The stabilizer works with any conventional cruise control (CC) and permits automatic CC in slower heavy traffic as it eliminates laborious frequent manual actuation of CC control buttons otherwise needed in such heavy traffic. More frequent automatic CC operation at slower speeds increases fuel efficiency. When the vehicle maintains a speed above a minimum speed and exceeds a brief preset period, the speed stabilizer sets the cruise control at that speed. When the cruise control is thus engaged, the driver's foot can move the accelerator pedal within a small tolerance range without canceling the cruise control. When the pedal is close to the bounds of the tolerance range, a warning signal such as a flashing LED display, is generated by the speed stabilizer to inform the driver that further movement of the pedal will cause acceleration/deceleration, automatically canceling cruise control. Actuation of conventional CC control buttons restores conventional CC.

The present invention relates to the field of cruise control for motor vehicles and more particularly for controlling the speed of a motor vehicle via cruise control based on the position of the accelerator pedal.
Cruise control (CC) is a system used to maintain the constant speed of an automobile with the foot off the accelerator pedal. The benefits of cruise control include:                Better fuel efficiency;        Avoiding unconsciously violating speed limits;        Comfortable driving for long distances on the highway with less traffic.
While cruise control is installed on most vehicles today, it is only good for driving conditions with very low traffic volume. When traffic increases on the road, cruise control becomes less useful. As a result, many people claim that they never or rarely use it because it is "too much trouble". A second problem with cruise control is stepping on the brake or clutch to disengage the cruise control. This can cause the car to skid on a slippery road. Another problem is the lack of a need to maintain constant pedal pressure, which can help lead to accidents caused by highway hypnosis or incapacitated drivers.
A new type of cruise control is called adaptive cruise control (ACC) that uses a radar or laser to detect the vehicles in front, and automatically adjusts the speed for traffic, and brakes when necessary. ACC can be used regardless of the traffic. However, it is only available for some luxury models at this time. One problem with ACC is that it suffers from the "Tunnel Vision" effect (cannot see around corners, does not recognize fixed objects like trees, and fails to notice traffic merging or changing lanes). It also suffers from weather that affects the "vision" of the radar. Due to these problems, for local driving and driving on the highway with heavy traffic, taking the foot off the pedal and letting the ACC handle the vehicle is not a good idea. Besides, adaptive cruise control also produces the problem caused by highway hypnosis.
Another approach for solving the problems with the conventional cruise control is using a specially designed accelerator pedal along with controlling software to obtain constant speed. These are actually special kinds of cruise control. U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,052, U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,409 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,078,860 disclosed such kinds of speed control systems, which have the following disadvantages:    1. All these systems were developed for vehicles with electric throttle which is a drive-by-wire. While there is little doubt that drive-by-wire will become the standard in the future, most vehicles at this time still have a throttle with mechanical linkage.    2. They were designed as a total speed regulation system including accelerator pedal, throttle, engine control unit (ECU), cruise control, linkages, sensors, software and some other hardware. It is difficult to adapt these systems without fundamental changes for particular vehicle models.    3. With an electric throttle, the accelerator pedal position and the engine power output can have any kind of mapping. However, a mapping similar to the one for a mechanical throttle gives the driver a more natural driving experience. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,078,860 and 4,615,409 divide the pedal travel path into deceleration, constant speed and acceleration ranges. Constant speeds can be maintained at a "natural position", which is at 25% of the pedal path for U.S. Pat. No. 6,078,860, or at a "0" point, which is between 10% and 40% for U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,409. In both cases, the 0 acceleration point is implemented by hardware with springs. It is not natural to have a single position corresponding for all constant speeds, and it is not natural to pass through 10% to 40% of the travel path to start acceleration. The system in U.S. Pat. No. 4,541,052 assumes a linear relation between the pedal position and the engine output power. Again, this is not natural. These special pedal and engine output mapping schemes make it difficult for various motor vehicle models to adapt to these technologies. U.S. Pat. No. 7,000,722 reveals a special accelerator pedal which can be used to resume cruise control. This device is only good for vehicles with an adaptive cruise control.

Speed stabilizer for automatically turning conventional cruise controls on/off in dense low speed traffic to save fuel


A copper foil for fine wiring is produced by forming on a bonding surface of a copper foil a composite metal layer comprising (I) copper, (II) at least one of tungsten and molybdenum and (III) at least one of nickel, cobalt, iron and zinc by carrying out electrolysis in a plating bath (A) containing ions of these metals and chloronium ions, and then forming a roughened layer comprising copper on the composite metal layer by carrying out electrolysis in a plating bath (B) containing copper ions at a current density not lower than a limiting current density of the plating bath to form a dendritic copper electrodeposition layer and then carrying out subsequent electrolysis at a current density lower than the limiting current density of plating bath to form nodular copper.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of producing a copper foil for fine wiring, which has a bonding surface uniformly roughened to a low surface roughness, has good etching properties, enables high density fine wiring and also adheres strongly to base materials.
(b) Description of the Related Art
The bonding surface of copper foil for printed wiring boards is generally roughened by some means previous to lamination onto resin base materials, to increase adhesive strength. Plating methods have been mainly used for roughening electrolytic copper foil. Japanese Patent Application Examined Publication No. 53-39376 (1978) discloses an example of the plating methods. According to the method, first a dendritic copper electrodeposition layer is formed on at least one bonding surface of a copper foil as a cathode by the so-called burning plating in an acidic copper plating bath at a current of the limiting current density or higher, then a smooth copper electrodeposition layer is formed on the dendritic copper electrodeposition layer at a current of a current density lower than the limiting current density (covering plating) to change the dendritic copper into nodular copper and to increase the adhesive strength by the nodular copper. After the formation of the nodular copper, the surface of the copper foil has a larger specific surface than before the electrolysis treatment, and the nodular copper works as an anchor to increase the adhesive strength between resin base materials and the copper foil. When nodular copper is formed on electrolytic copper foil, which generally has a surface (mat surface) rougher than the other surface (shiny surface), current is mainly centered to convexes, and the formation of the nodular copper is centered on the extreme tops of the convexes.
With the recent spread of note type personal computers and pocket telephones, the wiring pattern of printed wiring boards fabricated therein has become increasingly denser and finer to a degree of circuit width and space of 100 xcexcm or less. The use of glass-epoxy printed wiring boards produced by using as resin base materials FR-5 materials having high Tg""s has also been increased. As compared with conventional FR-4 materials, epoxy resins having high Tg""s are more resistive to heat but have lower adhesive strength to copper foil. A means of enhancing the adhesive strength of copper foil to resin base materials is to increase the roughness of the bonding surface of copper foil. However, increasing the surface roughness tends to cause the so-called copper powder-falling off that is the falling of nodular copper even with small abrasion force and the so-called residual copper that is nodular copper left in resin base materials after the etching step in the production of printed circuits.
Japanese Patent Application Examined Publication No. 54-38053 (1979) discloses an improved method of forming a roughened surface by carrying out electrolysis treatment at an approximate limiting current density in an acidic copper plating bath to which a specific amount of at least one metal selected from arsenic, antimony, bismuth, selenium and tellurium is added. Minute projections can be formed by adding a very small amount of arsenic, antimony, bismuth, selenium or tellurium, but are still centered to the convexes on the copper foil. Further, printed wiring boards using the copper foil containing arsenic, antimony, bismuth, selenium or tellurium, which are poisons or deadly poisons, cause environmental pollution on discarding etching waste liquors or the printed wiring boards themselves.
The addition of benzoquinoline to an acidic copper plating bath (Japanese Patent Application Examined Publication No. 56-41196 (1981)) and the addition of molybdenum (Japanese Patent Application Examined Publication No. 62-56677 (1987)) are also proposed, but cannot improve adhesive strength sufficiently.
Japanese patent Application Unexamined Publication No. 8-236930 (1996) discloses a method for solving the problem, wherein electrolysis is carried out at approximate limiting current density in an acidic copper plating bath containing metal ions of at least one metal selected from chromium and tungsten and metal ions of at least one metal selected from vanadium, nickel, iron, cobalt, zinc, germanium and molybdenum, to form a roughening-treated layer containing the metals added. Japanese Patent Application Unexamined Publication No. 11-256389 (1999) discloses a method of carrying out electrolysis at approximate limiting current density in an acidic copper plating bath containing molybdenum ions and metal ions of at least one metal selected from iron, cobalt, nickel and tungsten, to form a layer of burnt deposits (a layer formed by burning plating) containing the metals added.
These methods, however, also cause the phenomena of copper powder-falling off and residual copper, because nodular copper is formed exclusively on the extreme tops of the convexes on raw copper foil.
Etching factor (Ef) is a measure of the etching properties of copper-clad laminates. FIG. 1 is an illustrative sectional view of a circuitized copper foil for explaining etching factor (Ef), wherein a circuitized copper foil A is formed on an electrically insulating base material B by etching a copper foil. When the top width of the circuitized copper foil is WT, the bottom width of the circuitized copper foil is WB and the thickness of the circuitized copper foil is H, Ef=2H/(WBxe2x88x92WT). Circuit patterns having larger Ef have walls that are nearer perpendicular. To make finer wiring, it is preferable to use copper foil having larger Ef.
Ef depends on the thickness of copper foil, the surface roughness of the bonding surface of copper foil or the like. Ef decreases with the increase of the surface roughness of the bonding surface, because the projections on the roughened surface of the copper foil dig into base materials, and necessitate elongated etching time to completely remove them and damage the patterned circuit shape due to the excessively etched circuit walls. If the projections of the roughened surface are not etched off completely, the copper particles remaining in the base materials may cause disconnection or insulation failure in narrowly spaced fine wiring.
Fine wiring, therefore, requires copper foil, which has a uniformly roughened bonding surface of low surface roughness, good etching properties and a high adhesive strength to base materials.
The object of the present invention is to provide a copper foil for fine wiring, which has a uniformly roughened bonding surface of a low surface roughness, does not decrease the adhesive strength between the copper foil and resin base materials, has a high etching factor and can be finely patterned without leaving copper particles in base materials.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a method of producing a copper foil for fine wiring, comprising
treating a copper foil as a cathode by electrolysis in a plating bath (A) containing (1) copper ions, (2) metal ions of at least one metal selected from the group consisting of tungsten and molybdenum, (3) metal ions of at least one metal selected from the group consisting of nickel, cobalt, iron and zinc and (4) 1 to 100 mg/l of chloronium ions, at a current density lower than a limiting current density of the plating bath (A), to form on a bonding surface of the copper foil a composite metal layer comprising (I) copper, (II) at least one metal selected from the group consisting of tungsten and molybdenum and (III) at least one metal selected from the group consisting of nickel, cobalt, iron and zinc; and
forming a roughened layer comprising copper on the composite metal layer by carrying out electrolysis in a plating bath (B) containing copper ions at a current density not lower than a limiting current density of the plating bath (B) to form a dendritic copper electrodeposition layer and then carrying out subsequent electrolysis at a current density lower than the limiting current density of the plating bath (B) to form nodular copper.
Herein, the terms xe2x80x9cthe limiting current density of the plating bathxe2x80x9d mean a current density at which the generation of hydrogen accompanies the cathode reaction for the deposition of the metals or metal compounds.

