A fuel pressure adjusting apparatus which includes a casing which includes a fuel introduction port, and a fuel discharge port; and a cylindrical member which is housed in the casing, and which includes a valve seat at an end portion thereof, and a communication passage therein, the communication passage connecting the fuel introduction port to the fuel discharge port; a valve element which is provided on a fuel discharge port-side of the valve element in the casing, and which closes the communication passage when the valve element is seated on the valve seat; and a leaf spring which is provided at the fuel discharge port, and which applies force to the valve element in a direction toward the valve seat. The leaf spring includes a concave portion which supports the valve element, and which is formed such that there is a gap between the concave portion and the valve element.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a fuel pressure adjusting apparatus which adjusts a pressure of fuel supplied from a fuel tank to an injector of an internal combustion engine by a fuel pump.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP(A) 2000-45897 discloses a fuel pressure adjusting apparatus shown in FIG. 8. In the fuel pressure adjusting apparatus 1, an inside of a casing 2 is divided into an atmosphere chamber 4 and a fuel chamber 5 by a diaphragm 3, and a valve element 6 is provided in the diaphragm 3.
When a pressure of fuel introduced into the fuel chamber 5 through a fuel introduction port 8 becomes equal to or higher than a predetermined value, the diaphragm 3 is moved upward against the force applied by a spring 7, and the valve element 6 opens a fuel discharge port 9. When the valve element 6 opens the fuel discharge port 9, fuel in the fuel chamber 5 is returned to a fuel tank (not shown) through the fuel discharge port 9 as shown by an arrow. As a result, the pressure of the fuel supplied to an injector of an internal combustion engine is adjusted to the predetermined value.
However, in such a fuel pressure adjusting apparatus, the diaphragm needs to be provided so that the two chambers, which are the atmosphere chamber 4 and the fuel chamber 5, are formed. As a result, the number of components is increased, and the entire size of the fuel pressure adjusting apparatus is increased. Also, when the valve element 6 opens the fuel discharge port 9 and the fuel flows out through the fuel discharge port 9, the flow of the fuel is contracted, the pressure of the fuel is reduced, vapor is generated in the fuel pressure adjusting apparatus 1.
In order to solve these problems, a fuel pressure adjusting apparatus shown in each of FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 is proposed.
The fuel pressure adjusting apparatus includes a casing 10; a cylindrical member 11, a valve element 12, and a leaf spring 13 which serves as force-applying means. The casing 10 includes a fuel introduction port 14 and a fuel discharge port 15. The cylindrical member 11 having a communication passage 17 is fixed in the fuel introduction port 14 side of the casing 10. The leaf spring 13 having plural communication ports 18 is joined to the fuel discharge port 15 by crimping. When the cylindrical member 11 and the leaf spring 13 are fixed to the casing 10, the valve element 12 is supported between the cylindrical member 11 and the leaf spring 13 such that one end portion of the valve element 12 contacts a valve seat 16 formed at an end portion of the cylindrical member 11, and the other end portion of the valve element 12 contacts the leaf spring 13.
In the fuel pressure adjusting apparatus with the aforementioned configuration, fuel is supplied to the communication passage 17 of the cylindrical member 11 from a fuel pump (not shown). The fuel constantly applies downward force to the valve element 12. The leaf spring 13 constantly applies upward force to the valve element 12. When the pressure of the fuel is equal to or lower than a predetermined value, the valve element 12 contacts the valve seat 16 of the cylindrical member 11, and closes the communication passage 17 of the cylindrical member 11.
When the pressure of the fuel becomes equal to or higher than the predetermined value, the valve element 12 is moved downward, and the fuel in the communication passage 17 is returned to a fuel tank (not shown) through the communication ports 18 formed in the leaf spring 13. FIG. 6 shows an example of the fuel pressure adjusting apparatus in which the valve element 12 contacts a flat surface of the leaf spring 13. FIG. 7 shows an example of the fuel pressure adjusting apparatus in which the valve element 12 is fitted in a center opening portion 19 formed in the center of the leaf spring 13.
In this fuel pressure adjusting apparatus, the diaphragm and the atmosphere chamber do not need to be provided. Therefore, cost and size of this fuel pressure adjusting apparatus can be reduced, Further, since the fuel flows along the surface of the valve element 12 when the valve element 12 opens the communication passage 17, an amount of generated vapor can be reduced.
However, this fuel pressure adjusting apparatus has disadvantages described below. Since the surface of the leaf spring 13 which the valve element 12 contacts is flat in the fuel pressure adjusting apparatus shown in FIG. 6, when the valve element 12 closes the communication passage 17, an axis of the valve element 12 matches an axis of the valve seat 16 due to a self-aligning effect. Thus, it is possible to prevent the situation in which the valve element 12 contacts the valve seat 16 with the axis of the valve element 12 being deviated from the axis of the valve seat 16, and therefore the fuel leaks.
However, since a distance for which the fuel flows until the fuel hits the leaf spring 13 is the same as the diameter of the valve element 12 when the valve element 12 opens the communication passage 17. Therefore, the flow of the fuel become unstable in the vicinity of a low end of the valve element 12. As a result, the valve element 12 vibrates, and noise occurs.
In the fuel pressure adjusting apparatus shown in FIG. 7, the valve element 12 is fitted in the center opening portion 19 provided in the center of the leaf spring 13, and the valve element 12 is in a fixed state. A distance for which the fuel flows until the fuel hits the leaf spring 13 is smaller than the diameter of the valve element 12. Therefore, before the flow of the fuel becomes unstable in the vicinity of the low end of the valve element 12, the flow of the fuel is separated from the valve element 12. Therefore, the vibration of the valve 12 is reduced.
However, since the valve element 12 is fixed in the center opening portion 19, it is necessary to increase accuracy of production and assembly in order to make the axis of the valve element 12 match the axis of the center opening portion 19 when the valve element 12 closes the communication passage 17. However, it is difficult to increase the accuracy of production and assembly in terms of man power and cost.
Therefore, when the valve element 12 closes the communication passage 17, the axis of the valve element 12 may be slightly deviated form the axis of the center opening portion 19. In this case, the fuel leaks, or a contact portion of the valve element 12 partially wears out. Also, in the case where the axis of the valve element 12 is slightly deviated from the axis of the center opening portion 19, an area of an opening portion on the right side of the valve element 12 becomes different from an area of an opening portion on the left side of the valve element 12 when the valve element 12 opens the communication passage 17. As a result, an amount of the fuel flowing out through the opening portion on the right side of the valve element 12 becomes different from an amount of the fuel flowing out through the opening portion on the left side of the valve element 12. Accordingly, the valve 12 vibrates and abnormal noise occurs when the valve element 12 opens the communication passage 17, as well as in the case of the fuel pressure adjusting apparatus shown in FIG. 6.
Also, in the case where the axis of the valve element 12 is deviated from the axis of the center opening portion 19, when the valve element 12 opens the communication passage 17, the control pressure drops at low flow rates as shown by black triangles and black squares in FIG. 5, that is, the fuel flows out at a pressure equal to or lower than the predetermined value.


A spatial light modulator for use in a optical printer where the spatial light modulator includes a plurality of cells, having a shape that is defined to decrease artifacts in an image produced on a recording medium by the optical printer. The shape of the plurality of cells merges a portion of the optical radiation passing through an individual cell of the spatial light modulator with optical radiation from that of adjacent cell to form a pixel on the recording medium. In one implementation each of the cells of the spatial light modulator independently modulate the optical radiation so as to print horizontally-displaced pixels. When LEDs are used as the colored light source, the light is either first diffused to minimize shadows from electrical contacts on the LEDs, thus removing linear artifacts in the image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to optical printing systems and, more particularly, to a line-scanning optical printing system comprising a spatial light modulator configured to produce printed images without generating linear artifacts.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional optical printers typically utilize an optical radiation source emitting one or more beams of visible, ultra-violet, or infra-red radiation which may be modulated by means of a spatial light modulator (SLM) before being projected onto a radiation-sensitive medium. In such printers, the SLM is used to produce sequential portions of the desired image on the medium, typically line-by-line, as the medium is scanned or translated relative to the beam of optical radiation. For color images, the optical radiation may be provided by means of colored light sources, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs), or by means of a polychrome light source in combination with color filters.
In many applications, the SLM comprises a linear array of liquid-crystal device (LCD) shutters or cells. Any cell in the SLM can be addressed to change its transmissiveness so as to transmit some or all of the incident radiation to form an individual pixel in the image, the transmitted portion being projected onto the radiation-sensitive medium. Because of the characteristics of LED radiation sources and the transmissive geometry of conventional LCD cells, there often results linear artifacts in the printed image. These linear artifacts may take the form of dark lines extending both parallel to and orthogonal to the direction of scanning.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an SLM configured so as to minimize or eliminate the generation of linear artifacts in a printed image. Other objects of the invention will be obvious, in part, and, in part, will become apparent when reading the detailed description to follow.

