The present invention relates to a process for preparing low-viscosity, allophanate-containing and NCO-free polyurethane prepolymers curable by actinic radiation, and to the products obtainable by this process. The prepolymers have residual monomer contents of less than 0.5% by weight and an NCO content of less than 1% by weight, and are prepared by a process in which A) diisocyanates, B) hydroxy-functional compounds containing groups which react with ethylenically unsaturated compounds on exposure to actinic radiation, and C) polyester, polyether or polycarbonate polyols having a functionality of at least 1.9 and a number-average molecular weight (Mn) of at least 1000 g/mol, D) optionally in the presence of a catalyst, are reacted to form NCO-group-containing prepolymers having radiation-curing groups, which are subsequently reacted E) optionally after addition of monofunctional isocyanates in the presence F) of an allophanatization catalyst to give allophanate-containing prepolymers, the ratio of NCO groups of the compounds from A) to the OH groups of the compounds from B) and C) being 1.45:1.0 to 1.1:1.0 and the ratio of the OH groups from B) to the OH groups from C) being 8.0:1 to 1.5:1.

The curing of coating systems which carry activated double bonds by actinic radiation, such as UV light, IR radiation or else electron beams, is known and is established in industry. It is one of the most rapid curing methods in coating technology. Coating compositions based on this principle are referred to as radiation- or actinic-curing or -curable systems.
Very simple, flexible urethane acrylate prepolymers can be prepared by reacting NCO prepolymers based on a polyester, polyether or polycarbonate polyol with an OH-functional compounds containing activated double bonds, such as hydroxyalkyl acrylates, for example (P. K. T. Oldring (Ed.): Vol. 2 "Prepolymers and Reactive Diluents for UV and EB Curable Formulations", 1991, p105ff). Depending on the nature and the molecular weight of the polyol used it is entirely possible in this case for very flexible and elastic binders to form that are curable by actinic radiation. A disadvantage here, however, is the typically high viscosity of such systems, which frequently necessitates the use of reactive diluents. Moreover, with a very high molecular weight, such systems are not of very high functionality, which impacts adversely on the reactivity and the resistance towards solvents.
A significant advantage in terms of viscosity is offered by systems of the kind described in, for example, the European application with the application number 06004171.2. There the urethane groups present in the prepolymer are reacted with monoisocyanates to form allophanates, which significantly lowers the viscosity of the binders. The problem of the low functionality and hence low resistance, however, is not addressed.
On the other hand, however, the method of allophanatization as described in GB 994,890 or EP 682 012, for example, is entirely suitable for raising the functionality of a binder. Applications WO 2005/097737 or WO 2005/097865, for example, describe prepolymers based on difunctional polyethers which are reacted by urethanization and subsequent allophanatization to give tetra-functional NCO prepolymers. A further reaction with hydroxyalkylacrylates would lead, however, to a very awkward operation with little advantage, which as well as two separate reaction procedures would also involve distillation of the excess diisocyanate.
It is likewise possible to react an acrylate-containing and NCO-containing allophanate, as described in EP 1 144 476 B1, in an additional step with further hydroxyalkyl (meth)acrylate and a polyester, polyether or polycarbonate polyol.
Although this procedure again gives the polyfunctional prepolymers described above, it produces a saving in terms neither of the distillation of the products nor of one of the two reaction procedures. In addition, this operation harbours the difficulty that the distillation step must take place at temperatures up to 135° C. in order to allow the residual isocyanate content to be lowered sufficiently (<0.5% by weight residual monomer). There is a risk that, even during the purifying operation, double bonds will react under thermal initiation in polymerization, with the consequence that ideal products are no longer obtained.
It is also possible to prepare allophanates indirectly, from isocyanate derivatives other than urethanes and isocyanates. For instance EP-A 0 825 211 describes a process for building up allophanate structures from oxadiazinetriones; a further route is the opening of uretdiones (cf. Proceedings of the International Waterborne, High-Solids, and Powder Coatings Symposium 2001, 28th, 405-419 and also US-A 2003 0153713) to give allophanate structures. In both cases the use of polyester, polyether or polycarbonate polyols leads either to the ring opening or to the target products even at the urethanization stage. Both routes, however, require high-grade raw materials as their starting material and lead only to an allophanate product which is rich in by-products.
EP-B 694 531 describes a multi-stage process for preparing hydrophilicized allophanates containing radiation-curing groups. In that case, however, first an NCO- and acrylate-functional urethane is prepared, which is hydrophilicized and subsequently allophanatized following addition of a further NCO- and acrylate-functional urethane. As the process temperature for the allophanatization, very high temperatures of 100 to 110° C. are specified, which may lead to an unwanted free-radical polymerization.
In the European application with the application number 05020859.4 a process has now been described that allows the preparation of radiation-curing, allophanate-containing binders based on easily available raw materials, such as polyisocyanates and polyols, in an operation already at a moderate temperature of below 100° C. without a distillation step. The coatings produced from these coating materials are very hard, but their elasticity and solvent resistance are each in need of improvement.

Process for preparing allophanate-containing actinically curable polyurethane prepolymers with increased resistance


The present invention relates to a method for producing a yeast extract using an exogenous protease.

Yeast extracts are widely used, e.g. for flavour in the food industries, in microorganism fermentation media, and as health foods. The production of yeast extract is described in literature, see e.g. Kelly, M. (1982) Yeast Extract (In: Industrial Enzymology, Godfrey, T. ed.) or Chae, H. J. et al. (2001), Bioresource Technology 76, 253-258. It is typically manufactured by breaking down the yeast by acid hydrolysis or mechanical or chemical disruption of the cells followed by autolysis with endogenous enzymes to degrade the macromolecular structures of the yeast, in particular the proteins, into the maximum amount of soluble material. Possibly, exogenous enzymes, including proteases such as papain, are added to augment the effect of the yeast's own enzymes. After the enzymatic hydrolysis, the yeast extract is separated from the cell debris and possibly pasteurized and concentrated. Turbidity is a quality measure of the yeast extract. Low turbidity makes concentration and separation easier. Therefore, there is a desire for methods to produce yeast extracts with low turbidity.
Proteases found to be applicable according to the present invention have been previously described. E.g., the protease derived from Nocardiopsis sp. NRRL 18262 is disclosed in WO88/03947 (here the strain is referred to as Nocardiopsis sp. strain 10R) and WO01/58276. Other related proteases which are useful according to the invention are disclosed in WO88/03947, WO04/111220, WO04/111222, WO04/111223, WO05/123911, and WO04/072279.


A method includes determining a quality of service class identifier (QCI) level for an application running on a user device, selecting a connected mode discontinuous reception (CDRX) profile based on the QCI level, and transmitting the CDRX profile to the user device to be used when running the application. The QCI level may be indicative of delay sensitivity of the application and the CDRX profile may be selected based on the delay sensitivity of the application.

Discontinuous Reception (DRX) is designed to save battery life for user equipment (UE). If DRX is not enabled, the UE must be awake and ready to receive and decode downlink data because of the uncertainty associated with the timing of the reception of such downlink data. This means that the UE has to be monitoring the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) in every subframe in order to check if there is downlink data available. This consumes the UE's power. DRX in LTE improves UE battery lifetime. In DRX, UE discontinuously receives PDCCH.
Connected Mode Discontinuous Reception (CDRX) is a feature introduced in Release 8 of 3GPP. The CDRX mechanism allows the UE to make signaling-free transitions between sleep and awake states.
Currently there is a single static CDRX profile in 5G New Radio (NR) network configurations. As such, power consumption cannot be with such a single static CDRX configuration Moreover, if the static CDRX profile is too long, that may cause significant delays is certain configurations and for certain applications, which may, for example, include Voice over LTE (VoLTE) calls. If the CR will cause longer delay in some specific configuration such as VoLTE call Conversely, if the static CDRX profile is too short, power consumption will be greater, and any power efficiencies will not be realized.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system and method that will optimize power consumption of a UE.

Dynamic connected discontinuous reception profile based on quality of service


Disclosed is a plate-making method and a computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing method, each of which comprises filtering an oil-based ink; forming an image directly on a plate material by an ink jet process comprising ejecting said filtered oil-based ink using electrostatic field based on signals of image data; and fixing said formed image to prepare a printing plate. Also disclosed are a plate-making apparatus and a computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing method suitable for these methods, respectively.