Method of producing copper foil for fine wiring


Settling ponds used in strip mining are reclaimed using lightweight amphibious vehicles which are capable of traversing land, water or clay surfaces and wherein the method consists of pumping clay settled in subsurface areas and spreading the clay remotely over crusted surface areas to thereby create stabilized low profile drainage ditches which extend from low level areas of the ponds to the perimeters thereof to allow water drain off to the perimeter.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to methods for reclaiming abandoned settling ponds utilized in strip mining operations by draining water from the ponds while stabilizing such areas by drying clay pumped from subsurface levels and, more particularly, to a method of reclamation wherein lightweight amphibious vehicles are utilized to traverse low level areas. The method utilizes high pressure pumps which withdraw clay from below the surface of the ponds and to distribute the clay remotely on adjacent stabilized or crusted surface areas so that drying of the clay by evaporation and exposure to the sun is promoted. The withdrawal of the clay causes adjacent surface areas to fall creating stabilized ditches of gentle profile which are used to drain water to the perimeter areas of the ponds thereby allowing a relative continuous drainage of water from the ponds while simultaneously facilitating the drying of clay withdrawn therefrom.
Utilizing the methodology of the present invention, low level areas within the ponds may be connected by stabilized drainage ditches or channels to naturally occurring streams, which are also stabilized by removing clay therefrom. The streams extend to the perimeters of the ponds thereby creating a network of drainage ditches which follow natural surface contours thus facilitating the removal of water from the ponds.
2. History of the Related Art
In the strip mining of phosphate and other resources, the phosphate ore is conventionally mixed with water and pumped to processing plants where the ore is washed and graded before being further processed to remove the phosphate from the soil. During the processing, the water which is utilized to convey the phosphate ore is discharged as a watery clay mixture into large settling ponds wherein the water is allowed to slowly seep into the soil. The settling ponds are generally constructed by initially forming earthen dams or dikes around the perimeter of an area. Many times the bottom will have an uneven contour remaining after mining operations. Such dikes often extend as high as fifty feet. Vast acres of land are bordered by such dikes to create settling ponds capable of handling multiple millions of gallons of water and discharged clay per day. To conserve on resources, the clear water from the top of the settling ponds is normally drained off and recycled and used in the conveying and processing of the phosphate ore, however, in some instances, the water may be discharged to adjacent waterways. As the ponds fill with clay, they are abandoned in favor of newly formed settling ponds. After the ponds are closed or abandoned, they must be reclaimed by draining remaining surface waters and allowing the settled clay to dry so that the earth may be reworked to allow its natural use. As the clay dries a crust of dehydrated clay will form on the surface. The underlying clay has a pudding-like consistency and contains of approximately 20% dry solids by weight.
Conventional methods of settling pond reclamation rely on the formation of ditches which extend inwardly from a perimeter ditch dug adjacent to the dike inner wall. These ditches form conveyance channels for drainage of water from the settling ponds. Unfortunately, the degree of ditch formation is severely limited as the surface areas within the ponds are not stable and do not provide sufficient support or bearing capacity for most earthworking equipment. Therefore, ditching is limited to only those perimeter areas wherein conventional backhoes and other types of ditching equipment can be supported on stabilized soil. A further problem with conventional methods is that after ditches have been formed, as water is being drained through the ditches, the underlying clay layer starts to shrink as it dehydrates. This shrinkage causes the surface level to fall as the crust is no longer being supported by the underlying clay.
Parts of the ditches in these areas drop with the surface areas to the extent that the ditch bottom, which was originally sloped toward the perimeter for drainage, now slopes toward the center of the pond and must be reexcavated. In order to maintain the drainage slope toward the perimeter, the ditches must be made deeper as they approach the perimeter. The material removed is deposited on the surface adjacent to the deepened ditch. This additional weight on the crust coupled with the greater depth causes clay to flow from the subsurface areas into the ditch and the ditch walls to collapse, thereby interrupting the drainage of water and inhibiting the reclamation process.

Method of reclaiming abandoned settling ponds


A scroll fluid machine comprises an orbiting scroll and front and rear stationary scrolls. The orbiting scroll is driven by a driving shaft via an eccentric portion and has front and rear orbiting scroll wraps. The front and rear stationary scroll have front and rear orbiting scroll wraps respectively. The orbiting scroll is revolved by the driving shaft with respect to the stationary scrolls while the front and rear orbiting scroll wraps are engaged with the front and rear stationary scroll wraps to create front compressing and rear expanding sections. Fluid expanded and cooled in the expanding section is used for cooling parts of the machine.

The present invention relates to a scroll fluid machine comprising compressing and expanding sections and especially to a scroll fluid machine used to feed air into and discharge it from a fuel cell.
In a fuel cell, there is electrolyte between an anode and a cathode, and hydrogen is fed as cathode active material to the cathode. Hydrogen from which electrons are taken away at the cathode becomes hydrogen ions which move to the anode through the electrolyte. Oxygen is fed as anode active material to the anode and receives electrons from the cathode through an external circuit to allow the hydrogen ions to react with oxygen to form water. Hence electrons flow from the cathode to the anode or an electric current flows from the anode to the cathode. Generally oxygen-containing air is fed to the anode, so that unreactive oxygen and nitrogen as main component of air exist on the anode in addition to water.
Combination of hydrogen and oxygen is exothermic reaction and its temperature rises from supplied air. The gas which contains nitrogen as main component should be discharged from the anode.
Air pressurized by a compressor is fed to the anode, and the gas at the anode has higher pressure than atmospheric pressure. If the gas is released to air, it will become loss without doing work. Energy of the gas is retrieved through an expander. Thus, the fuel cell may preferably have a compressor and an expander.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,506,512 BI to Mon et al. discloses a compression regenerative machine for a fuel cell as fluid machine having a compressor and an expander. The scroll fluid machine has an orbiting scroll each side of which has a scroll wrap, one scroll wrap compressing sucked fluid, while the other expands sucked fluid to do work.
In the compression regenerating machine, fluid expanded and fallen in temperature in an expanding section cools an orbiting scroll from the expanding section, and fluid is expanded from the center to the circumference. However, there is no expanded or cooled fluid at the center, and no consideration is paid on cooling a bearing for an eccentric pin, a journal bearing for a driving shaft at the center of the orbiting scroll or an electric motor for driving a driving shaft.
Thus, in a small space such as an automobile engine room isolated from outside, surrounding temperature rises to lead poor heat radiation for a long time operation to raise temperature of the bearing thereby decreasing it life. Thermal expansion results in contacting the stationary scroll with the orbiting scroll to damage them. The electric motor heated during rotation for the driving shaft decreases its life.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages, it is an object to provide a scroll fluid machine having a compressing section and an expanding section at both sides of an orbiting scroll end plate, fluid which is fallen in temperature with expansion in the expanding section being applied to cool an orbiting scroll, a bearing or a driving machine effectively.
The foregoing and other features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following description with respect to embodiments as shown in appended drawings.

