A trench refill for a semiconductor device is undertaken by depositing polycrystalline Ge or Ge.sub.x Si.sub.1-x alloy at temperatures as low as 500.degree. C. The structure is then oxidized at for example 700.degree. C. to obtain a cap oxide on the trench refill. This method causes avoidance of (1) void formation, (2) facet formation, and (3) necessity of a second insulator deposition and planarization, meanwhile achieving all these advantages at a low thermal budget.

As is well known, trench technology is used for isolation of semiconductor devices in an integrated circuit. Examples there of are shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, indicating use of refilled trenches in CMOS and bipolar technologies.
Typically, common materials used for trench fill are CVD-deposited oxide, nitride, doped or undoped polysilicon or selectively-grown single crystal silicon.
FIG. 2 shows a sequence of steps in the prior art for providing such refilled trench structure, for example, for intra-well isolation of CMOS devices. Such a method is generally disclosed in "Shallow Trench Isolation", P. Krusius, NSC Presentation Notes, 21 pages (1992). For simplicity, only trenches in P well are described. For trenches in N well it will be understood that opposite polarity dopants are used, but that the same principles apply.
As shown in FIG. 2A, silicon substrate 20 has a P-well 22, with successive oxide 24, nitride 26 and oxide 28 (ONO) layers thereon, which are appropriately etched to provide an opening therethrough to the top surface of the substrate 20. A reactive ion etch (RIE) is undertaken to form the trench 30 (in CMOS technology generally less then 0.5 .mu.m deep). An oxidation step is then undertaken to grow oxide 32 on the sidewalls and bottom of the trench 30, for example to the thickness of 70 to 100 nm (FIG. 2B). A further RIE is undertaken to remove the oxide from the bottom of the trench 30 (FIG. 2C). P+ doped polysilicon 34 is then deposited over the resulting structure, filling the trench 30, and subsequently a planarizing layer such as photoresist or SOG 36 is deposited (FIG. 2D). The SOG layer 36 and P+ doped polysilicon 34 are then etched back (FIG. 2E) to leave P+ doped polysilicon 34A in the trench, and a heating step is undertaken to grow cap oxidation 38 to the thickness of for example 100 to 200 nm, and also to form P+ diffusion layer 40 to suppress vertical parasitic conduction. Subsequently, the layers 28, 26 are removed by etching. Thereafter conventional CMOS process flow continues.
Another example of forming a trench in a CMOS device is shown in FIG. 3. Such a method is generally disclosed in "Trench Isolation Prospects for Application in CMOS VLSI", R. D. Rung, IEDM Digest, pp. 574-577 (1984). In this case, the steps of FIGS. 3A and 3B are identical to those of FIGS. 2A and 2B, but then the oxide layer on the bottom of the trench 130 is not removed (FIG. 3C). Subsequent thereto, the trench sidewalls and bottom are implanted with P type dopant to prevent parasitic field and sidewall transistor turn on. Then, for example, undoped polysilicon and/or CVD deposited oxide and/or nitride 150 are deposited in and over the trench 130.
Any common planarization technique, such as CMP, SOG layer 152 or resist deposition (FIG. 3D) and etch back can be undertaken, and conventional CMOS process flow continues (FIG. 3E).
A significant problem with these refill processes is that voids can form in the trench. In addition, the material in the trench may be structurally deficient. The presence of voids and loose structure have a tendency to magnify the formation of defects in active areas during subsequent processing.
With reference to FIG. 4, in bipolar devices, the isolation requires deeper trenches than those necessary in CMOS. For example, trench depths of 2 to 7 microns are typical for bipolar applications. Again, these trenches can be refilled using the techniques previously described in relation to FIGS. 2 and 3 (with or without removing the oxide at the bottom of the trench) and depositing insulating material and undertaking subsequent planarization steps. However, in such a situation, the disadvantages pointed out above of having voids and loosely packed material in the trench are magnified for bipolar applications due to the increased depth of the trench.
FIG. 4 shows a trench-refill technique using selective-epitaxial growth. In this regard, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,473,598, "Method of Filling Trenches With Silicon and Structures", L. M. Ephrath, V. J. Silvestri and D. D. Tang, issued Sep. 25, 1984; U.S. Pat. No. 4,526,631, "Method for Forming a Void Free Isolation Pattern Utilizing Etch and Refill Techniques", V. Silvestri and D. D. Tang, issued Jul. 2, 1985; "Selective Epitaxial Trench (SET)", V. J. Silvestri, Journal Electrochem. Soc. Vol. 135, pp. 1808-1812 (July 1988); "Trench Isolation by Selective Epi and CVD Oxide Cap", K. D. Beyer, V. J. Silverstri, J. S. Makris, and W. Guthrie, Journal Electrochem. Soc. Vol. 137, pp. 3951-3953 (December 1990); and "A New Trench Isolation Technology As A Replacement of Locos", H. Mikoshiba, T. Homma and K. Hamano, IEDM, pp. 578-581 (1984).
Initially, for example (FIG. 4A), a P- substrate 200 is provided, with N+ and N- layers 202, 204 thereon, and further with an oxide or nitride insulating layer 206 thereover. The insulating layer 206 has an opening therethrough through which the trench RIE is undertaken to form trench 208, down into the P- region 200. Subsequently (FIG. 4B), trench sidewall and bottom wall oxidation is undertaken to from oxide layer 210, and another dielectric layer 212 (for example nitride) is deposited over the resulting structure. An RIE of the bottom composite layer in the trench 208 is undertaken (FIG. 4C), exposing the substrate 200 in the trench 208. Suitable precleaning of the trench 208 is performed, and (FIG. 4D) silicon 214 of appropriate conductivity type is selectively grown in the trench 208, meanwhile forming the diffusion layer 216 for the suppression of parasitic conduction. The selective-growth process is terminated when epitaxial silicon reaches approximately two-thirds of the trench depth.
The process continues with the deposition of oxide, nitride or a combination of these materials 218. Any common planarization technique (FIG. 4E) such as CMP, SOG or resist deposition and etch back completes the trench-refill process.
Although this approach has been found to produce a void-free structure, sharp facets form near the sidewalls of the trench. This facet formation is a very strong function of the cleaning process used before selective epitaxial growth. Furthermore, the temperature of the selective growth process in this embodiment is between 850.degree. C. and 1150.degree. C., which adds considerably to the thermal budget of the process. Additionally, the requirement of filling the top portion of the trench with another insulator, in some cases with multiple layers, adds to the complexity of the process and does not offer any advantages in terms of defect density.

Trench refill with selective polycrystalline materials


Administration of low doses of hemoglobin minimizes damage to the myocardium after blockage and significantly reduces reperfusion injury. Hemoglobin exerts a pharmacological effect by increasing perfusion and blocking the molecular events leading to permanent injury following an ischemic episode.

The blockage of an arterial vessel produces ischemia in the tissue normally nourished by the occluded vessel. If the blockage is removed permitting reperfusion of the affected area after greater than sixty minutes of ischemia, further injury called reperfusion injury is paradoxically observed. This reperfusion injury is associated with a number of biochemical and physiological events such as release of intracellular enzymes, transient rise in blood pressure, reduction in contractility, influx of calcium, disruption of cell membranes, and eventual tissue necrosis (see Ferrari, et al., Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 53:215S (1991). It is thought that much of the tissue damage arising during ischemia and reperfusion results from the chemical action of excess amounts of oxygen free radicals which have accumulated (Lefer, et al., Basic Res. Cardiol., 86 Suppl. 2:109 (1991) and Kirsh, et al., J. Neurotrauma, 9 Suppl. 1:S157 (1992), and Bolli, Cardiov. Drugs & Ther., 5:249 (1991).
Experiments in a number of animal models have investigated the use of antioxidants or enzymes to control reperfusion injury. For example, Weyrich, et al., Circulation, 86:279 (1992) showed that administration of L-arginine reduced necrotic injury in a cat model of myocardial infarction. McMurray et al., J. Clin. Pharmac., 31:373 (1991) investigated sulfhydryl containing angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors. Naslund, et al., Circ. Res., 66: 1294 (1990) concluded from their work on a swine coronary model, that infarct size could by limited by administration of superoxide dismutase, but only during a very narrow window of time post-infarction. Schaer, et al., JACC, 15:1385 (1990) report a reduction in reperfusion injury by administering an acellular oxygenated perfluorochemical emulsion called Fluosol.
An important model system is percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty in the pig. McKenzie, et al., Biomat., Art., Cells & Immob. Biotech., 20:2 (1992) utilized this technique to study the effects of temporary regional myocardial ischemia. They inserted a catheter into the proximal left anterior descending coronary artery and inflated the catheter balloon to occlude the artery for a period of 4 minutes. A significant reduction in cardiac function is reported compared to controls as measured by mean arterial blood pressure (MAP), peak systolic left ventricular pressure (IVP), rate of left ventricular pressure development (dP/dt), pressure rate product (PRP), and cardiac output (CO). In addition, electrocardiograms showed depression of the S-T segment of the ECG. These experiments are significant because McKenzie, et al. compared controls to animals receiving infusions of hemoglobin, and found that cardiac function and S-T segment ECG both increased significantly.
The concept of infusing hemoglobin products as a substitute for blood has a long history (for a historical perspective, see R. M. Winslow, "Hemoglobin-based Red Cell Substitutes", The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1992). Free hemoglobin is not suitable for this purpose since oxygen is bound too tightly to be released in the tissues. Also, hemoglobin monomers are rapidly cleared from the blood and exhibit renal toxicity. Better success has been achieved with chemically modified hemoglobins, which assume a conformation allowing release of oxygen, and whose size and stability are more resistant to clearance.
Hemoglobins may be alpha alpha crosslinked as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,600,531 and RE 34,271 (Walder), and virus inactivated and purified as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,012 (Estep). Modification by pyridoxyation, carbamylation, carboxymethylation, are also known, as are chemical schemes for both cross-linking and polymerizing, as by glutaraldehyde. A summary of these chemistries is contained in Winslow, supra.