The present invention relates to a plate-making method and a plate-making apparatus, which perform digital plate-making by an electrostatic ink jet process using an oil-based ink, and also relates to a computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing method and a computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus, which perform the above-described digital plate-making on the printing apparatus and subsequently performing printing. More specifically, the present invention relates to a plate-making method, a plate-making apparatus, a computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing method and a computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus, where the oil is filtered before use and thereby, the image on the printing plate and the printed image are improved in the quality.
In the lithographic printing, the printing is performed by forming an ink-receptive region and an ink-repulsive region on the surface of a printing plate in correspondence to an image original and adhering a printing ink to the ink-receptive region. Usually, hydrophilic and lipophilic (ink-receptive) regions are imagewise formed on the surface of a printing plate and the hydrophilic region is rendered ink-repulsive using a fountain solution.
In general, the formation of an image (plate-making) on a printing original plate (plate material) is heretofore performed by a method of once outputting an image original on a silver salt photographic film in an analog or digital manner, exposing a diazo resin or photopolymerizable photopolymer light-sensitive material (plate material) through the film and then, dissolving and removing the non-image area using an alkaline developer.
In recent years, the lithographic printing method is demanded to meet requirements for more improvement in the digital drawing technique and higher efficiency in the process thereof and in view of these recent requirements, a large number of systems for directly recording digital image information have been proposed. These techniques are called CTP (computer-to-plate) or DDPP (digital direct printing plate), With respect to the plate-making method, for example, a system of recording an image in the light or heat mode using a laser has been proposed and this system is partially put into practical use.
However, even in this plate-making method, irrespective of light mode or heat mode, the plate-making generally involves a treatment with an alkaline developer after the laser recording to dissolve and remove the non-image area, therefore, an alkaline waste solution is discharged and this is not preferred in view of the environmental conservation.
In the method of using a laser, an expensive and large-scale apparatus is necessary. In this respect, a system applying an ink jet process which is an inexpensive and compact recording device, has been proposed.
JP-A-64-27953 (the term xe2x80x9cJP-Axe2x80x9d as used herein means an xe2x80x9cunexamined published Japanese patent applicationxe2x80x9d) discloses a method of forming an image on a hydrophilic plate material by an ink jet process using a lipophilic wax ink, thereby performing plate-making. In this method, the image is formed by a wax and therefore, the image area is weak in the mechanical strength and deficient in the adhesive property to the hydrophilic surface of the plate material, which gives rise to poor press life.
As means for realizing an efficient printing process, a system of performing the image formation on a printing apparatus is known. JP-A-4-97848 discloses a method of providing a plate drum having a hydrophilic or lipophilic surface area in place of a conventional plate cylinder, forming thereon a lipophilic or hydrophilic image by an ink jet process, and removing and cleaning the image after the completion of printing. In this method, however, it is difficult to attain easy removing (namely, cleaning) of the printed image and a sufficiently long press life at the same time. Furthermore, in the case of forming an image having high press life on the plate drum, an ink containing a resin in a relatively high concentration must be used and accompanying the evaporation of solvent at the nozzle part, the resin readily fixes to the ink jet means of forming a printing image, as a result, the ink ejection stability decreases and a good image cannot be obtained.
In the case of forming an image by an ink jet process, aggregates in the ink or foreign matters such as dust fed to the ejection head cause clogging of the head and this gives rise to unstable ejection of ink and in turn deterioration in the image quality or stopping of the ejection. The present invention has been made to overcome these problems.
An object of the present invention is to provide a plate-making method for manufacturing a lithographic printing plate which ensures printing of a large number of printed matters having a clear and high-quality image by an inexpensive and simple process, where a development processing is not necessary and a digital technique can be adopted.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a plate-making apparatus for realizing this plate-making method.
A still other object of the present invention is to provide a computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing method capable of blocking flowing of aggregates or foreign matters such as dust and always feeding an ink kept in a normal state to an ejection head, where a development processing is not necessary and a digital technique can be adopted.
A still other object of the present invention is to provide a computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus for realizing this computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing method.
A still other object of the present invention is to provide a computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing method capable of printing a large number of printed matters having a clear and high-quality image by an inexpensive apparatus and a simple and easy method.
A still other object of the present invention is to provide a computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus for realizing this computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing method.
Other objects and effects of the present invention will become apparent from the following description.
The above-described objects of the present invention have been achieved by providing the following methods and apparatuses.
1) A plate-making method comprising:
filtering an oil-based ink;
forming an image directly on a plate material by an ink jet process comprising ejecting said filtered oil-based ink using electrostatic field based on signals of image data; and
fixing said formed image to prepare a printing plate.
2) The plate-making method according to item 1) above, wherein said oil-based comprises:
a nonaqueous solvent having an electric resistivity of 109 xcexa9cm or more and a dielectric constant of 3.5 or less; and
a component dispersed in the nonaqueous solvent, comprising at least resin particles which are solid and are hydrophobic at least at ordinary temperatures.
3) A plate-making apparatus comprising:
an image-forming unit which forms an image directly on a plate material based on signals of image data; and
an image-fixing unit which fixes the image formed by said image-forming unit to prepare a printing plate,
wherein said image-forming unit comprises an ink jet drawing device having an ejection head which ejects an oil-based ink using electrostatic field and having at least one ink-filtering member provided in a passage of said oil-based ink.
4) The plate-making apparatus according to item 3) above, wherein said filtering member is provided at a portion immediately preceding an ink ejection part of said ejection head.
5) The plate-making apparatus according to item 3) or 4) above, wherein said filtering member comprises a filter material which blocks coarse aggregates of said oil-based ink and foreign matters including dust mingled during the image formation.
6) The plate-making apparatus according to item 5) above, wherein said filter material has pores having various shapes and sizes, each of said pores having a minimum distance of not less than 2 xcexcm.
7) The plate-making apparatus according to item 5) or 6) above, wherein said filter material has a single-layer or multilayer structure.
8) The plate-making apparatus according to item 7) above, wherein said multilayer filter material comprises filter material layers including; a coarsest protective body and a coarsest support provided in an upstream side and a downstream side, respectively; and intervening filter material layers provided between said protective body and support in such a manner that the pore sizes of said intervening filter materials are sequentially reduced toward the downstream side.
9) The plate-making apparatus according to any one of items 5) to 8) above, wherein said filter material has at least one figuration selected from the group consisting of a single plate form, a tea strainer form, a coming back form and a cylinder form.
10) The plate-making apparatus according to any one of items 5) to 9) above, wherein said filter material comprises at least one material selected from the group consisting of paper, plastic, metal, ceramic and glass.
11) The plate-making apparatus according to any one of items 5) to 10) above, wherein said filter material is of cartridge-type and exchangeable.
12) The plate-making apparatus according to any one of items 5) to 11) above, further comprising a filter material accumulation-removing member which removes substances accumulated on said filter material.
13) The plate-making apparatus according to item 12) above, wherein said removal of the filter material accumulation is performed by at least one of ultrasonic irradiation, vibration, and back flow of said ink or a cleaning solution.
14) The plate-making apparatus according to item 3) or 4) above, wherein said filtering member comprises at least one filtering system selected from the group consisting of gravity filtration, pressure filtration, vacuum filtration and constant rate filtration.
15) The plate-making apparatus according to any one of items 3) to 14) above, wherein said oil-based ink comprises:
a nonaqueous solvent having an electric resistivity of 109 xcexa9cm or more and a dielectric constant of 3.5 or less; and
a component dispersed in the nonaqueous solvent, comprising at least resin particles which are solid and are hydrophobic at least at ordinary temperatures.
16) The plate-making apparatus according to any one of items 3) to 15) above, wherein said image-fixing unit has a heating member comprising at least one of a heat roller, an infrared lamp, a halogen lamp and a xenon lamp.
17) The plate-making apparatus according to item 16) above, wherein said heating member is disposed and/or controlled to gradually elevate a temperature of said plate material at the time of said fixing.
18) The plate-making apparatus according to any one of items 3) to 17) above, further comprising a drum for mounting said plate material thereon, said drum being rotatable to perform main scanning upon said image formation.
19) The plate-making apparatus according to item 18) above, wherein said ejection head comprises a single channel head or a multi-channel head and is movable in a direction parallel to the axis of said drum to perform sub-scanning upon said image formation.
20) The plate-making apparatus according to any one of items 3) to 17) above, further comprising at least a pair of capstan rollers for running said plate material while being interposed and held therebetween to perform sub-scanning upon said image formation.
21) The plate-making apparatus according to item 20) above, wherein said ejection head comprises a single channel head or a multi-channel head and is movable in a direction orthogonal to the running direction of said plate material to perform main scanning upon said image formation.
22) The plate-making apparatus according to item 18) or 20) above, wherein said ejection head comprises a full line head having almost the same length as the width of said plate material.
23) The plate-making apparatus according to any one of items 3) to 22) above, wherein said ink jet drawing device has an ink feed member which feeds said oil-based ink to said ejection head.
24) The plate-making apparatus according to item 23) above, which comprises an ink recovery member which recovers said oil-based ink from said ejection head to circulate said ink.
25) The plate-making apparatus according to any one of items 3) to 24) above, which comprises a dust-removing member which removes dusts present on the surface of said plate material at least one of before and during said image formation.
26) The plate-making apparatus according to any one of items 3) to 25) above, wherein said ink jet drawing device has an ink tank for storing said oil-based ink and a stirring member which stirs the oil-based ink in said ink tank.
27) The plate-making apparatus according to any one of items 3) to 26) above, wherein said ink jet drawing device has an ink tank for storing said oil-based ink and an ink temperature-controlling member which controls the temperature of the oil-based ink in said ink tank.
28) The plate-making apparatus according to any one of items 3) to 27) above, wherein said ink jet drawing device has an ink concentration-controlling member which controls the concentration of said oil-based ink.
29) The plate-making apparatus according to any one of items 3) to 28) above, which comprises an ejection head-cleaning member.
30) A computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing method comprising:
mounting a plate material onto a plate cylinder of a printing apparatus;
filtering an oil-based ink;
forming an image directly on said plate material by an ink jet process comprising ejecting said filtered oil-based ink from an ejection head using electrostatic field based on signals of image data;
fixing said image to prepare a printing plate; and
performing lithographic printing with said printing plate.
31) The computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing process according to item 30) above, wherein said oil-based ink comprises:
a nonaqueous solvent having an electric resistivity of 109 xcexa9cm or more and a dielectric constant of 3.5 or less; and
a component dispersed in the nonaqueous solvent, comprising at least resin particles which are solid and are hydrophobic at least at ordinary temperatures.
32) A computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus comprising:
a plate cylinder;
an image-forming unit which directly forms an image on a plate material mounted onto said plate cylinder based on signals of image data;
an image-fixing unit which fixes the image formed by said image-forming unit to prepare a printing plate; and
a lithographic printing unit which performs lithographic printing with the printing plate,
wherein said image-forming unit comprises an ink jet drawing device having an ejection head which ejects an oil-based ink using electrostatic field and having at least one ink filtering member provided in a passage of said oil-based ink.
33) The computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus according to item 32) above, wherein said filtering member is provided at a portion immediately preceding an ink ejection part of said ejection head.
34) The computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus according to item 32) or 33) above, wherein said filtering member comprising a filter material which blocks coarse aggregates of said ink and foreign matters including dust mingled during the image formation.
35) The computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus according to item 34) above, wherein said filter material has pores having various shapes and sizes, each of said pores having a minimum distance of not less than 2 xcexcm.
36) The computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus according to item 34) or 35) above, wherein said filter material has a single-layer or multilayer structure.