Apparatus for reducing linear artifacts in an optically-printed image


A drive mechanism of a zoom lens includes three movable members which support optical elements, including a front movable member, an intermediate movable member and a rear movable member; a common driving member including a driving device for moving the three movable members independently; and a biasing member including first and second spring members which bias the three movable members to remove backlash. One of the front movable member and the rear movable member serves as a common-engaging spring support member to which one end of each of the first and second spring members are connected, and the other of the front movable member and the rear movable member, and the intermediate movable member serve as two single-engaging spring support members to which the other ends of the first spring member and the second spring member are connected, respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a zoom lens, more particularly to a spring-biasing structure in a drive mechanism for driving optical elements of the zoom lens such as lens groups.
2. Description of the Related Art
In drive mechanisms of zoom lenses for driving optical elements such as lens groups, it is generally the case that a plurality of movable frames which are moved in an optical axis direction relative to one another in different moving manners are biased mutually by biasing springs to remove backlash in the plurality of movable frames. Specifically, there is a high possibility of an external force being exerted on one or more external barrels of the zoom lens, and accordingly, external barrels of the zoom lens need to be biased as appropriate by strong biasing forces to be capable of returning to respective normal positions of the external lens barrels when undergoing displacement by an external force. In telescopic zoom lenses having a plurality of external barrels which are concentrically arranged, it is conventional for the frontmost external barrel (usually the radially-innermost external barrel) to hold a lens group having the largest diameter among all the lens groups of a photographing optical system, so that the frontmost external barrel tends to be heavier in weight than the other movable barrels or frames. Therefore, such an external barrel is often required to be biased by a strong biasing spring force in order to be held with stability.
In the case where three movable members (a frontmost movable member, an intermediate movable member and a rearmost movable member) which are aligned along an optical axis are mutually spring-biased, it is conventional for one end of each two biasing springs to be fixed to the frontmost movable member and the rearmost movable member, respectively, and the other ends of the two biasing springs are fixed to the intermediate movable member.
However, the biasing spring forces of the biasing springs vary due to the difference in amount of movement among the movable frames including the aforementioned one or more external barrels, which makes it difficult to apply a stable biasing spring force to each movable frame. For instance, since the minimum biasing force among variations in the biasing spring force exerted on the movable frames needs to be determined as a reference spring load (minimum return force), the spring load grows excessively upon the spring biasing force becoming maximum, and may become a great burden on operations of the zoom lens. As a result, in the case of a motor-driven zoom lens, a zoom motor thereof needs to be a large type producing a strong torque, which makes it difficult to achieve miniaturization and weight reduction of the zoom lens.
In the above described structure in which the two biasing springs are arranged on the front side and the rear side of the intermediate movable member, respectively, each biasing spring cannot have a greater length than the distance between associated two movable members adjacent to the biasing spring in the optical axis direction, and therefore needs to be a biasing spring having a relatively large spring constant. However, using such a biasing spring makes it difficult to assemble the zoom lens. Additionally, in this structure it is difficult to achieve the balance between the two biasing springs.


Inducing a particular behavior/process among a set of pre-determined behaviors/processes by implicitly signaling the selection of the particular behavior/process though a particular combination of specific values of said set of information data driven the process. Typically, enables re-using parameters already carried with a signal to signal how those parameters are used by a specific process.

The present section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art, which may be related to various aspects of the present principles that are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present principles. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
It is noted here that parameters mentioned in this memo can also be qualified/identified as metadata.
In the following, video data contains one or several arrays of samples in a specific picture/video format which specifies all information relative to the pixel values of a picture (or a video) and all information which may be used by a display and/or any other device to visualize and/or decode a picture (or video) for example. Video data comprises at least one component, in the shape of a first array of samples, usually a luma (or luminance) component, and, possibly, at least one other component, in the shape of at least one other array of samples, usually a color component. Or, equivalently, the same information may also be represented by a set of arrays of color samples, such as the traditional tri-chromatic RGB representation.
A pixel value (video data) is represented by a vector of C values, where C is the number of components. Each value of a vector is represented with a number of bits which defines a maximal dynamic range of the pixel values.
The domain of the disclosure is signal (picture/video) processing in which it is known that the selection of a particular process among different processes driven by a same set of information data may be indicated by an identifier. A common set of information data may be processed differently, according to the indicator value identifying a given process. In case those information data must be transmitted, a supplemental indicator must be conveyed to identify the process to be run for those information data. This indicator may be optional in case a default behavior for using the information data exist.
The disclosure proposes an implicit signaling for selection of the process to run with the common set of information data.
The domain of the disclosure is signal (picture/video) processing and possibly metadata and, for example, HDR/WCG (High-Dynamic-Range/Wide Color Gamut) as an application domain (embodiments are supplied for this domain).
For example, dynamic metadata for Color Transforms of HDR/WCG images Drafting Group of SMPTE Technical Committee 10E is currently defining in ST 2094 working draft standard family some dynamic/content-based metadata (processing metadata) for color volume down-conversion (shrinking) such as for instance HDR BT.2020 to SDR BT.709 (Dynamic Metadata for Color Volume Transformation—Application #3, WD Standard, SMPTE ST 2094-30:201x, 2015-10-08, Recommendation ITU-R BT.2020-1 (June 2014), Parameter values for ultra-high definition television systems for production and international programme exchange, Recommendation ITU-R BT. 709-6 (June 2015), Parameter values for HDTV standards for production and international programme exchange).
It is a question of determining the right process to be applied for a set of well-defined metadata type that is common to different processes employing the same set of information data (parameter/metadata) type (parameters/metadata type/definition and not parameters/metadata values). Indeed, a given set of metadata/parameters values may be interpreted by different processes driven by those information data/metadata/parameters types.
A straightforward solution is to signal the process to be applied with the associated set of information data by an explicit syntax element in order to disambiguate. However this method requires an additional syntax element and it could lead to bad combinations of information data and processes e.g. specific values of said set of information data is derived for process #1 however identifier associated to the derived specific values is erroneously pointing to process #2 following a stream corruption, a human error, a wrong key hitting . . . .
Eventually, processes related to parameters or metadata (defined by a (standard) specification) may be defined in another specification or engineering document possibly private or not standard. The more the processes the more the adequate specifications to be created or standardized. This may conduct to market confusion especially when several dynamic metadata types (e.g. ST 2094-10, ST 2094-20, ST 2094-30, ST 2094-40 . . . ) are defined each invoking possibly different processes . . . . Simpler is better considering system interoperability's sake.
Considering previously mentioned context, the problem is that ST 2094-30 defines a standard set of metadata however two different processes may be invoked employing those metadata.

Method and device for selecting a process to be applied on video data from a set of candidate processes driven by a common set of information data


Provided is a method for determining the efficiency of an ABS controller. The method may comprise performing a first test on a first tire using a first ABS controller at a first inflation pressure, gathering a first data set, using a digital computer to generate a first function from the first data set, and using a digital computer to calculate a first efficiency based on the first function. The first data set may comprise data about the first test. The first function may describe normalized mu versus time for a first time period.

Tire performance is an important concern. In fact, manufacturers and tire developers, as well as others in the industry, find that the methods for testing (1) tire characteristics; (2) performance of tire-vehicle systems, and (3) performance of components of tire-vehicle systems are of substantial interest.
It is currently very common for a vehicle to comprise an anti-lock braking system (ABS). It is of interest to determine the "efficiency" (as defined herebelow) of an ABS/vehicle system for different tire properties (i.e., different mu-slip curve shapes) for potentially improving the match between tire and vehicle for improved stopping performance including, but not necessarily limited to, dry stopping performance. Put another way, if the tire mu-slip curve shape may be altered, it is of interest in determining what, if any, changes could be made to improve tire performance characteristics.
In considering a mu-slip curve and those properties that determine the form of the mu-slip curve, the curve may be considered to possess shape and size characteristics. Persons involved in the art may wish to evaluate the way in which "shape" may influence the ability of the ABS to operate efficiently at or near peak. "Peak mu" has a large effect on dry stopping distance (DSD) and other kinds of stopping distance, where it is often found that the higher peak mu, the better the stopping distance. Individuals of ordinary skill in the art may evaluate the influence of the curve shape characteristics, as described herebelow, on DSD and other types of stopping distance. Thus, it remains desirable to provide methods of testing performance of components of tire-vehicle systems.

Method of analyzing stopping distance performance efficiency

Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, LLC


A composite oxygen ion transport element that has a layered structure formed by a dense layer to transport oxygen ions and electrons and a porous support layer to provide mechanical support. The dense layer can be formed of a mixture of a mixed conductor, an ionic conductor, and a metal. The porous support layer can be fabricated from an oxide dispersion strengthened metal, a metal-reinforced intermetallic alloy, a boron-doped Mo5Si3-based intermetallic alloy or combinations thereof. The support layer can be provided with a network of non-interconnected pores and each of said pores communicates between opposite surfaces of said support layer. Such a support layer can be advantageously employed to reduce diffusion resistance in any type of element, including those using a different material makeup than that outlined above.