Therapeutic use of hemoglobin in the treatment of blood vessel blockage


A semiconductor device includes a semiconductor substrate having a first conductivity type and having an upper portion, a pair of bit lines extending in a first direction and doped with an impurity of a second conductivity type opposite to the first conductivity type and spaced from one another in the upper portion of the semiconductor substrate, a first line formed between the pair of bit lines having a plurality of alternating recessed device isolation regions and channel regions, with each of the channel regions contacting each bit line of the at least one pair of bit lines, and word lines formed at right angles to the first lines and covering the channel regions.

In a semiconductor device such as a non-volatile memory device having buried bit lines, an impurity may be selectively doped in upper portions of a semiconductor substrate to form buried bit lines in the substrate which are spaced uniformly from one another. A buried bit line formed directly in a semiconductor substrate may require minimal space.
FIG. 1 is a plan view of a conventional NOR device with a SONOS structure having buried bit lines. Bit lines 12 are formed in upper portions of a semiconductor substrate 10 doped with an impurity of a first conductivity type, e.g., a P-type impurity, by selectively doping the substrate with an impurity, e.g., an N-type impurity, of a second conductivity type opposite to that of the semiconductor substrate 10. Bit lines 12 may have a higher net doping concentration than substrate 10 and may be spaced uniformly from one another while extending in a first direction (e.g. the Y-axis direction indicated in FIG. 1). The bit lines 12 may have a stripe pattern. The word lines 14 may be formed at right angles to the bit lines 12. The word lines 14 may be spaced uniformly from one another and may cover portions of the semiconductor substrate 10 and the bit lines 12. The word lines 14 may be shaped as stripes and may cover channel regions 16 formed in the upper portions of the semiconductor substrate 10 and source/drain regions 18 formed in the bit lines 12. Bit line contacts 20 for external electrical connection may be formed at one end of the bit lines 12.
In some conventional semiconductor devices having buried bit lines, device isolation of the bit lines 12 is performed by PN junctions between the bit lines and the semiconductor substrate 10, which have opposite conductivity types. However, as semiconductor devices are miniaturized, punch-through (i.e. a breakdown due to overlapping junction depletion regions) may occur at the PN junction, resulting in a loss of device isolation. That is, as the distance between adjacent bit lines is reduced in an effort to make devices smaller, the effectiveness of PN junction isolation as a means to isolate adjacent devices may be reduced.
Furthermore, with the high integration of semiconductor devices, the gate channel length is decreased. This may result in several problems, such as a short channel effects, microscopic pattern formation, and restricted operating speed. In particular, various short channel effects may become a serious problem. For example, an increased electric field around the drain region may cause punch-through that penetrates to the potential barrier around a source region. Also, thermo-electrons may cause avalanche breakdown, and a vertical electric field may decrease the vertical mobility of carriers.

Semiconductor devices having buried bit lines and methods of manufacturing semiconductor devices having buried bit lines


In a method and system for an improved inverter providing power to a load, the inverter receives a direct current (DC) input. A plurality of switches included in the inverter are controlled by a plurality of control signals to generate an alternating current (AC) output in response to the DC input. A zero crossing of the AC output current provided by the plurality of switches is detected, and the controlling of the plurality of switches is delayed in response to the zero crossing. The amount of delay is adjusted responsive to a change in the DC input to effectively maintain a constant switching frequency of the inverter. The delayed AC output current of the plurality of switches is filtered to provide power to the load.

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of power supplies for information handling systems, and more particularly to techniques for efficiently providing power to drive a discharge lamp, such as a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL).
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to acquire, process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system ('IHS') generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Liquid crystal display (LCD) panel based display devices have been commonly utilized in many IHS systems due to their compact size, and low power consumption. Although there are different types of backlights (e.g., light sources including a discharge lamp), which are currently used for backlighting the latest LCD panels, the CCFL (also known as cold cathode fluorescent tube (CCFT)) is most commonly used. Circuits for supplying power to CCFL's generally require a controllable alternating current (AC) power supply and a feedback loop to accurately monitor the current in the lamp in order to maintain operating stability of the circuit and to have an ability to vary the lamp brightness. Such circuits typically generate a high voltage to initially turn on the CCFL and then lower the voltage when current begins to flow through the lamp. For example, Monolithic Power Systems, Inc., located at 983 University Ave, Building D, Los Gatos, Calif. 95032, USA, provides a MP1015 power circuit chip for driving the CCFL.
Such circuits also typically include an inverter circuit to convert a direct current (DC) voltage received as an input to a regulated AC voltage generated as an output. Inverter circuits typically include a controller component, such as a pulse width modulator (PWM) based controller. Various well-known inverter circuit configurations or "topologies" include a Royer converter, full-bridge or half-bridge inverters.
The CCFL power consumption may account for a significant portion (e.g., up to 50% in some cases) of the IHS system power requirement, especially for portable systems. Therefore, there is a considerable amount of interest to achieve advantages in extending battery life and reducing re-charge frequency by improving the efficiency of power supplies configured to provide power to the CCFL.
In traditional inverter based power circuits, changes in input voltage causes a decrease in power conversion efficiency. For example, when an adapter is unplugged/plugged into a portable IHS system such as a notebook computer, the voltage to the LCD backlight inverter varies from AC adapter voltage (approximately between 18V and 22V) to the battery voltage (approximately between 9V and 17V). The varying voltage causes a noticeable change in the LCD brightness level, which is often perceived as a flicker.
Brightness output from the CCFL is a function of operating frequency. FIG. 1A illustrates a graphical relationship between LCD brightness (shown on Y-axis) versus frequency (shown on X-axis) measurements for a commercially available CCFL. Curves 110, 120 and 130 are shown for lamp currents of 6 mA, 5 mA and 4 mA.
Power conversion efficiency of an inverter is a function of the input voltage. FIG. 1B illustrates a graphical relationship between a change in efficiency (shown on Y-axis) versus input voltage (shown on X-axis) measurements for a commercially available inverter.
FIG. 1C illustrates a graphical relationship between a change in frequency (shown on Y-axis) versus input voltage (shown on X-axis) measurements for a commercially available inverter. Thus, frequency of the backlight inverter changes as a function of input voltage causing the brightness change and the change in frequency causes a decrease in the inverter efficiency.
Therefore, a need exists for improved efficiency of the power circuits providing power to the CCFL. More specifically, a need exists to develop tools and techniques for improving the efficiency of inverters under changing voltage and frequency conditions. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide tools and techniques for an improved inverter of an IHS absent the disadvantages found in the prior methods discussed above.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Frequency feedforward for constant light output in backlight inverters


A changeable resolution apparatus and method for scanner includes two rotational disks which have respectively a plurality of lenses of different focuses and a plurality of charge-coupled devices (CCD) of different resolutions located therein. A motor is provided to drive a transmission shaft to rotate in a positive or a reverse direction. Two one-way shaft bearings are engaged with the transmission shaft to drive the rotational disks one-way in opposite directions for changing lens and CCD combination to reach different resolutions. The apparatus is located in the scanner for users to adjust scanner resolution based on scanning requirements to get optimum resolution result.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to optical scanner that has two rotation disks to respectively carry a plurality of different lenses and Charge-Coupled Devices (CCD) for adjusting resolution by changing lens and CCD combination so that users may select different resolutions to meet different scanning requirements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Optical technology innovation in the past century has spawned numerous optical products to benefit human being, ranging from spectacles, telescope, to conventional or digital camera, copy machine, monitor and scanner. Scanner is an important optical device nowadays. It can scan important image or text data files into computer. Then image and data may be processed or edited for display or presentation use. It saves a lot of data input and process time. Scanner quality and value highly depends on its resolution. Conventional scanner usually has only one lens and one CCD for scanning in a selected resolution. Such a design and structure has severely limited its application and usefulness. When there is a need for scanning of different resolutions, different sets of scanner equipped with different resolutions will be needed. Users have to invest a lot more money to acquire many different scanners. Scanning operation is more difficult to arrange and become less efficient. Scanner manufacturers have to design and produce a lot more different scanners to meet market needs. It adds more research and development costs. All this begs for improvement.

Changeable resolution apparatus and method for optical scanner


The present invention relates to a housing for at least one battery module, preferably for an arrangement of battery modules, with the at least one battery module comprising a plurality of battery cells arranged in a fluid cooled frame. The invention further relates to a battery module assembly comprising at least one battery module installed in a housing.