37) The computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus according to item 36) above, wherein said multilayer filter material comprises filter material layers including: a coarsest protective body and a coarsest support provided in an upstream side and a downstream side, respectively; and intervening filter material layers provided between said protective body and support in such a manner that the pore sizes of said intervening filter materials are sequentially reduced toward the downstream side.
38) The computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus according to any one of items 34) to 37) above, wherein said filter material has at least one figuration selected from the group consisting of a single plate form, a tea strainer form, a coming back form and a cylinder form.
39) The computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus according to any one of items 34) to 38) above, wherein said filter material comprises at least one material selected from the group consisting of paper, plastic, metal, ceramic and glass.
40) The computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus according to any one of items 34) to 39) above, wherein said filter material is of cartridge-type and exchangeable.
41) The computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus according to any one of items 34) to 40) above, further comprising a filter material accumulation-removing member which removes substances accumulated on said filter material.
42) The computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus according to item 41) above, wherein said removal of the filter material accumulation is performed by at least one of ultrasonic irradiation, vibration, and back flow of said ink or a cleaning solution
43) The computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus according to item 32) or 33) above, wherein said filtering member comprises at least one filtering system selected from the group consisting of gravity filtration, pressure filtration, vacuum filtration and constant rate filtration.
44) The computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus according to any one of items 32) to 43) above, wherein said oil-based ink comprises:
a nonaqueous solvent having an electric resistivity of 109 xcexa9cm or more and a dielectric constant of 3.5 or less; and
a component dispersed in the nonaqueous solvent, comprising at least resin particles which are solid and are hydrophobic at least at ordinary temperatures.
45) The computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus according to any one of items 32) to 44) above, wherein said image-forming unit comprises a dust-removing member which removes dusts present on the surface of the plate material at least one of before and during said image formation.
46) The computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus according to any one of items 32) to 44) above, wherein said plate cylinder is rotatable to perform main scanning upon said image formation.
47) The computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus according to item 46) above, wherein said ejection head comprises a single channel head or a multi-channel head and is movable in a direction parallel to the axis of said plate cylinder to perform sub-scanning upon said image formation.
48) The computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus according to item 46) above, wherein said ejection head comprises a full line head having almost the same length as the width of said plate material.
49) The computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus according to any one of items 32) to 48) above, wherein said ink jet drawing device has an ink feed member which feeds said oil-based ink to said ejection head.
50) The computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus according to item 49) above, which comprises an ink recovery member which recovers said oil-based ink from said ejection head to circulate said ink.
51) The computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus according to any one of items 32) to 50) above, which comprises an ink tank for storing said oil-based ink and an ink-stirring member which stirs the oil-based ink in said ink tank.
52) The computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus according to any one of items 32) to 51) above, which comprises an ink tank for storing said oil-based ink and an ink temperature-controlling member which controls the temperature of the oil-based ink in said ink tank.
53) The computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus according to any one of items 32) to 52) above, which comprises an ink concentration-controlling member which controls the concentration of said oil-based ink.
54) The computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus according to any one of items 32) to 53) above, wherein said ink jet drawing device has an ejection head-retreating/approximating member which approximates said ejection head to said plate cylinder upon said image formation and retreats said ejection head from said plate cylinder except for during image formation.
55) The computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus according to any one of items 32) to 54) above, wherein said image-forming unit has an ejection head-cleaning member which cleans said ejection head at least at the completion of plate-making.
56) The computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus according to any one of items 32) to 55) above, wherein said lithographic printing unit has a paper dust-removing member which removes paper dusts generated during said lithographic printing.
According to the plate-making apparatus of item 3) above, a filter for ink is inserted between the ink tank and the ejection head, so that foreign matters in the ink can be blocked from flowing into the ejection head and occurrence of unstable ejection state can be prevented.
According to the plate-making apparatus of item 4) above, the filter is disposed immediately before the ejection head, so that a clean ink immediately after the filtering can be fed to the ejection head.
According to the plate-making apparatus of item 5) above, the ink feed device of the ink jet drawing device filters aggregates of ink or foreign matters mingled on the way, such as dust, by a filter and feeds a normal ink to the ejection head, so that ejection in an unstable state due to clogging of the ejection head and troubles due to unstable ejection at the drawing, namely, changes in the dot size or deterioration of the image such as slipping or thinning of the image, can be prevented.
According to the plate-making apparatus of item 6) above, pores different in the shape and the size are present together in the same filter material, so that various foreign matters can be effectively filtered and the ink can be filtered without causing reduction in the filtering rate.
According to the plate-making apparatus of item 7) above, a filter is used as a single layer or a plurality of filters are stacked to form a multilayer structure, so that the filter can be properly used according to the purpose, for example, a single-layer (for example, single plate-type) filter is used in the case where the ink has good quality and the filtering rate is important as in the disposition immediately before the ejection heat, whereas a multilayer-typo filter ensuring high filtering power, scarce clogging and use for a long period of time is disposed in the pump side because a pump pressure or the like is necessary so as not to reduce the filtering rate.
According to the plate-making apparatus of item 8) above, a filter having a coarse pore size is disposed in the ink inflow side to roughly filter the ink and remove main foreign matters, and a dense filter is disposed in the next stage to completely remove foreign matters, so that filtration can be effectively performed over a long period of time without causing reduction in the filtering rate.
According to the plate-making apparatus of item 9) above, the filter can be selected from filters having various forms such as a simple single-plate form, an inline-type tea strainer form capable of taking out and cleaning or exchanging only a filter element on the way, a coming back form of performing circulation filtering through the filter layer divided into a plurality of layers, and a cylinder form including multilayer type and hollow yarn type, by taking account of the quality or volume of ink or conditions such as place for installation or construction or performance of the apparatus.
According to the plate-making apparatus of item 10) above, the construction material of the filter is selected from materials over a wide range by taking account of the use end, such as paper for use having high frequency of exchange or disposal, membrane-type plastic (polymer) material obtained by bundling many hollow plastic yarns to have a cross section of hollow yarn-type filter like a hollow yarn film, metal of wire-mesh type or obtained by stacking and sintering stainless steel metal fiber felts and usable for a long term when washed or cleaned, glass and ceramic.
According to the plate-making apparatus of item 11) above, a hollow yarn-type or multilayer cylinder-type filter for use in a water purifier or the like can be exchanged together with the cartridge housing the filter by a simple and quick operation and in the case of a tea strainer-type (T-type inline) filter, only the element itself can be taken out and returned after cleaning or exchanged while allowing the filter to remain on the line.
According to the ink feed device of the ink jet drawing device in item 12) above, means for cleaning the filter material is provided, so that cleaning and removal can be performed automatically or appropriately by hand at a predetermined timing (for example, every 300 hours of operation).
According to the plate-making apparatus of item 13) above, the accumulation can be removed by means of ultrasonic irradiation or vibration applied to the filter and in addition, by back flow of ink or cleaning solution. In the case of a hollow yarn-type filter, efficient cleaning can be attained by back flow from the water outlet side to the water inlet side.
According to the plate-making apparatus of item 14) above, the filtration is performed by flowing the ink under a pressure resultant from combining gravity filtration using a gravity of the ink itself, pressure filtration using a pump pressure and vacuum filtration using a vacuum pump pressure, so that the filtration can be efficiently performed without causing reduction in the filtering rate (ink flow rate). A pump pressure of the ink feed part, circulation part, tank or the like may also be used as the pressure.
According to the computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing method of item 30) above, the oil-based ink is used after filtering it, so that foreign matters in the ink flowing to the ejection head can be blocked and the ejection in a stable state can be attained.
According to the computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus of item 32), a filter is inserted between the ink tank and the ejection head, so that foreign matters in the ink to the ejection head can be blocked and unstable ejection can be prevented from occurring.
According to the construction in item 33) above, the filter is disposed in particular immediately before the ejection head, so that a clean in immediately after the filtering can be fed to the ejection head.
According to the construction in item 34) above, aggregates of ink and foreign matters such as dust mingled on the way are filtered by a filter and a normal ink is fed to the ejection head, so that ejection in an unstable state due to clogging or the like of the ejection head can be prevented and troubles due to unstable ejection at the drawing, namely, changes in the dot size or deterioration of the image such as slipping or thinning of the image, can be prevented.
According to the construction in item 35) above, pores different in the shape and the size are present together in the same filter material, so that foreign matters having various shapes and sizes can be effectively filtered and the ink can be filtered without causing reduction in the filtering rate.
According to the construction in item 36) above, a filter is used as a single layer, or a plurality of filters are stacked to form a multilayer structure, so that the filter can be properly used according to the purpose, for example, a single-layer (for example, single plate-type) filter is used in the case where the ink has good quality and the filtering rate is important as; in the disposition immediately before the ejection heat, whereas a multilayer-type filter ensuring high filtering power, scarce clogging and use for a long period of time is disposed in the pump side because a pump pressure or the like is necessary so as not to reduce the filtering rate.
According to the construction in item 37) above, a filter having a coarse pore size is disposed in the ink inflow side to roughly filter the ink and remove main foreign matters, and a dense filter is disposed in the next stage to completely remove foreign matters, so that filtration can be effectively performed over a long period of time without causing reduction in the filtering rate.
According to the construction in item 38) above, the filter can be selected from filters having various forms such as a simple single-plate form, an inline-type tea strainer form capable of taking out and cleaning or exchanging only a filter element on the way, a coming back form of performing circulation filtering through the filter layer divided into many layers, and a cylinder form including multilayer type and hollow yarn type, by taking account of the quality or volume of ink or conditions such as place for installation or construction or performance of the apparatus.
According to the construction in item 39) above, the construction material of the filter is selected from materials over a wide range by taking account of the use end, such as paper for use having high frequency of exchange or disposal, membrane-type plastic (polymer) material obtained by bundling many hollow plastic yarns to have a cross section of hollow yarn-type filter like a hollow yarn film, metal of wire-mesh type or obtained by stacking and sintering stainless steel metal fiber felts and usable for a long term when washed or cleaned, glass and ceramic.
According to the construction in item 40) above, a hollow yarn-type or multilayer cylinder-type filter for use in a water purifier or the like can be exchanged together with the cartridge housing the filter by a simple and quick operation and in the case of a tea strainer-type (T-type inline) filter, only the element itself can be taken out and returned after cleaning or exchanged while allowing the filter to remain on the line.
According to the construction in item 41) above, means for cleaning the filter material is provided, so that cleaning and removal can be performed automatically or appropriately by hand at a predetermined timing (for example, every 300 hours of operation).
According to the construction in item 42) above, the accumulation can be removed by means of ultrasonic irradiation or vibration applied to the filter and in addition, by back flow of ink or cleaning solution. In the case of a hollow yarn-type filter, efficient cleaning can be attained by the back flow from the water outlet side to the water inlet side.
According to the construction in item 43) above, the filtration is performed by flowing the ink under a pressure resultant from combining gravity filtration using a gravity of the ink itself, pressure filtration using a pump pressure and vacuum filtration using a vacuum pump pressure, so that the filtration can be efficiently performed without causing reduction in the filtering rate (ink flow rate). A pump pressure of the ink feed part, circulation part, tank or the like may also be used as the pressure.