Scroll fluid machine comprising compressing and expanding sections


An image forming apparatus includes: a pattern determination information calculator for calculating printing pattern determination information on an original; a pressure changer for changing the pressure of a pressing member of a cleaning device; and a controller for varying the pressing force of the pressing member by controlling the pressure changer in accordance with the printing pattern determination information calculated by the pattern determination information calculator. The controller controls the contact pressure driver of the pressing roller so as to weaken the pressing force when that controller determines that printing paper printed with high density patterns or high coverage patterns will be passed through.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copier, printer or the like including a thermal fixing device in which the surface of the fixing roller is cleaned by a cleaning web.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been a known thermal fixing device used in image forming apparatuses such as copiers etc., which include a cleaning web type-cleaning device as a mechanism for reducing residual toner left over on the fixing roller surface.
As this cleaning device, a cleaning device that continues rotating a cleaning web (cleaning means) for a fixed time after the end of printing and then stops it in order to remove residual toner on the fixing roller surface, has been proposed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open H2-284184).
However, the fixing device with the above cleaning device entails the problem that when print media (printing sheets) are continuously passed through the fixing device, a large amount of offset toner stagnates around the contact area where the cleaning web and the fixing roller contact each other (see FIG. 2 described below) because of lowering of the surface temperature of the fixing roller. As a result, the thus stagnant toner is fully heated and fused, and the fused toner weaves through the contact area to thereby dirty the paper.
To deal with this, in order to prevent stagnant toner 153 from weaving through the contact area even when a large amount of offset toner has stagnated around the above contact area, a cleaning device having a pressure changing means for varying the pressing force of the pressing member (pressing roller 136; see FIG. 1 below) that presses the cleaning web against the fixing roller has been proposed (patent document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open 2003-167465).
Now, the basic configuration and operation of a thermal fixing device equipped with a conventional cleaning device will be briefly described.
FIG. 1 is an illustrative view schematically showing the configuration of a cleaning type-thermal fixing device.
As shown in FIG. 1, a thermal fixing device 121 includes a pair of a fixing roller 123 and a pressure roller 124.
Fixing roller 123 is composed of a core member formed of metal such as aluminum or the like having an elastic layer on the outer peripheral surface thereof, a pair of halogen lamp heaters, namely main and sub heaters 128 and 129 arranged inside the core member. A temperature detector 130 of a non-contact type thermistor is arranged around fixing roller 123 so that the surface temperature can be controlled within the range of 160 to 200 deg. .C by main heater 128 and sub heater 129.
Arranged above fixing roller 123 is a web-type cleaning device (cleaning unit) 120 for wiping off the residual toner adhering on the outer peripheral surface. Cleaning unit 120 is essentially comprised of a web sheet delivering roller 132, a tension roller 134 for applying a predetermined tension on a web sheet 133 delivered from web sheet delivering roller 132, a pressing roller 136 for pressing web sheet 133 against the outer peripheral surface of fixing roller 123 and a take-up roller 137 for taking up the used web sheet.
An unillustrated pressure changing mechanism (pressure changing means) is provided for the roller shaft of the pressing roller 136 so as to move and adjust the roller shaft of pressing roller 136 in the directions of a bidirectional arrow A, whereby the web nip width, designated at 139, formed between the fixing roller 123 surface and pressing roller 136 is varied to thereby change the pressing force against fixing roller 123. For example, when pressing roller 136 is moved in the upward direction of bidirectional arrow A to the position indicated by the dashed line, the pressing force lowers so that web nip width 139 becomes smaller. In contrast, when the roller is moved in the downward direction of bidirectional arrow A to the position indicated by the solid line, the pressing force increases so that web nip width 139 becomes greater.
Here, as the pressure changing means, it is possible to control the pressing force by using, for example a rotatable cam mechanism or the like. In addition, this cleaning unit 120 is a periodical replacement part to be replaced in a predetermined replacement cycle.
Similarly to fixing roller 123, pressure roller 124 also is composed of a metal core member having an elastic layer on the outer peripheral surface thereof, a halogen lamp heater, namely pressure roller heater 138 arranged in the core member.
Separation claws 135A and 135B are arranged to abut on the outer peripheral surfaces of fixing roller 123 and pressure roller 124, respectively so as to prevent the print paper, after the heating process, from winding around fixing roller 123 or pressure roller 124.
According to thermal fixing device 121 that functions as described above, as shown in FIG. 2, even when printing sheets are continuously passed through and hence the amount of offset toner becomes greater due to lowering of the surface temperature of fixing roller 123, it is possible to prevent stagnant toner 153 around the contact area from passing therethrough by enhancing the contact pressure of pressing roller 136 against fixing roller 123. As a result, it is possible to prevent leakage toner 150 and 151 from dirtying fixing roller 123 and printing paper by adherence of toner thereto.
Here, when printing sheets printed with high density patterns or high coverage patterns are passed through the fixing device, toner is liable to stagnate on the upstream side of the contact area between fixing roller 123 and cleaning web 133. In this situation, once printing is ceased, the surface temperature of fixing roller 123 lowers and the large amount of residual toner solidifies on the fixing roller 123 surface and adheres thereto.
To deal with this, in the conventional method of controlling the contact pressure of pressing roller 136 against fixing roller 123 based on the information as to lowering of the surface temperature of fixing roller 123 only, it is possible to reduce the amount of toner remaining around the contact area by further enhancing the contact pressure of pressing roller 136 against fixing roller 123 from the normal contact pressure of a predetermined level to a higher level, or increasing the rotational rate of take-up roller 137 to increase the winding length of web sheet 133.
However, in both of these cases, the friction between pressing roller 136 and fixing roller 123 is increased, so that there occurs the problem that the fixing roller 123 surface is worn out excessively, needing frequent maintenance work of the entire cleaning device and hence needing high maintenance cost and others.

Image forming apparatus with device for reducing stagnant toner between fixing roller and cleaning web


Melt-fabricable, tough copolymer of tetrafluoroethylene and fluorinated vinyl ether is produced in a suspension polymerization process by copolymerizing tetrafluoroethylene and fluorinated vinyl ether in a pressurized, agitated reaction vessel which contains aqueous medium, free radical initiator, and a telogen, the aqueous medium being essentially free of fluorine containing organic solvent. The contents of the reaction vessel are agitated during polymerization sufficiently to coagulate copolymer of tetrafluoroethylene and fluorinated vinyl ether. The melt-fabricable, tough copolymer having a melt viscosity of less than about 1×106 Pa·S is isolated directly from the reaction vessel.

Polymers prepared from fluorinated monomers such as tetrafluoroethylene (TFE) have outstanding physical properties including toughness, chemical and heat resistance, corrosion protection, release, cleanability, low flammability, and weatherability. High molecular weight polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) homopolymers provide the highest heat stability among the fluoropolymers but have an extremely low melt flow making fabrication of these polymers difficult. It is known that the melt flow of TFE polymers can be increased by copolymerization with ethylenically unsaturated monomers creating plastics with high enough flow to allow fabrication by melt extrusion or injection molding.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,559,752 to Berry and U.S. Pat. No. 2,952,669 to Bro both disclose polymerization of TFE with ethylenically unsaturated comonomer to make tough polymer which can be hot pressed into transparent film which can be bent 180° without breaking. The polymerization may be carried out in an aqueous dispersion polymerization process using a fluorosurfactant as taught by Berry or in a fluorinated nonaqueous liquid solvent medium as taught by Bro. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,132,123, Harris, Jr. et al. disclose the copolymerization of TFE specifically with perfluoro(alkyl vinyl ether) (PAVE) in a fluorinated solvent to produce melt-processible polymers with sufficient melt flow to permit melt fabrication of useful end products.
In further development of TFE copolymerization, U.S. Pat. No. 3,642,742 to Carlson and U.S. Pat. No. 3,635,926 to Gresham et al. disclose the benefit of using chain transfer agent (CTA) in polymerizing melt processible TFE/PAVE copolymers. Use of a chain transfer agent imparts two highly desirable secondary attributes without decreasing the ease of melt processibility, namely (1) decreased unstable end groups for increased thermal stability and (2) narrowed molecular weight distribution leading to reduced swelling upon extrusion. Carlson conducts the copolymerization in fluorosolvent and Gresham conducts an aqueous dispersion polymerization with fluorosurfactant to produce a colloidally stable dispersion of TFE/PAVE copolymers.
Two general processes for polymerizing tetrafluoroethylene (TFE) to make non-melt processible polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) are known—(1) dispersion polymerization and (2) suspension polymerization. Aqueous suspension polymerization has the advantages of using little or no surfactant (dispersing agent), no organic solvents, and the ability to directly isolate the polymer from aqueous medium. All of this is in contrast to dispersion polymerization which uses large amounts of surfactant incurring added expense and requiring recycle and/or disposal. Further, dispersion polymerization requires subsequent steps such as coagulation and washing to achieve isolation of the product.
An effort to produce tetrafluoroethylene/fluoro(alkyl vinyl ether) copolymer by suspension polymerization is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,499,249 to Nakagawa et al. However, the medium used is a mixed medium of water and a fluorohydrocarbon or a chlorofluorohydrocarbon.
What would be desirable is an improved process for producing tetrafluoroethylene copolymer that eliminates or minimizes the use of surfactants and solvents and permits easy isolation of a copolymer product.

Melt-fabricable tetrafluoroethylene/fluorinated vinyl ether copolymer prepared by suspension polymerization


A display of an embodiment of the invention includes a number of display modules that are interlockable to form the display. Each display module includes at least one user-viewable display element, at least one connector, and at least one receptor, which are disposed in the display module. Each of a number of pixels of the display corresponds to at least one of the display elements of each display module. The connectors of each display module at least receive power from and/or provide power to adjacent display modules. The receptors of each display module are receptive to connectors of other adjacent display modules.