A battery module system which is assembled from a plurality of like battery modules can, for example, be designed in order to cover a power range having a content of energy of between 1 kWh and 400 kWh or more. When, for example, a battery module system is designed for a continuous power of 20 kW, peak powers of, for example, 100 kW can still be required from the battery for acceleration purposes on a short term basis, whereby excellent acceleration values can be achieved. One can work with a charging power of 40 kW, for example, during charging operations.
The above stated values are purely exemplary, however, on the other hand, represent values which can generally be achieved with commercially available lithium ion batteries.
In order to ensure a safe operation of the battery modules during use e.g. in a motor vehicle, or for a stationary battery module, the battery modules have to be installed in a housing that is adapted to protect the battery modules from external influences, such as rain, vibrations etc. that arise from the environment of use of the battery modules.
For this reason it is an object of the present invention to provide a housing for at least one battery module and a corresponding battery module assembly that can be operated in a variety of conditions, that can be produced in a reliable and cost effective manner and that provides protection against a plurality of different environmental conditions that are present during an operation of the battery module assembly.

Housing for at least one battery module and battery module assembly


A method by which silicon nanostructures may be selectively coated with molecules or biomolecules using an electrochemical process. This chemical process may be employed as a method for coating many different nanostructures within a circuit, each with a different molecular or biomolecular material. The density of devices within a circuit of devices that can be coated with different molecules is limited only by the ability to electronically address each device separately. This invention has applications toward the fabrication of molecular electronic circuitry and toward the fabrication of nanoelectronic molecular sensor arrays.

The present invention is directed to micro or nanostructures and their applications. More particularly, the present invention provides methods and resulting structures for forming molecular probes onto nano and micro structures for a wide variety of applications. As merely an example, such molecular probes have been used in life science applications. Accordingly, the present invention can enable researchers and scientists to identify promising candidates in the search for new and better medicines, for example, in screening, therapeutics, drug discovery, and development. But it would be recognized that the invention has a much broader range of applicability. The present invention may be used for other applications such as biochemical, electronics, chemical, medical, petrochemical, security, business, and the like.
Over the years, microelectronics have proliferated into many aspects of modern day life. In the early days, Robert N. Noyce invented the integrated circuit, which is described in "Semiconductor Device-and-Lead Structure" under U.S. Pat. No. 2,981,877. Integrated circuits evolved from a handful of electronic elements into millions and even billions of components fabricated on a small slice of silicon material. Such integrated circuits have been incorporated into and control many conventional devices, such as automobiles, computers, medical equipment, and even children's toys. Although the integrated circuit has been highly successful, there is still a need for developing other types of technologies for other applications. An example of such technology includes molecular electronics.
Molecular electronics constitutes an area of research in which molecular components are incorporated into electrical devices. Additionally, the characteristics of those electrical devices are altered in what are often interesting and useful manners by those molecules. Certain examples of molecular electronics exist. One example includes molecular electronic random access memory circuits. See, Yi Luo, C. P. Collier, Kent Nielsen, Jan Jeppesen, Julie Perkins, Erica Delonno, Anthony Pease, J. Fraser Stoddart, and James R. Heath, "Molecular Electronics Random Access Memory Circuits," Chem Phys Chem 2002(3), 519 (2002). In such example, a bistable molecular switch has been exploited as a mechanism for storing '1's and '0's. While this circuit operates in a manner that is similar to a more conventional random access memory circuit, it has the advantage that switching characteristics arise from a molecular property, and so, in principle, individual memory element within the circuit should scale to the dimensions of a few molecules.
Another example is a molecular rectifier. See, A. Aviram and M. Ratner, "Molecular Rectifiers," Chem. Phys Lett., 1971; R. M. Metzger, et al., J. Phys. Chem. B107, 1021 (2003). The molecular rectifier in which current rectification, or diode character, is built into a device through control of the molecular component. Yet another example is a nanowire molecular or biomolecular sensor. See, Yi Cui, Qingqiao Wei, Hongkun Park and Charles M. Lieber, "Nanowire nanosensors for highly sensitive and selective detection of biological and chemical species," Science, 293, 1298 (2001). If the nanowire is sufficiently small (1 to 30 nanometers in diameter), then the electrical properties of the nanowire depend not just on the materials construction of the nanowire, such as doping level, physical dimensions, etc., but also on the chemical environment surrounding the nanowire Thus, the nanowire can also serve as a chemical sensor. Such a nanowire sensor can be customized for certain sensing tasks by chemically coating the surface of the nanowire with a molecular probe, such as an antibody for some molecular target, such as a particular protein. When the nanowire is exposed to a solution containing that protein, the protein binds to the nanowire sensor surface by binding to the antibody. The chemical environment surrounding the nanowire is modified by this target/probe binding event, and thus so are the electrical properties of the nanowire. Thus, the presence of the protein may be detected. Although molecular electronics have been successful, there are still many limitations.
From the above, it is seen that improved techniques for manufacturing molecular electronics and applications are highly desirable.

Electrochemical method for attaching molecular and biomolecular structures to semiconductor microstructures and nanostructures


A sanding block comprising slideably interrelated parts for accommodating an endless sanding belt and having a dual action means for selectively moving the parts into bearing relation with the sanding belt for maintaining tension thereon or moving the parts out of such bearing relation with the sanding belt for facilitating removal or adjustment of the sanding belt relative to the sanding block, while also providing the sanding block with a novel convexly curved surface for improved tool versatility.

A wide variety of sanding blocks comprising sections or parts for accommodating an endless sanding belt are shown in the prior art, with virtually all utilizing resilient means for holding the parts in spaced relation for maintaining tension on the sanding belt. However, most are limited in that release of that tension for removal of the sanding belt from the sanding block can be obtained only by manual compression together of the parts by the hands or fingers of the user.
In addition, while the sanding blocks of the prior art have flat lower and upper faces and small, curved or pointed ends for sanding flat and small curved or hard to reach surfaces, they lack a curved face for sanding larger curved surfaces.
Accordingly, a need exists for a means for selectively moving the parts of a sanding block into or out of bearing relation with a sanding belt for placing the sanding belt under tension or releasing tension from the sanding belt, while providing additional means for sanding larger curved surfaces.


A card adapter comprises a main body (50) having an insertion slot (51) into which a memory card (M) is inserted; a first contact member (10) having first contact points (11) for contacting a first array of electrodes (M1) and first connecting portions (12) to be connected to a connector with base portions (13) located between the first contact points (11) and the first connecting portions (12); a second contact member (20) having second contact points (21) for contacting a second array of electrodes (M2) and second connecting portions (22) to be connected to a connector with base portions (23) located between the second contact points (21) and the second connecting portions (22); the first contact member (10) and the second contact member (20) being arranged within the main body (50) in such a way that the first contact points (11) and the second contact points (21) are located at different positions in a direction to which the memory card (M) is inserted.

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card adapter used for connecting a memory card to a connector for other memory cards.
2. Description of Related Art
For instance, storing image data taken by digital cameras and music data downloaded from music distribution sites onto memory cards as a recording medium for utilizing them with a variety of electronic devices is becoming part of everyday life. Many types of memory cards with different sizes and construction are sold in the market. However, an electronic device can only accept a memory card complying with a particular standard, for example, a memory card compatible with the connector of the electronic device. Therefore, an electronic device may not accept different standard memory cards as they are. A card adapter for connecting a memory card to an electronic device has been developed with which an electronic device utilizing a memory card complying with a particular standard can accept other standard memory cards (See, for example, JP Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2004-145676).
The card adapter disclosed in the above patent publication is used for connecting a compact memory card to a connector for larger memory cards. The card adapter comprises an array of contact members disposed in a width direction within the main body for contacting electrodes of the compact memory card to be inserted into the card adapter. That is, the card adapter described in the patent document is used for a compact memory card with an array of electrodes arranged in a width direction.
In recent years, electronic devices are becoming smaller and thinner, and following this trend, smaller memory cards, for example a mini SD card, micro SD card, etc. are introduced to the market. In particular, an extremely compact memory card such as a micro SD card has a new construction which is different from those of conventional memory cards. For instance, a memory card, such as a micro SD memory card with a RF terminal, having the second electrode array in addition to a conventional electrode array disposed in a width direction can be considered. The RF terminal is an electrode for transferring information without any contact.
Therefore, the new type of memory card having two arrays of electrodes can not be used in a card adapter with one array of contact member disposed in a width direction within its main body, such as that described in the patent document. Then, if a user-owned electronic device doses not comprise any connectors supporting a memory card having two arrays of electrodes, the user can not use the memory card having two arrays of electrodes.


A method of acquiring a preferred ringtone for a telematics unit in a vehicle includes indicating, via a user interface panel in communication with the telematics unit, that an audio emission is related to the preferred ringtone. The audio emission emanates from a vehicle audio system operatively disposed in the vehicle. The method further includes transmitting the preferred ringtone to the vehicle via the telematics unit. The preferred ringtone notifies a user of an incoming communication.

An increasing number of vehicles include some form of an in-vehicle communication system. An overwhelming majority of these systems include some form of audio notification (i.e., ringtone) of an incoming communication.
Many of these vehicles use a standard, factory-installed ringtone. Generally, no means are provided for altering the ringtone so that it is personal or more preferable to the user.
As such, it would be desirable to provide a method and system for acquiring a preferred in-vehicle ringtone.