Plate-making method, plate-making apparatus, computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing method and computer-to-cylinder type lithographic printing apparatus


A facial barrier assembly includes a liner including distinct sheets and a barrier including distinct face masks. The face masks are removably coupled to the sheets. Common perforations extend through the liner and the barrier to define the distinct sheets and, in some cases, the distinct face masks. The liner and the barrier are arranged as roll or a fanfold.

Face masks provide protection against droplets, splashes, or sprays of bodily or hazardous fluids. Many conventional face masks have strings, bands, or other materials configured to wrap around the ears to hold the face mask in position on a user's face. Strings, bands, and other such materials may be undesirable to a user and increase manufacturing time, cost, and complexity. Additionally, face masks are often most needed when sanitation is a concern for the user; however, conventional face masks are difficult to distribute to the user on a unit-by-unit basis in a sanitary manner. Finally, shipping and storage of conventional face masks may be challenging due to the relatively larger sizes and obscure shapes of conventional face masks.
What is needed, therefore, is a face mask assembly, system, and/or method that is associated with decreased manufacturing time, cost, and complexity. There is also a need for an assembly, system, and/or method without ear strings or bands. There is also a need for an assembly, system, and/or method may be made available to a user in an arrangement that allows the user to obtain a single face mask without contaminating other face masks. What is also needed is a face mask of a convenient shape, size, and arrangement for shipping and storage.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Face mask and liner assembly, system, and methods


A light-emitting device including: a semiconductor light-emitting element using a substrate surface as a light-extracting surface; and a mount frame on which the semiconductor light-emitting element is mounted and which has a reflecting portion for reflecting light emitted from the substrate surface; wherein the mount frame has a swollen portion formed so that part of the substrate surface of the light-emitting element is supported by the swollen portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light-emitting device, preferably having a Group III nitride compound semiconductor light-emitting element mounted.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a related-art light-emitting element based on attention directed to the transparency of a substrate used for a Group III nitride compound semiconductor, there is known a flip chip (hereinafter also abbreviated to "FC") type light-emitting element having a substrate surface on its upper side so that the substrate surface serves as a light-emitting surface. The light-extracting efficiency of the flip chip type light-emitting element is higher than that of a light-emitting element of the type of extracting light from the electrode side (hereinafter also referred to as "FU").
As shown in FIG. 1, interposition of a sub-mount 5 is however essential for mounting the flip chip type light-emitting element 1 on a mount frame 3. A special mount device is further required for mounting the light-emitting element 1 so that the substrate of the light-emitting element 1 turns upward. It is further necessary to deepen a concave portion 4 of the mount frame 3 by at least the height of the sub-mount 5 so that light emitted from the light-emitting element 1 to a side can be reflected toward the optical axis so as to be utilized effectively. This causes increase in production cost of the mount frame 3 and, accordingly, increase in production cost of the light-emitting device.
There has been proposed a light-emitting device in which a downward facing substrate surface of a flip chip type light-emitting element is fixed to a surface of a light-transmissive member with which a concave portion of a mount frame is filled (Related Art 1).
There has been proposed a light-emitting device having a light-emitting element of the type of extracting light from the electrode side, in which a reflecting block is protruded from a bottom surface of a mount frame (Related Art 2).
In the light-emitting device according to Related Art 1, the light-emitting element having a substrate surface as a main light-emitting surface can be mounted without use of any sub-mount. Accordingly, an inexpensive light-emitting device can be provided while the light-emitting efficiency of the light-emitting element is kept high. According to the inventors' examination, however, the following problem to be solved has been found.
That is, it is difficult to give the light-transmissive member heat conductivity sufficient to release heat caused by light emission. As a result, when a high-output light-emitting element is mounted, there is a possibility that the life of the light-emitting element may be shortened because of insufficient heat radiation.
It is also difficult to give the light-transmissive member sufficient mechanical stiffness. Accordingly, there is fear in the mount stability of the light-emitting element. When, for example, wire bonding is performed by high-frequency heating after the light-emitting element is fixed to the light-transmissive member, there is a possibility that vibration may be absorbed to the light-transmissive member to make the wire bonding impossible. Accordingly, there is a possibility that the quality of the light-emitting device may vary.
In the light-emitting device according to Related Art 2, a light-emitting element having a main light-emitting surface on the electrode surface side is used. This type light-emitting element is structurally inferior in light-emitting output to a light-emitting element having a main light-emitting surface on the substrate surface side. One of reasons is light shielding of a bonding electrode and low light transmittance of a light-transmissive electrode. When a light-transmissive thin-film electrode as used in the light-emitting device according to Related Art 2 is used, deterioration (ball-up) of the thin-film electrode per se or deterioration (ball-up) of the thin-film electrode at a junction surface between the thin-film electrode and a seat electrode occurs as the amount of heat generated in the light-emitting element increases.
As described above, the light-emitting device according to Related Art 2 includes the problem (in difficulty in obtaining a high output from the light-emitting element, and low light-extracting efficiency) which has been already solved in Related Art 1.


A method for manufacturing waveguide-type optical components featuring a lower propagation loss at low cost in which a lower clad section (2) made of silica glass is formed on a substrate (1), and an antistatic layer and a mask layer having a desired pattern are formed on the surface of the lower clad section (2) in the order they are listed. Then, an electron beam is irradiated from above the mask layer to produce a core (6) of the desired pattern in the lower clad section (2), the mask layer and the antistatic layer are removed to expose the surface of the lower clad section (2), and an upper clad section (7) having a lower refractive index than the core (6) is formed on the exposed surface of the lower clad section (2), thus producing an optical component. The surface of the whole optical component is at a distance from the core; therefore, the scattering loss caused by minute irregularities on the surface of the optical component is reduced.