Oxygen transport membrane elements incorporate ceramic materials, that when subjected to elevated temperatures and an oxygen partial pressure difference, are capable of transporting oxygen ions. In such membrane elements, an oxygen containing feed is contacted with one side of the membrane element designated as the cathode side. Oxygen ionizes by gaining electrons and the resultant oxygen ions are transported to an opposite side of the membrane designated as the anode side. At the anode side of the membrane element, the oxygen ions lose electrons to form elemental oxygen, or react with other chemical species to form oxygen containing compounds. Such oxygen transport membrane elements can be used to produce oxygen or to use the separated oxygen to form a variety of compounds and mixtures such as synthesis gas mixtures containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
Synthesis gas has several commercially important applications. A synthesis gas with a nominal H2/CO ratio of 2 is required by the Low Temperature Fischer-Tropsch synthesis reaction to make a highly paraffinic synthetic diesel fuel oil. Similarly, methanol is synthesized from a synthesis gas with a nominal composition whereby (H2−CO2)/(CO+CO2) is greater than or equal to 2. Other products from synthesis gas include oxo-alcohols, dimethyl ether and hydrogen.
In a mixed conducting ceramic material useful in forming an oxygen transport membrane element, both oxygen ions and electrons are conducted and the electrons are transported through the material back to the cathode side to ionize the oxygen. In an ionic material, only the oxygen ions are conducted. A separate electrical pathway has to be created to conduct the electrons in such a material. The separate pathway can be a metallic phase and in such case, the membrane material is referred to as a dual conductor. The separate pathway can also be provided by electrodes and electrical wiring.
The ceramic material can be used as a dense layer alone. A dense layer is so named because it is gas tight and is either a solid or a porous material having no interconnected through porosity. The dense layer serves as a pathway for the oxygen ions to be transported from the cathode to the anode side of the membrane. In a composite oxygen ion transport element, sometimes referred to in the art as a composite oxygen transport membrane, the dense layer is applied as a thin film onto a porous support that provides mechanical strength. In general, the oxygen flux across a dense layer is inversely proportional to its thickness. Thus, dense layers constituting thinner films can produce higher oxygen fluxes, reduced area, and lower operating temperatures. There can be intermediate porous layers between the dense layer and the support. The mechanical support itself can be inert and as such, is incapable of conducting oxygen ions, or can be formed of oxygen ion conducting materials. The oxygen ion conducting materials can be the same material as the dense layer.
The inventors have found that the support layer itself limits the performance of the membrane by acting as a barrier that reduces the oxygen flux. Although support layers are porous, in the prior art, the pores are interconnected and of very small size. As a result, the diffusion resistance present by the support to the oxygen is quite high. To enhance gas diffusion, ceramic substrate materials are made highly porous. Many technologies have been developed to manufacture ceramic porous bodies with different porosity and pore size distributions for different applications. In the most common method, a ceramic starting powder is mixed with fugitive substances and binder. The fugitive substances, such as starch and graphite, act as pore formers for the ceramic bodies. The pore former is then removed during burn-off stage leaving pores in the ceramic body after sintering process. The foregoing process has successfully been used to form porous ceramic substrates having a porosity of between about 30% and about 40% and with a pore size of between about 1 and about 20 μm.
In order to fabricate highly porous ceramic supports, that is having a porosity of above 40% and a pore size greater than 20 microns, a large amount of pore former is added to the starting powder to increase the porosity of the support. However, the resultant highly porous materials have been found to be too weak to be successfully used in oxygen transport membrane applications. U.S. Pat. No. 6,200,541 contemplates the use of strong metal alloys. However, the resultant support layer is formed by compaction and sintering. Such process results in porous structures having small pore sizes of about 5 microns and therefore, some degree of diffusion resistance.
Another host of problems with composite oxygen ion transport elements involve breakage of the support layer and the dense layer and separation of the dense layer from the support layer during long term high temperature use. Some of the foregoing problems are particularly pernicious during periods of thermal cycling between operational and turn down temperatures and when the use involves chemical production such as synthesis gases. Such problems can be virtually nonexistent at low temperatures involving uses that solely involve the production of oxygen.
As indicated above, in high stress environments, ceramic substrates that are used as supports for composite oxygen transport membranes are plagued by problems related to cracking and toughness leading to catastrophic failure. The foregoing problems result from high operational temperatures, namely, above 1000° C., at which the composite oxygen ion transport element is employed in chemical reaction. At such high temperatures, the ceramics, generally perovskites, used for the dense and supporting layers are particularly susceptible to a well known material phenomena known as creep. This problem is particularly exacerbated where such membranes are used as an element of a reactor in which a hydrocarbon is burned for such purposes as forming synthesis gas. The effect of creep when pressure is applied to the exterior surface of a tubular form of an oxygen ion transport membrane element is seen over time as a collapsed, flattened tube.
An attempt to address the strength problem is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,911,860 (hereinafter, the "860 Patent"). In this patent, a membrane is fabricated from either two phases, an oxygen ion conducting material such as a mixed conductor and a metallic phase or three phases that further include an ionic conductor. The second metallic phase improves the mechanical properties of the membrane and can relieve compositional and other stresses generated during sintering and cooling. U.S. Pat. No. 5,938,822, utilizes the dual phase materials of the '860 patent to form a dense layer with thin porous coatings on opposite surfaces of the dense layer to enhance the rate of surface reactions. The aforesaid structure can be self supporting, that is supported from the dense layer, or supported on a porous support that can be formed of metal.
The problem seen in both of these patents is that the metal phase is not present above the percolation threshold and as such, does not contribute to the separation. Hence, such a material is also not as efficient in terms of oxygen ion transport on a volumetric basis as a membrane formed of the mixed conducting perovskite alone.
An attempt to produce an improved multiphase material for both the dense layer and the porous support layer is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,514,314 which discloses the use of a mixed conducting perovskite and an ionic conductor that is present in an amount that is above the percolation threshold. The ionic conductor therefore not only enhances properties such as strength, creep resistance, and chemical stability, but also, it is able to contribute to the ionic conduction within the material. The mixed conducting phase significantly contributes to the required electronic transport and both the mixed and ionically conducting phases contribute to the oxygen ion transport. Hence, a particularly robust structure can be produced that can also efficiently conduct oxygen ions on a volumetric basis. The problem with the above patent is that the inherent brittleness of the ceramic material can still cause the catastrophic failure during operation, especially, under transient composition changes.
Structural ceramics (e.g. yttria or ceria toughened zirconia) have been proposed for potential support applications. However, these materials have relatively low thermal expansion coefficients relative to dense layer mixed conducting materials, typically a perovskite. A significant thermal expansion coefficient mismatch, generally greater than 1 ppm/° K, leads to cracking and degradation of the dense layer. Often equal to the thermal expansion coefficient mismatch, are the compositional stresses that are produced by the expansion of the ceramic that is due to the transport of oxygen ions through the membrane. These compositional stresses are particularly severe when a hydrocarbon is reacted with the permeated oxygen, creating extremely low oxygen partial pressure conditions on the anode side of the membrane.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,938,822, mentioned above, discloses the use of a metal support layer as does U.S. Pat. No. 6,200,541. The use of a metal support layer is particularly advantageous in that it helps solve yet another problem involving mounting the ion transport element while sealing the element to its mounting, for instance, a tubesheet of a reactor. Metals while not being brittle are nevertheless subject to creep at high temperatures. Additionally, in the pure oxygen and highly oxidative environment in which oxygen ion transport elements operate, metals also suffer failure due to oxidation.
As will be discussed, the present invention provides a composite oxygen ion transport element that utilizes a support that has less diffusion resistance than the prior art and therefore acts to improve the flux performance of the element. Furthermore, other features of the present invention involve a composite oxygen ion transport element with proven ability to be thermally cycled without degradation of the element and that can use metallic supports that are highly resistant to creep and oxidation at high operational temperature of about 1000° C. Moreover such metallic supports can be constructed in accordance with the low diffusion feature of the present invention.


Disclosed is an externally-adjustable fishing reel drive gear pair backlash adjustment mechanism which includes a drive spindle, a housing consisting of a main cover and a side lid, and a gear pair consisting of a rack and a main gear on the drive spindle; middle portions of the main cover and the side lid being respectively provided with a bearing mounting counterbore, bearings being respectively mounted at two ends of the drive spindle, the drive spindle being mounted in the bearing mounting counterbores of the main cover and the side lid through the bearings at two ends, the bearing of the side lid being bonded to the main gear, a backlash existing between the main gear and the rack; and an adjustment mechanism adjusting a gear pair backlash outside the housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of fishing articles, and specifically to an externally-adjustable fishing reel drive gear pair backlash adjustment mechanism.
2. Related Art
Fishing reel texture is a very important indicator of quality, and an axial gap between a main gear and a rack directly affects the texture of fishing reels. If the gap is too large, the texture will be loose, and affects the life of the gear; and if the gap is too small, the texture will be tight, and running is not smooth. Only when the gap achieves an ideal state, the texture may be soft and smooth. Therefore, good control over the axial gap of the gear will control the quality of the product to a great extent.
The common well-known method of adjusting an axial gap between a main gear and a rack is increasing/decreasing shims between the main gear and a side lid to adjust the axial gap between the main gear and the rack. Shortcomings of such a method lie in that, it is necessary to remove the side lid on the housing each time shims are increased or decreased, some complex fishing reels further need to remove a turret at first, the operation is very inconvenient, which delays the work and wastes the time, and damage to parts easily occurs during the removal. Besides, after the fishing reel has been used for a period of time, due to wearing of the main gear and the rack, the axial gap between the main gear and the rack will become large, the thickness of the original shim may not achieve the ideal adjustment gap, and the quality of the product may not be well guaranteed.