Using display devices within computerized systems has almost become a foregone conclusion. Where output of information to a user is desired, most computerized devices either have integrated display devices on which to display this information, or expect that external display devices be connected to them to display information. Different types of display technologies include cathode-ray tube (CRT), light-emitting diode (LED), liquid-crystal display (LCD), liquid crystal on silicon (LCOS), organic LED (OLED), and rear and front projection, among many others.
Sometimes situations call for information to be displayed on a very large scale. In conference rooms, outside information displays viewable from hundreds of feet away, exhibition halls, and other locations, being able to display information so that a large number of people from various distances away can see the information can be important. Usually two different approaches are used in such situations.
First, a large display device may be employed. A large plasma display, for instance, may be used in a conference room or an exhibition hall, or a very large weatherproof LED or LCD display may be used in outside areas. However, large display devices can be difficult to transport. Large plasma displays, for instance, may weigh over one hundred pounds. Large LED or LCD displays, that are a half-story or larger in height, may need the utilization of a crane or other machinery to be put into place.
Second, a number of smaller stand-alone display devices, intended for individual use as perhaps the exclusive displays within computerized systems, may be positioned relative to one another in a given configuration so that from a reasonable distance away they appear to be a single display device. However, each individual usually has its own power cable and communication cable. For a large display made up of a great number of individual display devices, having to coordinate all these different cables can be a chore. Moreover, many computerized systems may not be equipped to handle a large number of individual display devices to make up a large display.
For these and other reasons, there is a need for the present invention.

Display with interlockable display modules

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


The present invention provides a modified natural rubber having a reduced tan δ, a method for producing the modified natural rubber, a rubber composition produced using the modified natural rubber, and a pneumatic tire produced using the rubber composition. The present invention also provides a modified natural rubber having a reduced tan δ, a method for producing the modified natural rubber, a rubber composition produced using the modified natural rubber and achieving good fuel economy and abrasion resistance at the same time, and a pneumatic tire produced using the rubber composition. The present invention relates to a modified natural rubber having a phosphorus content of 200 ppm or less and a total content of sodium and potassium of 350 ppm or less. The invention also relates to a modified natural rubber having a phosphorus content of 200 ppm or less and a nitrogen content of 0.2% by mass or less.

Natural rubber is used in various fields, including industrial products such as tires, belts and rolls, and sports products such as tennis balls. Rubber products are generally subjected to compression-recovery-elongation repeatedly during use, which results in accumulation of loss energy to generate heat. This heat promotes rubber fatigue and thus contributes to shortened life of the rubber products. The larger the amount of the loss energy represented by loss tangent, tan δ, is, the more the heat build-up is. Further, the rolling resistance of a tire is empirically known to be dependent on the value of tan δ at 50° C. to 70° C. This means that there are problems that a high tan δ causes an increase not only in heat build-up but also in rolling resistance, and therefore causes a decrease in fuel economy of vehicles. Accordingly, it is desirable for treads of fuel-saving tires to have a low tan δ at 50° C. to 70° C.
Some documents disclose methods for reducing the protein and gel contents in natural rubber to reduce the tan δ of a rubber composition. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a method of immersing solid natural rubber swollen with a solvent in an alkali hydroxide solution. Patent Literature 2 discloses a method of removing magnesium phosphate from natural rubber latex by adding a phosphate to the latex. Patent Literature 3 discloses a method of adding a proteolytic enzyme and a surfactant to natural rubber latex and aging the latex. Patent Literature 4 discloses a method of adding a surfactant to natural rubber latex and performing a washing treatment.
However, these methods can reduce the protein and gel contents to some extent, but not yet to a sufficient level. In general, deproteinization can reduce the protein content, but disadvantageously it cannot sufficiently remove, particularly, phospholipids which are thought to be one of the factors for formation of a gel fraction in natural rubber.
In addition, these methods can reduce the protein and gel contents to some extent, but not yet to a sufficient level, and further reduction in tan δ is thus desired. Tires are also especially desired to have durability such as abrasion resistance, and it is commonly hard to achieve good fuel economy and durability at the same time.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Modified natural rubber, method for producing same, rubber composition, and pneumatic tire


An MPEG multiplexed data transmission system accepts data from a plurality of sources and supplies them, on a packet basis, to a common data stream. The non uniform jitter experienced by the packets is determined by subtracting the average delay for packets in a program from the current packet delay. PCR packets have their time base extracted, corrected for the calculated non uniform time delay and replaced as the PCR packet is supplied to the common data stream. Only PCR packets are modified

This invention relates generally to data transmission systems and particularly to data transmission systems that use MPEG 2 encoded data streams.
The environment of the invention is a plurality of program sources, each of which transmits an MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group) 2 transport stream, representing a single program running at a data or byte rate that is substantially constant, but different from the byte rate of any other program. Further, the system is entirely asynchronous, i.e. the clock signal that generates the byte rate of any particular program is not locked to the clock signal of any other program. The problem is to multiplex the various streams of data onto a single path that has a fixed byte rate that is not locked to any of the program clock signals. The multiplexing arrangement should ideally be optimized for minimal jitter where jitter is defined as the variation in delay experienced by any program in the transmission of its data packets through the multiplex link. Jitter is undesirable because it requires the addition of expensive buffer memory in the receiver. The MPEG transmitter assumes that the transmitted data will undergo a constant delay on its way to the receiver. The MPEG decoder in the receiver will work properly only if it is supplied with data at a constant rate. Any delay variation in the transmission path is equivalent to a non constant delay and if it occurs, added buffer memory is required. This memory is used as an elastic buffer to smooth the received jittered data to the near constant rate required by the MPEG decoding circuitry. As jitter increases, the need for additional buffer memory increases.
The MPEG 2 type data transport system is a well-defined entity, composed of data packets, each containing 188 bytes. The prior art already has a product that multiplexes a number of MPEG 2 transport streams of differing packet rates, the clocks of which are locked together to a single stream in which the byte rate is also locked to those of the input signals. The invention claimed in the copending application is directed to a system that will accomplish the multiplexing task with individual transport streams and a common multiplexing stream having different byte (or packet) rates and completely asynchronous clock signals.
In the MPEG transport stream special program clock reference (PCR) packets are inserted on an arbitrary basis, but no less than every 0.1 seconds. The PCR packet includes a PCR time base consisting of 48 bits (six bytes), which define a time stamp. The time stamp indicates the relative time that the PCR packet was sent by the program source. The PCR packets have headers and a flag to enable their recovery at the receiver set top box (STB) where they are used to synchronize the STB clock to the source clock. The "base" portion of the time stamp consists of the first 33 bits which measure time in "90 KHz ticks" which is an increment of time for one cycle of a 90 KHz signal. Constant delays experienced by the packets in a program data stream are not of importance since they do not affect the relative PCR time base values. Non uniform delays or jitter, however, disrupt the time base relationships and make the task of clock recovery at the STB more difficult, if not impossible in some cases. At the very least, uncompensated non uniform delay in the PCR time bases requires more memory in the STB, which is expensive. The present invention compensates the PCR packets for the non uniform delay introduced by multiplexing.


A process for treating waste water, including the steps of extracting by forward osmosis treated water from a wastewater feed stream and transferring it to a saline draw stream, and extracting from the saline draw stream treated water by a reverse osmosis process.

The treatment of wastewater from cities and towns presents ongoing problems for engineers. The basic objective of protection of public health must now be met with treatment processes that have minimal impact on the environment. Traditional treatment processes, such as an activated sludge plant, require large amounts of energy. Plant operators have increasingly been implementing biogas systems to offset their energy use.
Osmosis has previously been used in the filtration of water. Osmosis is the naturally occurring movement of solvent through a semi-permeable membrane from an area of low solute concentration to an area of higher concentration. The movement of solvent tends to equalise the concentration on both sides of the membrane creating a pressure differential (ΔP) over the membrane. The osmotic pressure, ΔPo, is the pressure differential when the solvent is in equilibrium and there is no net flow through the membrane. The osmotic pressure varies for different solvents and solute concentrations.
Osmotic power, by way of a pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) system, has previously been proposed for power generation as osmotic power is a renewable resource that is currently untapped and has the potential to become a significant source of reliable power.
Previously proposed PRO systems have required a source of fresh water, along with a source of salinated water, for operation, resulting in limited potential sites for their use.
Furthermore, such an approach ignores the potential of waste water sources, such as waste water for example, for use in PRO systems.
Examples of the invention seek to solve, or at least ameliorate, one or more disadvantages of previous wastewater treatment and pressure retarded osmosis systems.

Process and system for treating waste water and generating power


Continuous time filters and Δ-Σ analog to digital converters and methods for process variation trim/tuning. In feed forward filters, the resistance of feed forward transconductance elements are adjusted to compensate for process variation in the GM/SC values in the filters. Since all. GM/SC values are subject to the same RC process variation, and the resistance in all feed forward transconductance elements is also subject to the same R process variation, the resistance in the feed forward transconductance elements may be adjusted in accordance with analytically predetermined factors based on a single measurement of the RC process variation for each filter to compensate for the overall RC process variation. Various embodiments are disclosed, both as feed forward filters and as Δ-Σ analog to digital converter systems using such filters.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of continuous-time filtering and Δ-Σ analog to digital converters.
2. Prior Art
Continuous-time filters which utilize feed-forward topologies, feedback topologies or both are used for various purposes. One such use is in receivers in wireless networks. Such filters generally use multi-stages of transconductance amplifiers and integration capacitors. Because of process variations, the poles of the loop filter will change accordingly, leading to degraded performance or even resulting in instability.
The conventional wisdom is to tune or trim the integration capacitors (C) and/or transconductors of each stage (GMi, i=1, 2, 3, 4). There are several drawbacks with these previous methods:
1) Tune/trim of the transconductance (GM) of each stage will affect the noise performance of the overall filter/modulator, especially for Gm1 (the first stage);
2) For multi-band/multi-corner (multi-standard) frequency applications such as wireless cellular, the GM'S and C's have to be adjusted for each standard, which results in inefficient implementations, extra complexity and degraded performance.