The present invention relates to a manufacturing method for waveguide-type optical components, and more particularly, to a method for manufacturing waveguide-type optical components with a lower propagation loss at a low cost.
To fabricate optical fiber communication systems for an extensive field of applications, it is necessary to supply, in a high volume at a low cost, optical components such as optical couplers/splitters and optical multiplexers/demultiplexers to be incorporated in the systems. There is especially high demand for high-volume and low-cost supply of the waveguide-type optical components, which use silica glass as the main material, because they ensure good coupling with optical fibers and provide excellent optical propagation. The electron beam irradiation is attracting attention in the industry as a method for manufacturing waveguide-type optical components, which is capable of responding to the demand described above and which requires a relatively low man-hour and a lower cost. Concerning the optical component manufacturing method based on the electron beam irradiation, for instance, a thesis titled "Optical channel waveguide fabrication based on electron beam irradiation of silica" by S. J. Madden et al. appeared in Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 57, No. 27 issued on Dec. 31, 1990, and another thesis titled "Waveguide Fabrication for Integrated Optics by Electron Beam Irradiation of Silica" by D. Barbier et al. appeared in Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol. 9, No. 6 issued in June 1991.
According to the conventional typical electron beam irradiation method, an antistatic layer composed of aluminum, for example, and a thin-film layer composed of gold, for example, are formed in turn on a lower clad section which is formed on a Si substrate and which is made of silica glass. Then, only a portion of the thin-film layer, which corresponds to a waveguide pattern, is removed from the thin-film layer to form a mask layer of the desired pattern, and an electron beam is irradiated from above the mask layer. In that portion of the lower clad section which is subjected to the electron beam irradiation, the silica glass contracts and produces a higher refractive index than the other portions, thereby forming a core. Lastly, the mask layer and the antistatic layer are removed in turn. In this manner, waveguide-type optical components, in which cores with the desired patterns in the lower clad assemblies exist as the waveguide routes, can be obtained at a relatively low cost.
However, as is generally known about the film forming technology, the surface of the lower clad section does not become completely smooth and flat, but develops minute irregularities. As a result, in an optical component manufactured in such a manner, the top surface of a core formed in the lower clad section is in contact with the foregoing minute irregularities of the lower clad section, and then the top surface of the core is exposed to the atmosphere. Under such a condition, the light, which goes through the core, increases its scattering loss due to the foregoing minute irregularities. Consequently, the propagation loss, which is partly caused by the scattering loss, increases.

Manufacturing method for waveguide-type optical components


A safety cap made of a mesh casing body and attachment frame and attached by snap-fitting or screw engagement to the pressure release valve of a pressure cooker or to the inner surface of the lid of the cooker so as to cover the pressure release valve, thus allowing no food particles to reach the pressure release valve and preventing the pressure release valve from being clogged.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pressure cooker and more specifically, to a pressure cooker with a safety cap that covers and protects the pressure release valve.
2. Prior Art
A pressure cooker is a cooking utensil (pot) that utilizes high-temperature and high-pressure steam to cook food inside the pot. The pot and its lid are designed to create an airtight space inside the pot. When the pot is heated, the air inside expands. The expanding air inside the pot is unable to escape, so the atmospheric pressure within the pot increases. As the atmospheric pressure increases, the boiling point of water also increases. Thus, a pressure cooker enables the water or moisture in the pot to become hotter than it would under normal atmospheric pressure.
With a conventional cooking pot, the water inside a pot turns into steam at around 100° C. (212° F.). The steam freely escapes the pot, leaving the atmospheric pressure within the pot close to normal and the temperature close to 100° C. Consequently, a large portion of the heating energy applied to the pot is wasted in warming the surrounding air.
In addition to creating a high-pressure environment within a pot, a pressure cooker also makes the water in a pot, in addition to the moisture within food, hotter than 100° C. and this impacts cooking in three ways. First, food cooks much faster in a high-pressure and high-temperature environment, and requires far less cooking or heating time. The cooking time is shortened to one-third or one-fourth of the time required for a conventional cooking pot. Second, the decreased cooking time and trapped steam results in greater energy efficiency. A pressure cooker generally requires only one-fourth to one-third of the energy of a conventional cooking pot. Third, high-temperature and high-pressure cooking significantly improves cooking in high altitudes and in cold climates.
Unfortunately, there is an omnipresent risk of explosion caused by too much pressure inside the pot. This risk is very real because a pressure cooker prohibits the free circulation of air between the interior and the exterior of the pot and cooks food under high-pressure and high-temperature conditions. Present pressure cooker manufacturers alleviate this risk in many ways, including: using sturdier materials to construct pots; utilizing a timer to control the length of heating time; installing a pressure gauge to monitor the atmospheric pressure inside; and installing a pressure release valve, which is the most widely used method.
A pressure release valve is a device that is physically attached to a pressure cooker. Its function is to release the pressurized air in a pot when the atmospheric pressure within the pot exceeds a pre-set point. The valve is usually installed in the pressure cooker lid. The interior portion of the valve is shaped like a pipe, and it has a closed end surrounded by four or five air intake apertures of 1 mm to 2 mm in diameter. The exterior portion of the valve is an air release nozzle. This nozzle is kept closed by the pressure of a weight device or a spring mechanism. When the pressure of the air or steam coming into the valve becomes greater than the pressure that keeps the nozzle closed, the valve opens and releases the inside air, which reduces the atmospheric pressure within the pressure cooker.
While this type of safety device is very widely used, it is flawed in two major ways. First, the air intake apertures are easily clogged. When this occurs, the expanding air inside the pot has no means of release and the atmospheric pressure rises, which significantly increases the risk of explosion. The air intake apertures may be clogged by foods while cooking or by inadequate cleaning.
Second, putting aside the safety function that the valve actually provides, the valve's exterior appearance does not give the user an adequate sense of safety in using the pressure cooker. When a user sees only four or five very small clog-prone apertures (the number and size of the apertures vary according to size and type of the pressure cooker), he or she may feel more anxious than assured of the valve's safety. As if to increase this insecurity, the owner's manual accompanying the pressure cooker, in addition to other literature, repeatedly warn users about the importance of proper maintenance of the valve. While many consumers may realize the merits of a pressure cooker, unfortunately, they largely remain potential users.

Safety cap for a pressure release valve of a pressure cooker and a pressure cooker using the same


Mash seam welding is performed to weld metal plates with thicknesses of 2 mm or more to stabilize the strength of a joint portion, reduce uneven parts of the joint portion, and ensure high strength and reliability of the joint portion. First, two metal plates, clamped with first and second clamping devices, are placed to overlap each other at their end portions. The overlapping portions (L) of the metal plates are pressed together with a pair of upper and lower electrode wheels while welding currents flow to continuously weld the overlapping portions (L) and join the metal plates. The pressing forces applied to the electrode wheels are controlled so that upper and lower welding forces acting upon the overlapping portions are equal to each other during the time when the overlapping portions are continuously welded.

Mash seam welding is known as a welding method which places two metal plates to overlap each other at their end portions and presses the overlapping portions with a pair of electrode wheels while flowing welding currents to continuously weld the overlapping portions, and simultaneously to cause a joint portion heated at a high temperature and softened to be rolled with the electrode wheels, thereby reducing the thickness of the joint portion.
Conventional techniques of a mash seam welding apparatus for joining metal plates with large thickness are described in Patent Documents 1 and 2, for example.
As a problem with joining of thick metal plates, Patent Document 1 raises a problem that the metal plates (materials to be welded) need to be significantly bent as illustrated in FIG. 13 of Patent Document 1 and a large force is applied to clamp devices, so that the clamp devices are deformed or broken. As means for solving the problem, Patent Document 1 describes that first and second clamp position adjustment means are provided to adjust distances between a joint portion of the metal plates and clamp positions of the first and second clamp devices. When the thicknesses of the metal plates are large, the distances between the joint portion and the clamp devices are set to be large so as to reduce curvatures of the metal plates and reduce force acting on the clamp devices, thereby preventing the clamp devices from being broken.
As a problem with joining of high-strength steel strips, Patent Document 2 raises the problems with reference to FIG. 8 thereof that since pressing forces applied to the electrode wheels need to be high and a corner of the upper metal plate (indicated by reference numeral 20 in FIG. 8 of Patent Document 2) and the electrode wheel contact with each other, the electrode wheel is significantly damaged, and that since a welding current is concentrated in a corner of the lower metal plate (indicated by reference numeral 21 in FIG. 8 of Patent Document 2), welding surface flash (phenomenon in which the corner is melt and dispersed due to the excessive current concentration therein and the spatters remain on the metal plate) is generated, and a desired welding result cannot be obtained. When thick metal plates are to be joined, since the volume of a joint portion becomes large, a current needs to be high and since the rigidity of the metal plates is high, welding force to be applied by the electrode wheels need to be increased, and therefore, the same problem arises from the same principle as the joining of the high-strength steel strips. To address such problems, Patent Document 2 describes that first pressing rolls are provided to press the overlapping portions of the metal plates, and after the overlapping portions of the metal plates are pressed by the first pressing rolls, the electrode wheels are brought into contact with the pressed overlapping portions and applied with electric currents to weld the overlapping portions, thereby suppressing occurrence of scratches on the electrode wheel surfaces and generation of welding surface flash.


