A single point disconnect system useful for pushback of an aircraft using a tow bar and a vehicle includes a first sensor assembly that determines whether an angle of the tow bar respective to a surface of the vehicle to which the tow bar is coupled exceeds a threshold limit, a second sensor assembly that determines the direction of the wheels of the vehicle that are responsible for steering the vehicle, and an indicator panel. The indicator panel includes a first light module and a second light module that are coupled to the first sensor assembly and the second sensor assembly, respectively. The first light module emits light that indicates the angle of the tow bar respective to the surface of the vehicle and the second light module emits light that indicates the direction of the wheels of the vehicle.

Although aircrafts can use reverse thrust to push themselves backwards on the ground, the jet blast or the prop wash resulting from the reverse thrust can cause damage to an airport terminal building or equipment. Also, aircraft engines close to the ground may blow sand and debris forward and then suck it back into the aircraft engine, causing damage to the aircraft engine. Therefore, using external power to push the aircraft backwards is often preferred over using the reverse thrust of the aircraft. This procedure of pushing an aircraft backwards using external power is referred to as 'pushback'.
Typically, pushback operations use a vehicle, such as a pushback tractor, in conjunction with a tow bar as illustrated in the example embodiment of FIG. 1. In particular, as illustrated in FIG. 1, one end of the tow bar 102 may be coupled to a nose landing gear 112 of the aircraft 110 while the other end of the tow bar 102 may be coupled to the vehicle 106. Once the tow bar 102 is coupled to both the aircraft 110 and the vehicle 106, a driver may operate/steer the vehicle 106 to push the aircraft back by leveraging the tow bar 102. Once the pushback operation is completed, the tow bar 102 is disconnected and the vehicle 102 is driven away from the aircraft 110 to clear the aircraft 110 for taxiing.
Conventional technology includes disconnecting the tow bar using a three point disconnect operation as illustrated in FIG. 1. In particular, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the three point disconnect operation includes three steps for disconnecting the tow bar after pushback. First, the tow bar 102 is disconnected from the vehicle 106 and the vehicle 106 is driven to a short distance away from the aircraft 110 (Step 150). Then, the tow bar 102 is disconnected from the nose landing gear 112 of the aircraft 110 (Step 160). At this point, the tow bar 102 remains disconnected from both the vehicle 106 and the aircraft 110, and the tow bar 102 is manually pulled on its carry wheels 104 towards the vehicle 106 (Step 170). Finally, the tow bar 102 is connected back to the vehicle 106, and the vehicle 106 is driven away with the tow bar 102 to ready the aircraft 110 for taxiing. The conventional three point disconnect operation is time intensive as it requires carefully disconnecting the tow bar 102 on each end and then reconnecting one end back to the vehicle 106. The time intensive nature of the three point disconnect operation may cause aircraft departure delay. Further, since the aircraft engine is operational during the pushback as well as tow bar 102 disconnect operation, a longer disconnect time will result in unproductive and undesirable consumption of aircraft fuel which is very expensive.
An alternative to the three-point disconnect operation may include a single point disconnect operation which includes only one step where the tow bar 102 is disconnected from the nose landing gear 112 while the tow bar 102 remains coupled to the vehicle 106, as illustrated in FIG. 2. That is, in this prior single point disconnect operation, once the aircraft 110 is pushed back, the tow bar 102 is not disconnected from the vehicle 106 as in the case of the three-point mechanism. Instead, in the prior single point disconnect operation, the tow bar 102 is only disconnected from the nose landing gear 112 of the aircraft 110 while the other end of the tow bar 102 remains coupled to the vehicle 106 (Step 260). The single point disconnect operation saves significant time over the three point disconnect operation, since the single point disconnect operation includes only one step, i.e., disconnect the tow bar 102 from the nose landing gear 112. For example, the single point disconnect operation saves approximately two and a half minutes per push on average and allows the aircraft to depart quicker after the pushback operation, which in turn leads to substantial fuel savings, cost savings, and quicker departure.
While single point disconnect operation may be more efficient compared to three point disconnect operation, improper disconnection of the tow bar 102 using the prior single point disconnect operation may result in significant injury to the ground crew and/or damage to the aircraft, e.g., damage to the aircraft nose landing gear as illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4.
In one example, as illustrated in FIG. 3A, after the pushback operation, the angle of the tow bar 102 respective to the surface 404 of the vehicle 106 may exceed a threshold limit. The term 'surface of the vehicle,' as used herein generally refers to a surface (of the vehicle) to which the tow bar is coupled. For example, if the tow bar is coupled to a back side of the vehicle, the surface of the vehicle may refer to a rear surface. The term 'angle of the tow bar respective to the surface of the vehicle,' as used herein may refer to a horizontal angle formed by a longitudinal axis of the tow bar 102, i.e., the axis along the length of the tow bar, with respect to a plane passing through a longitudinal axis and a vertical axis of the vehicle, provided the tow bar 102 is coupled to either the front side or rear side of the vehicle. Herein, the plane passing through the longitudinal axis and the vertical axis of the vehicle 106 may be referred to as 'longitudinal plane of the vehicle'. Further, the term 'longitudinal axis of the vehicle,' as used herein may generally refer to an axis that is parallel to the ground, extends along the length of the vehicle (e.g., a pushback tractor/tug), and symmetrically divides the vehicle into a right half and left half. The lateral axis of the vehicle is orthogonal to the longitudinal axis and is also parallel to the ground. The term 'vertical axis of the vehicle,' as used herein generally refers to an axis of the vehicle that is orthogonal to both the longitudinal and lateral axis of the vehicle 106. Further, the term 'horizontal angle,' and used herein may generally refer to an angle between two lines on a substantially horizontal plane or a plane passing through the longitudinal axis and the lateral axis of the vehicle and substantially parallel to the ground. The longitudinal axis 340 of the vehicle 106, the lateral axis 350 of the vehicle 106, the vertical axis 360 of the vehicle 106, and the longitudinal axis of the tow bar 102 are illustrated for reference in FIG. 3C. The term 'longitudinal axis of the tow bar,' generally refers to an axis through the length of the tow bar.
When the angle formed by a longitudinal axis of the tow bar 102 with respect to a plane passing through a longitudinal plane of the vehicle exceeds a threshold limit, the tow bar 102 may pivot on the carry wheels 104 and strike the aircraft wheel 114 responsive to disconnecting the tow bar 102 from the nose landing gear 112 of the aircraft 110, as illustrated by reference numerals 304a and 304b in FIG. 3B. That is, too much departure angle between the tow bar 102 and the surface 404 of the vehicle 106 may cause the tow bar head to come in contact with the nose landing gear 112 and/or the nose landing wheel 114 of the aircraft 110 and result in significant damage.
In another example illustrated in FIG. 4A, after a pushback operation, the wheels 108 associated with steering of the vehicle 106 (herein 'steering wheels 108') may not be straight, i.e., the direction of the wheels 108 may not be substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle 106. Similar to an improper alignment of the tow bar 102, if the steering wheels 108 of the vehicle 106 are not straight, the tow bar 102 may pivot on the carry wheels 104 and the head of the tow bar 102 striking the nose landing gear 112 and/or the nose landing wheel 114 of the aircraft responsive to disconnecting the tow bar 102 from the nose landing gear 112 of the aircraft 110 and moving the vehicle 106 away from the aircraft 110. Damage to the nose landing gear 112 and/or nose landing wheel 114 can result in a cancelled flight which may be costly both financially and in regards with passenger experience. Therefore, there is a need for a technology that provides a safe and efficient solution for single point disconnect of a tow bar and subsequent departure.