Externally-adjustable fishing reel drive gear pair backlash adjustment mechanism


Disclosed is a queue selection method for performing data transfers. The method includes scaling a system bandwidth into a plurality of scaled bandwidth integers that extend to a maximum scaled system bandwidth integer. Providing a plurality of queues where each of the plurality of queues are associated with a scaled bandwidth integer, and a sum of the scaled bandwidth integers for each of the plurality of queues is less than or equal to the maximum scaled system bandwidth integer. The method further determines an allocated bandwidth integer from the scaled bandwidth integers for each of the plurality of queues that are enabled, and increments a system virtual time upon each cycle of a system clock while at least one of the plurality of queues is enabled. The method then selects one of the plurality of queues having a lowest queue virtual time, and outputs a packet from the selected one of the plurality of queues having the lowest queue virtual time. And, the queue virtual time of the selected one of the plurality of queues is incremented upon each cycle of the system clock while it is selected for transmission.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to computer networks, and more particularly to routers, switches and the like for computer network systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computers are increasingly being coupled together into computer networks. In larger networks, devices known as "routers" or "switches" direct the flow of data packets between source and destination computers. Since the "bandwidth" of routers is limited, various "queuing" techniques have been developed to prioritize the forwarding of packets by computer network routers.
Fair queuing techniques in packet scheduling applications and devices have been extensively researched and are described in a number of publications. Generally, network switches are configured to receive a number of packets at their input ports (i.e., ports of entry), where each packet is usually one among a sequence of many packets that constitute a flow. The switch directs a flow to an output port (i.e., port of exit). Often, a flow has some requirements on network bandwidth; for example, if the flow constitutes video information (e.g., a movie) and the source of the information (e.g., a VCR) generates 1.5 Mb/s of data, the flow would require that the network guarantee 1.5 Mb/s of bandwidth. This means that any switches that the flow passes through on its way from the source to the destination will have to guarantee 1.5 Mb/s of bandwidth to the flow. Similarly, a flow carrying high quality audio information (e.g., a concert) may require 128 Kb/s of bandwidth from the network.
However, each output port typically has a fixed amount of bandwidth (e.g., 100 Mb/s) available, and each output port in a switch has a number of output queues. In operation, the switch will sort the flows bound for a particular output port into different output queues at the output port, such that each output queue services a flow with a particular bandwidth requirement. The switch must then ensure that each output queue is provided with sufficient access too the output port so that the requirements of the associated flows are met.
The result of not meeting the bandwidth requirements of a flow is increased delay, often beyond the tolerance of the flow. In such a situation, the source of the flow will be generating information faster than the network can transfer it to the destination. This means that over the course of time, some packets will be delayed excessively, and will have to be dropped (i.e., discarded), either because packets that have been delayed too much are rendered useless in real-time audio and video applications, or because the network has run out of resources to buffer packets. In either case, the result is reduced quality of reception; the reduction in quality may vary from a minor inconvenience to total incapacitation.
The technique employed by a switch to ensure that the requirements of a flow are met is called "fair queuing." A problem with existing queuing techniques is that the algorithms involve a very high number of arithmetical computations, and any simplifications made to the algorithms for ease of implementation in hardware and software tend to introduce significant inaccuracies, some of which are difficult to quantify. Good examples of prior art fair queuing techniques can be found in the Ph.D. thesis of A. K. Parekh entitled "A Generalized Processor Sharing Approach to Flow Control in Integrated Services Networks," Massachusetts Institute of Technology, LIDS-TH-2089, February 1992, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The Parekh thesis describes a theoretical generalized processor sharing (GPS) machine and the algorithms it uses to achieve fair queuing. The thesis also describes a more realistic scheme (PGPS) to implement the theoretical machine. In general, the PGPS computations are performed on a packet-by-packet basis to facilitate tracking the state of the theoretical machine to a very high degree of accuracy. This high level of accuracy enables tracking to within about one packet time.
While the apparatus and methods described by Parekh are notable advances to the art of network switching and routing, it is noted that his method requires a substantial number of arithmetical computations for efficient implementation in a high speed packet switch, using software or hardware techniques. Moreover, the PGPS technique of Parekh applies only to situations where packets are fully received before they can be forwarded. Unfortunately, the inability to forward packets before being fully received may render Parekh's method unsuitable for today's high-speed switches that necessarily require on-the-fly packet forwarding (also called cut-through forwarding).
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for fair queuing methods and apparatus that employ computationally efficient techniques to facilitate efficient hardware and software implementation.

Methods and apparatus for fair queuing over a network


An apparatus, system, and method for creating a flood barrier by use of an open-top fabric bag device or series of connected bag devices that can be filled with materials to create the barrier. Each bag has a bottom panel, a front panel, a back panel, a four-sided neck, an opening in the neck, and lifting loops at the neck for lifting the bag. The bottom panel may contain a closable aperture formed by a front bottom panel overlapping a back bottom panel underneath the back bottom panel and secured by a fastening device to releasably secure the aperture. When the bag is full of materials and is lifted at the neck loops, the aperture opens and the contents are released and remain in place as the bag is lifted and removed and is available for re-use.

Various types of devices may be used to prevent or defend against flooding of areas or structures. Many such devices, such as traditional sand bags, may be filled with materials and stacked to create a wall or barrier against flood waters. However, sand bag barriers require inordinate amounts of labor to create large flood protection barriers that require tall barriers or barriers that extend laterally for protracted lengths. The present invention is a bag designed for emergency flood protection by an individual consumer, such that it can be easily deployed, filled, and positioned. The present invention provides for ease of use by the consumer, such that the consumer can fill the bag at a rapid rate and position the bag is a safer manner than other flood protection bag currently on the market. Additionally, the present invention can be can be broken down by the consumer by use of an opening component on the bottom of the bag and therefore constitutes a one-piece, reusable flood bag.


The objective of the present invention is to provide a charged particle beam device for setting, from an image of a trench-like groove or a pit, device conditions for finding a hole or the like provided in the trench or the pit, or measuring a hole or the like provided inside the trench or the like with high accuracy. In the present invention, a charged particle beam device comprises: a deflector for causing a charged particle beam emitted from a charged particle source to perform a scan; a detector for detecting a charged particle obtained on the basis of the scanning of the charged particle beam; and a computation processing device for generating an image on the basis of the output of the detector. In the charged particle beam device, the computation processing device specifies, from within the generated image, a relatively dark region with respect to other parts thereof, and controls the deflector in such a manner that the charged particle beam selectively scans a sample position corresponding to the dark region.

In recent years, semiconductor devices have been highly integrated, and as the number of layers increases, the aspect ratio (depth/width) of vias (hole patterns) for connecting patterns formed on the upper layer and the lower layer tends to increase. Incidentally, a charged particle beam device such as a scanning electron microscope is used to manage the fabricating process of a semiconductor device. The scanning electron microscope (SEM) is a device that acquires an image of a pattern and a signal waveform by scanning a focused electron beam on a fine pattern, and is a device capable of measuring and inspecting fine patterns. However, since electrons emitted from the bottom of a pattern with a large aspect ratio collide with the side wall of the via before being emitted on a surface of a sample, detection efficiency is low, and as a result, it is difficult to measure the bottom of via with high accuracy.
In PTL 1, a scanning electron microscope is disclosed which measures the overlapping degree of a lower layer wiring and a hole. More specifically, a technique is disclosed that when a peak corresponding to an edge cannot be detected in the signal waveform, since it is difficult to extract the edge by a threshold method, the region including the edge position is segmented and a threshold is set in the segment, thereby detecting the edge position. In PTL 2, a beam scanning method is described in which the irradiation amount of the beam is maintained high for the portion desired to improve S/N thereof, and the irradiation amount is lowered in order to alleviate the influence of electrification or the like for other portions.

Charged particle beam device for imaging vias inside trenches


A dual lane, multi-axle transport vehicle for moving heavy loads includes a forward module mounted on a plurality of axles and a rearward module mounted on a plurality of axles. The forward module is mechanically connected to the rearward module for providing a dual lane transport body. The forward module and the rearward module of the transport body each have a single central spine wherein the axles of both the forward module and the rearward module are each attached to the corresponding single central spine. The axles of both the forward module and the rearward module have an axle spacing of at least six feet. A hydraulic suspension is provided for dynamically stabilizing the axles for reducing axle yaw. An axle steering system having a plurality of steering rods controls the position of the axles of both the forward module and the rearward module.