Pumping cartridges useful for medical and surgical pumping and infusion procedures. In one aspect, a series of pumping cartridges include cylinders and pistons which have a sealing component including a circumferential, flared sealing flange and can be configured to enable the pumping cartridge to generate high liquid pumping pressures. Many of the pumping cartridges can be configured to be detachable from a pump drive unit and disposable after a single use. Some pistons include or at least partially form a valve and/or are relatively movable with respect to a connected piston rod. Valves include a valve seat and a movable sealing element able to create a seal capable of withstanding differences in fluid pressures thereacross of at least about 1,000 psi. The movable sealing element is concave in shape, and may be curved for improved sealing performance. Methods for pumping or infusing a liquid for delivery to the body of a patient or a surgical or medical instrument.

Traditionally, typical medical and surgical procedures requiring infusion or pumping of liquids to the body of a patient or to a medical or surgical instrument to perform a medical procedure utilized relatively low liquid pressure, for example liquid pressures below 100 psig. Accordingly, typical medical and surgical liquid infusion or pumping devices are not configured for or capable of generating very high liquid pressures, for example liquid pressures above 1,000 psig and up to as high as about 50,000 psig. Such traditional medical infusion and pumping applications include, for example, infusion of medications to a body of a patient, pumping of saline or other solutions to irrigation instruments for surgical lavage, pumping of blood and other physiological fluids during surgical or medical procedures, etc. A wide variety of pumping and infusions systems designed and configured for such applications, many including detachable and disposable pumping cartridges, are well known and readily available. Such pumping systems and cartridges include those employing peristaltic or tubing pumps, a variety of diaphragm and collapsible chamber pumps, and low pressure piston pumps.
Pumping systems utilized for generating very high fluid pressures, for example in the above-mentioned high pressure range, have typically been restricted primarily to industrial pumping applications. Such pumping systems typically employ fluid pumps that are not well suited for medical or surgical use because, for example, they are mechanically complex and/or expensive or difficult to manufacture and assemble, are constructed from materials or employ working fluids that are not physiologically or biologically compatible, employ pumping components that are not disposable or detachable from an expensive reusable pump drive system, employ pumping components and that are not easily cleanable and/or sterilizable.
Typical pumping systems from neither of the above-mentioned categories (i.e., relatively low pressure medical infusion and pumping systems, and high pressure industrial pumping systems) is particularly well suited for applications involving medical or surgical liquid pumping requiring high pumped liquid pressures, for example above 1,000 psig up to about 50,000 psig. Such applications include the pumping of liquids to surgical handpieces for performing high pressure liquid jet cutting and/or ablation in performing minimally invasive or open surgical procedures for example as described in the Applicants' U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,871,462; 5,944,686; 6,216,573, and 6,375,635, and for delivering a high pressure liquid to a surgical instruments employing a liquid jet powered motor for powering surgical cutting and other surgical tools, for example as described in the Applicants' co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/480,500.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for pumping systems and methods for pumping and infusing high pressure liquids and fluids for performing medical and surgical treatments, which employ pumping cartridges with improved disposability, sterilizability, mechanical simplicity, ease of manufacture, and/or low per-unit cost. The present invention provides, in many embodiments, such improved pumping systems and cartridges, and further provides methods for their use in medical or surgical pumping or infusing procedures.

High pressure pumping cartridges for medical and surgical pumping and infusion applications


A new and distinct cultivar of Paeonia plant named ‘Smith Opus 1’, characterized by its compact and symmetrically globular plant habit; vigorous growth habit; relatively narrow and finely-incised leaves; numerous large flowers that are arranged on strong peduncles above and beyond the foliar plane; long flowering period; developing flowers are yellow in color and flushed with pink imparting a light orange color to the opening flowers; fully opened flowers are yellow in color and have large prominent red-colored flares at the petal bases; and good garden performance.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Paeonia plant, botanically known as Paeonia lactiflora×(Paeonia lutea×Paeonia suffruticosa) and hereinafter referred to by the name 'Smith Opus 1'.
The new Paeonia plant is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in West Newton, Mass. and Windham, N.H. The objective of the breeding program is to create new hardy Paeonia plants with unique and attractive flower coloration.
The new Paeonia plant originated from a cross-pollination in 1994 in West Newton, Mass. of Paeonia lactiflora 'Martha W.', not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with Paeonia lutea×Paeonia suffruticosa 'Golden Era', not patented, as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Paeonia plant was discovered in June, 2002 and selected in June, 2003 by the Inventor as a single flowering plant from within the progeny of the stated cross-pollination in a controlled environment in Windham, N.H.
Asexual reproduction of the new Paeonia plant by tissue culture in Chicoutimi, Canada, since October, 2003, has shown that the unique features of this new Paeonia plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.


An adjustable pedal mechanism for automotive vehicles includes a pedal lever with a pivot near its center between its ends. An upper end of the lever is connected with a throttle cable that extends through a conduit to an operated device, such as a throttle valve or other power control. A lower end of the lever carries a foot pedal engagable by a driver's foot to operate the pedal. The central pivot is carried in a bracket having a slot or other form of track along which the pivot is movable generally longitudinally of the vehicle. As the pivot is moved rearward along the slot, the pedal is moved closer to the driver. The slot is positioned or configured so that the height of the pedal remains constant or is slightly lowered as the pedal is moved rearward. If the vehicle is provided with an electronic throttle control, or similar device, the upper end of the lever may be omitted and a position controller may be mounted at or adjacent the location of the pivot. In either case, pedal adjustment may be powered by a screw driven by an electric motor through a cable and worm gear drive or other suitable means.

The majority of automotive vehicles currently available are provided with accelerator pedals and other operating pedals located in relatively fixed positions with a fixed extent of operating motion. They cannot be adjusted closer to or farther away from the driver. In general these pedals have shared the same operating axis as the fixed pedals. The adjusting system effectively lengthened or shortened the operating link between the pedal arm and the brake booster or the accelerator cable attachment.
If adjustment of the pedals is limited to the existing pedal axis, extensive rearward travel would cause the pedal to rise from the floor.


A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device has the steps of: forming a wiring pattern by dry etching a wiring layer on a semiconductor substrate, using a resist pattern as a mask; immersing the wiring pattern in amine containing liquid to remove deposition residues formed during the dry etching; then, processing the wiring pattern with fluid not containing amine and being capable of removing deposition residues; forming a conformal insulating layer on the processed wiring pattern; and forming an insulating layer having a planarizing function on the conformal insulating layer by CVD. This method is suitable for multi-layer wiring, and can form an interlayer insulating film having a satisfactory planarizing function.

a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing semiconductor devices, and more particularly to a method of making a semiconductor device adapted for semiconductor devices with multi-layer wiring.
b) Description of the Related Art
Multi-layer wiring techniques are essential for highly integrated semiconductor devices. It is necessary to electrically insulate wiring layers by an interlayer insulating film. As a lower level wiring pattern is formed, the pattern has inevitably irregular upper surfaces. If the interlayer insulating film is formed conformal to the topology of the underlying layer, similar irregular surfaces are formed on the interlayer insulating film. Some problems of photolithography or patterning a wiring layer occur if an upper level wiring layer is formed on the irregular surfaces of the underlying layer. Therefore, after the lower level wiring pattern is formed, it is desired that recesses between wiring patterns are filled with planarizing material to form an interlayer insulating film having a flat surface.
Various techniques of forming an insulating film having a planarizing function have been developed. However, an insulating film having a planarizing function has generally the tendency that it is inferior to a dense insulating film conformal to the topology of an underlying layer in terms of passivation performance such as water-proof. It is therefore usual that a plurality type of insulating films are stacked to form an interlayer insulating film having a flat surface. One example of such a lamination film will be described.
In patterning a lower level wiring layer, dry etching is generally performed by using a resist pattern as a mask. In dry etching, an unnecessary portion of a wiring layer is fluoridized or chloridized to gasify and remove it, while reaction products are being deposited on the side wall of an etched wiring pattern. These reaction products deposited during etching remain on the side wall of the wiring pattern and on the surface of an insulating film, and become deposition residues. These deposition residues become one of the causes of short circuits between wiring patterns and of defective semiconductor devices. In order to remove such deposition residues, wet etching has been used.
After wet etching, a dense film such as a plasma oxide film which is excellent in passivation performance is formed on the surface of the patterned wiring layer. Such a dense film is deposited conformal to the surface of the underlying layer and has irregular upper surfaces. In order to planarize the irregular surfaces, an insulating film having a planarizing function is formed on the dense film by atmospheric pressure CVD.
If wet etching using organic amine containing liquid is performed so as to remove deposition residues, short circuits and the like to be caused by deposition residues can be prevented. However, the surface topology of the insulating film having the planarizing function and formed through atmospheric pressure CVD is considerably degraded, and even if the insulating film having the planarizing function is formed, a sufficiently planarized surface cannot be formed.

Method of making a semiconductor device having planarized insulating layer


Disclosed is a method for biasing dual row line EEPROM cells. The new biasing scheme improves the data retention lifetime of an EEPROM cell by reducing the potential difference between the control gate and the write column of the cell, which reduces the tunnel oxide electric field. In a preferred embodiment, the method involves applying bias voltages to the control gate and write column of an EEPROM cell such that the potential difference between the control gate and the right column is no more than about 0.5 volts. By biasing the cell's write column to a positive voltage, the tunnel oxide field may be significantly reduced. Moreover, the invention provides a method of selecting a write column voltage based on a control gate voltage such that the tunnel oxide field is substantially balanced in all its modes. This biasing scheme minimizes SILC and improves cell reliability.