Process variation trim/tuning for continuous time filters and Δ-Σ analog to digital converters


This application relates to a video encoding method performed at a computer device. The method includes: obtaining an input video frame; determining a processing parameter corresponding to the input video frame; selecting, from candidate processing manners according to the processing parameter, a target processing manner corresponding to the input video frame, the candidate processing manners comprising a full-resolution processing manner and a downsampling processing manner; and encoding the input video frame according to the target processing manner, to obtain encoded data corresponding to the input video frame. Therefore, the target processing manner of the input video frame can be flexibly selected, and the input video frame is encoded according to the target processing manner, to adaptively adjust a resolution of the input video frame, and improve video encoding quality.

With the development of digital media technologies and computer technologies, videos are applied to various fields, such as mobile communication, network monitoring, and network television. With the improvement of hardware performance and screen resolution, users' demand for high-definition videos is increasing.
Under a condition of a limited bandwidth, conventional encoders indiscriminately encode video frames. This may lead to poor video quality in some scenarios. For example, at 750 kbps, when all video frames are indiscriminately encoded, quality of some video frames is poor for encoders such as H.264\H.265\iOS.

Selective resolution video encoding method, computer device, and readable storage medium

TENCENT TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) COMPANY LIMITED


A table tennis ball delivery device adapted to be secured to or adjacent the side of a table tennis table for directing a ball to a player upon the activation of a switch by the player. The device includes a chamber for carrying a supply of table tennis balls, a ball transfer mechanism for selectively advancing an individual ball from the chamber to a location over a flexed or cocked delivery spring oriented such that upon activation of the switch by a player, the spring is released so as to strike a ball and launch the ball to the player. The ball transfer mechanism is coordinated with the spring cocking and release mechanism so as to position another ball over the delivery spring and re-cock the spring immediately upon the launching of the ball to the player.

The present invention relates to a device for delivering table tennis balls to a player for use in practicing and playing the game of table tennis. In playing and practicing the game of table tennis, considerable time is spent in retrieving errant balls. The game would be more enjoyable if a device were available that, upon command, could deliver a fresh ball to the player. Such a device would also substantially increase the efficiency of time spent practicing the game in that the need to continually retrieve balls would be eliminated or substantially reduced. Such a device should be economical to produce, easy to use and readily installed. The present invention provides such a ball delivery device.


The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for estimating level of bodily injury of occupants at an accident of a vehicle. The apparatus has an occupancy detecting block which determines occupied seat. The apparatus has a deformation estimating block which estimates a deformation amount which is reduction of space around the seat. The apparatus has a bodily injury estimating block which estimates bodily injury level based on the occupied seat and estimated deformation amount.

JP2007-538297A discloses an apparatus for estimating levels of bodily injuries of vehicle occupants. This apparatus uses a sheet shaped sensor disposed on a seat, a transponder disposed in a child support seat, or a video camera which monitors inside of the vehicle. The apparatus transmits a report to a medical institution about an accident and data showing an estimated level of bodily injury of occupants.

Apparatus for estimating bodily injury level of vehicle occupant


A medical dilating system and method are provided that include a dilator device having an elongated shape with an exterior surface, a first end and a second end. The first end of the dilator device includes a tapered tip configured to penetrate and provide an opening in the tissue of a patient, and a plurality of sleeves cooperatively configured to widen the opening in the tissue. The dilator device includes an interior wall that generally defines an open interior volume extending from an opening of the second end of the dilator device to one or more openings in the tapered tip at the first end of the dilator device. Each of the plurality of sleeves has an elongated shape with an exterior surface, a first end, a second end, and an interior wall that generally defines an open interior volume substantially extending from an opening of the first end of the respective sleeve to the second end of the respective sleeve. The plurality of sleeves include at least a first sleeve operable to allow the internal wall of the first sleeve to be substantially positioned around the exterior surface of the dilator device, and a second sleeve operable to allow the internal wall of the second sleeve to be substantially positioned around the exterior surface of the first sleeve.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to medical devices and more particularly, relates to a medical device system for retraction of tissues and insertion of instruments in connection with surgeries.
2. Discussion of the Background
Surgery often requires making openings in a patient. Current techniques often use invasive techniques which result in trauma to the patient during the surgery of the patient. Therefore, there exists a need for minimally invasive system which reduces trauma during surgery.

Medical dilator system or dilator device


A magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) magnetoresistive read head for a magnetic recording system has the MTJ sensing or free ferromagnetic layer also functioning as a flux guide to direct magnetic flux from the magnetic recording medium to the tunnel junction. The MTJ fixed ferromagnetic layer and the MTJ tunnel barrier layer have their front edges substantially coplanar with the sensing surface of the head. Both the fixed and free ferromagnetic layers are in contact with opposite surfaces of the MTJ tunnel barrier layer but the free ferromagnetic layer extends beyond the back edge of either the tunnel barrier layer or the fixed ferromagnetic layer, whichever back edge is closer to the sensing surface. This assures that the magnetic flux is non-zero in the tunnel junction region. The magnetization direction of the fixed ferromagnetic layer is fixed in a direction generally perpendicular to the sensing surface and thus to the magnetic recording medium, preferably by interfacial exchange coupling with an antiferromagnetic layer. The magnetization direction of the free ferromagnetic layer is aligned in a direction generally parallel to the surface of the medium in the absence of an applied magnetic field and is free to rotate in the presence of applied magnetic fields from the medium. A layer of high coercivity hard magnetic material adjacent the sides of the free ferromagnetic layer longitudinally biases the magnetization of the free ferromagnetic layer in the preferred direction.

A magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) device is comprised of two ferromagnetic layers separated by a thin insulating tunnel barrier layer and is based on the phenomenon of spin-polarized electron tunneling. One of the ferromagnetic layers has a higher saturation field in one direction of an applied magnetic field, typically due to its higher coercivity than the other ferromagnetic layer. The insulating tunnel barrier layer is thin enough that quantum mechanical tunneling occurs between the ferromagnetic layers. The tunneling phenomenon is electron-spin dependent, making the magnetic response of the MTJ a function of the relative orientations and spin polarizations of the two ferromagnetic layers.
MTJ devices have been proposed primarily as memory cells for solid state memory. The state of the MTJ memory cell is determined by measuring the resistance of the MTJ when a sense current is passed perpendicularly through the MTJ from one ferromagnetic layer to the other. The probability of tunneling of charge carriers across the insulating tunnel barrier layer depends on the relative alignment of the magnetic moments (magnetization directions) of the two ferromagnetic layers. The tunneling current is spin polarized, which means that the electrical current passing from one of the ferromagnetic layers, for example, a layer whose magnetic moment is fixed or prevented from rotation, is predominantly composed of electrons of one spin type (spin up or spin down, depending on the orientation of the magnetic moment of the ferromagnetic layer). The degree of spin polarization of the tunneling current is determined by the electronic band structure of the magnetic material comprising the ferromagnetic layer at the interface of the ferromagnetic layer with the tunnel barrier layer. The first ferromagnetic layer thus acts as a spin filter. The probability of tunneling of the charge carriers depends on the availability of electronic states of the same spin polarization as the spin polarization of the electrical current in the second ferromagnetic layer. Usually, when the magnetic moment of the second ferromagnetic layer is parallel to the magnetic moment of the first ferromagnetic layer, there are more available electronic states than when the magnetic moment of the second ferromagnetic layer is aligned antiparallel to that of the first ferromagnetic layer. Thus, the tunneling probability of the charge carriers is highest when the magnetic moments of both layers are parallel, and is lowest when the magnetic moments are antiparallel. When the moments are arranged neither parallel nor antiparallel, the tunneling probability takes an intermediate value. Thus, the electrical resistance of the MTJ memory cell depends on the spin polarization of the electrical current and the electronic states in both of the ferromagnetic layers. As a result, the two possible magnetization directions of the ferromagnetic layer whose magnetization direction is not fixed uniquely define two possible bit states (0 or 1) of the memory cell.
A magnetoresistive (MR) sensor detects magnetic field signals through the resistance changes of a sensing element, fabricated of a magnetic material, as a function of the strength and direction of magnetic flux being sensed by the sensing element. Conventional MR sensors, such as those used as MR read heads for reading data in magnetic recording disk drives, operate on the basis of the anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) effect of the bulk magnetic material, which is typically permalloy (Ni.sub.81 Fe.sub.19). A component of the read element resistance varies as the square of the cosine of the angle between the magnetization direction in the read element and the direction of sense current through the read element. Recorded data can be read from a magnetic medium, such as the disk in a disk drive, because the external magnetic field from the recorded magnetic medium (the signal field) causes a change in the direction of magnetization in the read element, which in turn causes a change in resistance of the read element and a corresponding change in the sensed current or voltage. In conventional MR read heads, in contrast to MTJ devices, the sense current is in a direction parallel to the ferromagnetic layer of the read element.
The use of an MTJ device as a magnetoresistive read head for magnetic recording has also been proposed, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,061. In this MTJ read head, the free and fixed ferromagnetic layers have lateral perimeters which do not extend beyond that of the lateral perimeter of the insulating tunnel barrier. In a magnetic recording device the read head senses flux from small magnetized regions or magnetic bits written into a thin film magnetic medium above which the head is suspended. Increased capacity disk drives are achieved in part by higher magnetic bit areal densities. Thus the area of each magnetic region or bit must be decreased but this thereby gives rise to reduced magnetic flux. Magnetic recording heads which can sense reduced magnetic flux with greater output signal are thereby required for higher performance and higher capacity magnetic recording disk drives. Improved magnetic recording read heads can be obtained by finding MTJ structures with higher magnetoresistance coefficients. However the MR coefficients are determined by the intrinsic electronic and magnetic properties of the materials comprising the MTJ.
What is needed is an MTJ MR read head for a magnetic recording system which gives greater output signal for the same input magnetic flux for otherwise the same set of magnetic and electrical materials from the which MTJ is constructed.