Methods for realizing an in-vehicle ringtone


In a solid-state imaging device, bus lines are provided at both sides of an imaging area vertically to send vertical-transfer clock pulses to shunt wires disposed on or over the imaging area at both ends of the signal lines of the shunt wires. Bus lines disposed closer to a horizontal transfer register are placed at a boundary area of the imaging area and the horizontal transfer register. Since the bus lines pass through an upper layer of the boundary area, imaging performed by light receiving elements is not performed but dummy pixels having almost the same structure as the light receiving sections are disposed and vertical transfer registers are provided in the boundary area to just transfer signal charges by the vertical transfer registers with a characteristic similar to that in the imaging area to the horizontal transfer register.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to solid-state imaging devices having a plurality of light receiving elements arranged two dimensionally in an imaging area, a vertical transfer register and a horizontal transfer register for transferring signal charges of the plurality of light receiving elements, and a shunt wire for sending clock pulses to a transfer electrode of the vertical transfer register, and more particularly, to solid-state imaging devices having a large imaging area.
2. Description of the Related Art
Interline-transfer solid-state imaging devices have been conventionally provided as various image sensors and for digital cameras.
FIG. 1 is an outlined view of a general interline-transfer solid-state imaging device. In the solid-state imaging device, light receiving elements 20 are disposed in an imaging area 10 almost in a two-dimensional matrix manner in a vertical direction (row) and a horizontal direction (column). These light receiving elements 20 convert light incident on a light receiving surface to signal charges having the amount of charges corresponding to the amount of the light, and accumulate them.
A vertical transfer register 30 is disposed at each vertical column of the light receiving elements 20, and a horizontal transfer register 40 is disposed next to the ends of the vertical transfer registers 30 in their transfer direction. An output section 50 is formed next to the end of the horizontal transfer register 40 in its transfer direction.
The solid-state imaging device has a dummy pixel area 60 having a structure similar to that of the light receiving elements 20 but not accumulating signal charges, close to the horizontal transfer register 40 in the imaging area 10. The dummy pixel area 60 is used, for example, for detecting a dark current to set a black level. The position of the dummy pixel area 60 is not limited to the position shown in FIG. 1. The dummy pixel area 60 can be formed at any position close to an end of a light receiving area.
In such solid-state imaging devices, especially in solid-state imaging devices used for video units having large screens, further especially in solid-state imaging devices used for HDTV, for which a high output rate is required, since it is necessary to drive vertical transfer registers at a high speed, shunt wires are generally provided as means for sending a clock signal to the vertical transfer registers.
FIG. 2 is a plan showing an outlined structure of a conventional solid-state imaging device having shunt wires. FIG. 3 is a partial enlarged plan showing a wire structure in an imaging area of the solid-state imaging device shown in FIG. 2.
As shown in FIG. 2, in the solid-state imaging device, light receiving elements (not shown) and vertical transfer registers (not shown) are provided inside an imaging area 10, and a horizontal transfer register 21 and an output section 22 are provided outside the imaging area 10.
Shunt wires 30 are provided in a vertical direction along the vertical transfer registers in an upper layer of the imaging area 10.
Signal lines 31, 32, 33, and 34 of the shunt wires 30 are connected to bus wires 40 disposed in an area outside the imaging area 10 and opposite the horizontal transfer register 21.
Signal lines (bus lines) 41, 42, 43, and 44 of the bus wires 40 are formed in concentric closed-loop manners, and independently connected to electrode pads 51, 52, 53, and 54 to be connected to external wires of the imaging device chip, respectively, with parts of the closed loops being externally extended.
As shown in FIG. 3, the signal lines 31, 32, 33, and 34 of the shunt wires 30 are connected to transfer electrodes (poly-Si electrodes) 64, 63, 62, and 61 of the vertical transfer registers, respectively, through contact sections 35.
In the present case, four-phase clock driving is performed. The signal lines 31, 32, 33, and 34 of the shunt wires 30, the signal lines 41, 42, 43, and 44 of the bus wires 40, the electrode pads 51, 52, 53, and 54, and the transfer electrodes 64, 63, 62, and 61 correspond to each other, respectively, and four sets of four types of components are provided.
In the conventional wire structures such as that described above, however, if the solid-state imaging device has a large chip size, or the frequency of its clock signal is too high, since a propagation delay occurs in the shunt wires 30, the clock signal does not have a satisfactory waveform at the end opposite the end where the bus wires 40 are located, its effective amplitude becomes low, and the amount of charges handled by the vertical transfer registers is reduced.
In a large-sized solid-state imaging devices, since the above problems become more prominent, high-speed driving becomes impossible and a larger number of pixels are unlikely to be provided. The number of frames per unit period cannot be increased, and larger-sized solid-state imaging devices are unlikely to be provided.


The invention provides a method and apparatus dispensing a liquid bait in a refillable manner. The invention provides a transparent bait station in which is mounted to a structure. A liquid bait is injected into the bait station to initially fill and then refill the bait station. The bait is a slow acting toxicant and attractant. The bait station is formed to allow access by bugs, but not by larger animals. The bait station is also able to protect the bait from wind and rain. The bait station prevents leakage of the toxicant if the bait station is tumbled or placed in an incorrect position. The bait station is able to hold two different liquid baits, which may be two different poisons, or a poison and an attractant. An embodiment of the bait station provides a series of inner walls to minimize the leakage of liquid bait, if the liquid bait station is tumbled.

The present invention relates generally a bait station which is able to hold a liquid bait.
Ants belonging to species of Camponotus, commonly known as carpenter ants, are an important economic pest. They cause structural damage to homes, telephone poles, and trees by tunneling into the wood. Methods to control carpenter ants have been evaluated based on effectiveness against the ants, environmental safety and ease of use, especially for pest control operators (PCO's) concerned with ant population management. Carpenter ants have been controlled in the field by use of sprays or dusts, methods that are considered by many to be environmentally unfriendly. Furthermore, exposure of the spray or dust to environmental elements can limit the effectiveness of the toxicant, for example, by rain washing it away. Spray or dust applications kills ants, but usually does not eliminate a colony, unless the colony is directly sprayed or dusted, which often requires locating the colony. A "cleaner," more effective method of control is to place a toxic bait in an ant station so as to prevent exposure to non-target organisms, such as children and pets, and to shield the bait from environmental factors that may cause degradation and dilution of the toxicant. In addition, baits do not require locating the colony. Typically, when such solid baits have been depleted, the entire self-contained station must be replaced. Preferred toxicants are ones that are slow enough acting to allow the ant time to bring it back to the nest and thereby deliver the toxicant to the rest of the colony. There is a need for such bait stations for carpenter ants.


A latch may include a follower and a driver. The follower may include a follower opening configured to receive a post of a housing. The driver may include a driver opening configured to receive the post of the housing such that the driver is selectively rotatable relative to the post. The driver may further include an interfacing finger positioned to be received by the follower opening. The interfacing finger may be configured to urge the follower to slidingly move relative to the housing as the driver is rotated relative to the post.

Field
The embodiments discussed herein relate generally to communication modules. More particularly, example embodiments relate to latch mechanisms for selectively engaging communication modules with a housing of a host device.
Relevant Technology
Communication modules, such as electronic or optoelectronic transceiver or transponder modules, are increasingly used in electronic and optoelectronic communication. Some modules are pluggable, which permits the module to be inserted into and removed from a housing of a host device, such as a host computer, switching hub, network router, or switch box. Latching mechanisms within the housing of the host device may be made to physically secure an inserted communication module into place. To remove the communication module, the latching mechanism may be manipulated to physically unsecure the communication module.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one exemplary technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced.

Latch mechanism for communication module


A conversion kit for an enclosed trailer forms at least one animal stall in a storage compartment of the trailer. The conversion kit includes separable vertical stanchions and stall dividers which are removably mountable in the trailer storage compartment to form one or more stalls. A breastplate, a front wall and a feed tray may be mounted at a front end of the stall dividers. A manger door opens to a storage compartment below the feed tray. A saddle hanger may be mounted at a forward end of the front wall. Openable rear doors close one end of the stalls.

The present disclosure relates to travel trailers and, more particularly travel with closed cargo storage compartments.
Travel trailers have been developed with a separate enclosed storage area and a moveable ramp behind a separate passenger compartment. Such modified trailers are called "toy haulers" or "toy boxes" due to the "adult toys" which can be stored in the enclosed storage area, such as ATV, golf carts, motorcycles, etc.
Horse trailers represent a different type of travel trailer and are designed to carry one or more horses in safe comfort. However, horse trailers typically are multiples in costs of toy haulers or toy box trailers due to their specialized construction for transporting horses.
It would be desirable to provide means for converting the storage compartment of a toy hauler or toy box trailer for transporting horses.

Horse stall conversion kit for enclosed trailer


Methods and systems for analyzing a medical image of a subject's brain are disclosed. Analysis of a medical image of a subject's brain for predictive and diagnostic determination of neurodegenerative disease state. The method comprises parcellating the grey matter in the image of the brain and determining the size of each region to generate an initial pattern of the disease process; applying a diffusion kernel to obtain an output vector; and predicting future changes to the brain based on the output vector. Another method of analyzing a medical image of a subject's brain includes solving for eigen-modes of a connectivity matrix, projecting the eigen-modes onto the initial disease state to produce an output product and diagnosing a disease or lack thereof based on a comparison of the output product to one or more reference standards.