The present invention relates to EEPROM cells. More particularly, the invention relates to biasing of dual row line EEPROM cells to reduce stress on the tunnel oxide window and improve the cell's reliability.
FIGS. 1A shows a perspective view of a typical EEPROM cell. The cell 30 is a single polysilicon EEPROM cell. As such, it does not have a polysilicon control gate, but instead has a heavily doped diffusion region in the cell's substrate which is capacitively coupled to its floating gate. The cell 30 is also a single row line EEPROM cell, since word line transistor (NI) and write column transistor (N3) are accessed via a single conductive connection, row line 31.
The cell 30 includes a single polysilicon floating gate structure 32 which performs three functions. At a first end, a tunnel extension 34 of floating gate 32 acts as an electrode in the two terminal device used for tunneling electrons from a heavily doped N.sup.+ implant 35 (also referred to as a programming Memory Diffusion or MD) through a tunnel oxide 36 (often about 80.ANG. thick) onto floating gate structure 32. At the other end of this floating gate, a wide area plate 38 is employed as one electrode of a capacitor enabling the floating gate 32 to be raised to a high voltage (e.g., about 6 to 11 volts) by capacitively coupling a programming voltage (e.g., about 9 to 13 volts) from a second electrode 40 (heavily doped N+ silicon, referred to herein as a control gate memory diffusion) through an oxide 42 (often about 180 .ANG. thick). Between these two ends is a section of polysilicon that forms the gate 44 of a read transistor (N2).
The read transistor (N2) is connected in series with a word line transistor (N1) having a gate 46 forming part of a word line (also referred to as a row line) 31. The read and word line transistors separate a sense amp negative (-) input 48 (a source line) from a sense amp positive (+) input 50 (a drain line). Charging the floating gate 32 by tunneling electrons onto it (through tunnel oxide 36) raises the threshold voltage of the read transistor (EEPROM cell 30 is programmed). This shuts off the channel between the sense amp inputs, even when the adjacent word line transistor is turned on. Tunneling electrons off the floating gate 32 reduces the read transistor threshold voltage to negative values, effectively turning this device on (EEPROM cell 30 is erased). The word line transistor in series then controls the signal path between the two sense amp inputs 48 and 50.
The EEPROM cell is programmed or erased by charging or discharging, respectively, the floating gate 32. In order to tunnel electrons onto floating gate 32, a high voltage must be applied to the control gate memory diffusion 40. At the same time, the write column 56 is grounded and the write column transistor (N3) is turned on by, for example, selecting the row line 31 with, for example, 5 volts. The sense amp (-) input 48 can be biased from 5 volts to a high voltage to assist tunneling electrons onto the floating gate 32. The voltage on the control gate memory diffusion 40 is capacitively coupled to the floating gate 32 as is the sense amp (-) input 48 voltage. The resulting positive voltage on floating gate 32 is sufficient to cause tunneling onto floating gate 32 through the tunnel dielectric window 36, thereby programming the EEPROM cell 30.
In order to tunnel electrons off floating gate 32, a high voltage must be applied to memory diffusion 35 while ground is applied to the second heavily doped N+ implant (control gate memory diffusion) 40 which underlies and is capacitively coupled to the wide area plate 38. During this process, ground is also applied to sense amp (-) input 48. The application of high voltage to memory diffusion 35 is accomplished through a write column 56 and a write column select transistor (N3) including (i) a diffusion region 54 conductively connected to write column 56 for data input, (ii) a source/drain diffusion 58 electrically connected to memory diffusion 35, and (iii) a gate electrode 60, which is part of row line 31. When a sufficient potential is applied to the gate 60 of the write column select transistor through row line 31 while a write signal is applied through write column 56, electrons can tunnel off of the floating gate 32 to erase the EEPROM cell.
FIGS. 1B and 1C depict a top view cell layout 100 and a circuit schematic 150 of the EEPROM cell of FIG. 1A, respectively. These depictions focus on cell elements important to the description of the present invention. FIG. 1B clearly shows a single row line 31, word line (N1) and write column (N3) transistors, write column 56 and control gate 38 in relation to the other cell elements previously described with reference to FIG. 1A.
A single row line cell, such as depicted in FIGS. 1A-C, cannot have its write column 56 and its drain line 50 voltages selected separately. As a result, transistors (N1) and (N3) are either both on or both off at any given time depending on whether the row line 31 is selected. During normal operation of the cell, the selection of the row line 31 is under the control of the user. Therefore the manufacturer of a single row line EEPROM cell cannot attribute a fixed setting to the write column terminal 56 and have that bias passed down to the memory diffusion 35 (FIG. 1C) through the transistor (N3). Since voltage on the write column 56 cannot pass through to the programming memory diffusion 35 under the tunnel window 36 when the write column transistor (N3) is off, it is not possible to maintain a steady positive voltage on the memory diffusion 35 during normal operation when word line (drain line) transistor (N1) may be on or off. As a result, the write column is typically grounded (about 0 V) during normal operation of a single row line EEPROM cell in order to maintain the voltage on the memory diffusion (and therefore across the tunnel window when the control gate voltage is fixed) as steady as possible and thereby reduce stress in the cell.
Dual row line EEPROM cells are also known in the art. A top view cell layout and a circuit schematic of a single polysilicon dual row line EEPROM cell is shown in FIG. 2A. The cell 200 has two separate word lines (row lines) 202 and 204 for accessing its drain line and write column, respectively. Otherwise, a typical dual row line EEPROM cell has its remaining elements in common with a single row line EEPROM cell, such as that described above.
In a conventional biasing scheme based on the single row line cell, electrons are tunneled onto the floating gate 32 of a dual row line EEPROM cell by applying a high voltage to the control gate memory diffusion 40. At the same time, the write column 56 is grounded and the write column select line 202 is selected with, for example, 5 volts. The sense amp (-) input 48 can be biased to a positive voltage to assist tunneling electrons onto the floating gate 32. The voltages on the control gate memory diffusion 40 and the sense amp (-) input 48 are capacitively coupled to the floating gate 32. The resulting positive voltage on floating gate 32 is sufficient to cause tunneling onto floating gate 32 through the tunnel dielectric window 36, thereby programming the EEPROM cell 200.
In order to tunnel electrons off floating gate 32 of a dual row EEPROM cell, a high voltage must be applied to memory diffusion 35 while ground is applied to the control gate memory diffusion 40. During this process, ground may also be also applied to sense amp (-) input 48. The application of high voltage to memory diffusion 35 is accomplished through the write column 56 and a write column select transistor (N3) including (i) a diffusion region 54 conductively connected to write column 56 for data input, (ii) a source/drain diffusion 58 electrically connected to memory diffusion 35, and (iii) a gate electrode 60, which is part of a second row line 204. When a sufficient potential is applied to the gate 60 of the write column select transistor through the write column select line (second row line) 204, while a write signal is applied through write column 56, electrons can tunnel off of the floating gate 32 to erase the EEPROM cell.
It should be noted that EEPROM cells may also be formed by a double polysilicon process. Such a "double poly" EEPROM cell has a polysilicon control gate capacitively coupled to its floating gate. As will be readily understood by those of skill in the art from the description below, the present invention is also applicable to double poly EEPROM cells.
A further description of a typical EEPROM cell and its functional elements is available the publication "EPM7032 Process, Assembly, and Reliability Information Package" available from Altera Corporation of San Jose Calif. That document is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.
In order for an MOS transistor to conduct, the voltage on its gate must overcome (be greater than) the transistor's threshold voltage (V.sub.th). Generally, the threshold voltage is that gate voltage required to create an inversion layer in the transistor's channel so that it conducts. When the MOS transistor is part of a programmable bit of memory, such as an EEPROM cell, there are two gates: The floating gate and the control gate. Such a cell will have two threshold voltages, corresponding to each of its programmed and erased states. The floating gate voltage required to invert the transistor (V.sub.th) does not change for a given cell, but the control gate voltage to invert the transistor (that is, to bring the floating gate to V.sub.th) differs depending upon the charged or discharged state of the cell.
Prior to shipping an EEPROM memory cell product, a manufacturer will generally test the cells to guarantee that a each bit of memory has a good margin, and that the bit will maintain its programmed or erased state over the lifetime of the cell. The "margin" is the voltage required on a cell's control gate to cause a change in the state of a bit of memory. Since a programmable cell has two threshold voltages, it will have two margin voltages: One for the programmed state and one for the erased state. In an EEPROM cell, an erased bit will have a lower margin voltage, typically between about -5V to 0V, and a programmed bit will typically have a higher margin voltage, typically between about 3 V and 8 V. In normal cell operation, an EEPROM's control gate will conventionally be set at a value between the programmed and erased ranges, for example about 1.7 V.
Conventionally, the same biasing scheme has been used in both single and dual row line EEPROM cells. As a result, in both cases, the potential difference between the control gate and the write column is about the same as the voltage on the control gate, e.g., 1.7 V.
One potential problem with EEPROM cells is that the charge on a programmed floating gate is subject to charge retention problems arising from stress-induced leakage current (SILC) through the tunnel dielectric. A contributor to SILC in such a conventionally biased cell is charge trapping in the tunnel oxide during the cell's program and erase cycles. When a cell is programmed and erased, electrons move to and from the floating gate through the tunnel dielectric. These electrons can create "traps" in the oxide (i.e., electrons are trapped in the oxide). The trap density increases with the number of program and erase cycles seen by the tunnel dielectric. Due to the presence of these traps, a programmed or erased floating gate may show an enhanced charge loss or charge gain under low electric fields across the tunnel dielectric commonly seen during normal operating conditions of the cell. Such low level charge loss and charge gain mechanisms are undesirable since EEPROM devices need to have about a ten-year lifetime to be practical in most user environments. As chip designers allow In System Programming (ISP) capabilities to the user, the number of program and erase cycles used will increase, adding more pressure on immunity from charge retention problems due to SILC leakages.
Since the user can store a device unpowered on the shelf, or use the device on a system board fully powered, a chip supplier needs to guarantee both programmed and erased bit charge retention under both modes of operation. The electric fields across the tunnel dielectrics differ between the two modes for both programmed and erased bits. As a result, the worst case condition acts as the dominating field to ensure immunity to SILC leakages. A technique to balance and reduce these fields would be beneficial to guarantee margins for SILC.
Changes in EEPROM cell design may affect the amount of stress on the tunnel window and increase the likelihood of SILC problems. For example, patent application Ser. No. 08/995,873 (Attorney Docket No. ALTRP022), which is incorporated herein by reference for all purposes, discloses process and circuit changes to EEPROM cells which increase a cell's threshold voltage, and in turn increase the cell's margin voltage. Increasing the margin voltage increases the potential that will be applied across the cell's tunnel window during margin testing, which renders the possibility of an SILC more likely.
Accordingly, a way of biasing dual row line EEPROM cells which would reduce the stress on a cell's tunnel dielectric window would be desirable.