Single point disconnect in an aircraft pushback operation


A broadband antenna for wireless signal transmission of an electronic device is disclosed. The broadband antenna has a radiating element, a grounding element, a short-circuiting element and a feeding plane. The radiating element has a first radiation area and a second radiation area, the first radiation area and the second radiation area perpendicularly connected to each other substantially. The feeding plane perpendicularly connected to the second radiation area substantially, the feeding plane comprising a feeding point, a first end and a second end; wherein a distance between the feeding point and the first end is less than a distance between the feeding point and the second end. The short-circuiting element is used for connecting the first radiation area with the grounding element or connecting the feeding plane with the grounding element.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antenna and, more particularly, to a broadband antenna with a feeding plane.
2. Description of the Related Art
With developments in wireless communications technologies, many electronic devices, such as notebooks and mobile phones, now include wireless communications capabilities. Moreover, with improvements in the integration of wireless communication systems, broadband antennas have become increasingly important. In order to permit a wireless communication device to utilize various frequency bandwidths, antennas having wider bandwidths have become the most significant technology certainly.
However, in wireless communications, the Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) antenna and Wireless Fi-delity (Wi-Fi) antenna are very popular and significant transmission devices. In prior art technologies, the working frequency range of a WWAN antenna is usually 824˜960 MHz and 1710˜2170 MHz, and the working frequency range of a Wi-Fi antenna is usually 2.4˜2.5 GHz and 5.15˜5.85 GHz. However, these bandwidths of the antenna do not satisfy current needs. New antennas should be able to have wider bandwidths; for example, to satisfy global positioning system (GPS) frequencies of 1575 MHz and digital video broadcasting-handheld (DVB-H) frequencies 1627 MHz.
In order to satisfy different transmission frequency ranges, the prior art technology discloses an antenna for these portable electronic devices. Please refer to FIG. 1A. FIG. 1A is a schematic drawing of a prior art antenna 90 disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,861,986. The prior art antenna 90 has a radiating element 91, a connecting element 92 and a grounding element 93. The connecting element 92 has a first end 921 and a second end 922; the first end 921 of the connecting element 92 is connected to the radiating element 91; and the second end 922 is connected to the grounding element 93.
Please refer to FIG. 1B. FIG. 1B shows the VSWR at different frequencies according to the prior art antenna 90 shown in FIG. 1A. As shown in FIG. 1B, the working frequency range is only 2.5 GHz and 5 GHz approximately. Therefore, the antenna 90 only satisfies current bandwidth requirements of the Wi-Fi antenna but does not satisfy current bandwidth requirements of the WWAN antenna or other broadband antennas.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a broadband antenna to mitigate and/or obviate the aforementioned problems.

Broadband antenna and an electronic device thereof


A firing adapter for a combination gas and recoil operated weapon includes a blank firing barrel attached to the weapon; a piston having a barrel end and an anchor end, the barrel end being reciprocably disposed in the blank firing barrel and the anchor end being fixed to a non-recoil surface; and a gas port formed in the blank firing barrel wherein in a rest position of the weapon, the barrel end of the piston closes the gas port, and in a recoil position of the weapon, the barrel end of the piston opens the gas port.

The invention relates in general to weapons and in particular to weapons that operate on a combination of gas and recoil.
Combination gas and recoil weapons are generally "automatic" or "semi-automatic." These weapons operate or function using ammunition recoil impulse and gas pressure. Combination gas and recoil operated weapons use gas pressure bled from the barrel during firing to power the gas system and ammunition recoil impulse for recoil operation. However, they may not operate properly when firing blank cartridges, limited range training rounds, non-lethal cartridges, and other low impulse cartridges. The reduced cartridge impulse provided by lower mass projectile systems and/or reduced chamber pressure results in reduced operating energy in the weapon. Consequently, the weapon cyclic rate may be reduced to the point of being non-functional.
Also, when trying to extract such low impulse cartridges from the weapon after firing, the cartridge case may get stuck in the weapon chamber, or the bolt may not unlock to extract the cartridge. This is due to the slower barrel recoil of the low impulse cartridges as compared to conventional ammunition. The low impulse cartridges also produce a longer duration of gas pressure in the chamber than do conventional ammunitions. The low impulse cartridges have high value for training and non-lethal operations, but lack the ability to effectively operate (function) the weapon.

Blank firing adapter for combination gas and recoil operated weapon

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


A system and method checks whether messages exchanged between first and second modules are being lost or gained. The first module has a request counter and a capture register. The second module has a request accumulator and a capture register. As the first module issues and receives messages, it increments and decrements its request counter. As the second module receives and issues messages, it increments and decrements its request accumulator. To check for lost or gained messages, the first module copies the current value of its request counter into its capture register, and issues a marker to the second module. The first module decrements its capture register in response to receiving post-marker messages, but does not increment its capture register. Upon receipt of the marker, the second module copies the current value of its request accumulator into its capture register, and returns the marker to the first module. When the first module receives the marker, it stops decrementing its capture register. The two capture registers should then contain the same values provided that no messages have been lost or gained.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communications networks and, more specifically, to a technique for identifying lost or gained messages, such as request or grant signals.
2. Background Information
Communication in a computer network involves the exchange of data between two or more entities interconnected by communication links. These entities are typically software programs executing on computer platforms, such as end nodes and intermediate network nodes. Examples of an intermediate network node may be a router or switch that interconnects the communication links to enable transmission of data between the end nodes, such as servers having processor, memory and input/output (I/O) storage resources.
Communication software executing on the end nodes correlates and manages data communication with other end nodes. The nodes typically communicate by exchanging discrete frames or packets of data according to predefined protocols. In this context, a protocol consists of a set of rules defining how the nodes interact with each other. In addition, network software executing on the intermediate nodes allows expansion of communication to other end nodes. Collectively, these hardware and software components comprise a communications network and their interconnections are defined by an under-lying architecture.
The InfiniBand Architecture (IBA) is an I/O specification that defines a point-to-point, "switched fabric" technology used to, among other things, increase the aggregate data rate between processor and storage resources of a server. The IBA is described in the InfiniBand™ Architecture Specification Volume 1, Release 1.0.a, by the InfiniBand Trade Association, Jun. 19, 2001, which specification is hereby incorporated by reference as though fully set forth herein. Broadly stated, the switched fabric technology may be embodied in a main component switch configured to receive data traffic (IBA packets) from one or more input ports and forward that traffic over one or more output ports to an IBA communications network. A switch fabric of the main component switch may interconnect a plurality of line cards, each of which may be configured to operate with one or more additional component switches, such as intelligent input/output (I/O) adapters or "peripheral" switches, having ports that provide, e.g., Fibre Channel or Gigabit Ethernet link connections to the network. In this configuration, the component switches cooperate to create an extended switch of an IBA switch fabric or subnetwork (subnet).
Where only a relatively few input and output ports are needed to receive and transmit data over the communications network at relatively low bandwidth/speeds, the network switch may comprise a single device or module. However, where a relatively large numbers of ports (e.g., 64–256) and a relatively high bandwidth per port (e.g., 2–10 gigabits per second) are desired, the switch may need a plurality of different modules (e.g., 8–16). The modules constituting such a "large" switch may be grouped into three categories: control modules (CM), line modules (LM) and switch modules (XM). The CM provides control and monitoring functions for the operation and health of the switch using communication paths to all other modules that typically operate at a lower bandwidth relative to the data paths through the switch. The LM provides standard format data connections to attach the switch to the network. The XM provides the actual switching function in a switch fabric to transfer data between all LMs in the switch.
One type of switch fabric is a crossbar fabric adapted to switch packets received over input connections to output connections of the XM. The crossbar fabric may be configured to switch variable-sized packets, or it may be configured to switch fixed-size cells, which are generally smaller than a typical packet size. Upon receiving a packet, an ingress (source) LM apportions that packet into some number of fixed sized cells and forwards those cells to the XM. The cell switch fabric on the XM "switches" the cells and forwards them to an egress (destination) LM, which then reassembles the cells back into the original packet and forwards the packet over the network.
All other quality functions being equal, a cell switch fabric is often less expensive to implement than a variable-sized packet switch and facilitates computation of the input-to-output connections. In addition, the cell switch fabric allows for better differentiation of quality of service (QoS) levels and achieves better utilization than the variable sized packet switch. Moreover, the cell switch fabric ensures "fairness" among the variable sized packets switched by the crossbar fabric. That is, because of the varying sizes of packets, use of a fixed-sized cell granularity ensures fairness among all packets received at the switch by enabling, e.g., interleaving of cells from large and small packets during the switching function. Packet segmentation and reassembly costs are easily offset by these benefits, such that a cell switch fabric is commonly used in networking equipment.
Many switches employ credits, grants, tokens, requests or other such signals to control the flow of cells or packets through the switch. For example, a first component may be configured to hold a cell or packet until it receives a credit indicating that the next component that is to receive the cell or packet has the capacity to do so. Each time a component moves or issues a cell or packet, moreover, a corresponding credit is consumed. In such systems, components are constantly exchanging credits. To operate at the speeds specified in the IBA specification standard, switch components must exchange large numbers of credits at high-speed. Under such conditions, it is not uncommon for one or more credits to be lost due to noise in the signal paths or to manufacturing defects in the components. Although it is less likely, these conditions can also result in credits being improperly gained. A "gained" credit refers to the detection of a credit being received, even though no component sent the credit. The loss or gain of credits can adversely affect the operating characteristics of the switch. For example, the loss of even one credit can cause delays in the switching of the cells thereby degrading the switch's performance.
Accordingly, a need exists to identify whether credits, grants, requests, tokens or other such signals are being lost or gained in a switch or other such device.