1. Technical Field
The present invention pertains generally to multi-axle transport vehicles for moving heavy loads, and more particularly to a dual lane multi-axle transport vehicle.
2. Background Art
Heavy hauling vehicles for moving transformers, cranes, boats, industrial equipment, and other heavy objects are well known in the art. An example of such a vehicle is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,943,078 which discloses a heavy load hauler for traveling on conventional roadways for moving heavy construction equipment such as cranes or the like from one work site to another. The hauler includes a front tractor drawn carriage, a rear carriage, and a load unit disposed between and carried by the carriages. The front carriage is supported upon a multiplicity of independent wheel and axle units. There is a first fifth wheel coupling at the leading end of the front carriage for connecting to the fifth wheel coupling of a tractor. A second fifth wheel coupling is spaced rearwardly on the front carriage.
The load carrying rear carriage is also supported upon a multiplicity of independent wheel and axle units. There is a fifth wheel coupling intermediate the leading and trailing ends of the rear carriage. The load unit has forwardly and rearwardly projecting goosenecks. Each gooseneck has a fifth wheel coupling. The fifth wheel coupling located on the forwardly projecting gooseneck connects to the fifth wheel coupling on the front carriage. The fifth wheel coupling located on the rearwardly projecting gooseneck connects to the fifth wheel coupling on the rear carriage. The load unit may be either the crane itself or a flatbed upon which the crane is carried. At least some of the independent wheel and axle units are steerably mounted on their carriages. Each wheel and axle unit has its wheels supported by a hydraulic suspension. Hydraulic circuitry interconnects all of the suspensions so as to equally distribute the load among all of the wheel units. Steering of the independent wheel and axle units is interphased for the front and rear carriages by a pair of operatively associated interrelated in-line valve cylinder units. FIG. 12A of U.S. Pat. No. 4,943,078 shows a valve 718 used in a power steering system which is coupled to a connecting link 703.
Other heavy hauling vehicles are sold by Goldhofer Fahrzeugwerk G.m.b.H. of Memmingen, Germany; Nicolas of Champs Sur Yonne, France; and Talbert of Rensselaer, Ind. Further, heavy hauling services utilizing heavy hauling vehicles are shown in advertising by Jake's Crane, Rigging & Transport International of Las Vegas, Nev. Traditionally, these heavy haul transport vehicles of the prior art occupy two lanes of the highway and move at very slow speeds such as five miles per hour because of limitations in the equipment. Many of the traditional wide axle heavy transport vehicle systems of the prior art are difficult to control and are virtually impossible to move in the reverse direction. These traditional heavy transport vehicle systems require many manual steering adjustments during travel that are both difficult to complete and inefficient. Any necessary turns other than minor turns may require the stopping of the transport vehicle and manually turning the wheel axles. Further, variations in the road surface such as dips, holes, and slants may break equipment if higher speeds are attempted.
While these traditional heavy transport vehicle systems are designed to meet the requirements of the Vehicle and Transportation Codes of many states regarding axle spacing, in general, they have not had either an automatic steering system or the ability to travel at high speeds. The heavy transport vehicle systems disclosed by the prior art that currently do have automatic steering have neither the overall width nor the axle spacing required for optimum heavy transport in many states such as the State of California. In some traditional heavy transport vehicle systems, the movement of a front tow bar causes a corresponding movement in the front wheels of the front dolly about a pivot. However, the rear wheels of the dollies do not steer. The rear dollies are not connected to the steering of the front dolly and must be steered manually by pushing or pulling on the steering arm link as the vehicle moves slowly forward. Finally, these traditional heavy transport vehicle systems must be completely disassembled for transport between job locations.
Improved systems having a plurality of modules joined by a mechanically connected, load bearing means that form a dual lane transport body, including a single central spine extending through the modules, and having an automatic power steering system for controlling the steering angle of a plurality of axles, an axle steering system for providing all axle steering at any speed, and a suspension system that responds rapidly to the varying road conditions imposed by higher speeds would greatly reduce the time and effort to transport a payload.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A substantially odorless aromatic amine trapping agent is used in a composition including perfume for the purpose of enabling the perfume and trapping agent to react chemically together spontaneously and reversibly to form a reaction product form which the perfume can be released. In the reaction product, the perfume may be protected against degradation, premature evaporation etc., with the perfume being releasable from the reaction product. In contrast to a pro-perfume, the reaction product formed the present invention is not used by being included as such in a mixture of perfumes or perfumed product, but instead the perfume and trapping agent are included in a mixture of perfumes or perfumed product where they react spontaneously in situ to form a transient reaction product for subsequent release of the perfume. The invention also provides a perfume composition including the trapping agent.

A large number of perfumes are known and are widely used in consumer products (referred to herein as "perfumed products"), typically to impart a desired odour to the product itself or to a substrate following use of the product, eg on skin following use of a fine fragrance product, perfumed soap etc, on clothes following use of a perfumed laundry product etc. Perfumes are usually used by being formulated into mixtures of perfumes, often containing a large number of different perfumes, to produce a mixture having desired odour properties, typically mixed with or dissolved in a suitable solvent or mixed with a solid substrate.
It is known that certain perfumes are liable to suffer from reduced efficacy over time on storage in a perfumed product. This can be due to loss of volatile fragrant materials, such as volatile aldehydes and alcohols, or due to degradation, eg as a result of chemical reaction with other materials such as bleach in the product, with oxygen in ambient air etc. Some perfumes are also chemically unstable in use and so do not function to impart odour properties for as long as desirable: for example, aldehydes can be subject to oxidation on exposure to air.
In an attempt to overcome such problems, so-called "pro-perfumes" or "pro-fragrances" have been devised. These generally comprise a derivative of a perfume that is more stable than the perfume itself, eg being less volatile, being chemically protected from taking part in undesired reactions etc, and from which the perfume can be released in use, eg in response to water (hydrolysis), heat (thermolysis) etc. The pro-perfume is included in a mixture of perfumes or a perfumed product in place of the perfume. See, for example, WO 99/46318 which concerns various silicone polymer pro-fragrances.
WO 00/02981 discloses laundry and cleaning compositions including a product of reaction between a primary and/or secondary amine compound e.g. ethyl 4-aminobenzoate (having an Odour Intensity Index of less than that of a 1% solution of methylanthranilate in dipropylene glycol) and a perfume component selected from ketone, aldehyde and mixtures thereof, the reaction product generally being an azomethine (also known as a Schiff's base or imine). Delayed release of the perfume (ketone or aldehyde) from the reaction product is obtained, which is believed to occur by mechanisms including hydrolysis, photochemical cleavage, oxidative cleavage or enzymatic cleavage. The amine reaction product is preferably preformed before incorporation into the laundry and cleaning composition, to enable better control of the yield and purity of the reaction product and avoid possible interaction with perfume present in the composition. Where the laundry and cleaning compositions include perfume, the amine reaction product is preferably incorporated in the composition separately from the perfume, for better control of the amine reaction product and subsequent perfume release therefrom.
WO 00/02982 is generally similar to WO 00/02981, but requires the use of an amino functional polymer comprising at least one primary amine and/or secondary amine group.
It is also known to use various 4-aminobenzoate esters (i.e. para-aminobenzoate esters) in perfumed products because of the sunscreen properties of the esters. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,330,730 discloses aerosol sunscreen compositions including N,N-dimethyl isoamyl para-aminobenzoate or glyceryl para-aminobenzoate. DE 1492322 concerns the use of UV-absorbing substances as additives for cosmetics and discloses, e.g., use of monoglyceryl p-aminobenzoate in a toilet water.
EP 1004652 concerns use of various aminobenzoate derivatives, particularly methyl ortho-aminobenzoate (methyl anthranilate), as adjuvants for reducing adaptation to odour-emitting substances such as perfumes.
The present invention is based on an alternative approach to enhancing perfume efficacy, not using pro-perfumes or pro-fragrances, which aims to overcome the problems discussed above.