Magnetic tunnel junction magnetoresistive read head with sensing layer as rear flux guide

International Business Machines Corporation


A fastener is configured for engagement upon a panel having a panel opening, and for engaging a mating fastener through the panel opening. The fastener includes a body having an axis of rotation, a peripheral edge, a main portion and a panel end. At least two lugs project from the peripheral edge at the panel end and are the points of fixed engagement with the panel without causing yielding of the panel or of the fastener. In another embodiment, a fastener system includes a fastener having a body with at least two lugs projecting from the body, a panel with an opening and at least two pocket formations disposed relative to the opening to receive the lugs and place the body in registry with the opening. The lugs lockingly engage the pocket formations as the body is rotated, the engagement being achieved without causing yielding the fastener or the panel.

The present invention relates to fasteners, and more particularly to fasteners used to secure items to panels. Specifically, the present invention relates to threaded fasteners designed to be secured to a panel.
Conventional panel fasteners provide a threaded nut, a bolt, a rod or other type of fastener that is engageable in registry with an opening in a panel of sheet material, such as rigid plastic, aluminum or sheet metal. A device is secured to the panel through engagement of the engaged panel fastener, and a corresponding fastener portion.
There are two main technologies used to secure panel fasteners to panels. The first is welding, used when the panels are aluminum or sheet metal. One problem of welding fasteners to aluminum is that a large capital investment is required in providing systems for accurately locating the fastener on the panel, and for consistently and completely welding the fastener to the panel.
In mass production applications, statistical process control (SPC) is employed to ensure consistent quality products. In the event a single weld fails or is otherwise found to be inadequate or unsatisfactory, the requirements of SPC call for the recalling or examination of all related and/or inventoried components that may suffer a similar deficiency or defect. Thus, a failed weld on a single panel fastener worth pennies can involve a disruption in manufacturing costing thousands of dollars. In addition, the cost of operating and maintaining a mass production welding operation is considerable.
The other main technology used to secure panel fasteners to panels is used to produce products known as Smak Nuts, clinch fasteners or Pierce fasteners, and are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,445,483. In this type of system, the panel fastener is forced into the panel opening, and causes yielding, also referred to as cold forming or deformation of the panel and/or the fastener to create a tight friction fit.
As is the case with welding, the latter technology also requires large capital investment, in this case taking the form of hydraulic presses to apply the pressure needed for pressing the fastener into the panel opening. Thus, there are high equipment and labor costs associated with securing panel fasteners to panels with Smak Nut, Pierce or clinch nut technology.
Another disadvantage of existing technologies used to secure panel fasteners to panels is that relatively low torque forces, measured in Newton Metres, are required to cause the fastener to become detached or disengaged from the panel. Where manufacturing process employs SPC, these technologies entail significant monitoring, evaluation and correction costs in the event of a failure.
Thus, a first object of the present invention is to provide an improved type of panel fastener technology which requires neither welding nor yielding of the panel or the fastener itself.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved type of panel fastener in which locking engagement of the fastener upon the panel is achieved merely by assembly of the fastener upon the panel.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improved type of panel fastener which features relatively high torque failure values.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an improved type of panel fastener which is installed using hand tools or automation.
The above-identified objects are met or exceeded by the present fastener and panel mounting system, which features a fastener with at least two extending lug formations which project beyond a periphery of the fastener body. On the panel, a like plurality of pocket formations or raised bosses or shear forms are configured and arranged to receive the lugs, and, as the fastener is rotated, lockingly retain the lugs so that the fastener is secured. In this manner, the fastener is securely held to the panel against significant rotational torque forces and without the drawbacks of welding or yielding, as in prior designs.
More specifically, a fastener is provided which is configured for engagement upon a panel having a panel opening, and constructed and arranged for engaging a mating fastener through the panel opening. The fastener includes a body having an axis of rotation, a peripheral edge, a main portion and a panel end. At least two lugs project from the peripheral edge at the panel end and are configured for being the points of fixed engagement with the panel without causing yielding of the panel or of the fastener.
In another embodiment, a fastener system is provided, including a fastener having a body with at least two lugs projecting from the body, a panel with an opening and at least two pocket formations disposed relative to the opening to receive the lugs and place the body in registry with the opening. The lugs are configured to lockingly engage the pocket formations as the body is rotated, the engagement being achieved without causing yielding the fastener or the panel.
In the preferred embodiment, each of the lugs is provided with an inclined or ramped upper surface to facilitate rotational sliding engagement with the pocket formations, and a lower surface with locking formations. Upon rotational engagement of the fastener with the pocket formation, the locking formation matingly engages an aperture defined by the pocket formation, to positively retain the fastener upon the panel.


A problem associated with current bottom spin valve designs is that it is difficult to avoid magnetic charge accumulation at the edge of the sensor area, making a coherent spin rotation during sensing difficult to achieve. This problem has been eliminated by introducing an exchange coupling layer between the free layer and the ferromagnetic layer that is used to achieve longitudinal bias for stabilization and by extending the free layer well beyond the sensor area. After all layers have been deposited, the read gap is formed by etching down as far as this layer. Since it is not critical exactly how much of the biasing layers (antiferromagnetic as well as ferromagnetic) are removed, the etching requirements are greatly relaxed. Whatever material remains in the gap is then oxidized thereby providing a capping layer as well as a good interface for specular reflection in the sensor region.

The principle governing the operation of the read sensor in a magnetic disk storage device is the change of resistivity of certain materials in the presence of a magnetic field (MR or magneto-resistance). Magneto-resistance can be significantly increased by means of a structure known as a spin valve. The resulting increase (known as Giant magneto-resistance or GMR) derives from the fact that electrons in a magnetized solid are subject to significantly less scattering by the lattice when their own magnetization vectors (due to spin) are parallel (as opposed to anti-parallel) to the direction of magnetization of the solid as a whole
The key elements of what is termed a top spin valve are, starting at the lowest level, a seed layer, a free magnetic layer, a non-magnetic spacer layer, a magnetically pinned layer, a pinning layer, and capping layer. When this order of layering is Inverted the resulting structure has the free layer at the top and is termed a bottom spin valve. The present invention is concerned with the latter type. One advantage of this type of design is that the capping layer, if made of certain materials, can, in addition to protecting the GMR stack from corrosion, also bring about more specular reflection at the free layer-capping layer interface, thereby increasing the conductance. Isolation of the device from extraneous magnetic fields is achieved by sandwiching it between two magnetic shield layers.
Although the layers enumerated above are all that is needed to produce the GMR effect, additional problems remain. In particular, there are certain noise effects associated with such a structure. As first shown by Barkhausen in 1919, magnetization in a layer can be irregular because of reversible breaking of magnetic domain walls, leading to the phenomenon of Barkhausen noise. The solution to this problem has been to provide a device structure conducive to single-domain films for the GMR sensor and to ensure that the domain configuration remains unperturbed after processing and fabrication steps and under normal operation. This is most commonly accomplished by giving the structure a permanent longitudinal bias provided by two opposing permanent magnets.
Today, the most common sensor stabilization scheme uses a hard bias abutted junction structure as illustrated in FIG. 1. Seen there are substrate 11, seed layer 12, and layer 13 which represents an antiferromagnetic pinning layer as well as a pair of antiparallel pinned layers. Layer 16 is a copper spacer layer, layer 17 is the free layer, and layer 18 is a capping layer. The read element width is defined by the edges that were milled out by etching. These edges are stabilized through the magneto-static coupling provided by the adjacent hard bias layer 14 which is separated from the sensor by non-magnetic seed layer 12. This hard bias layer is traditionally similar to those magnetic media materials which offer large coercivity, typically several thousands Oesterds.
The major problem of this scheme is that it breaks the magnetic continuity of the GMR sensor, and so cannot avoid magnetic charge accumulation at the edge of the sensor area, making a coherent spin rotation during sensing difficult to achieve without proper biasing. Traditional methods require a large magnetic moment to be put on the edge and utilize magnetostatic coupling to stabilize the edge spins. As the sensor size shrinks, these extra moments stiffen the whole sensor thus reducing sensor sensitivity to the media field. On the other hand, without these extra moments, transition through a multi-domain state is unavoidable during sensing. This could lead to higher noise level and reduce the sensitivity of the GMR sensor. This becomes more and more serious as the sensor size reduces and the sensor edge region occupies a larger and larger proportion of the total GMR sensor area.
One simple alternative is to replace the hard bias layer with an exchange biased magnetic layer as shown in FIG. 2. Seen there is soft magnetic layer 24 which is permanently magnetized through exchange coupling with antiferromagnetic (AFM) layer 25. Due to the abrupt cut of the junction edge in this scheme, it does not show a significant advantage relative to the hard bias scheme. To ensure magnetic continuity in the GMR sensor, it is preferred that the top magnetic layer not be touched during processing.
There are other schemes utilizing exchange bias to stabilize the GMR sensor edge. However, they all require extreme process control, like a few angstroms level etch control in order to be implemented. In the present invention we disclose a different approach, which provides a certain degree of specular reflection, a relatively large process window, a high exchange bias and convenience of integration into current existing process capabilities.
A routine search of the prior art was performed with the following publications of interest being found:    1. S. S. P. Parkin, "Systematic Variation of the Strength and Oscillation Period of Indirect Magnetic Exchange Coupling through the 3d, 4d, and 5d Transition Metals", Phys. Rev. Lett., Vol. 67, P. 3598, 1991.    2. B. Dieny, V. S. Speriosu, S. S. P. Parkin, B. A. Gurney, D. R. Wilhoit and D. Mauri, "Giant Mangnetoresistance in soft ferromagnetic multilayers", Phys. Rev. B, Vol. 43, P. 1297, 1991.
The following patents were also encountered during our search.:
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,266,218, Carey et al. show a GMR with a Bottom SV and patterned exchange process. U.S. Pat. No. 5,637,235 (Kim) discloses a BSV while U.S. Pat. No. 6,185,079 (Gill) shows an exchange biases DSV. U.S. Pat. No. 5,856,897 (Mauri) is a related GMR with AFM and FM layers. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,118,624, Fukuzawa et al. discuss abutted junctions and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,313,973 Fuke et al. describe laminated exchange coupling.