System and method for checking data accumulators for consistency


A multi-purpose pliers includes a pair of lever arms pivotally joined at a pivot. Each lever arm includes a handle end and a jaw end. The jaw ends comprise a plurality of graduated engagement positions to engage a range of fastener sizes. The graduated engagement positions include a plurality of stepped flats or angled notches for square or hexagonal fasteners or other with parallel sides. The handles and jaws may be temporarily fixed into position to simulate a box end wrench with parallel jaws. The pivot includes an adjustable joint with at least two pivot positions. Each of the handle ends may include a driver tip, such as a screwdriver, concealed beneath a removable grip. The driver tips are interchangeable.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to multi-purpose pliers and wrenches. In particular, the present invention relates to a pliers and wrenches having a single pair of jaws for securely accepting a range of fasteners without adjusting the jaws.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are many varieties of pliers and wrenches on the market today. There are pliers and wrenches made to satisfy dozens of special uses and many more for general use. Wrenches are often adjustable, with worm screws or other means, but once the wrench is adjusted as desired, it stays in that desired setting. Adjustment often requires two hands, or awkward manipulation with one hand. Many other wrenches have no provision for adjustment. The end is fixed and will accept only one size of fastener.
Pliers offer a unique set of limitations. By their nature, pliers are adjustable. Their jaws are virtually infinitely adjustable due to the pivoting nature of the jaws. Within their design limitations, pliers can be adjusted to fit any fastener that can fit within the jaws, but a pliers' holding strength is limited to the strength of the user. If the user does not have a strong hand or grip, then the jaws will open slightly as user attempts to turn the fastener. This results in the corners of the fasteners becoming rounded off. Usually, a fastener with rounded corners should be replaced, which is a hassle must users are not prepared for.
Additionally, the designs of most pliers require that the jaws are parallel at only one setting. Thus, only one particular size of fastener can be engaged squarely. Any other sizes of fasteners will be gripped by pliers jaws that are not parallel. Non-parallel jaws are a big contributor to rounded corners on the fasteners.
Therefore, there has been and continues to be a need for a wrench that adjusts quickly, like pliers, or a pliers that grips like a wrench, having multiple sizes of parallel openings between the jaws for securely engaging a variety of fasteners, without rounding or damage to the fastener.


In a vehicle steering system configured to reduce the burden placed on an operator when steered wheels are returned to a neutral position, a knob for operating a steering wheel is turnably attached to the steering wheel. A switch is attached to the knob. A steered system ECU includes a target steered angle setting unit. The target steered angle setting unit changes a target steered angle to a steered angle corresponding to a position closer to the neutral position of the steered wheels when the switch is turned on in a state where the turning amount of the steering wheel from a turning angle of the steering wheel corresponding to the neutral position of the steered wheels is within a prescribed range.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a vehicle steering system in which there is no mechanical connection between a steering member operated for steering and a steering mechanism, and in which the steering mechanism is driven by a steered system motor.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a vehicle steering system, there has been proposed a steer-by-wire system in which there is no mechanical connection between a steering wheel that serves as a steering member and a steering mechanism, the turning angle of the steering wheel is detected by an angle sensor, and driving force generated by a steered system motor controlled based on an output from the angle sensor is transmitted to the steering mechanism. In such a steer-by-wire system, because there is no mechanical connection between the steering wheel and the steering mechanism, it is possible to prevent upthrust of the steering wheel in the event of a vehicle collision and it is possible to simplify the configuration of the steering mechanism and to reduce the weight of the vehicle. The flexibility in the arrangement of the steering wheel is increased. Further, operational components other than a steering wheel, such as a lever and a pedal, may be adopted. As described in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2012-1092 (JP 2012-1092 A), Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-288872 (JP 2009-288872 A), Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-213769 (JP 2008-213769 A), and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 5-92769 (JP 5-92769 A), a steer-by-wire system is adopted in a material handling vehicle such as a forklift.
In a material handling vehicle such as a forklift in which a steer-by-wire system is adopted, the turning angle range of a steering wheel is larger than that of general vehicles. For example, in the material handling vehicle, the steering wheel may be turned by one turn or more to turn the vehicle. Therefore, in the material handling vehicle, an operation of returning steered wheels to the neutral position after turning the vehicle may place a heavy burden on an operator. This takes place also in general vehicles other than material handling vehicles in varying degrees.


A connector has a first housing (21) provided movably in a holder (10) and movements thereof are regulated by locking between resilient locking pieces (15) formed on the holder (10) and locks (23) formed on the first housing (21). In the process of assembling a first device (60) and a second device (70), the first housing (21) and a second housing (40) are connected properly and lock releasing portions (47) resiliently deflect the resilient locking pieces (15) to separate the resilient locking pieces (15) from the locks (23). When locking between the resilient locking pieces (15) and the locks (23) is released, the first housing (21) moves with respect to the holder (10) while being kept properly connected to the second housing (40) as assembly of the first and second devices (60, 70) proceeds.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 8,585,421 discloses a connector including an outer housing fixed to a case of a motor, an inner housing provided movably in an accommodating portion of the outer housing and a mating connector to be connected to the inner housing. The mating connector is connected to the inner housing by bringing a case of an inverter to which the mating connector is fixed and the case of the motor closer to each other. Dimensional errors between the cases are absorbed by a movement of the inner housing in the accommodating portion.
The connector includes a spring member for biasing the inner housing toward an opening of the accommodating portion as a means for reliably connecting the mating connector to the movable inner housing while allowing the inner housing to move in the accommodating portion. However, the spring member disadvantageously increases the number of components.
The invention was completed based on the above situation and aims to reduce the number of components


A method and a device for removing from a gas or vapor flow at least part of an ecologically unsound substance present therein, such as benzene, perchloroethylene or other hydrocarbons and/or solvents, includes passing the gas or vapor flow through a cooling room having a temperature which is at least substantially equal to or lower than the condensation temperature of the ecologically unsound substance, wherein a medium having a solidification temperature which is at least substantially equal to or higher than the temperature of the cooing room is introduced into the gas or vapor flow prior to and/or during the entry of said flow into the cooling room, and wherein the temperature in the cooling room is raised after a predetermined period and the gas or vapor flow is interrupted or diverted in order to liquify and discharge the solidified medium and the ecologically unsound substance contained therein.

In the (petro)chemical industry as well as during the transport of ecologically unsound substances and at petrol pumps and the like, undesirable vapours or gases may be released. The release of ecologically unsound substances is bound by increasingly stringent environmental regulations. In most cases the admissible concentration of such substances is expressed in p.p.m. (parts per million) or gramme per m.sup.3, whereby the admissible concentration has constantly been reduced over the years.
Furthermore solvents and hydrocarbon represent a relatively high value, which can be retained upon recovery and reuse.
The first known method for recovering solvents and/or hydrocarbons utilize filters, which are mostly provided with active carbon--see for example U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,985, U.S. Pat. No. 3,199,679 and U.S. Pat. No. 2,656,696, whereby certain ecologically unsound substances are adsorbed by the filter material.
Filtering and adsorption units of this type require constant maintenance and attention from operating staff and need to be cleaned at regular intervals. Furthermore such units are liable to wear and must be replaced after some time. Regeneration of the adsorption units usually entails the additional necessity of purifying a water flow. Finally it is by no means certain that the present and future stringent environmental regulations can be met by using filtering units of this type.
Furthermore processes are known wherein use is made of solvents, such as liquid carbon dioxide or chlorofluorocarbons (CFC's), the use of the latter being forbidden at the moment.
Examples of this can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,664,806 and 3,807,948.
Furthermore a purification system is known for for example benzene, which has a solidification point of 6.degree. C., whereby a gas flow containing benzene is passed through a room cooled to a temperature of -80.degree. C. in order for the benzene to deposit on the walls of a cooling element in the form of a solid substance and/or a liquid, and, after the temperature has been raised and the gas flow has been diverted to a second cooled room--or after a temporary interruption of the gas flow--the benzene can be discharged in liquid form. With this existing unit a pre-cooling unit is commonly used for removing water or water vapour from the gas flow. A process for the removal of condensible compounds from a gas flow is disclosed, for example, in DE-A-4001710.