Dementia is estimated to affect 25 million people worldwide, of which 30-70% are Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 10% frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Neuropathological evidence points to a neuronal/synaptic polioencephalopathy with the disease beginning in the grey matter with accumulation of misfolded beta amyloid and/or tau protein, and progressing along extant fiber pathways via secondary Wallerian degeneration, disconnection, loss of signaling, axonal reaction and post-synaptic dendrite retraction. Atrophy patterns captured from longitudinal MRI via segmentation, atlas-based parcellation, and volumetric analysis indicate that progression follows vulnerable fiber pathways rather than proximity. This view is supported by recent studies showing alterations in brain networks due to neurodegeneration. Amyloid deposition, metabolism and atrophy in AD show spatially distinct involvement of the posterior temporal heteromodal network, while the frontal (behavioral) variant of FTD, bvFTD, appears restricted to the orbitofrontal network. These findings led to the network-degeneration view that various dementias selectively target distinct intrinsic brain networks.
This view is strongly supported by neuropathological evidence that numerous disease proteins, including alpha-synuclein, beta-amyloid, and TDP-43, have the capacity to misfold and march throughout local and then long-range circuits via transsynaptic spread. Misfolded proteins can trigger misfolding of adjacent same-species proteins, which in turn cascade along neuronal pathways. Pathological tau conformers can induce non-folded tau to adopt pathological conformations. Tau misfolding could propagate from the exterior to interior of a cell. These findings suggest a "prion-like" mechanism of transmission underlying all dementias.

Methods and tools for analyzing brain images


Apparatus for injection molding a plastic article having a hollow rib portion utilizing a spill cavity. A process includes the steps of sequentially injecting fluent plastic and gas into a mold cavity having a space defining at least one wall portion of the article and a channel defining a rib portion of the article. A quantity of fluent plastic is initially injected to substantially fill the mold cavity. A charge of pressurized gas is then injected into the channel of the mold cavity to displace a portion of the still fluent plastic into the spill cavity which is flow coupled to the channel. Preferably, the thickness of the rib portion in cross section is at least twice as large as the thickness of the wall portion in cross section along the entire length of the rib portion. Also, preferably, the channel is tapered along its length. The rib portion may be either internal or external to the article.

In the plastic injection molding art, the usual challenges facing a product designer are to design an article having requisite strength for the product application and uniform surface quality for satisfactory appearance, but to avoid excessive weight, material usage and cycle time. A design compromise must often be made between strength and plastic thickness. A relatively thicker plastic section in the article, such as a structural rib, will incur greater weight, material usage, cycle time and induce sink marks and other surface defects due to thermal gradients in the area of the thickened section.
It is known in the plastic molding art to use pressurized fluid in conjunction with the plastic molding of articles. The pressurized fluid is typically nitrogen gas which is introduced into the mold cavity at or near the completion of the plastic injection. The pressurized fluid serves several purposes. First, it allows the article so formed to have hollow interior portions which correspond to weight and material savings. Second, the pressurized fluid within the mold cavity applies outward pressure to force the plastic against the mold surfaces while the article solidifies. Third, the cycle time is reduced as the gas migrates through the most fluent inner volume of the plastic and replaces the plastic in these areas which would otherwise require an extended cooling cycle. Fourth, the gas pressure pushes the plastic against the mold surfaces, thereby obtaining the maximum coolant effect from the mold.
However, as the dimensions of the molded article increase, the gas must do more work to migrate through the volume of the mold cavity to assist in setting up the article within the cavity. If the pressure of the gas is too great as it enters the mold cavity, there is a risk that it may rupture or blow out the plastic within the mold cavity, i.e., the gas is not contained within the plastic. Thus, there have been practical limitations in the adaptation of gas injection in the plastic molding field.
It is important to ensure that the maximum gas flow length in a channel is obtained so that permeation, shadow marks or sinkage are minimized. It is known that as the gas enters the partially filled molding and urges the plastic forward or outward to fill the cavity, that the gas opening or openings created in the molding get progressively smaller the further we get from the gas entry port. This is illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6. This can result in the gas channel not being completely filled with gas to the end of the channel. This can result in sinkage at the end of the channel.
One way to overcome this problem is to reduce the amount of plastic injected into the cavity. This leaves more room for gas. However, this could lead to another problem which is the permeation of the gas into the walls of the molding. Further reduction in weight could cause blowout of the gas and a nonfilled molding.

Apparatus for injection molding of a plastic article having a hollow rib


A method, system, and balanced rotating assembly are provided for field balancing an assembly including a power turbine. The method, system and assembly includes coupling the power turbine to a load, identifying a first balancing plane that is aft of the power turbine, and identifying a second balancing plane that is forward of the power turbine. A balancing correction is determined at each of the first and second balancing planes. A balance weight is mounted at the first balancing plane based on the balancing correction determined for the first balancing plane, and a balance weight is mounted at the second balancing plane based on the balancing correction determined for the second balancing plane, wherein each balance weight is coupled to at least two respective bolt head without removing the bolts.

This invention relates generally to gas turbine engines, and more specifically to methods and apparatus for balancing an assembly that includes a gas turbine engine.
At least some known gas turbine engines include, in serial flow arrangement, a compressor, a combustor, a high pressure turbine, and a low pressure turbine. The compressor, combustor and high pressure turbine are sometimes collectively referred to as the gas generator or core engine. Compressed air is channeled from the compressor to the combustor where it is mixed with fuel and ignited. The combustion gasses are channeled to the turbines which extract energy from the combustion gasses to power the compressors and to produce useful work to propel an aircraft in flight or to power a load, such as an electrical generator.
Balancing turbine engines facilitates the avoidance of potentially destructive vibrational forces during engine operation. Balancing is achieved by rotating the assembly and determining the magnitude and location of each imbalance. Material is then added or removed to correct the unbalance. Generally, the rotating components are balanced individually, and after the components are assembled, the assembly is then balanced to correct for any cumulative unbalance in the assembly. Within at least some applications, the low pressure turbine or power turbine is coupled to other rotating components that necessitate further balancing.
Within at least some known engine assemblies, the power turbine, is coupled to a generator. When the engine is installed in a vessel, it is desirable that the engine and generator be field balanced as installed to facilitate preventing the generation of potentially damaging vibrational forces being induced to the surrounding vessel. At least some known engines are balance utilizing a plurality of balance weights. In use, at least one balance weight is coupled to the engine to facilitate reducing the vibrational forces on the surrounding vessel, whereas some engines may require a significant amount of unbalance correction. Therefore, an additional quantity of weights are coupled to the engine. However, coupling a plurality of balance weights to the engine results in a relatively time consuming process. Specifically, each respective weight must be attached to a respective bolt. Accordingly, when the engine requires a significant amount of unbalance correction, there may be an insufficient quantity of bolts available for weight attachment.

Method and apparatus for balancing gas turbine engines


A lighting apparatus is provided that includes a magnetron configured to generate microwaves having a predetermined frequency, a waveguide including a first wave guide space configured to introduce and guide the microwaves and a second wave guide space expanded from the first wave guide space, a resonator to which the microwaves are transmitted from the waveguide and a bulb located in the resonator, the bulb encapsulating a light emitting material and being configured to emit light in response to the transmitted microwaves. The second wave guide space is located in a transmission path of the microwaves transmitted from the magnetron to the resonator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lighting apparatus and, more particularly, to a lighting apparatus which emits light using microwave source energy.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Generally, a microwave discharge lamp is an apparatus that applies microwaves to an electrode-less plasma bulb to generate visible light using microwaves at frequencies of hundreds of MHz to several GHz. The microwave discharge lamp has greater brightness and efficiency than an incandescent lamp and a fluorescent lamp, and is increasingly used. An electrode-less discharge lamp is a type of microwave discharge lamp that uses an inactive gas encapsulated in an electrode-less quartz globe (bulb). Almost all modern microwave discharge lamps are configured to emit a continuous spectrum of visible light through high pressure sulfur discharge.
A related art microwave discharge lamp includes a magnetron configured to generate microwaves, a bulb encapsulating a light emitting material to generate light using the microwaves, a resonator for resonation of the microwaves, in which the bulb is located, and a waveguide connecting the magnetron and the resonator to each other.
The light emission principle of the microwave discharge lamp will now be described in brief Microwaves generated in the magnetron are transmitted to the resonator through the waveguide and, in turn, the microwaves introduced into the resonator excite the light emitting material in the bulb via resonation thereof within the resonator. As the light emitting material filling the bulb is converted into plasma, light is generated and emitted outwardly from the resonator.
The bulb and the magnetron are non-linear, and the microwaves generated in the magnetron include harmonics, in addition to a design frequency. Certain harmonics reduce lamp lifespan and magnetron efficacy, and may cause communication malfunctions. Accordingly, a structure for removal of certain harmonics generated by the microwave discharge lamp is desired.


An orbiting rotary-type compressor including an orbiting cylindrical piston member, sealing members, cylinder housing, Oldham ring assembly and motor for permitting orbital movement. Sealing is achieved sliding vanes within slots in the cylinder housing which are sealingly biased toward orbiting piston member by means of springs. An axial compliance and a radial compliance mechanism promotes proper sealing.