Easily manufactured exchange bias stabilization scheme


A method for producing β-hydroxy amino acid and its optically-active isomer is provided. The β-hydroxy amino acid is produced by reacting a predetermined D-α-amino acid and 5,10-methylene tetrahydrofolic acid in the presence of an enzyme derived from a microorganism belonging to the genera Paracoccus, Aminobacter, or Ensifer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for producing β-hydroxy amino acid and in particular, to a method for producing the β-hydroxy amino acid using a novel enzyme.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Amino acids such as β-hydroxy amino acid and amino acids having optical activity at an α-position are expected to be used as intermediates for pharmaceuticals. Examples of methods for producing optically-active α-alkyl serine derivatives which are optically-active amino acid derivatives having two different substituents at the α-position, and salts thereof, include the following methods:
1) asymmetric alkylation of an optically-active oxazolidine compound obtained from the optically-active serine derivative and pivalaldehyde (Seebach et al., Helvetica Chimica Acta, 1987, 70:1194-1216);
2) asymmetric aldol reaction of α-isocyano carboxylic acid ester and paraformaldehyde with an optically-active metal catalyst (Yoshihiko et al., Tetrahedron Letters, 1988, 29:235-238);
3) asymmetric alkylation of optically-active β-lactam compounds obtained from an optically active oxazolidine chromium carbene complex and an oxazine compound (Colson et al., Journal of Organic Chemistry, 1993, 58:5918-5924);
4) asymmetric ring-opening reaction of an optically-active aziridine compound (Wipf et al., Tetrahedron Letters, 1995, 36:3639-3642)
5) asymmetric alkylation of an optically-active pyrazinone compound obtained from an optically-active valine derivative and an optically-active alanine derivative (Najera et al., European Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2000, 2809-2820); and
6) Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxylation of a 2-methyl-2-propenoic acid derivative followed by introduction of a resulting optically-active diol compound into an optically-active azido compound for reduction (Avenoza et al., Tetrahedron Asymmetry, 2001, 12:949-957).
α-Methyl-L-serine is one of the promising substances which may be used as an intermediate of a medicament. In one of the known methods for producing α-methyl-L-serine by means of an enzymatic reaction, D-alanine and 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolic acid are used as the materials, and 2-methyl serine hydroxymethyl transferase (EC 126.96.36.199) is used as the enzyme. However, this method utilizes an enzyme derived from a microorganism belonging to genus Pseudomonas, and requires the addition of expensive α-methyl-serine in order to produce an enzyme in a cultivation medium (Wilson et al., J. Biol. Chem. 237:3171-3179). In addition, utilizing the enzyme derived from the microorganism belonging to genus Pseudomonas, α-methyl-L-serine is obtained from 4 mmol of material (D-Ala) with a yield of as low as 11%, which does not satisfy the requirements for practical use.

Method for producing β-hydroxy amino acid and enzyme used therefor


The invention relates to carbohydrate derivatives having the formula I, ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1 is H or CH.sub.2 OSO.sub.3.sup.-, R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 are independently H, (1-6C)alkyl or SO.sub.3.sup.- ; R.sup.4 is OSO.sub.3.sup.- or NHSO.sub.3.sup.- ; n is 0 or 1; p is 1 or 2; or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof The compounds of the invention have antithrombotic activity and may be used for inhibiting smooth muscle cell proliferation.

The invention relates to a carbohydrate derivative having antithrombotic activity, a pharmaceutical composition containing the same, as well as the use of said carbohydrate derivative for the manufacture of a medicament.
Carbohydrate derivatives having antithrombotic activity are known, for example the sulfated glycosaminoglycan derivatives disclosed in EP 84,999. Other sulfated glycosaminoglycan-related carbohydrate derivatives are disclosed in EP 529,715, having improved pharmacological properties. These carbohydrate derivatives are devoid of the characteristic functional groups of glycosaminoglycans, being free hydroxyl groups, N-sulfate and N-acetyl groups.


A network electronic ticket 1003 is provided in an electronic ticket 1000. Start page data 1016, a ticket owner secret key 1017, an electronic ticket possession certificate 1018, and a network service program 1019 are provided in the network electronic ticket 1003, the network service program 1019 controls various types of processing and an electronic ticket storage terminal, and the ticket owner secret key 1017 and the electronic ticket possession certificate 1018 are used for authentication processing with an information providing apparatus on a network, whereby it is made possible to connect to the network from the electronic ticket itself and receive information service.

This invention relates to electronic tickets in electronic form into which various tickets of an event, a movie, a train, an airplane, etc., are converted, an electronic wallet for keeping the electronic ticket, an information terminal for storing the electronic wallet, an information providing apparatus for providing information for the information terminal, and an electronic ticket system comprising the components, and in particular to an electronic ticket provided with a function of receiving online information service.
Hitherto, the following has been known as a system for purchasing reserved seat tickets of various events, public performance, or conveyances:
FIG. 26 shows the configuration of a general system for purchasing reserved seat tickets (tickets) in a related art. A ticket issuing terminal 2602 for performing ticket issuing processing is installed in a ticket shop 2601 and is connected to a center system 2604 of a ticket issuer 2603 over a communication line 2605.
To purchase a reserved seat ticket of an event, a public performance, a conveyance, or the like, a personal consumer 2600 first goes to the ticket shop 2601, tells a salesperson that he or she wants to buy a ticket, and requests the salesperson to issue a ticket. At this time, the personal consumer 2600 can select the seat type (S grade seat, A grade seat, etc., on a concert); however, generally the ticket shop 2601 does not provide vacant seat information and thus often the personal consumer 2600 cannot select his or her desired seat.
Next, the salesperson of the ticket shop 2601 enters identification information of the desired ticket and the desired seat type in the ticket issuing terminal 2602 and performs the ticket issuing operation. The ticket issuing terminal 2602 transmits desired entry information (the identification information of the desired ticket and the desired seat type) to the center system 2604 of the ticket issuer 2603 over the communication line 2605. Upon reception of the information, the center system 2604 returns ticket information 2607 of the ticket of the desired type containing acquired seat information in the desired seat type to the ticket issuing terminal 2602. Generally, the center system 2604 often selects the seat acquired at the time from among vacant seats uniquely or at random.
The ticket issuing terminal 2602 prints the received ticket information 2607 on a specific pasteboard determined by the ticket issuer and outputs it as a ticket 2606 (2610). The salesperson of the ticket shop 2610 passes the issued ticket to the personal consumer 2600 in exchange for cash 2608 and terminates selling the ticket.
To enhance the added value of a ticket, for example, the ticket issuer 2603 attempts to construct a system wherein information concerning a ticket is open to the public on a home page on the WWW and URL information of the home page is described on the ticket for enabling the customer to receive the information providing service concerning the ticket.
In this case, however, any other person than the ticket purchaser would have access to the home page, and the effect of enhancing the added value of the ticket is not sufficiently produced.
Membership network service is known as information providing service aiming only at specific (ticket-purchasing) personal consumers with the described point remedied.
FIG. 27 shows the system configuration of general information providing service aiming at specific personal consumers. A service provider 2701, which is a provider for providing information service, is connected to an information server 2702 over a communication line 2705. The information server 2702 has a user management database 2703 and an information database 2704.
To receive membership information providing service, first the personal consumer 2700 requests the service provider 2701 to register a user ID and a password (2706). The service provider 2701 registers the user ID and the password in the user management database 2703 of the information server 2702 as the personal consumer 2700 requests (2707), and notifies the personal consumer 2700 that the user ID and the password have been registered (2708).
To receive information service, the personal consumer 2700 registering the user ID and the password accesses the information server 2702 and enters the user ID and the password (2709). The information server 2702 searches the user management database 2703 for the entered user ID and password. If the information server 2702 checks that the corresponding user ID and password exist, it searches the information database 2704 for information desired by the personal consumer 2700 and provides information service (2710).
However, the systems in the related arts involve the following problems:
(1) The personal consumer must go to the ticket shop to purchase a ticket or reserve a reserved seat and takes time and effort and cost;
(2) to receive information providing service aiming at specific (ticket-purchasing) personal consumers, the personal consumer needs to previously register authentication information of membership ID, password, etc., in the service provider. To receive service, the personal consumer needs also to enter the membership ID and the password each time; the operation is cumbersome.
(3) the service provider needs to provide a database, etc., for managing information of the registered membership IDs, passwords, etc., and thus must bear the high administration cost; and
(4) if another person knows the registered membership ID and password of one person, it is made possible for even a person purchasing no ticket to receive provided service.