Device and method for purifying a gas or vapor flow


In a radio display pager, the user enters a time indication if he desires to read a particular group of stored messages. If the time indication is entered, the particular group of messages is detected from the stored messages and each of the detected messages is displayed in response to a key operation by the user. If the time indication is not entered, each of the stored messages is displayed in response to a key operation on the keypad by the user.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to radio display pagers, and more specifically to the management of received messages stored in a radio display pager.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Specification Sho-60-106237 describes a radio display pager in which received messages are stored in a memory together with their arrival times. The stored messages are displayed starting with the message of most recent arrival and the user is required to scroll through messages of earlier arrivals. If the user desires to read messages of earlier arrivals, he has to scroll down many messages if a large number of messages have been received in the past. Such a situation occurs frequently for heavy users who receive several tens of messages each day.

Display pager having message finder responsive to user-entered time indication


An encoder is mounted upon a vehicle within a sealed, tubular housing. The encoder is mounted within the housing by a shock absorbing mount. Stub shafts extend from each end of the tubular housing which are co-axial and which are aligned with a direction of movement of the vehicle. The stub shafts are sturdy and carry a row follower upon them. The row follower contacts a path to be followed along the ground. At least one of the sturdy stub shafts are connected to the encoder by a shock absorbing, flexible coupling. The encoder translates signals by which the vehicle is guided along the path contacted by the row follower.

(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to agriculture and more particularly to row followers forming a portion of an agricultural vehicle guidance system. As used herein, "agricultural vehicle" or "vehicle" means a wheeled vehicle normally used on a farm such as used for harvesting, planting, or tilling. These vehicles are sometimes called strippers, pickers, combines, or tractors.
Farmers are the ones having ordinary skill in this art.
(2) Description of the Related Art
As set out in the BARNES et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,799, it is desirable to have a vehicle which can be guided along a designated path. Normally the designated path by which the vehicle will be guided will be a row which might be either a series of stalks, as described in the BARNES et al U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,873, or it might be a furrow as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,799, as well as U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,873. Also, U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,990 identified above illustrates a row follower to follow the stalks.
An encoder as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,873 is used to measure the deviation of the row follower from the vehicle to indicate corrections to be applied to the steering mechanisms of the vehicle as more fully set out in U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,799.
Problems have been encountered with the encoders which are believed to include rough handling, or shock to the encoders, particularly to the rotating shaft of the encoder within the body of the encoder.
Another source of problem with the encoders is believed to be environmental inasmuch as in the agriculture processes there is usually dust and sand which are stirred up and which tend to infiltrate the housing of the encoder. Also normally, agricultural vehicles are not housed within a closed building and are often left exposed to rain, snow, and dew, as well as the dust and sand.

Row follower encoder support and method of mounting same onto an agricultural vehicle


Methods for treating conditions associated with elevated, inappropriate or undesired post-prandial blood glucose levels are disclosed which comprise administration of an effective amount of an amylin agonist alone or in conjunction with other anti-gastric emptying agents. Methods for reducing gastric motility and delaying gastric emptying for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes are also described.