The present invention generally relates to refrigeration compressors and, more particularly, to such compressors having an orbiting piston member, wherein it is possible to provide an axial and radial compliance force on the orbiting piston member to bias it toward the compressor cylinder walls for proper sealing.
A typical rotary compressor comprises a rotating piston member or roller and a cylinder housing, wherein the rotation of the roller compresses refrigerant fluid. Rotary compressors have advantages over other types of compressors by virtue of their high efficiency, small size, and low cost. Disadvantages of rotary compressors lie in the necessity of close tolerances between the piston and cylinder walls and the high costs of manufacturing parts with such close tolerances.
Scroll compressors employ two opposing involutes one stationary and one orbiting to compress fluid. The sealing mechanism of scroll type compressors includes structures for axial and radial compliance of the scroll members. An advantage of scroll compressors over rotary compressors is that friction between moving parts is decreased since the scrolls are not rotating. Particular disadvantages of scroll compressors are the long machining times for end milling the scroll wraps and the requirement for very close tolerances between the scroll wraps. These requirements make the scrolls very expensive to manufacture. An example of a scroll compressor is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,838 assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference.
It is known in the field of compressors to use an orbiting piston member to compress fluid. The disadvantages of these are the complex mechanisms used to create the orbiting motion. In one prior art example of an orbiting piston compressor, it is known to use a conventional Oldham ring assembly to prevent rotation, but there were no means for achieving axial and radial compliance of the orbiting piston within the cylinder housing.
The present invention is directed to overcoming the aforementioned disadvantages wherein it is desired to provide an axial force and radial force upon the orbiting cylindrical piston to facilitate sealing and prevent leakage between the cylindrical piston and cylinder housing.

Orbiting rotary compressor with orbiting piston axial and radial compliance


A surface mounting lamp includes a covering element of a transparent material and having a first face, which in use is directed outwards away from a mounting surface of the lamp, and a second face opposite the first face and provided with at least one socket for housing lighting elements. A lighting unit is sealably connected to the covering element, facing the inside of the socket and includes a plurality of lighting elements, each housed in the socket. The lamp also includes a junction piece connected to the covering element and having a connecting portion engageable with the mounting surface of the lamp to fix the position thereof, and a retaining mechanism interposed between the junction piece and the second face of the covering element and connecting the covering element to the junction piece.

This invention relates to a surface mounting lamp, that is, a lamp configured to be installed flush with a supporting surface.
The invention is applicable in particular in the field of aviation, particularly for lighting landing decks or helipads on both land and offshore platforms and on board ships.
In effect, these lamps are installed on a flat surface in such a way as to protrude just a little from the surface in order to provide a delimited illuminated indication along the surface which may be defined either by covered ground (tarmac or paving) or by slabs and metal frames (on board ships).
Current solutions for installation on the ground and even on landing decks involve making an opening in the lamp mounting (or installation) surface, where the lamp can be recessed and fixed in place.
In other words, a hole is made in the ground or ship deck to allow the body of the lamp to be recessed therein.
In some cases, it is also necessary to provide a sealed receptacle comprising within it the entire lighting element and the water passages and forming also a fire safety barrier.
Thus, prior art surface mounting lamps, especially when they require large emitting surfaces for purposes of visibility as mentioned above (for example, an illuminated line) involve making large openings in the mounting surface which in turn means not only high installation costs but also a significant impact on the structural continuity of the support.
Typically, current lamps are made with a metal or plastic profile (or flange) running all the way round the lamp body and screwed in such a way as to hold the transparent cover.
Disadvantageously, that means the covers have to be particularly thick because they have to resist the high stress transmitted to them by the flange.
Moreover, the flange constitutes an opaque element round the lamp which prevents side lighting along the ground unless the lamp is raised relative to the flange, making the lamp even more protrusive.


The present invention is directed to an air-blown roofing asphalt modified with polyphosphoric acid and roofing products made with the polyphosphoric acid-modified, air-blown asphalt.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to asphalt roofing materials with additives that are believed to, among other things, enhance adhesion and/or tear strength of an asphalt coating material used to make the roofing materials, and more particularly wherein the additives include polyphosphoric acid.
2. Description of the Related Technology
As is well known, asphalt is commonly used to make roofing shingles. Typically, the asphalt is used to coat fiberglass mats and then the coated mats are covered with mineral or ceramic granules. This type of shingle is commonly referred to as "fiberglass shingles" and "asphalt shingles." Although not as prevalent, asphalt is also used to manufacture "organic shingles" in which a cellulose base is saturated in asphalt. Because of the saturation, organic shingles tend to be heavier than fiberglass shingles. Also, organic shingles tend to be less resistant to heat and humidity, but more durable in freezing conditions than fiberglass shingles.
With respect to fiberglass shingles, tear strength is an extremely important characteristic because of the development of fiberglass shingles over the years. Briefly, when fiberglass shingles were first manufactured the fiberglass mat weighed approximately 3.0 lbs/480 ft2 and at that weight with asphalts at the time a minimum tear strength standard of 1,700 grams cross direction ("CD") was established by the industry. "Cross direction" means performing the tear test at an angle perpendicular to the direction the shingle flowed from the machine (i.e., the "machine direction" or "MD"). Over time, manufacturers, by focusing their research efforts on glass mat technology, have been able to reduce the weight of glass mats, which decreases their material costs. Specifically, the glass mats used widely today are within the range of about 1.5 to about 2.0 lbs/480 ft2. While many fiberglass shingles using lighter weight mats can still satisfy the 1,700 gram tear strength standard, it has prevented the use of even lighter weight mats to produce otherwise acceptable asphalt shingles at still lower costs.
The 1,700 gram standard is a contentious issue between roofing product manufacturers and roofing product purchasers. With purchasers relying almost entirely on tear strength to determine whether fiberglass shingles are defective. The importance of tear strength is illustrated by the fact that litigations between producers and purchasers over the performance of shingles were based primarily on whether shingles satisfied this single property.
Although the manufacturers' efforts to improve the fiberglass mat technology have allowed some reduction in their material costs, those reductions have sometimes been at the expense of acceptable tear strengths. Thus, a need continues to exist for a technology, method, materials, or a combination thereof that would allow roofing manufacturers to reliably produce products with acceptable tear strengths while reducing their costs by, for example, using even lighter weight fiberglass mats.

Asphalt shingle coating with improved tear strength


A tread for a tire, the tread being provided with a plurality of cutouts, defined by walls perpendicular to or oblique to the rolling surface of the tread, in which the two main walls of at least one cutout located in the part of the tread affected by the loading on the ground of the tire during travel are connected by at least one rubber connecting element and in that the total connection surface SE of the connecting element(s) is at most 80% of the surface defined by the geometric contour L of minimum length and surrounding said total connection surface SE. A method for producing a cutout provided with at least one connecting element.