A universal heavy-duty bumper and mounting system is provided which is adapted to be attached to a HMMWV H1 A1 or A2 configured vehicle. The system includes a rightside and leftside universal mounting bracket and a bumper adapted to be received and attached by the bumper brackets such that the bumper transversely spans both brackets in a perpendicular orientation. The system may further include a couple pairs of heavy-duty universal swivel attachment brackets for receiving accessories, each adapted to be mounted on a front fascia plate of the bumper. The system may further include an upright main support bar disposed within a gap defined by each pair of swivel attachment brackets, wherein each support bar is adapted to rotate from an upright position to a lowered position. The bumper includes a planar main fascia plate having a perimeter shape defined by a generally straight upper side, a tiered lower side, a pair of generally straight side edges interconnecting the upper and lower sides, and a planar side edge connected to and surrounding the perimeter of main fascia plate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to universal bumpers and bracket systems for attaching the same to various production configurations of the HUMMER HMMWV (or "H1") vehicle. In particular, the present invention relates to a universal bumper and bracket system which is adapted to be installed into two different versions of the HUMMER HMMWV, including the pre-1992 "A1" model and the post-1992 "A2" model. Furthermore, the present invention includes various accessories, such as brush guards, which may be utilized in combination with the universal bumpers and bracket systems.
2. Background of the Invention
In March of 1983, the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive & Armaments Command awarded the AM General Corporation Division a $1.2 billion contract to produce 55,000 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles [HMMWV; pronounced "HUMVEE"] to be delivered in 15 different configurations over a five year period. The winning design incorporated high ground clearance, a low silhouette, forward visibility and minimum weight, all combined with ease of operation and reliability.
Known officially as the M998 Series, and referred to as the "H1" (since the introduction of the civilian "H2") and/or the HUMVEE, this technologically advanced 1¼-ton, 4×4, multipurpose vehicle appears to have fully answered the military's need for superior mobility in a tactical field environment. The HUMMER H1 was versatile, mobile, and fast, and replaced an assortment of vehicles, including some M-151s (¼-ton utility vehicles, such as the well-known JEEP), all M-274s (¼-ton Mules), all M-561s (1½-ton Gama Goats), and some M-880s (1¼-ton pick-up trucks).
HUMMER H1's were tested for more than 600,000 miles over rugged courses simulating worldwide off-road conditions in combat environments. Drivers from the military and AM General performed numerous stringent tests in an effort to test the vehicle's limits. The HUMVEE's were driven over steep rocky hills, through deep sand and mud pits, in water up to 60 inches deep, in desert heat and in frigid Arctic environments. Amazingly, the HUMMER H1 passed the military's validation testing with unprecedented success.
As a centerpiece of the Army's vehicular force modernization, HMMWV's are air transportable, maintainable, reliable, and survivable. They meet all of these requirements while incorporating new higher standards of reliability for combat vehicles. The HUMMER H1's scored very high on Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, and Durability (RAM-D) requirements and specifications. For instance, during initial production tests, the HUMVEE proved to be nearly twice as durable as the Army required.
One major advantage the HMMWV has over other vehicles is its unique multipurpose or modular platform. It was designed to be built in fifteen configurations (cargo/troop carriers, weapons carriers, ambulances, and shelter carriers) share a common engine, chassis and transmission, with 44 interchangeable parts. As a result, fewer training hours are necessary for the mechanics who maintain it. With such a simplified supply, maintenance and logistics system, essentially only one set of common parts for the fifteen configurations is required. In terms of economic, this equates to lower life cycle costs.
One primary aspect of the HUMMER H1 design is the vehicle high ground clearance which is a prerequisite for superior mobility. The HMMWV has a full 16 inches of ground clearance which is considered an engineering feat considering that the HMMWV stands only 72 inches high. Full-time four-wheel drive, independent suspension, steep approach and departure angles, sixty percent slope-climbing and 60 inch water-fording capability combine with its high ground clearance to make the HMMWV an exceptional off-road vehicle.
As has been demonstrated in Desert Storm, the Iraqi War and the ongoing occupation of Iraq, the HUMVEE has proved itself, becoming a well-known icon affiliated with freedom fighting. Yet, even though the performance potential of the HUMMER H1 has been described as unlimited, due to its multipurpose platform and its ability to accommodate a wide range of weapons, new challenges are being presented to the HUMMER H1 of which the vehicle was not necessarily designed to handle.
Through lessons learned in urban combat warfare, it is becoming apparent that because H1 is not adapted to use its front bumper to move or ram heavy objects. That is to say, when the HUMMER H1 is required to smash through a barrier, push other vehicles, or ram an object under stressful combat situations, the front-end of the vehicle is prone to being damaged. This is apparent because the high-clearance front-end design of the HUMMER H1 utilizes smaller than average front bumpers for ground clearance.
It would be beneficial to provide the HUMMER H1 with a heavy-duty bumper and bracketing system which is designed for heavy-duty front-end usage, a task which was apparently not considered major design factor with respect to the vehicle's original design specifications. Ideally, it would be advantageous to provide a universal design which would fit different production variants of the HUMMER H1. For instance, the HUMMER H1 has been upgraded through the years; primarily, there being two different versions of the HUMMER H1 which support military applications, including the pre-1992 "A1" model and the post-1992 "A2" model. Therefore, it would prove to be beneficial and cost effective to provide a universal heavy-duty bumper and attachment bracket system which could be used at least for both the A1 and A2 variants of the HUMMER H1. Preferably, the heavy-duty bumper and attachment bracket system will be adapted to incorporate a modular platform of accessories, such as bumper guards, brush guards, tow bars, tie-down attachments, winch mounting capabilities, and various ramming devices.

Universal heavy-duty front bumper and mounting bracket system for HUMMER H1 A1/A2


The invention relates to an apparatus for injecting the body of humans or animals with a pharmaceutical preparation, wherein the preparation is arranged in a rigid carrier, wherein the apparatus comprises: a chamber into which the carrier can be transported; and a channel connecting onto the chamber for transporting the carrier into the body comprising fixation means for fixing the end of the channel relative to the skin of the body for injecting in order to prevent a movement of the channel in the direction perpendicularly of the axis of the barrel. According to one embodiment the fixation means are formed by chamfered protrusions formed on the part adapted for contact with the skin of the body and extending substantially in the direction of the axis of the channel.

The invention relates to an apparatus for injecting the body of humans or animals with a pharmaceutical preparation, wherein the preparation is arranged in a rigid carrier, wherein the apparatus comprises:
means for transporting the carrier into the chamber; and PA1 a channel connecting onto the chamber for transporting the carrier into the body. PA1 a chamber in which the carrier can be placed; PA1 means for transporting the carrier into the chamber; PA1 a barrel connecting onto the chamber; and PA1 discharging means for supplying pressurized gas to
Such an apparatus is known inter alia from WO-93/23110. Such an apparatus is furthermore known in another form from WO-91/12048.
In both cases of these known apparatus there is the danger of the injecting apparatus moving relative to the body during entry, at least at the place of entry of the carrier into the body, which can cause destruction of the carrier, excessive pain to the body for injecting and the danger of injection taking place at an incorrect location in the body.


Disposable gate structures are formed over semiconductor material portions, and source and drain regions can be formed in the semiconductor material portions. After formation of a planarization dielectric layer, one type of disposable gate structure can be removed selective to at least another type of disposable gate structure employing a patterned hard dielectric mask layer. After recessing a surface portion of a body portion, a heteroepitaxial channel portion is formed on the remaining physically exposed portion of the body portion by selective epitaxy of a semiconductor material different from the semiconductor material of the remaining body portion. A plurality of types of heteroepitaxial channel portions can be formed in different types of semiconductor devices. Replacement gate structures can be formed in the gate cavities to provide field effect transistors having different threshold voltages.

The present disclosure generally relates to semiconductor devices, and particularly to field effect transistors having a heteroepitaxial channel, and methods of manufacturing the same.
Threshold voltage adjustment on field effect transistors having small channel dimensions is difficult because field effect transistors having small channel dimensions are not only difficult to manufacture with different channel dimensions, but also stochastic effects of dopant distribution are manifested in such field effect transistors. However, a systematic method for controlling threshold voltages is necessary to provide field effect transistors having different types of device characteristics in a same semiconductor chip.

Fin field effect transistors having heteroepitaxial channels

International Business Machines Corporation


An energy-scavenging interface receives an input signal from a transducer and supplies an output signal to a load. A switch is connected between the transducer and a reference node, and a diode is connected between the transducer and the load. A control circuit closes the switch for a time interval to permit energy storage in the transducer. A scale copy of a peak value of stored electric current is obtained. The switch is opened when the time interval elapses and the stored energy exceeds a threshold. The stored energy is then released to supply the load through the diode. The switch remains open as long as the value of current in the output signal exceeds the value of the scaled copy of the peak value.

As is known, systems for energy scavenging or energy harvesting from intermittent environmental energy sources (which supply, that is, energy in an irregular way) arouse and continue to arouse considerable interest in a wide range of fields of technology. Typically, energy-scavenging systems are configured to harvest, store, and transfer energy generated by mechanical sources to a generic load of an electrical type.
Low-frequency vibrations, such as, for example, mechanical vibrations of disturbance in systems with moving parts, may be a valid source of energy. The mechanical energy is converted by one or more purposely provided transducers (for example, piezoelectric or electromagnetic devices) into electrical energy, which can be used for supplying an electrical load. In this way, the electrical load does not require batteries or other supply systems that are cumbersome and have a poor resistance to mechanical stresses.
FIG. 1 is a schematic illustration by means of functional blocks of an energy-scavenging system of a known type.
The energy-scavenging system 1 of FIG. 1 comprises: a transducer 2, for example of an electromagnetic type, configured to convert the mechanical energy of the environmental mechanical vibrations into electrical energy, for example into AC voltages or voltages randomly variable in time; a scavenging interface 4, for example comprising a diode-bridge rectifier circuit (also known as Graetz bridge), configured for receiving at input the AC signal generated by the transducer 2 and for supplying at output a DC signal, or in general a slowly variable signal that can be considered as a DC signal, for charging a capacitor 5 connected on the output of the rectifier circuit 4; and a DC-DC converter 6, connected to the capacitor 5 to receive at input the electrical energy stored by the capacitor 5 and supply it to an electrical load 8. The capacitor 5 functions as an element for storage of energy, which is made available, when required, to the electrical load 8 for operation of the latter.
The global efficiency ηTOT of the energy-scavenging system 1 is given byηTOT=ηTRANSD·ηSCAV·ηDCDC  (1)
where: ηTRANSD is the efficiency of the transducer 2, indicating the amount of power available in the environment that is effectively converted, by the transducer 2, into electric power; is the efficiency of the scavenging interface 4, indicating the power dissipated by the scavenging interface 4 and the factor ηCOUPLE of impedance matching between the transducer 2 and the scavenging interface 4; and ηDCDC is the efficiency of the DC-DC converter 6.
As is known, in order to supply to the load the maximum power available, the impedance of the load should be the same as that of the source. As shown in FIG. 2, the transducer can be represented schematically, in this context, as a voltage generator 3 provided with a resistance RS of its own. The maximum power PTRANSDMAX that the transducer 2 can supply at output can be defined asPTRANSDMAX=VTRANSD2/4RS if RLOAD=RS  (2)
where: VTRANSD is the voltage supplied by the equivalent voltage generator; and RLOAD is the equivalent electrical resistance on the output of the transducer 2 (or, likewise, the resistance seen at input to the scavenging interface 4), which takes into due account the equivalent resistance of the scavenging interface 4, of the DC-DC converter 6, and of the load 8.
On account of the impedance mismatch (RLOAD≠RS), the power at input to the scavenging interface 4 is lower than the maximum power available PTRANSDMAX.
The power PSCAV transferred on the capacitor 5 is a fraction of the power recovered by the interface, and is given byPSCAV=ηTRANSD·ηSCAV·PTRANSDMAX  (3)
The power required of the DC-DC converter 6 for supplying the electrical load 8 is given byPLOAD=PDCDC·ηDCDC  (4)where PDCDC is the power received at input by the DC-DC converter 8, in this case coinciding with PSCAV, and PLOAD is the power required by the electrical load.
The efficiency of the system 1 of FIG. 1 is markedly dependent upon the signal generated by the transducer 2. The efficiency drops rapidly to the zero value (i.e., the system 1 is unable to harvest environmental energy) if the amplitude of the signal of the transducer (signal VTRANSD) assumes a value lower, in absolute value, than VOUT+2VTH—D, where VOUT is the voltage stored on the capacitor 5 and VTH—D is the threshold voltage of the diodes that form the scavenging interface 4. As a consequence of this, the maximum energy that can be stored in the capacitor 5 is limited to the value Emax=0.5·COUT·(VTRANSDMAX−2VTH—D)2. If the amplitude of the signal VTRANSD of the transducer 2 is lower than twice the threshold voltage VTH—D of the diodes of the rectifier of the scavenging interface 4 (i.e., VTRANSD<2VTH—D), no energy is harvested from the environment, and the load is not supplied.