Amylin
Amylin is a 37-amino acid protein hormone. It was isolated, purified and chemically characterized as the major component of amyloid deposits in the islets of pancreases of human Type 2 diabetics (Cooper et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 84:8628-8632 (1987)). The amylin molecule has two important post-translational modifications: the C-terminus is amidated, and the cysteines in positions 2 and 7 are cross-linked to form an N-terminal loop. The sequence of the open reading frame of the human amylin gene shows the presence of the Lys-Arg dibasic amino acid proteolytic cleavage signal, prior to the N-terminal codon for Lys, and the Gly prior to the Lys-Art proteolytic signal at the CLAIMS-terminal position, a typical sequence for amidation by protein amidating enzyme, PAM (Cooper et al., Biochem. Biophys. Acta, 1014:247-258 (1989)). Amylin is the subject of United Kingdom patent application Ser. No. 870871, filed Apr. 27, 1987, and corresponding U.S. application filed Apr. 27, 1988, Nov. 23, 1988 and May 2, 1989.
In Type 1 diabetes, amylin has been shown to be deficient and combined replacement with insulin has been proposed as a preferred treatment over insulin alone, for instance in limiting hypoglycemic episodes. The use of amylin for the treatment of diabetes mellitus is the subject of United Kingdom patent application Ser. No. 8720115 filed on Aug. 26, 1987, by G. J. S. Cooper, and filed as patent application Ser. No. 236,985 in the United States on Aug. 26, 1988. Pharmaceutical compositions containing amylin and amylin plus insulin are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,124,314, issued Jun. 23, 1992.
Excess amylin action mimics key features of Type 2 diabetes and amylin blockade has been proposed as a novel therapeutic strategy. It has been disclosed in commonly-owned copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 275,475, field Nov. 23, 1988 by Cooper, G. J. S. et al., the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, that amylin causes reduction in both basal and insulin-stimulated incorporation of labelled glucose into glycogen in skeletal muscle. The latter effect was also disclosed to be shared by CGRP (see also Leighton, B. and Cooper, G. J. S., Nature, 335:632-635 (1988)). Amylin and CGRP were approximately equipotent, showing marked activity at 1 to 10 nM. Amylin is also reported to reduce insulin-stimulated uptake of glucose into skeletal muscle and reduce glycogen content (Young et al., Amer. J. Physiol. 259:457-46-1 (1990)). The treatment of Type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance with amylin antagonists is disclosed.
Both the chemical structure and the gene sequence of amylin have been said to support the determination that it is a biologically active or "messenger" molecule. The chemical structure is nearly 50% identical to the calcitonin-gene-related peptides (CGRP), also 37 amino acid proteins which are widespread neurotransmitters with many potent-biological actions, including vasodilation. Amylin and CGRP share the 2Cys-7Cys disulphide bridge and the C-terminal amide, both of which are essential for full biologic activity (Cooper et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 85-7763-7766 (1988)).
Amylin may be one member of a family of related peptides which include CGRP, insulin, insulin-like growth factors, and the relaxins and which share common genetic heritage (Cooper, G. J. S., et al., Prog. Growth Factor Research 1:99-105 (1989)). The two peptides calcitonin and CGRP-1 share common parentage in the calcitonin gene where alternative processing of the primary mRNA transcript leads to the generation of the two distinct peptides, which share only limited sequence homology (about 30%) (Amara, S. G. et al., Science, 229:1094-1097 (1985)). The amylin gene sequence is typical for a secreted messenger protein, with the mRNA coding a prepropeptide with processing sites for production of the secreted protein within the Golgi or secretary granules. Amylin is mainly co-localized with insulin in beta cell granules and may share the proteolytic processing enzymes that generate insulin from pro-insulin.
Amylin is primarily synthesized in pancreatic beta cells and is secreted in response to nutrient stimuli each as glucose and arginine. Studies with cloned beta-cell tumor lines (Moore et al., Biochem. Biophys, Res. Commun., 179(1) (1991)), isolated islets Kanatsuka et al., FEBS Lett., 259(1), 199-201 (1989)) and perfused rat pancreases (Ogawa et al., J. Clin. Invest., 85:973-976 (1990)) have shown that short pulses, 10 to 20 minutes, of nutrient secretagogues such as glucose and arginine, stimulate release of amylin as well as insulin. The molar amylin:insulin ratio of the secreted proteins varies between preparations from about 0.01 to 0.4, but appears not to vary much with different stimuli in any one preparation. However, during prolonged stimulation by elevated glucose, the amylin:insulin ratio can progressively increase (Gedulin et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 180(1):782-789 (1991)). Thus, perhaps because gene expression and rate of translation are independently controlled, amylin and insulin are not always secreted in a constant ratio.
Amylin-like immunoreactivity has been measured in circulating blood in rodents and humans by a variety of radioimmunoassays all of which use rabbit anti-amylin antiserum, and most of which use an extraction and concentration procedure to increase assay sensitivity. In normal humans, fasting amylin levels from 1 to 10 pM and post-prandial or post-glucose levels of 5 to 20 pM have been reported (e.g., Hartter et al., Diabetologia, 34:52-54 (1991)); Sanke et al., Diabetologia, 34:129-132 (1991)); Koda et al., The Lancet, 339:1179-1180 (1992)). In obese, insulin-resistant individuals, post-food amylin levels can go higher, reaching up to about 50 pM. For comparison, the values for fasting and post-prandial insulin are 20 to 50 pM, and 100 to 300 pM respectively in healthy people, with perhaps 3-to 4-fold higher levels in insulin-resistant people. In Type 1 diabetes, where beta-cells are destroyed, amylin levels are at or below the levels of detection and do not rise in response to glucose (Koda et al., The Lancet, 339, 1179-1180 (1992)). In normal mice and rats, basal amylin levels have been reported from 30 to 100 pM, while values up to 600 pM have been measured in certain insulin-resistant, diabetic strains of rodents (e.g., Huang et al., Hypertension,19:I-101-I-109 (1992); Gill et al.,Life Sciences, 48:703-710 (1991)).
It has been discovered that certain actions of amylin are similar to known non-metabolic actions of CGRP and calcitonin; however, the metabolic actions of amylin discovered during investigations of this newly identified protein appear to reflect its primary biologic role. At least some of these metabolic actions are mimicked by CGRP, albeit at doses which are markedly vasodilatory (see, e.g., Leighton et al., Nature, 335:632-635 (1988); Molina et al., Diabetes, 39:260-265 (1990)).
The first discovered action of amylin was the reduction of insulin-stimulated incorporation of glucose into glycogen in rat skeletal muscle (Leighton et al., Nature, 335:632-635 (1988)); the muscle was made "insulin-resistant". Subsequent work with rat soleus muscle ex-vivo and in vitro has indicated that amylin reduces glycogen-synthase activity, promotes conversion of glycogen phosphorylase from the inactive b form to the active a form, promotes net loss of glycogen (in the presence or absence of insulin), increases glucose-6-phosphate levels, and can increase lactate output (see. e.g., Deems et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 181(1):116-120 (1991)); Young et al., FEBS Letts, 281(1,2):149-151 (1991)). Whether amylin interferes with glucose transport per se is uncertain (see e.g. Young et al., Am. J. Physiol., 259:E457-E461 (1990); Zierath et al., Diabetologia, 35:26-31 (1992)). Studies of amylin and insulin dose-response relations show that amylin acts as a noncompetitive or functional antagonist of insulin in skeletal muscle (Young et al., Am. J. Physiol., Am. J. Physiol., 263(2):E274-E281 (1992)). There is no evidence that amylin interferes with insulin binding to its receptors, or the subsequent activation of insulin receptor tyrosine kinase (Follet et al., Clinical Research 39(1):39A (1991); Koopmans et al., Diabetologia, 34, 218-224 (1991)). The actions of amylin on skeletal muscle resemble those of adrenalin (epinephrine). However, while adrenalin's actions are believed to be mediated largely by cAMP, some workers have concluded that amylin's actions are not mediated by cAMP (see Deems et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 181(1):116-120 (1991)), while still others report that amylin does activate adenyl cyclase and increases cAMP in skeletal muscle (Moore and Rink, Diabetes 42:5,821 June (1993)), consistent with transduction of its effect on glycogen metabolism via cAMP-dependent protein kinase phosphorylation of synthase and phosphorylase.
It is believed that amylin acts through receptors present in plasma membranes. It has been reported that amylin works in skeletal muscle via a receptor-mediate mechanism that promotes glycogenolysis, by activating the rate-limiting enzyme for glycogen breakdown, phosphorylase a (Young, A. et al., FEBS Letts., 281:149-151 (1991)). Studies of amylin and CGRP, and the effect of the antagonist 8-37CGRP, suggest that amylin acts via its own receptor (Wang et al., FEBS Letts., 219:195-198 (1991 b)), counter to the conclusion of other workers that amylin may act primarily at CGRP receptors (e.g., Chantry et al., Biochem. J., 277:139-143 (1991); Galeazza et al., Peptides, 12:585-591 (1991); Zhu et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 177(2):771776 (1991)). Recently, amylin receptors and their use in various methods for screening and assaying for amylin agonist and antagonist compounds were described in International Application Number PCT/US92/02125, published Oct. 1, 1992, and titled "Receptor-Based Screening Methods for Amylin Agonists and Antagonists."
While amylin has marked effects on hepatic fuel metabolism in vivo, there is no general agreement as to what amylin actions are seen in isolated hepatocytes or perfused liver. The available data do not support the idea that amylin promotes hepatic glycogenolysis, i.e., it does not act like glucagon (e.g., Stephens, et al., Diabetes, 40:395-400 (1991)); Gomez-Foix et al., Biochem J., 276:607-610 (1991)). It has been suggested that amylin may act on the liver to promote conversion of lactate to glycogen and to enhance the amount of glucose able to be liberated by glucagon (see Roden et al., Diabetologia, 35:116-120 (1992)). Thus, amylin could act as an anabolic partner to insulin in liver, in contrast to its catabolic action in muscle.
The effect of amylin on regional hemodynamic actions, including renal blood flow, in conscious rats was recently reported (Gardiner et al., Diabetes, 40:948-951 (1991)). The authors noted that infusion of rat amylin was associated with greater renal vasodilation and less mesenteric vasoconstriction than is seen with infusion of human α-CGRP. They concluded that, by promoting renal hyperemia to a greater extent than did α-CGRP, rat amylin could cause less marked stimulation of the renin-angiotension system, and thus, less secondary angiotension II-mediated vasoconstruction. It was also noted, however, that during coninfusion of human α-8-37CGRP and rat amylin renal and mesenteric vasoconstrictions were unmasked, presumably due to unopposed vasoconstrictor effects of angiotension II, and that this finding is similar to that seen during coinfusin of human A-CGRP and human α-8-37CGRP (Id. at 951).
In fat cells, contrary to its adrenalin-like action in muscle, amylin has no detectable actions on insulin-stimulated glucose uptake, incorporation of glucose into triglyceride, CO2 production (Cooper et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 85:7763-7766 (1988)) epinephrine-stimulated lipolysis, or insulin-inhibition of lipolysis (Lupien J. R., and Young, A. A., "Diabetes Nutrition and metabolism—Clinical and Experimental", Vol. 6(1), pages 13-18 (February 1993)). Amylin thus exerts tissue-specific effects, with direct action on skeletal muscle, marked indirect (via supply of substrate) and perhaps direct effects on liver, while adipocytes appear "blind" to the presence or absence of amylin. No direct effects of amylin on kidney tissue have been reported.
It has been reported that amylin can have marked effects on secretion of insulin. In isolated islets (Ohsawa et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 160(2):961-967 (1989)), in the perfused pancreas (Silvestre et al., Reg. Pept., 31-23-31 (1990), and in the intact rat (Young et al., Mol. Cell. Endocrinol., 84:R1-R5 (1992)), some experiments indicate that amylin down-regulates insulin secretion. The perfused pancreas experiments point to selective down-regulation of the secretary response to glucose with sparing of the response to arginine. Other worker, however, have been unable to detect effects of amylin on isolated β-cells, on isolated islets, or in the whole animal (see Broderick et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Comm., Vol. 177:932-938 (1991) and references therein).
The most striking effect of amylin in vivo is stimulation of a sharp rise in plasma lactate, followed by a rise in plasma glucose (Young et al., FEBS Letts., 281(1,2):149-151 (1991)). Evidence indicates that the increased lactate provides substrate for glucose production and that amylin actions can occur independent of changes in insulin or glucagon. In "glucose clamp" experiments, amylin infusions cause "insulin resistance," both by reducing peripheral glucose disposal, and by limiting insulin-mediate suppression of hepatic glucose output (e.g., Frontoni et al., Diabetes, 40:568-573 (1991); Koopmans et al., Diabetologia, 34, 218-224 (1991)).