The invention relates to treads for the manufacture of new tires or for the recapping of tires, and in particular to the patterns for said treads which comprise a large number of cutouts in the form of grooves and/or incisions. It also relates to a production method making it possible to produce such treads.
In order to adapt the performance of tires to the increasingly improved performance of new vehicles, it is becoming necessary, inter alia, to increase the level of the adhesion performance of the tires on a wet road, without for all that adversely affecting the other types of performance thereof. xe2x80x9cAdhesionxe2x80x9d is understood to mean both the adhesion properties of the tire in the direction transverse to the displacement of the vehicle (cornering ability) and those of the tire in the direction longitudinal to the displacement of the vehicle (possibility of transmitting a braking or driving force to the ground).
In order to increase the adhesion potential of a tread of a tire traveling on a road covered with water, it is known to provide this tread with a pattern formed of a plurality of cutouts formed at greater or lesser depths in said tread, said cutouts opening on to the surface of said tread in contact with the road (this surface is called the rolling surface).
xe2x80x9cCutoutxe2x80x9d quite obviously means formed in the tread, be it by removing material once the tread has been vulcanized or be it by molding in a mold for molding said strip and comprising molding elements which project on the molding surface of said mold, each molding element having a geometry identical to the geometry of the desired cutout. As a general rule, a cutout made in a tread is defined by at least two walls of rubber which face one another, said walls being separated by an average distance representing the width of the cutout, the intersection of said walls with the rolling surface forming rubber ridges. Several types of cutout can be distinguished, for example:
grooves or furrows characterized by a width greater than about 10% of the thickness of the tread;
incisions of relatively low width compared with the thickness of the tread; under certain conditions of stress, these incisions may close, at least partially, in contact with the road;
the walls facing one another come into contact with one another at least over a more or less large part of the surfaces of said walls (the ridges formed by an incision on the rolling surface are in contact, which causes the incision to close).
Some cutouts may open into at least one other cutout. The trace of a cutout on the rolling surface of a tread follows an average geometric profile determined as the geometric profile located at an average distance from the ridges formed by the walls of said cutout on the rolling surface. The center axis of the trace of a cutout on the rolling surface corresponds to the straight line of the least-error squares of the distances of the points of the average profile from the trace of said cutout. Furthermore, it is usual to define the groove ratio of a pattern as the following ratio: area of the cutouts on the rolling surface divided by the total area of contact between the tire and the road.
By effecting a plurality of cutouts which open on to the rolling surface, a plurality of rubber ridges is created to break up the layer of water which may be present on the road, so as to keep the tire in contact with the ground and to create cavities forming channels intended to collect and remove the water present in the zone of contact of the tire with the road since they are arranged so as to open outside the zone of contact.
An example of such a pattern is found in U.S. Pat. No. 1,452,099, which describes a tread provided with a plurality of regularly spaced incisions of transverse orientation.
However, the increase in the number of cutouts rapidly results in a substantial decrease in the rigidity of the tread, which has an adverse effect on the performance of the tire, and even on the adhesion. xe2x80x9cRigidity of the treadxe2x80x9d is understood to mean the rigidity of the tread under the combined actions of compressive stresses and shearing stresses in the region affected by the contact with the road. Conjointly, the presence of numerous cutouts forming channels for evacuating water results in a level of traveling noise on a dry road which is nowadays considered as a nuisance which it is desired to reduce to as great an extent as possible, very particularly on vehicles of recent design. This traveling noise is amplified by the cyclical movements of closing and opening of the cutouts which are associated with the friction of the walls of said cutouts when they are closed.
In French Patent 1 028 978, a solution to this problem is, proposed which consists in providing the tread with a plurality of circumferential incisions of low depth over the rolling surface of the new tread so as to increase the flexibility of said tread solely in the vicinity of the rolling surface.
However, since the tire, once mounted on a vehicle, is intended to provide good performance during the entire life of said tire (that is to say, until its tread has worn down to a level corresponding at least to the legally permitted level), it is necessary to provide a tread having a pattern which ensures the lasting quality of the adhesion performance on wet ground.
The object of the present invention is to develop a tread for a tire which manages to combine a very good level of adhesion to a wet road and to a dry road with a low emission of noise while traveling when new and during at least a major part of the life of said tread. Complementary, one of the objects of the invention is to control the evolution of the performance with the wear of the tread.
According to the invention, a tread is proposed, of thickness E in a rubber mix, intended to be placed radially on the outside of a tire, said tread being provided with a rolling surface which is intended to come into contact with the road during the travel of the tire. The tread is provided with a large number of cutouts such that a plurality of cutouts is affected by the zone of contact of the tire with the road. Each cutout is defined by the space enclosed mainly between two opposing walls, said walls being perpendicular to or oblique to the rolling surface, and each cutout has a depth at most equal to the thickness E of the tread, the depth of said cutout being measured as the distance in a radial direction between the points of the contour of said cutout which are farthest from the rolling surface of the new tire and said rolling surface. Furthermore, two main walls of at least one cutout located in the part of the tread affected by the loading on the ground of the tire during travel are connected by at least one rubber connecting element.
The reference SE is given to the total connection surface on each of the walls of said cutout equal either to the total intersection surface of the connecting element in the case of a single element or to the total of the intersection surfaces of all the connecting elements in the case of several elements, and the total surface of each of the main walls of said cutout is referenced ST.
The tread according to the invention is characterized in that:
the two main walls of at least one cutout located in the part of the tread affected by the loading on the ground of the tire during travel are connected by at least one rubber connecting element, the connecting element(s) having with each of the walls a connection surface SE corresponding to the total of the intersection surfaces of each connecting element, said surface SE on each of the walls being at least 10% of the surface ST of said wall,
all the points of the outer contour of the surface of intersection of at least one connecting element with one of the walls are located at a distance from the rolling surface which is strictly less than the depth of the cutout,
and in that, on each of the main walls, the connection surface SE is at most 80% of the surface SG, the surface SG being equal to the surface, measured on said wall of the cutout, defined by the geometric contour L of minimum length traced on said wall and enveloping the connection surface SE.
For a wall, the geometric contour L of minimum length enveloping the total connection surface SE on this wall corresponds to the contour which can be traced on said wall so as to envelop all the total connection surface formed by the intersection surfaces of all the connecting elements with said wall. As a cutout is defined as being the continuous space defined by at least two main walls facing one another, the presence of at least one connecting element between said walls, according to the invention, does not interrupt the continuity of this space, whatever the level of wear of the tread comprising such a cutout.
Advantageously, the effect on the adhesion and noise performance is the more significant the larger the number of cutouts forming the pattern of a tread for a tire are provided with at least one rubber connecting element so as to obtain both an outstanding adhesion performance without for all that adversely affecting the level of performance in terms of traveling noise.
Advantageously, and in order to obtain an optimum connection effect between the walls of the cutouts and a sufficient length of rubber ridges, each surface SG defined by the geometric contour L of minimum length and enveloping the total connection surface SE on one main wall of a cutout is at least 15% of the surface of the corresponding wall ST. Preferably, the total connection surface SE over at least one main wall of at least one cutout is at most 80% of the surface of the corresponding wall ST, so as to preserve a volume of cutout imparting to the tread sufficient adhesion characteristics.
The tread according to the invention has several advantages:
for cutouts oriented substantially transversely to the longitudinal direction of the tread, the impacts of the rubber ridges on the road are reduced, which results in substantial reduction of the noise emitted during traveling, and this despite a relatively large number of ridges;
on emerging from the area of contact, the presence of connecting elements between the walls of the incisions oriented transversely and possibly between the opposing faces of the relief elements limits the oscillating movements of the rubber elements of the tire emerging from said area which cause noise-generating vibrations, thus reducing the noise resulting from these vibrations;
the reduction of the noise component also results from the reduction of the friction of the walls of the incisions on one another when passing into contact, the connecting elements preventing both the moving-together of the walls and the movement of one relative to the other;
a very marked improvement in adhesion, whilst maintaining a large surface of rubber to be worn in the case of a plurality of incisions of low width, said incisions being provided with at least one connecting element.
Overall, the sources of noise which are associated with such a pattern are far less strong owing to the reduction of movement of the walls of the cutouts resulting from the presence of the connecting elements between said walls compared with a pattern which would comprise the same cutouts without any connecting element.
It goes without saying that a tread pattern according to the invention may combine both a plurality of cutouts provided with at least one connecting element with a plurality of cutouts without a connecting element, the proportion between said cutouts possibly being, for example, a function of the type of tire comprising said pattern.
The applicant has surprisingly obtained very good results when using tires provided with a tread of thickness E, provided with a plurality of cutouts oriented virtually in the same direction, each of said cutouts being defined by the space defined principally between two opposing walls, said walls being perpendicular to or oblique to the rolling surface, and said cutouts having a depth h.
xe2x80x9cDepth h of a cutoutxe2x80x9d is understood to mean the maximum radial distance measured between the ridge of the cutout closest to the rolling surface of the tread when new and the point(s) of the walls of the cutout which is or are radially farthest from said rolling surface. This depth h represents the maximum radial distance between the radially farthest points of the walls of a cutout, and is at most equal to the thickness E of the tread.
Furthermore, the tread according to one variant of the invention is such that:
the two main walls of said cutouts are connected by at least one rubber connecting element;
the connecting rate TP=SE/ST, SE for each cutout is at least 0.10 and at most 0.80, SE being equal to the total intersection surface of the connecting element(s) on each of the walls, ST representing the total surface of each main wall of said cutout;
the ratio p/h, between the average pitch p between each of said cutouts and their depth h, is at least 0.2 and at most 1.9.
In order to avoid the appearance of irregular wear of the tread and if a value of the connecting rate TP of the cutouts is fixed, it is then preferable to select the pitch p such that the ratio p/h, in the new state, satisfies the following equation:       p    h    ≥            1      5                          (                  1                      T            P                          )            0.75
Complementary, and in order to achieve a good adhesion performance, it is judicious to select the pitch p such that the ratio p/h satisfies the following equation:       p    h    ≤      2                      (                  1          -                      T            P                          )            0.5
It is also possible to make allowance for the average width e of the cutouts (that is to say, the average distance between the main walls of said cutouts) arranged regularly according to a pitch p on a tread so as to obtain the connecting rate Tp which makes it possible to achieve good results during traveling. It has has been found that good adhesion and wear results are obtained when the connecting rate Tp is at least 0.10 and is at most equal to the following value:   1            (              1        +                              1            3                              ε                    )        0.75
in which xcex5=(pxe2x88x92e)/h.
Once the connecting rate TP is less than about 0.10, the object cannot be achieved because the connecting elements do not supply sufficient rigidity, and cannot sufficiently block the movements of the walls of the cutout to which they are connected; preferably the connecting rate TP is greater than 0.25.
On the other hand, when this rate exceeds the limit value proposed, the rigidity becomes too great and the length of active ridge is too small to maintain satisfactory adhesion performance. xe2x80x9cLength of active ridgexe2x80x9d of a tread of a tire is understood to mean the total of the lengths of all the rubber ridges in contact with the road in the imprint and for a given level of wear of the tread.
Furthermore, and in order to maintain a sufficiently constant performance with the wear of the tread, it is judicious to provide for the value of the connecting rate TP=SP/ST, evaluated for different levels of wear of the tread to decrease substantially regularly with the wear of the tire, at least starting from a predetermined partial level of wear SP representing, on one of the walls of said cutout, the connection surface remaining after partial wear of the tread and ST representing the total remaining surface of said wall corresponding to the same level of partial wear of the tread. In this manner, the effect of the connecting elements on the rigidity is at a maximum when the tread is new, but decreases gradually with the increase in rigidity of said tread resulting from wear.
On the other hand, tire rolling tests have shown that the sculpture according to the invention results in:
an improvement in wear by reducing the sliding of the rubber against the road, be it at the moment of emerging from the zone of contact for transverse cutouts or when cornering for circumferentially oriented cutouts;
an improvement in the fatigue strength of the base of the cutouts (that is to say, the part of the cutouts which is radially farthest to the inside of the tread);
lower retention of stones in the cutouts provided with connecting elements.
It is also noted that the draining ability of the tire pattern according to the invention, that is to say its ability to evacuate the water present on the road, is sufficient whatever the level of wear of the tread, which is a particularly attractive advantage for the user.
In order to obtain long-lasting efficiency of a tread pattern according to the invention with time when traveling on a wet road, the length of active ridge of the pattern in the imprint corresponding to each level of wear is preferably defined as being at least 50% of the length of active ridge on the rolling surface of the tread in the new state.
In order that the tread maintains sufficient shearing and flexural strength when subjected to the contact stresses, and this despite the presence of a very large number of cutouts, it is judicious to arrange the connecting element(s) of each of said cutouts such that the distance between the ridge closest to the rolling surface in the new state and the points of the contour of the intersection surface of said element on said wall is at most 60% of the height h of the cutout and preferably between 40% and 60%.
Another substantial improvement of the pattern of a tread according to the invention consists in effecting a plurality of cutouts provided with a large number of connecting elements distributed fairly regularly in each of the cutouts so as to ensure good regularity of the effect induced on the rigidity of the rubber elements defined by the walls of the cutout.
A tread in accordance with this latter improvement comprises a plurality of cutouts, each cutout being defined by the space defined principally between two opposing walls, said walls being perpendicular to or oblique to the rolling surface, and having a depth, measured as the distance in a radial direction of the points of the contour of said cutout which are farthest from the rolling surface of the new tire, at most equal to the thickness E of the tread. The tread is characterized in that:
the two main walls of at least one cutout located in the part of the tread affected by the loading on the ground of the tire during travel are connected by a plurality of rubber connecting elements, said connecting elements having with each of the walls a connection surface SE, said connection surface SE on each of the walls being at least 10% of the surface ST of said wall,
each connecting element having with each of the walls an intersection surface SE at most equal to Exc3x97E/20,
and in that the surface SG, defined by the geometric contour L of minimum length and a enveloping the entire connection surface SE, is at least 70% of the surface ST, of said wall.
This tread imparts particularly homogenous and regular performance to the tire, no matter what the degree of wear of said tread.
Another object of the invention is to propose a method for the production of a tread provided with a plurality of cutouts, said cutouts being provided with at least one connecting element. It clearly emerges that the conventional methods of molding cutouts are not suitable for producing such tread patterns readily and with sufficient precision, because the fact of arranging at least one connecting element beneath the rolling surface of the tread results in it being impossible to demold said tread when a conventional molding process is used which uses metal blades to mold incisions.
One object of the invention is to propose a method for obtaining a tread for a tire, comprising at least one cutout, the main walls of which are connected by at least one connecting element, eliminating the problems of demolding. The method for the production of a tread of thickness E according to the invention comprises the following steps:
a) production of inserts in an appropriate material, said inserts having the general shape of the cutouts desired in the tread, and of thickness equal to the width of said cutouts;
b) removal of material in each insert to obtain (an) orifice(s) in a distribution selected beforehand, each orifice having a shape equivalent to the shape of a connecting element;
c) insertion of the inserts produced in the preceding stages into a strip of rubber;
d) molding under pressure in a mold having the dimensions of the tread desired, during which the rubber mix of the tread, which has become more fluid, fills the orifices of the inserts so as to form connecting elements between the rubber walls adjacent to each insert;
e) vulcanization of said rubber strip followed by demolding.
Of course, this tread may be made in the form of a strip of predetermined length, or in the form of a closed ring intended to be placed radially on the outside of the blank of a tire during the manufacture thereof or on a tire being recapped.
One variant of the method which has just been described may consist in effecting steps a) to c) and placing the non-vulcanized, non-molded rubber strip on a tire blank before proceeding with the molding and vulcanization of the tire and tread assembly thus assembled.
More generally, this method, which consists in inserting inserts into a strip of rubber, may also be applied in the case of the manufacture of a tread comprising a plurality of inserts without orifice in order to mold a plurality of incisions which do not comprise connecting elements.
So as to facilitate the insertion of the inserts into the rubber strip, another variant of the method described is proposed, consisting in producing, in a non-vulcanized rubber strip, cutouts of dimensions substantially equal to the dimensions of the cutouts provided with at least one connecting element between the walls of said cutouts.
The material forming the inserts and filling the cutouts which are provided with at least one connecting element is selected so as to be able to be eliminated at least in part, that is to say, at least close to the rolling surface when new, and gradually during traveling in order permanently to maintain a great length of ridges.
It has been found that paper pulp is a filling material particularly suited to this use, because this material is characterized by very low cohesion once it is in the presence of water for a sufficient time, and therefore has the advantage of being able to be eliminated gradually during travel of the tire, or alternatively of being able to be eliminated after having been put in the presence of water and before any travel, all the more easily when the cutouts provided with at least one connecting element have a thickness of at least 0.4 mm.
One variant of this method consists in selecting as the material composing the inserts a material having a melting point sufficiently close to the vulcanization temperature of said tread to become fluid only towards the end of the duration of said vulcanization, taking into account the gradual increase in temperature of the rubber forming said tread, so as to permit the removal of said filling material, for example by suction or by blowing after vulcanization of said tread.
Preferably, the filling material is an alloy having a low melting point, having the advantage of being rigid during the shaping phase of the tread and during the vulcanization phase before becoming fluid at the end of the vulcanization of the tread so as to permit the removal of said alloy and possibly recycling it for a similar use.
The method which has just been described may also be succeeded by a grinding operation affecting virtually only the surface of the new tread and intended to make a plurality of ridges appear very distinctly on the rolling surface of said tread. Another way of obtaining a good surface state immediately on emerging from the mold may consist in arranging all the cutouts provided with at least one connecting element beneath the rolling surface of the tread and molding said tread in a mold comprising a plurality of relief elements intended to mold a plurality of cutouts on the rolling surface and the depth of which is slightly greater than the smallest of the distances between the cutouts provided with at least one connecting element of the rolling surface. In this way, the tread, as it wears down, will gradually reveal a plurality of cutouts beneath the rolling surface of said new tread.

