressures and be highly resistant to corrosion and degradation. In addition to the bipolar plates placed between each fuel cell, end plates may be necessary to contain the fuel cell stack. The end plates must withstand the same corrosive environment as the bipolar plates.
Bipolar plates are often fabricated from graphite or corrosion resistant metals. Graphite is lightweight, corrosion resistant, and electrically conductive but is also quite brittle and thus prone to cracking, and mechanically difficult to handle, thus increasing production costs. Additionally, graphite is porous, making it very difficult to make the very thin, gas-impervious plates that are desirable for low-weight, low-volume fuel cell stacks. The graphite plates must also be operably connected to the other components by seal rings. Typically the seal ring material contains plasticizers and additives that leach out over time and contaminate the catalyst. Catalyst contamination generally halts energy production. Graphite plates also have relatively low heat conductivity, which does not allow heat generated in the cell to be conducted laterally to the edges of the cell by thermal conductivity. Graphite plates must then be further complicated by having coolant liquid channels formed in them.
Corrosion-resistant metals are generally more electrically conductive but these materials typically have low thermal conductivity and, similar to graphite, bipolar plates formed from these materials also require coolant liquid channels.
Accordingly, there is a perceived need in the art for electrically and thermally conductive, low cost components for electrochemical cells, particularly bipolar plates and end plates, with high mechanical integrity and high chemical resistance.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Apparatus and method of manufacture of electrochemical cell components


The present invention relates to a system for delivering liquid bleach activators to solid or granular peroxygen bleach containing compositions. The preferred delivery system is liquid activators complexed with a cyclodextrin, preferably beta-cyclodextrin. The present invention also relates to a method for preparing the liquid bleach activator/cyclodextrin complexes described herein.

The formulation of detergent compositions which effectively remove a wide variety of soils and stains from fabrics under wide-ranging usage conditions remains a considerable challenge to the laundry detergent industry, in both granular detergents as well as laundry bars. Challenges are also faced by the formulator of automatic dishwashing detergent compositions (ADD's), which are expected to efficiently cleanse and sanitize dishware, often under heavy soil loads. In addition, hard surface cleaners are formulated to sanitize as well as to clean, thereby increasing the need for more potent ingredients in their formulations.
Most conventional cleaning compositions contain mixtures of various detersive surfactants to remove a wide variety of soils and stains from surfaces. In addition, various detersive enzymes, soil suspending agents, phosphorous based and non-phosphorous builders, optical brighteners, and in the case of hard surface cleaners, abrasive materials, are added to boost overall cleaning performance. Many fully-formulated cleaning compositions contain oxygen bleach, which can be a perborate or percarbonate compound. While quite effective at high temperatures, perborates and percarbonates loose much of their bleaching function at low to moderate temperatures increasingly favored in consumer product use. Accordingly, various bleach activators such as tetraethylenediamine (TEAD) and nonanoyloxybenezene-sulfonate (NOBS) have been developed to potentiate the bleaching action of perborate and percarbonate across a wide temperature range.
Most of these prior art bleach activators are solids and are intended primarily as adjuncts to conventional laundry detergent granules. Such laundry granules typically comprise a solid bleach activator in admixture with a coating or carrier material which serves to enhance the stability of the bleach activator and to facilitate its uniform dispersion in the granular detergent. Different from the solid bleach activators known heretofore, another class of bleach activators which have now been found to provide good bleaching of textiles and fabrics, especially on hydrophobic stains, are hydrophobic liquid bleach activators. Such liquid bleach activators are often substantially water-insoluble and can be difficult to use in granular cleaning compositions or bars because they are oily, hydrophobic liquids at ambient temperatures and tend not to solubilize/disperse satisfactorily in the wash water. Indeed, in the case of laundry detergents, an unsolubilized liquid bleach activator can separate from the wash liquor as an oily liquid and fail to be converted to peracids, or can even ultimately cling to the fabrics in the wash where they react with the peroxygen bleach and spot or remove color from the fabrics.
Therefore, the need remains for a suitable liquid bleach activator delivery system for granular or solid laundry detergent compositions.

System for delivering hydrophobic liquid bleach activators


A method for controlling movement of movable object having a plurality of movable subcomponents comprises receiving an instruction configured to generate a defined movement of a selected subcomponent of the movable object between a first state and a second state. The method further comprises determining whether execution of the defined movement results in the selected subcomponent leaving a motion space associated with the selected subcomponent. The motion space is defined by a motion space boundary. The method further comprises producing a modified instruction configured to generate a modified movement of the selected subcomponent between the first state and the second state. Execution of the modified movement results in the selected subcomponent remaining within the motion space. At least a portion of the modified movement deviates from the defined movement.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to control systems and, in particular, to feedback control systems which modify motion control data so as to allow a controlled system to smoothly conform to physical constraints.
2. Description of the Related Art
An animated mechanical figure or robot is a movable object that is animated through the use of one or more electromechanical (e.g. electric, hydraulic, pneumatic, or similar) devices, which are generally referred to as "actuators". At a fundamental level, the actuators translate control signals, also referred to as "motion control data" or "instruction data," into motion, thereby animating the figure or robot. The manner in which each actuator moves is dictated by the instruction data, which defines target states for each actuator in the figure or robot to achieve. These states may include, but are not limited to, position, velocity, and acceleration states. The instruction data provided to each actuator are coordinated so as to allow the figure or robot to achieve a desired effect, such as simulating the appearance of a person engaging in a moving activity. Animated mechanical figures are used in a wide variety of applications, including in theme parks, in moving artistic works, and in animated commercial devices.
The instruction data preferably generate movements which stay within defined limits. In one aspect, position limits reflect that actuators possess a finite range of motion, and cannot adopt certain positions. In another aspect, velocity and acceleration limits reflect the finite limits on the speed with which the actuators can respond and the torque that the actuators can apply.
Failure of the instruction data to remain within these limits may result in undesirable effects. For example, instruction data outside the limits may: (a) describe a motion that the actuators are not able to physically realize, (b) describe a motion that may damage the physical system, and/or (c) describe a motion that may result in unplanned stopping, jerking, and/or vibration of the figure, detracting from the theatrical illusion provided by the figure and detracting from the viewer's experience in viewing the figure. Therefore, steps are generally taken to prevent actuators from attempting to reach states outside of these limits.
This situation is further complicated by the fact that manipulating the operation of a selected actuator to conform to a physical constraint will often require manipulating the operation of other actuators in the system. For example, in a robot with two feet on the ground, adjusting the instruction data that control the position of one knee will typically result in changes to the instruction data that control other actuators, such as those in the hips and/or other knee, in order to substantially prevent the robot from falling over or undergoing some other undesired motion.
This process of manipulating the operation of an actuator in response to a constraint is typically referred to as "clipping". Conventionally, clipping often results in abrupt, high frequency movements or vibrations of the animated figure as the motion of the actuator is changed to comply with the constraint. A number of techniques are employed to reduce the detrimental effects of clipping. In one aspect, the motion of the actuator is subjected to a low pass filter, which substantially attenuates frequencies above a selected cutoff frequency, thereby inhibiting the high frequency movements typically associated with clipping. In another aspect, mechanical compliance is introduced into the system, resulting in a system that mechanically absorbs kinetic energy generally, such that when a constraint is encountered, less kinetic energy is available to be dissipated in the large vibrations having the unnatural appearance associated with clipping.