In lightly anesthetized rats which are fasted for 18 hours to deplete their stores of hepatic glycogen, amylin injections stimulated rises in plasma lactate from about 0.5 to 1.5 mM followed by a prolonged increase in plasma glucose levels from about 6 to 11 mM. These effects were observed for both intravenous and subcutaneous injections (Young et al; FEBS Letts., 281(1,2):149-151 (1991)). The effects of amylin in fed animals differ quantitatively from its effects in fasted animals. In fed rats, with presumably normal liver glycogen stores, amylin causes a more pronounced and prolonged rise in plasma lactate; however, there is only a modest rise in plasma glucose. It has been suggested that amylin promotes the "return limb" of the Cori cycle, i.e., muscle glycogen via breakdown to lactate provides substrate for hepatic gluconeogenesis and glycogen production and probably triglyceride synthesis. Insulin drives the forward limb, i.e., uptake of glucose into muscle and production of muscle glycogen. Insulin and amylin can thus be seen as partners in regulating the "indirect" pathway of post-prandial hepatic glycogen repletion. "Insulin resistance" in muscle and liver may be under normal, physiologic regulation by amylin.
Non-metabolic actions of amylin include vasodilator effects which may be mediated by interaction with CGRP vascular receptors. Reported in vivo tests suggest that amylin is at least about 100 to 1000 times less potent than CGRP as a vasodilator (Brain et al., Eur. J. Pharmacol., 183:2221 (1990); Wang et al., FEBS Letts., 291:195-198 (1991)). Injected into the brain, amylin has been reported to suppress food intake (e.g., Chance et al., Brain Res., 539, 352-354 (1991)), an action shared with CGRP and calcitonin. The effective concentrations at the cells that mediate this action are not known. Amylin has also been reported to have effects both on isolated osteoclasts where it cause cell queiscence, and in vivo where it was reported to lower plasma calcium by up to 20% in rats, in rabbits, and in humans with Paget's disease (see. e.g, Bilbey et al., J. Bone Mineral Res., S293 (1991). From the available data, amylin seems to be 10 to 30 times less potent than human calcitonin for these actions. Interestingly, it was reported that amylin appeared to increase osteoclast CAMP production but not to increase cytosolic Ca2+, while calcitonin does both (Alam et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 179(1):134-139 (1991)). It was suggested, though not established, that calcitonin may act via two receptor types and that amylin may interact with one of these.
Infusing amylin receptor antagonists may be used to alter glucoregulation. 8-37CGRP is a demonstrated amylin blocker in vitro and in vivo (Wange et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun., 181(3):1288-1293 (1991)), and was found to alter glucoregulation following an arginine infusion in fed rats (Young et al., Mol. Cell. Endocrinol., 84:R1-R5 (1992)). The initial increase in glucose concentration is attributed to arginine-stimulated glucagon secretion from islet alpha cells; the subsequent restoration of basal glucose is attributed to insulin action along with changes in other glucoregulatory hormones. When the action of amylin is blocked by preinfusion of 8-37hCGRP, the initial glucose increase is not significantly different, but there is a subsequent fall in glucose concentration to well below the basal level, which is restored only after some 80 minutes. Thus, glucoregulation following this challenge with an islet secretagogue was altered by infusion of an amylin receptor antagonist. Additionally, insulin concentrations were measured at half hour intervals and it was found that insulin concentration 30 minutes following the arginine infusion was almost twice as high in animals infused with an amylin receptor antagonist as in the normal controls. 8-37CGRP is also an effective CGRP antagonist. However, very similar results were seen with another amylin antagonist, AC66, which is selective for amylin receptors compared with CGRP receptors (Young et al., Mol. Cell. Endocrino., 84:R1-R5 (1992)). These results are said to support the conclusion that blockade of amylin action can exert important therapeutic benefits in Type 2 diabetes.
Patients with Type 1 diabetes, in addition to a lack of insulin, are reported to have marked amylin deficiency. As noted above, data show that amylin expression and secretion by pancreatic beta-cells is absent or well below normal in Type 1 diabetes. In several animal models of Type 1 diabetes, amylin secretion and gene expression are depressed (Cooper et al., Diabetes, 497-500 (1991); Ogawa et al., J. Clin. Invest., 85:973-976 (1990)). Measurements of plasma amylin in Type 1 diabetic patients show that amylin is deficient in these patients after an overnight fast, and that a glucose load does not elicit any increase in amylin levels (Koda et al., The Lancet, 339:1179-1180 (1992)).
It has been discovered that, surprisingly in view of its previously described renal vasodilator and other properties, amylin markedly increases plasma renin activity in intact rats when given subcutaneously in a manner that avoids any disturbance of blood pressure. This is important because lowered blood pressure is a strong stimulus to renin release. Amylin antagonists, such as amylin receptor antagonists, including those selective for amylin receptors compared to CGRP and/or calcitonin receptors, can be used to block the amylin-evoked rise of plasma renin activity. These unexpected findings support the determination that amylin antagonists will reduce plasma renin activity with consequent therapeutic benefit in hypertension and cardiac failure and other disorders associated with elevated, in appropriate or undesired renin activity. Moreover, the additional ability of amylin antagonists to favorably modulate insulin resistance and other common metabolic disorders frequently associated with hypertension and cardiac disease provides a particularly desirable therapeutic profile.
Gastric Hypomotility
Gastric hypomotility with delayed emptying of liquid and/or solid contents is a component of a number of gastrointestinal disorders. For a general discussion, see Goodman and Gilman's The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics, Chapter 38 (Pergamon Press, Eighth Edition 1990). The symptoms of such disorders may include nausea, vomiting, heartburn, postprandial discomfort, and indigestion. Gastroesophageal reflux is often evident and can give rise to esophageal ulceration; there may also be respiratory symptoms or intense substernal pain that can be confused with astham or myocardial infarction, respectively. Although the cause is unknown in the majority of patients, gastric stasis or hypomotility is frequently a consequence of diabetic neuropathy; this condition is also often present in patients with anorexia nervosa or achlorhydria or following gastric surgery. Id. at page 928.
The medical management of patients with gastric hypomotility usually includes the administration of a prokinetic agent. Although antiemetic phenothiazines or bethanechol may provide some relief, these drugs do not accelerate gastric emptying in the vast majority of patients and often produce unacceptable side effects. At present, available prokinetic agents include metoclopramide and cisapride, but others (e.g., domperidone) are being evaluated. Id.
Metoclopramide decreases receptive relaxation in the upper portion of the stomach and increases antral contractions. The pylorus and duodenum are relaxed, while the tone of the lower esophageal sphincter is enhanced. These effects combine to accelerate the emptying of gastric contents and to reduce reflux from the duodenum and the stomach into the esophagus. In addition, the transit time of material from the duodenum to the ileocecal valve is reduced as a result of increased jejunal peristalsis. Metoclophramide has little effect on gastric secretion or colonic motility. Id. at page 928.
In general, dopaminergic agonists produce the opposite pattern of effects, and these are mediated by D2 receptors that are located, at least in part, within the gastrointestinal tract. Id.
The mechanism of action of metoclopramide is poorly understood, even though it is clearly a dopaminergic antagonist and can block the gastrointestinal effects caused by the local or systemic administration of dopaminergic agonists. Although vagotomy does not abolish the effects of metoclopramide, its prokinetic actions can be blocked by atropine or other muscarinic antagonists. Moreover, not all dopaminergic antagonists speed gastric emptying. It is thought that the drug promotes the release of acetylcholine from myenteric neurons, although direct evidence of this action is lacking. Since bethanechol can enhance the effects of metoclopramide, enhanced responsiveness to acetylcholine may also be involved. Id. at pages 928-929.
Domperidone is a derivative of benzimidazole that possess both prokinetic and antiemetic properties. It is a dopaminergic antagonist, and it produces marked hyperprolactinemia; its effects gastrointestinal motility also closely resemble those of metoclopramide. However, unlike metoclopramide, these effects are not antagonized by atropine; and explanation for this difference has not yet been advanced. Domperidone crosses the blood-brain barrier to only a limited extent, and it causes extrapyramidal side effects only rarely. As a result, it does not interfere with the treatment of Parkinson's disease, and it may be useful in counteracting the gastrointestinal disturbances caused by levodopa and bromocriptine. Thus far, the drug appears to have the same therapeutic utility as metoclopramide in the treatment of patients with gastric hyopmotility. However, it has less antiemetic activity. Id. at page 929. Domperidone appears to be rapidly absorbed after oral administration, but its bioavailability is only about 15%; most of the drug and its metabolites are excreted in the feces. The half-time for its elimination from plasma is about 7 to 8 hours. Id. Domperidone is not generally available in the United States; it is available elsewhere as MOTILIUM. Optimal dosage has not been established, but daily oral doses of 40 to 120 mg have been utilized in the treatment of gastric hypomotility. Id. at page 929.
Cisapride is a benzamide and its effects on the motility of the stomach and small bowel closely resemble those of metoclopramide and domperidone; however, unlike these drugs, it also increases colonic motility and can cause diarrhea. The mechanism of its gastrointestinal actions is poorly understood. Like metoclopramide, these actions are blocked by atropine and may involve the release of myenteric acetylcholine. Cisapride appears to be devoid of dopaminergic blocking activity, and it does not influence the concentration of prolactin in plasma or cause extrapyramidal symptoms. The drug binds to and blocks 5-HT2 tryptaminergic receptors in the rat ileum, but the relationship of this action to its effects in man has not been established. Id. Thus far the efficacy of the drug in the treatment of disorders of gastric hypomotility appears to equal those of metoclopramide and domperidone without the side effects that result from dopaminergic blockage. In additional, cisapride may be useful in the treatment of patients with chronic idiopathic constipation or with colonic hypomotility due to spinal cord injury. Id. at page 929.
In contrast to the above, agents which serve to delay gastric emptying have found a place in medicine as well, particularly as diagnostic aids in gastro-intestinal radiologic examinations. For example, glucagon is a polypeptide hormone which is produced by the alpha cells of the pancreatic islets of Langerhans. It is a hyperglycaemic agent which mobilizes glucose by activating hepatic glycogenolysis. It can to a lesser extent stimulate the secretion of pancreatic insulin. Glucagon is administered as glucagon hydrochloride; doses are usually expressed as glucagon.
Glucagon is used in the treatment of insulin-induced hyopglycaemia when administration of glucose intravenously is not possible. It is given by subcutaneous, intramuscular, or intravenous injection in a dose of 0.5 to 1 mg (unit), repeated if necessary after 20 minutes. However, as glucagon reduces the motility of the gastro-intestinal tract it is used as a diagnostic aid in gastrointestinal radiological examinations. The route of administration is dependent upon the diagnostic procedure. A dose of 1 to 2 mgs (units) administered intramuscularly has an onset of action of 4 to 14 minutes and a duration of effect of 10 to 40 minutes; 0.2 to 2 mgs (units) given intravenously produces an effect within one minute that lasts for 9 to 25 minutes.
Gluagon has been used in several studies to treat various painful gastro-intestinal disorders associated with spasm. Daniel et al. (Br. Med. J., 1974,3, 720) reported quicker symptomatic relief of acute diverticulitis in patients treated with glucagon compared with those who had been treated with analgesics or antispasmodics. A reveiw by Glauser et al., (J. Am. Coll. Emergency Physns, 1979, 8, 228) described relief of acute oesophageal food obstruction following glucagon therapy. In another study glucagon significantly relieved pain and tenderness in 21 patients with biliary tract disease compared with 22 patients treated with placebo (M. J. Stower et al., Br. J. Surg., 1982, 69, 591-2). Franken et al., however, (Radiology, 1983, 146, 687) failed to show any advantage of glucagon over placebo in the hydrostatic reduction of ileocolic intussusception in a study of 30 children, and Webb et al. (Med. J. Aust., 1986, 144, 124) concluded that glucagon was ineffective in the management of ureteric colic in a casualty department.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods for regulating postprandial blood glucose