Compagnie Gxc3xa9nxc3xa9rale des Establissements Michelin-Michelin and Cie


A feeding device (10) comprises: a support frame (12); an annular-shaped rotary frame (13); paired feeding rollers (15, 161) for nipping a strip-shaped member therebetween; a rotating motor (M1) for rotating the rotating frame (13); a feeding motor (M2) for rotating at least one (15) of the feeding rollers; and a driving force transmission mechanism (17) comprising a rotatable member relatively rotatable with respect to the rotating frame (13). The rotating frame (13) is rotated by driving of the rotating motor (M1) through a roller or a gear, and the at least one feeding roller (15) is rotated by the feeding motor (M2) through the driving force transmission mechanism (17), so that the strip-shaped member (100) is fed out in the form of a given helical configuration.

In regard to an aging existing pipe, there is a technique of, through the use of an elongated strip-shaped member, forming a pipe-like body inside the existing pipe by a pipe forming device, to rehabilitate the existing pipe based on the pipe-like body. In such a rehabilitation technique, a strip-shaped member overlappingly wound around a drum is fed to a pipe forming device installed inside an existing pipe. In this process, it is necessary to allow the strip-shaped member pullingly unwound from the drum to be fed toward the pipe forming device while being formed in a given helical configuration. This means that the strip-shaped member has to be fed in synchronization with orbital and forward speeds of the pipe forming device. If the feeding of the strip-shaped member is insufficient, the strip-shaped member before reaching the pipe forming device is gradually reduced in helical diameter and increased in helical pitch, which is likely to cause a situation where the strip-shaped member is fully stretched and broken in the end. If the strip-shaped member is excessively fed, the helical pitch thereof is reduced, and the helical diameter thereof is gradually increased, so that the strip-shaped member can be turned upside down. This gives rise to a need to return the strip-shaped member to its original desirable helical configuration, resulting in deterioration in process efficiency.
In order to avoid such situations, it has been necessary to feed the strip-shaped member into the existing pipe, while monitoring and adjusting a feeding state of the strip-shaped member by a plurality of workers deployed on the ground and inside the existing pipe. As illustrated in FIG. 15, in an existing pipe 91, a worker 95 performs, inside a rehabilitation pipe 80, the task of monitoring a state of a strip-shaped member 100, and feeding the strip-shaped member 100 into a pipe forming device 96 while allowing the strip-shaped member 100 to maintaining an adequate helical pitch and diameter in synchronization with orbital and forward speeds of the pipe forming device 96.
However, deployment of many workers leads to an increase in cost. An existing pipe having a small diameter precludes deployment of a worker thereinside. Moreover, tasks inside an existing pipe involve a risk of unexpected events. Therefore, it is desired to make it unnecessary to deploy a worker inside an existing pipe.
For example, a strip-shaped member feed-out device described in Patent Document 1 comprises an inner cylinder supported and fixed with respect to a base, and an outer cylinder rotatably fitted on the inner cylinder. A hydraulic motor for rotationally driving the outer cylinder, and a hydraulic motor for feeding a strip-shaped member, are provided therein. Rotation of the hydraulic motor for rotationally driving the outer cylinder is transmitted to the outer cylinder to cause orbital movement of a feeding mechanism attached to the outer cylinder. In consequence of the orbital movement of the feeding mechanism, orbital movement is imparted to a strip-shaped member.
According to an operation of the hydraulic motor for feeding a strip-shaped member, an inner roller and an outer roller are rotated in mutually opposite directions. A strip-shaped member is fed forwardly while being nipped between the rollers.

Supply device, and method for supplying band-like member