Electronic ticket, electronic wallet, and information terminal

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Media content is downloaded from a remote source. A request is received from a client device for sideloading of the media content. Sideloading of the media content to the client device is begun when the downloading has begun and the request has been received.

"Sideloaded" media content is media content such as streaming video or the like that is downloaded to a receiving device, e.g., a set-top box or the like, from a remote server via a network, a broadcast, etc., and then transferred from the receiving device to a second device, sometimes referred to as the end client device. However, downloaded media content may be provided to the receiving device in a format unsuitable for viewing on the end client device. Unfortunately, present mechanisms for converting a format of downloaded media content and sideloading the media content to an end client device are lacking.


An air flap mechanism is installed in a server chassis with an opening. A functional module is capable of being inserted into the server chassis from the opening. The air flap mechanism includes an air flap pivotably installed in the server chassis for shielding the opening of the server chassis and a pair of first torsion springs attached to the air flap. A connecting bar connects between the first torsion springs for being driven by an end of the functional module to pivot the air flap inside the server chassis when the functional module is pushed into the server chassis.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to air flap mechanisms, and more particularly to an air flap mechanism for preventing air outside the server chassis from flowing into the server chassis and interfering with the normal air flow inside the server chassis.
2. Description of Related Art
Generally, an opening is formed at one end of a server chassis via which a functional module is inserted into or drawn out of the server chassis. An air flap is pivotably attached to the server chassis for shielding the opening so that the air outside the server chassis is prevented from flowing therein to interfere with the regulated airflow inside the sever chassis. The functional module typically includes some connectors extending from an end thereof. When the functional module is pushed into the server chassis, the connectors strike the air flap and may be damaged or damage the air flap.
What is desired, therefore, is an air flap mechanism for minimizing the impact on the connectors of the functional module during installation into a server chassis.

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


A device for applying, in use, electromagnetic microwave radiation in a plasma cavity. The device includes a plasma cavity present within a housing, being substantially cylindrically symmetric about a first axis, and which plasma cavity includes a cylindrical wall provided with a circumferential slit. The plasma cavity is in communication, via the slit, with a first end of an elongated microwave guide having a longitudinally extending second axis. The device is in communication in use with a microwave generating device via the other end of the microwave guide, in which the electromagnetic microwave radiation being generated may include several modes, where the device can, in use, generate microwave radiation in the slit, which microwave radiation has only one electromagnetic field distribution at least in one direction perpendicularly to the propagation direction of the microwave radiation in the microwave guide.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for applying, in use, electromagnetic microwave radiation in a plasma cavity, which plasma cavity is present within a housing, being substantially cylindrically symmetric about a first axis, and which comprises a cylindrical wall provided with a circumferential slit, said plasma cavity being in communication, via said slit, with a first end of an elongated microwave guide having a longitudinally extending second axis, said device being in communication in use with microwave generating means via the other end of said microwave guide, in which the electromagnetic microwave radiation being generated may comprise several modes.
The invention also relates to an apparatus for depositing, by means of a Plasma Chemical Vapour Deposition process, one or more glass layers on the inner side of a hollow glass tube disposed in the plasma cavity of the device according to the invention.
The invention furthermore relates to a method for depositing, by means of a Plasma Chemical Vapour Deposition process, one or more glass layers on the inner side of a hollow glass tube disposed in the plasma cavity of the device according to the invention.
2. Discussion of the Background
Such a device, which is also referred to by the technical term microwave applicator, the slit being called a radial wave duct, can be used in particular with a sufra guide or a sufraton for generating a plasma in the plasma cavity. Another practical application of a microwave applicator according to the introduction is disclosed in International patent application PCT/EP98/07798, published under No. WO 99/35304 in the name of the present applicant.
WO 99/35304 shows a PCVD (Plasma Chemical Vapour Deposition) apparatus, in which a hollow cylindrical glass tube is accommodated in the plasma cavity of the microwave applicator, through which tube a gaseous mixture comprising O2, SiCl4 and GeCl2 for example, is passed. The microwave radiation applied in the slit by the microwave applicator locally generates a plasma in the hollow glass tube. By moving the microwave applicator back and forth with respect to the glass tube—possibly with simultaneously rotation of the tube—glass layers, whether or not of different composition, can be deposited on the inner side of the cylindrical glass tube by means of the plasma. In this way a so-called hollow preform having one or more glass layers deposited on the inner side thereof is obtained. The preform is subjected to a collapsing treatment so as to obtain a massive rod, from which an optical fibre is subsequently drawn, which fibre is intended for telecommunication purposes, for example.
In the PCVD application, the microwave radiation being used or being applied in the slit has a frequency of 890 MHz or 2.45 GHz and may comprise several so-called modes. The term modes as used herein is understood to mean the propagating modes in the radial propagation direction as well as the modes that have just been cut off. The propagating modes comprises a number of zero-axis crossings in the electrical field in both directions perpendicularly to the radial propagation direction.
If the width of the radial wave slit amounts less than half the wavelength of the microwave radiation being used, only one propagating mode will occur if the inner circumference of the radial wave slit has a length equal to or smaller than the wavelength of the microwave radiation being used, whilst three propagating modes will occur if the inner circumference of the radial wave slit has a length of 1-2 wavelengths of the microwave radiation being used.
It is very difficult with the current applications to determine which modes the microwave radiation being applied in the slit (radial wave duct) comprises. If the microwave radiation applied in the plasma cavity or the radial wave duct comprises several modes, the geometric properties of the plasma generated in the plasma cavity will not be known very exactly. If said modes exhibit the same electromagnetic field distribution, seen in the direction of rotation relative to the first axis, the geometric property of the applied microwave radiation and thus also of the generated plasma in the aforesaid direction of rotation will be clearly defined. Said plasma properties depend, among other things, on the excitation ratio of the modes, and a small change in the environment (temperature, pressure, etc) may lead to a different excitation ratio, causing the geometric properties of the plasma to change. All this may lead to an undesirable geometry of the plasma, amongst other things, or cause the plasma to become unstable or become extinguished altogether.
In particular in the case of PCVD applications such phenomena affect the composition and the structure of the glass layers being deposited on the inner side of the hollow glass tube, as well as the final quality of the optical fibre drawn from a preform thus obtained.
One solution for the problem of the modes of the microwave radiation applied in the plasma cavity and the unpredictable properties of the generated plasma can be found in the maximum allowable internal diameter of the radial wave duct, in which the inner circumference is smaller than or equal to the wavelength of the microwave radiation being used, this in order to prevent the occurrence of several modes. However, said maximum constructional dimension will also limit the maximum allowable external diameter of the preform to be manufactured in that case, as well as the length of the optical fibre drawn from said preform.

Device for applying electromagnetic microwave radiation in a plasma cavity


A locking apparatus for a manual actuation device of a switchboard plant has a trigger mechanism that is activated by an absence of a backup or a defective backup, and a locking mechanism for the manual actuation device. The locking mechanism is coupled to the trigger mechanism and is transferable by the trigger mechanism from a first position releasing the manual actuation device into a second position locking the manual actuation device. The locking apparatus has a simple and cost-effective construction, it is proposed that the locking mechanism has a cover plate which is displaceable between two positions by the trigger mechanism and which, in its first position, blocks a lever configuration under tensile force, of the locking mechanism and, in its second position, releases the lever configuration in order to lock the manual actuation device.

The invention relates to a locking apparatus for a manual actuation device for electrical switching equipment. The locking apparatus has a release mechanism that is activated as a result of an absence of a backup or a defective backup, and a locking mechanism for the manual actuation device. The locking mechanism is coupled to a release mechanism and is transferable by the release mechanism from a first position releasing the manual actuation device into a second position locking the manual actuation device.
Such an apparatus is known, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 5,835,002. The locking apparatus disclosed there is provided for locking a hand-operated actuating lever as a manual actuation device for electrical switching equipment, and in this case the manual actuation device is to be locked after a backup of the electrical switching equipment has been triggered and is consequently defective or when a backup of the electrical switching equipment is absent. In these situations, the electrical switching equipment is to be prevented from being switched on by the manual actuation device. For this purpose, the locking apparatus contains a release mechanism, which is activated as a result of an absent or defective backup, and a locking mechanism, which is coupled to the release mechanism and is in a position releasing the manual actuation device as long as there is no absent or defective backup, and, in the case of the defective or absent backup, is transferred by the triggered trigger mechanism into a position locking the manual actuation device.