A multi-layered adhesive label suitable for processing through a laser printer includes a substantially tear resistant layer with a printable layer permanently adhered to one side of the tear resistant layer. An adhesive layer is permanently adhered to the other side of the tear resistant layer. The label can comprise two discrete portions. Each label portion can have a permanent adhesive layer or a non-permanent adhesive layer. Thus, one label portion can be removably adhered to a receiving surface while the other portion is permanently adhered to the same receiving surface.

Laser printers are particularly well suited for fast, clear printing and provide flexibility in the type and range of images that can be printed. A laser printer generates an image by fusing toner particles to the surface of a sheet material fed into the laser printer. Good and proper fusing requires the sheet material to be receptive to the toner particles. Paper works very well with laser printers, providing a surface which is receptive to and capable of retaining the toner image. The ability of paper to receive and retain toner images from a laser printer is one of the reasons that paper adhesive labels are now commonly printed using laser printers. Another reason is that paper is a cost effective material for making labels. The vast majority of labels are made of a paper/adhesive combination, mounted on a backing sheet and are commonly referred to as pressure sensitive adhesive labels.
To print a pressure sensitive adhesive label with a laser printer, the adhesive label/backing sheet set is fed through a laser printer and a desired image is printed upon the label. After removing the printed label/backing sheet set from the laser printer, the label is applied by first peeling it from the backing sheet and then applying it to a desired location.
Pressure-sensitive labels are well known and commonly used in many applications where it is necessary or desirable to display information. In situations where a label may be exposed to rough handling or the rigors of outdoor climatic/environmental conditions, traditional paper labels are often inadequate. These types of demanding conditions are common in the chemical industry where chemicals are stored and transported in large bulk containers. These bulk containers are often stored outdoors or exposed to outdoor conditions in areas where weathering and abrasions from handling and storage can damage a label that is adhered to the containers.
Many durable materials that do not deteriorate under these conditions are poorly suited for receiving and retaining images from laser printers. Materials such as polymer films are sufficiently durable to endure the weathering and abrasion, but are generally, not well suited for accepting the toner images produced by laser printers. Films which are suitable for laser printing are typically expensive and thus prohibitive for use in applications where cost is a factor in label selection. In many high volume applications, such as the distribution of chemicals, even relatively small differences in price per label can translate into significant amounts of money when multiplied by the large numbers of labels used. Therefore, labels consisting essentially of these films are generally, not desirable where durable and inexpensive labels are required.
It is also common in some industries to sell identical products under various names to different customers or to different industries. The reason for selling identical products under different names may relate to marketing purposes of the manufacturer or supplying products to the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) market where the purchaser applies its own brand name or trademark to the product.
In the chemical field, when an identical chemical is sold under several different names or trademarks, the hazard warnings and properties of the chemicals sold under the different names or trademarks remains the same. In these situations, each package for the chemical, regardless of the difference in name or trademark under which it is being sold, still requires the same hazard warning and listing of the chemical properties. Particularly when dealing with bulk chemicals which are packaged in large containers or drums, the realities of inventory control may result in insufficient quantities of product labeled with each different name or trademark. In these situations, since the underlying chemicals are identical to the chemicals packaged in containers with merely a different name or trademark, it is common to re-label the containers to display the desired name.
The labels applied to the packaging for bulk chemical products are usually a single label containing the name of the product, the hazard warning and/or the chemical properties of the chemical. Relabeling of the packaging for bulk chemical products requires removal of the entire label and replacing it with a new label or applying a new label over top of the old label (over-labeling). Removal of the entire label is time consuming and, therefore, more expensive, because of the strong adhesives normally used. Because warning labels are usually used with chemical products, it is important to use a strong adhesive to ensure that the warning label and product safety information stay on the container. Removing an existing label to replace it with a new label also raises the possibility that the new label may be inadvertently left off, creating a potentially hazardous condition.
Over labeling is also not desirable because it is possible that the user will peel off the new label, revealing the name or trademark shown on the original label and possibly the name of the chemical product as it is sold to other customers or industries. Over-labeling may also result in a poor appearance if the new label is not a perfect match, properly positioned over the old label.
Since not every situation will require a second label with a different product name, it is efficient and effective to print the original label as a single label containing the intended name of the product and the hazard warning/chemical property information. Printing a single label helps insure that each product package or container receives both the hazard warning/chemical property information and the name of the product. It is very important that the hazard warning/chemical property information is permanently adhered to the containers from the beginning, in case of an emergency. Having the name and warning information printed on a single label will also help avoid confusion and mislabeling.