Low-consumption and high-efficiency energy-scavenging interface, method for operating the energy-scavenging interface, and system comprising the energy-scavenging interface


An electrical power assisted steering device has a lower shaft, an upper shaft module, a pre-torsion module and a torsion bar. The upper shaft module has an upper shaft, a detecting unit mounted around the upper shaft, and an assembling space annularly formed between the detecting unit and the pushing portions. The pre-torsion module is mounted in the assembling space and has a maintaining unit mounted around the upper shaft and in the assembling space, multiple sliding blocks mounted in the maintaining unit and respectively abutting the upper shaft, and multiple springs mounted in the maintaining unit and respectively abutting between the maintaining unit and the sliding blocks. The torsion bar is connected between the upper shaft and the lower shaft.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a steering device, and more particularly to an electrical power assisted steering device for a vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
A steering device of a vehicle is mounted between a steering wheel and wheels of the vehicle. The steering device has an upper shaft, a lower shaft engaged with the upper shaft by threads, and a detecting unit. The upper shaft is connected with the steering wheel. The lower shaft is connected with the wheels. An end of the lower shaft opposite to the upper shaft is engaged with an upper rotor of the detecting unit. When the lower shaft is driven to rotate by the upper shaft, the upper rotor of the detecting unit is also driven to rotate. Then, a lower rotor of the detecting unit can detect a rotating angle of the upper rotor, and then a motor is driven to operate. The motor can drive the upper shaft and the lower shaft to rotate in the same direction to provide a steering assist for a user.
However, the upper shaft and the lower shaft are engaged with each other by threads, and the threads may be worn and damaged after use for a period. When the threads between the upper shaft and the lower shaft are worn or damaged, a torsion force formed by the steering device may be changed, and the operation of the steering wheel for the user may be badly affected.

Electrical power assisted steering device


A multi-layered compact slot antenna shortens the physical length of a slot antenna (710) by using more than one conductive layer, separated by a dielectric layer, to create inductor structures (790, 795) within a slot antenna. Adding inductance to a slot antenna allows a physical reduction in slot length without altering the antenna's radiant frequency range. The geometry of the inductor structures can be designed so that the electric current direction seen about the slot and the electric field direction across the slot is maintained, which aids antenna efficiency and allows arrangements of multiple compact slot antennas. Capacitor structures (780, 785) can also be included to balance out the additional stored magnetic energy in the inductor structures (790, 795).

Wireless communication devices such as radiotelephones use antennas to transmit and receive radio frequency signals. Various types of antennas available for wireless communication devices include dipole antennas, helical antennas, and slot antennas. Slot antennas can be implemented with a gap in a metal surface. Simple resonant slot antenna geometries include a half wavelength (.lambda./2) slot antenna 110 as shown in prior art FIG. 1 and a quarter wavelength (.lambda./4) slot antenna 210 as shown in prior art FIG. 2. For a .lambda./2 slot antenna 110, the length 140 of the slot 120 is a half wavelength of the frequency of interest and both ends of the slot 120 are closed, while for a .lambda./4 slot antenna 210, the length 240 of the slot 220 is a quarter wavelength of the frequency of interest and only one end of the slot 220 is closed while the other end is open. The metal surface of the slot antenna is a ground plane 130, 230 that surrounds each slot 120, 220, and the antenna is driven differentially from positive and negative ports located near a closed end of the slot as shown.
To create a slot antenna that radiates in, for example, the 850 MHz frequency range, a .lambda./2 slot antenna 110 would have a slot length 140 of approximately 18 cm while a .lambda./4 slot antenna 210 would have a slot length 240 of approximately 9 cm. A 9 cm .lambda./4 slot antenna, unfortunately, is physically large for most hand-held radiotelephone applications. Thus, inductive loading has been developed, which slightly shortens the physical length of a slot antenna while maintaining the electrical length.
FIG. 3 shows a prior art quarter wavelength slot antenna 310 shortened using inductive loading. Slot antenna 310 includes a conductive ground plane 330 and is driven differentially from points near the closed end of the slot 320 as shown. The slot 320 has an area 350 where the width of the slot is larger. The configuration of area 350 can be generally rectangular as shown, or it can have other shapes such as circular. The width 370 and the length 360 of the area 350 create an increased impedance along length 360 of the slot. Depending on the length 360, width 370, and shape of the area 350, a five to ten percent reduction in slot length 340 can be achieved while maintaining radiation in the desired frequency band. Further reductions in length cannot be achieved due to physical limitations of the inductive loading technique. In other words, no part of the slot 320 can get wider than the width of the conductive surface that creates the ground plane 330. Also, the narrow section of ground plane that would be along the length 360 between two adjacent slot antennas with inductive loading may be difficult to fabricate.
FIG. 4 shows a prior art quarter wavelength slot antenna 410 shortened using a delay element with a high dielectric constant. A dielectric delay element 450 is inserted in series along a slot having a closed end and an open end. The delay element 450 can be fashioned in a variety of shapes and sizes to create the needed shortening effect. The ground plane of the slot antenna 410 is divided into three ground sections 430, 433, 436 by the delay element 450, and the slot is discontinuous and divided into two slot sections 421, 422 due to the delay element 450. The slot antenna is driven differentially from positive and negative nodes on ground section 430 near the closed end of the slot section 422 as shown.
The dielectric constant of the delay element 450 increases the overall phase delay of the slot antenna 410. Depending upon the length 460 of the delay element 450 and its dielectric constant, a ten to twenty percent reduction in slot length 440 can be achieved while still maintaining radiation in the desired frequency band. Impedance mismatches between the ground section 430, the delay element 450, and the ground sections 433, 436, however, cause undesired reflections that reduce the performance of the antenna.
The prior art inductive loading and delay element methods both furnish a limited decrease in slot length, however, not without some difficulties in manufacture. There is a need for a more dramatic decrease in the length of a slot antenna, and there is also a need for a shorter slot antenna that can be easily constructed to fit on a small wireless communication device such as a hand-held cellular radiotelephone.

Multi-layered compact slot antenna structure and method


An optical touching assembly, including a display device, a sensing device, and a touching object, is provided. The display device has a touching area. The sensing device is electrically connected to the display device. The touching object is adapted to enter the touching area, such that the sensing device senses the motion of the touching object to control the display device. The touching object has an optical controlling element that generates light along with the motion of the touching object. The sensing device senses a characteristic variation of the light to trigger at least one operating function of the display device.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a touching object and particularly relates to an optical touching assembly using the touching object.
Description of Related Art
Following the development of technology and the trend of the market, more and more electronic devices or display screens are provided with touching function. However, restricted by production costs and touching effects, currently capacitive or resistive touch screens are suitable only for small-sized devices, such as mobile phones. As photosensitive elements develop, most large-sized touch screens use optical touch screens, which have advantages, such as low production costs and favorable touching accuracy, and are therefore competitive in the market of large-sized touch screens. As a principle, the touching function of optical touch screens is realized by detecting the position of a finger and converting this position to a screen position.
As the sizes of capacitive, resistive, or optical touch screens increase, from time to time the user needs to move a touching object across the large screen in order to perform specific touching operations, such as selection or switching. For example, when the user draws a graph with the touching object at the lower left corner of the screen, the menu for switching graph colors or lines may be at the upper right corner of the screen. In such a case, the user is required to move the touching object to the upper right corner for selection and then move back to the lower left corner for drawing. The user may need to move back and forth on the screen many times in order to complete the drawing, which is very inconvenient for the user. On the other hand, the menu of the operation interface becomes smaller when the touch screen is small, and it may cause the user to mistakenly select wrong items.
Considering the above, it is necessary to provide a touching operation assembly for improving efficiency, convenience, and accuracy, and solving the problems that exist in the current technology.

Touching object and optical touching assembly using the same


A device for measuring at least one of a level and a temperature of a liquid in a container includes a resistor arrangement adapted to be immersed in the liquid. An immersed length of the resistor arrangement in the liquid corresponds to the level of the liquid in the container. The resistor arrangement includes upper, middle and lower temperature-dependent elongated resistor elements connected in series or in parallel. Each resistor element has an uniform resistance per unit length along a length thereof. The upper and lower resistor elements are shorter than the middle resistor element. A power source is connectable to the resistor arrangement. Voltage drops across or currents flowing through the resistor elements are measured. A microprocessor is arranged to calculate the immersed length of the resistor arrangement or the temperature of the liquid from predetermined lengths of the resistor elements and from the measured voltages or currents.