Biasing scheme for reducing stress and improving reliability in EEPROM cells


Methods for determining inhibitors of protein interactions are provided. The method involves evaluation of potential inhibitors that can inhibit or prevent protein interactions. The method provides for high-throughput identification of novel therapeutics that can treat a disease or disorder by inhibiting protein interactions.

The mechanism of action for many drugs is to inhibit one or more enzymes of an organism or cell involved in a disease or disorder. The vast majority of small-molecule pharmaceuticals act by inhibiting enzymes or membrane-bound receptors. These protein targets have naturally selected pockets that enable them to bind to small molecules, e.g. typically they bind small molecules at the active site of the enzyme. The increased use of current therapeutics, however, has led to constant emergence of drug resistant organisms.
Within the past few years it has become apparent that coordinated protein-protein interactions play a major role in cellular, viral or disease processes. However, the search for drugs that block protein-protein interactions has yet to be successful for wide range applications.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for identifying potential inhibitors which can treat a disorder by inhibiting, disrupting, or altering protein:protein interactions. In certain preferred embodiments, the method comprises identifying compounds that can inhibit herpes simplex virus by altering or disrupting the interaction between the catalytic subunit and the processivity subunit of herpes simplex virus DNA polymerase.

Fluorescence polarization method for determining viral inhibitors

President and Fellows of Harvard College


A computer readable medium, system, apparatus and method are disclosed for generating and regenerating query results in reports whereby conditions for filtering a query against multilingual databases are preserved independent of language and/or locale. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a computer readable medium includes executable instructions to specify a language-dependent value for filtering query results during a query. Other executable instructions are included to associate a first locale to the language-dependent value, determine a key based on the language-dependent value and on the first locale, and generate a transformed query, which can include a locale variable configured to indicate a second locale for regenerating the query results to form regenerated query results for the second locale using another language-dependent value.

Multilingual data sources, such as multilingual databases, generally store translated label values representing words in different languages, such as English, German or French. Multilingual data schemas have been developed to store, relate and access those translated label values depending on the language of interest. A "translated label value," or "TLV," refers generally to the data representing a specific translated word from one of many languages, whereby a common meaning usually relates a collection of translated label values over a number of different languages. Examples of common multilingual data structures are depicted in FIGS. 1A to 1D.
FIG. 1A shows a portion of common data structure 100 for relating multilingual data for generating reports. Data structure 100 contains "duplicate rows" where each of the duplicated rows relates a specific translated label to a specific concept, such as a product identifier ("ID"). Column 102 includes a common characteristic, such a product ID, column 104 indicates a language to which a translated label belongs, and column 106 contains the translated labels (or words), such as "car," "voiture," and "wagen," all of which relate to a common meaning. As such, these translated labels of duplicate rows relate to a group of common product IDs, such as groups 108 and 110. To find a specific label for a query, specific values in both columns 102 and 104 are required to determine a product name ("Prod_Name"). FIG. 1B shows a portion of another common data structure 120 for relating multilingual data in a manner similar to that of FIG. 1A. Data structure 120, however, contains "duplicate columns" where each of the duplicated columns relates a specific translated label to a product ID as a specific concept. Specifically, column 122 includes product IDs as a common characteristic, and duplicated columns 124 indicate product names having translated labels expressed in different languages. As shown, columns 124a, 124b, and 124c include translated labels in English, French, and German, respectively, and rows 228 and 230 identify specific product IDs, such as P0010 and P0020, respectively.
FIG. 1C depicts a portion of another traditional multilingual data structure that includes at least two separate data structures 140a and 140b, each of which contains labels of one specific language. In this case, table 140a is described as an English table 146a for words used in, for example, the United States ("US"), whereas table 140b is a French table 146b for words used in, for example, France. Columns 142a and 142b include product IDs and columns 144a and 144b includes respective translated labels, but in different languages. FIG. 1D illustrates a portion of yet another conventional multilingual data structure where a sub-table 170 of translated values is dynamically produced from a base table 160 to improve performance of data access as compared to the data structures shown in FIGS. 1A to 1C. In particular, base table 160 includes product IDs and a specific untranslated value, such as a "price," in columns 162 and 164, respectively. Given product ID P0010, sub-table 170 is generated to include columns 172, 174 and 176 to relate product IDs, language, and product names, respectively.
While the foregoing data structures and associated multilingual data schemas are functional, there is a common drawback in the implementation of these data structures when reports are generated in different locales, especially where the languages at those locales are also different. Labels, such as product names, are traditionally hard-coded into a query for matching translated labels in a multilingual data source against which a user input queries. For instance, consider that one desires to determine the sales revenue for a given product, such as a product having an English name of "plane." To perform a query on the sales revenue for a product named plane, one traditionally has to design a filtered query so that only rows matching this product are retrieved from the data source (when implementing a "duplicate rows" schema). When building a filtered query, a user typically uses the product names that are in their own language, rather than either in a foreign language or as represented by some untranslatable attribute, such as a product identifier, that is not readily discernable to a user. Generally, untranslatable attributes are identifiers that are internal to a database and are usually understood only by those skilled in manipulating specialized database programming languages. To build a conventional filtered query for the English-named product plane, a skilled user typically develops a code snippet equivalent to WHERE PRODUCT.PROD_NAME="plane" to query a multilingual database. The drawback to this approach is that in another locale (or language), the translated label in one language cannot match the user input in another language, and as such, a regenerated report at another locale can lead to improper query results. For example, if a query is coded to only search for French labels of table 100, as defined by a specific language field, LANG "FR," then English words, such as "plane," cannot be used to filter the query when it is rerun, unless the software processes conducting such a query are modified for use with the English language. As such modifications are typically manual in nature, there are additional costs and/or efforts required to implement the data structures of FIGS. 1A to 1D in multilingual database operations, such as in report generation.
In view of the foregoing, it would be highly desirable to provide an improved technique for generating reports from data maintained in multilingual data sources. In particular, it would be highly desirable to generate reports in a language at a locale different from that where the original query was formed, without manually modifying queries and/or software programs to do so.

Computer readable medium, method and apparatus for preserving filtering conditions to query multilingual data sources at various locales when regenerating a report


A padlock comprises a lock body, a shackle, a combination locking device and a key locking device. The shackle is movable relative to the lock body between a locked position and an unlocked position. The combination and key locking devices are installed within the lock body respectively for controlling movements of the shackle. Additionally, the combination locking device has a frame for receiving a first end of the shackle and a combination unit connected to the frame, which is movable when the combination unit is unlock whereby a second end of the shackle is movable to the unlock position. Furthermore, the key locking device comprises a block unit for locking the first end of the shackle and a key unit connected to the block unit, which is movable when the key unit is unlocked by a key.

A conventional padlock with either a key locking device or a combination locking device is popular because the padlock with a single locking device is easy to use and such a padlock is provided for individual use only. Generally, travelers would apply different padlocks to lock their luggage so as to protect their personal items. Therefore, authorized security staff would have great difficulties in opening the luggage and checking the personal items due to safety concerns, if the luggage were locked by the padlocks with the single locking devices.
Furthermore, another conventional padlock with dual locking devices, namely with a key and a combination locking devices, is also well-known for satisfying the safety concerns. Substantially, the padlock with the dual locking devices is provided for both individual and security authorities uses. Accordingly, the individual is capable of locking or unlocking their luggage by using one locking device of the padlock, namely the combination locking device, to protect their personal items, and the security authorities are capable of unlocking or locking the luggage by using the other locking device, namely the key locking device, during safety inspections. Thus, the padlock with dual locking devices advantages both the individual and the security authorities.
Because the padlocks with the dual locking devices have greater advantages over the padlocks with the single locking device that would gain a great attention to the public and the authorities, and such padlocks having strong structures and easy operating characteristics are in a great demand.