Many different methods for the determination of the level of a liquid in a container have become known. For instance, it is known to detect a float element in its position in different ways. For instance, the detection takes place mechanically, electrically or the like. Further, it is known to determine the level of the liquid in the container via reflection measurement, with electromagnetic or sound waves, e.g. Most methods are either intricate and/or not particularly significant. Also, there is the danger that they break down or become inaccurate after a certain period of time.

Device for measuring the level and/or the temperature in a container


Embodiments may pertain to methods for preparing a transition metal oxide.

1. Field
The present invention relates to, for example, low-temperature solution-based synthesizing transition metal oxides for use as hole transport or injection/collection layers in applications such as organic light emitting diodes, organic solar cells, and organic photodetectors, and for use in oxide-based photovoltaics and photodetectors, as well as functional circuits and systems based, at least in part, on such devices.
2. Information
Organic electronic and/or optoelectronic devices may typically comprise one or more organic layers sandwiched, for example, between two or more electrodes. In some instances, at least one of the electrodes may be at least partially transparent. Layers may include, for example, an anode, a cathode, and a buffer layer arranged among an anode and a cathode layer, which may permit hole or electron injection/collection and transport. When implemented in products, such as organic light electroluminescent devices, in the presence of an external bias, holes and/or electrons may be injected from an anode and cathode to form excitons, which may beneficially release electromagnetic energy in the form of visible light, for example.
Reference is made in the following detailed description to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, wherein like numerals may designate like parts throughout to indicate corresponding or analogous elements. For simplicity and/or clarity of illustration, elements illustrated in the figures have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements may be exaggerated relative to other elements for clarity. Further, it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural and/or logical changes may be made without departing from the scope of claimed subject matter. It should also be noted that directions and references such as, for example, up, down, top, bottom, over, above and so on, may be used to facilitate the discussion of the drawings and are not intended to restrict application of claimed subject matter. Therefore, the following detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense and the scope of claimed subject matter is intended to be defined by the appended claims and equivalents.

Solution-processed transition metal oxides


Methods and apparatuses for generating rendering layout specifications for content items to be rendered, using display containers, and/or rendering the content items using the generated rendering layout specification are disclosed. In various embodiments, the generating of a rendering layout specification may include one or more of selecting a display container for a content item, selecting a content item for a display container, and selecting a display container for a display container.

Notwithstanding the significant advances made in the past decades, Web and print publishing technology continue to suffer from a number of disadvantages preventing users from fully realizing the benefits that may flow from advances in computing and related technology.
For example, current publishing technology is unable to flexibly accommodate content items of different sizes within display presentations. Specifically, most Web sites continue to be unable to allow display of content items of different sizes, such as advertisements of different sizes, to appear in a given position within a Web page, without incurring unacceptable layout effects, such as overlapping of content items, internal wasted space, unreadable text, and so forth.
Another example is current publishing technology failing to take full advantage of the available area of display presentations to display information. Specifically, Web sites cannot take full advantage of available area of client browser windows to display content items, such as advertisements. Client browser windows often use a variety of screen resolutions and window sizes. To accommodate the largest number of potential viewers, Web pages are typically authored using small fixed widths. As a result, the majority of clients can view the Web pages without horizontal scrolling. But then clients with larger displays have unused real estate. HTML and CSS allow Web pages to be authored with percent widths, so that HTML/CSS Web pages stretch to fit large client display widths. However, layouts with percent widths can generate internal wasted real estate. Even if no real estate is wasted, percent widths do nothing to use increased real estate for additional information display.
Still another example is the manner current publishing technology handles situations where there's more information to display than will fit in a display presentation. Current Web technology provides facilities to allow scrolling in the display window, for the users to access the information that did not fit in the display window. Specifically, Web browsers provide horizontal and/or vertical scrollbars in situations where a Web page to be displayed is larger in at least one dimension than the Web browser window. Some Web sites use downloadable scripts that affect information display within a particular region of the page, so that more information may be cycled through this region than will fit in the region all at once. Some of these sites fit formatted or unformatted text into the region, according to the region's dimensions as determined by standard HTML/CSS layout rules, with text layout sensitive to the reader's specified preferences for such parameters as number of columns. For these sites, the reader may direct successive portions of a text flow to appear within the designated region, so that the successive renderings of the region are analogous to pages of a printed document. However, there's currently no way to cycle content items through multiple regions of a display window while maintaining paged presentations in one or more regions of the window, while not requiring the cycled content items to conform to fixed region sizes, and while allowing all information to be visible in the display window without scrolling. One consequence is severely limited possibilities for displaying advertising in Web-based periodicals.
Still another example is the limited ability of current Web technology to accommodate changes to displayed constituents that occur as the user views the display. Currently, constituents can replace other constituents in regions with fixed dimensions, where the old constituent and new constituent have approximately the same fixed dimensions. It's also currently possible for constituents to appear into what would otherwise be empty space, and for constituents to expand into empty space. Conversely, it's currently possible for constituents to be replaced by empty space, and for constituents to shrink so that part of the area they formerly occupied becomes empty space. Further, it's currently possible to expand into and shrink from empty space through a ripple effect applying along a single dimension. For example, given a vertical column with multiple constituents and empty space on the bottom, if a constituent that's not at the bottom expands, the constituents that lie below it can shift downward accordingly, with a corresponding reduction of the amount of empty space at the bottom of the column. Outside these bounds, with current Web technology, changes to displayed constituents are liable to incur unacceptable layout effects, such as overlapping of content items, internal wasted space, unreadable text, and so forth.
Grid-based templates have long been a standard basis for specifying families of layouts. More recently, container-based templates have become a standard basis for specifying families of Web layouts. For example, current server page technology allows dynamic content to be directed to HTML containers, such as tables, or to specific slots in HTML containers, such as table cells. Current Web authoring models, current automated tools for authoring print layouts, and current technology for serving dynamic Web content are all limited by their reliance on variants of the template model.
Above are just examples and not all the disadvantages and/or problems addressed by the present invention.

Display/layout methods and apparatuses including content items and display containers


A facsimile apparatus has a plurality of switching modes including a first mode to select facsimile communication or speech communication in accordance with a V.8 protocol signal and a second mode to select the facsimile communication or the speech communication in accordance with a call signal pattern and selects one of the switching modes to switch between the facsimile communication and the speech communication.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication apparatus capable of selectively communicating data and speech through a single communication line.
2. Related Background Art
A facsimile apparatus is known as an apparatus of this type. In a prior art facsimile apparatus, in order to selectively use a single telephone line for facsimile communication and speech communication, when a signal received from the line is a facsimile signal, it is determined that a sending station is a facsimile apparatus and the facsimile communication is started. Such an apparatus is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,019,840 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,800,439.
A service to allocate a plurality of telephone numbers to one telephone line and send out call signals corresponding to the respective telephone numbers (e.g. call signals having different cadences) by an exchange is known. A facsimile apparatus which utilizes this service while assigning a telephone number for speech communication and a telephone number for facsimile communication and identifying call signals for the facsimile apparatus to select the facsimile communication or the speech communication also is known.
On the other hand, data communication between computers and image data communication by a facsimile apparatus have recently been conducted through a public telephone line and communication with various types of modems has been conducted. A modem for computer data communication and a modem for a facsimile apparatus are incompatible and cannot communicate with each other. Thus, where communication is to be conducted through a telephone line, it is required to identify the type of terminal of a destination station when a line is connected with the destination station, and a new communication is to be applied to achieve the communication.
The prior art facsimile apparatus merely has independent functions to switch the facsimile communication and the speech communication and merely utilizes those functions independently. Thus, the facsmile apparatus may not properly switch the facsimile communication and the speech communication for the calls from various types of facsimile apparatus as above mentioned or telephone sets.

Communication apparatus capable of communicating data and speech selectively through single communication line


A shaving apparatus has at least one cutting unit (3) comprising an external cutting member (4) and an internal cutting member (5) which is drivable relative thereto, which external cutting member (5) has a number of broad and narrow hair-entry apertures (7a, 7b) which are bounded by peripheral portions (12, 13) of the external cutting member. In order to enable both short and long hairs to be caught and severed effectively while irritation of the skin is avoided as far as possible, the peripheral portions (12, 13) bounding the hair-entry apertures (7a, 7b) have different thicknesses, the width (B1) of a hair-entry aperture (7a) between two thick peripheral portions (12) being greater than the width (B2) of a hair-entry aperture (7b) between two thin peripheral portions (13).

Such a shaving apparatus is known from DE 909 666. The presence of broad and narrow hair-entry apertures serves to improve the shaving performance. Longer hairs are more likely to be caught in broad hair-entry apertures than in narrow hair-entry apertures. Shorter hairs will also be caught satisfactorily in narrow hair-entry apertures. It is also known that with the same pressure of the shaving apparatus on the skin the skin bulges deeper into broad hair-entry apertures than into narrow hair-entry apertures. A drawback of the presence of broad and narrow hair-entry apertures in the same external cutting member is that skin irritation may occur as a result of the fact that the skin penetrates too far into a broad aperture and may come into contact with the internal cutting member.