[Problem to be Solved]

Fluorine-containing cation exchange membranes have excellent heat resistance, chemical resistance, and the like and therefore are used as electrolytic cation exchange membranes for producing chlorine and alkalis by electrolysis of alkali chlorides and the like. In addition, fluorine-containing cation exchange membranes are used as ozone generation diaphragms, various electrolytic diaphragms for fuel cells, water electrolysis, and hydrochloric acid electrolysis, and the like. Among them, in electrolysis of an alkali chloride in which brine or the like is electrolyzed to produce caustic soda, chlorine, and hydrogen, a cation exchange membrane composed of at least two layers, a carboxylic acid layer having a carboxylic acid group as an ion exchange group and having high anion exclusion properties and a low resistance sulfonic acid layer having a sulfonic acid group as an ion exchange group, is generally used. This cation exchange membrane is in direct contact with chlorine, caustic soda, and the like at 80 to 90° during electrolysis, and therefore fluorine-containing polymers having high chemical resistance are used as materials of the cation exchange membrane.
But, with only such fluorine-containing polymers, the cation exchange membrane does not have sufficient mechanical strength as a cation exchange membrane, and therefore embedding a woven fabric comprising polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), or the like, as a reinforcement core material, in the membrane for strengthening, and the like are performed.
As electrolytic characteristics in electrolysis using this cation exchange membrane, high production efficiency with respect to the passed current (current efficiency) from the viewpoint of productivity, low electrolytic voltage from the viewpoint of economy, low impurity (common salt and the like) concentration in an alkali (caustic soda or the like) and no occurrence of damage to the membrane even in long term operation from the viewpoint of the quality of the product, and the like are desired.
For example, Patent Literature 1 proposes a technique of polishing a surface of an ion exchange membrane to expose a sacrifice core material and part of a reinforcement core material on the membrane surface to improve current efficiency and reduce the influence of a metal dissolved from a cathode during stop of electrolysis on the ion exchange membrane.
On the other hand, raised shapes are given to a fluorine-containing cation exchange membrane surface to improve alkali chloride aqueous solution supply properties. For example, in Patent Literature 2, Patent Literature 3, and the like, raised portion shapes are formed on the anode surface of a cation exchange membrane to improve alkali chloride aqueous solution supply properties, decrease impurities in a produced alkali hydroxide, and reduce damage to the cathode surface.

Cation exchange membrane and electrolyzer

Abstract: [Problem to be Solved]

Abstract: A cation exchange membrane that has sufficient mechanical strength and at the same time has high impurity resistance, suffers little cathode surface damage, and exhibits stable electrolytic characteristics is provided.

Abstract: [Solution]

Abstract: A cation exchange membrane comprising:                a membrane body comprising a fluorine-containing polymer having an ion exchange group; and        a reinforcement core material arranged inside the membrane body, wherein        raised portions having a height of 20 μm or more in cross-sectional view are formed on at least one surface of the membrane body,        an arrangement density of the raised portions on the surface of the membrane body is 20 to 1500/cm2,        a plurality of opening portions are formed on the surface of the membrane body, and        a proportion of a total area of the opening portions to an area of the surface of the membrane body (opening area ratio) is in a range of 0.4 to 15%.


A child seat mount assembly, a seat for mounting a child seat, and a passenger vehicle having a stowable child seat are provided. A seat back is connected to the body for closing an access opening to a storage compartment and seating an occupant in an upright position, and for opening the access opening in a collapsed position. A child seat mounting plate is connected to the seat back such that the mounting plate and child seat extend into the storage compartment in the upright position of the seat back, and such that the child seat is in a seating position in the collapsed position of the seat back. A method is provided for converting a vehicle seat for receiving and storing a child seat in the storage compartment, and for deploying a child seat in the collapsed position of the seat back.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to child seats for automotive vehicles, automotive vehicles having stowable child seats, assemblies for mounting child seats in vehicles, and methods of manufacturing automotive seats for stowing child seats.
2. Related Art
The prior art has offered child seats that are installed into vehicles, including mounting hardware within the vehicle, such as anchor hoops for mounting a child seat or child seat base within a vehicle. The prior art has also offered child seats that are stowed within seating of the vehicle, which can be deployed for use.
Another offering of the prior art is to mount a child seat to a back surface of a seat back within a vehicle. The prior art also provides a collapsible child seat on a back surface of a seat back to be collapsed and stowed into a trunk when not in use.

Stowable child seat for automotive vehicles


A functionalized polymer for binding a dissolved molecule in an aqueous solution is presented. The polymer has a backbone polymer to which one or more functional groups are covalently linked. The backbone polymer can be such polymers as polyethylenimine, polyvinylamine, polyallylamine, and polypropylamine. These polymers are generally water-soluble, but can be insoluble when cross-linked. The functional group can be for example diol derivatives, polyol derivatives, thiol and dithiol derivatives, guest-host groups, affinity groups, beta-diphosphonic acids, and beta-diamides

1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to synthetic water-soluble polymers. More specifically, the present invention relates to water-soluble polymers and crosslinked water-soluble polymers that can be used with methods of selectively removing solutes from a solution.
2. Technical Background
Many solutes are found dissolved in water. Whether the water is a naturally occurring body of water such as lake, stream, river, aquifer, or ocean or a man made body such as process solution sumps, microorganism broths, a mine slag pond, power plant waters, or a municipal waste pond, the water contains dissolved solutes. Some of these solutes are impurities and contaminants that pose a hazard to the environment. Other dissolved solutes may not present a significant health hazard, but affect the taste and quality of culinary water. Yet other dissolved solutes have a significant economic value, which would encourage one to recover the solutes from the solution. The solutes can be of an organic or inorganic nature such as metal cations (for example, Cu2+), metal oxyanions (for example, AgS2O3−1), nonmetal small molecules (for example, Si(OH)4), or organic small molecules (for example, pyridine).
In the environment, rivers, lakes, and ground water are frequently contaminated with hazardous dissolved molecules. These contaminants may come from naturally occurring deposits. However, frequently the contaminants originate in waste streams from industrial sites and investigative laboratories. Other man-made sources of water contamination include abandoned mining operations, solid waste disposal facilities, power plant waters, and municipal waste disposal facilities. For the quality of the water in the environment to be improved, the contaminants need to be removed from a waste stream before the stream is discharged into the environment.
Contaminant solutes such as arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, mercury, lead, silver, and selenium are pollutants that are regulated by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Because these pollutants are covered by RCRA, strict regulations have been created that restrict the amount of these pollutants that may be discharged into the environment or are allowed in drinking water from natural sources. Moreover, the ability of industry to dispose of waste containing these pollutants is greatly limited. Because of these regulations, there is a great need to be able to remove these solutes from aqueous streams.
A variety of methods have been developed for the removal of RCRA pollutants. These methods frequently use harsh chemicals to precipitate the pollutant from the water. Such chemicals can themselves present a hazard to the technicians employing the method and frequently present additional waste disposal issues. Moreover, the reagents and conditions required for such removal methods can be very expensive. In fact the cost of many clean-up operations is the single biggest obstacle to rapid and effective clean-up of contaminated sites. Cost and effectiveness is a major obstacle to process stream treatment.
Recently, Polymer Filtration technology has been developed for removing such metallic contaminants from water. Generally, Polymer Filtration uses a water-soluble solute-binding polymer to bind the target solute contaminant in water. The solution is then ultrafiltered to concentrate the polymer/solute complex, thus separating the target solute from the bulk of the aqueous solution and purifying the solute from other low-binding components in the solution. The polymer contains oxygen, nitrogen, or sulfur groups, which bind to and form a complex with the solute in solution. The soluble polymers might form a guest-host interaction as its form of complex formation. After the complex is formed, the solution is filtered through an ultrafiltration membrane. The ultrafiltration membrane has a molecular weight cutoff (MWCO) value that is selected to retain the water-soluble polymer and any polymer-solute complex while allowing the water and other dissolved molecules to pass through. This filtration creates a concentrated solution of the polymer/solute complex, which can be more easily treated.
Polymer Filtration technology (PF) has many advantages over other methods of removing solutes from aqueous streams. The major advantage of PF is that the binding of the solute occurs in a homogenous environment, which gives rapid kinetics of binding and can translate into a relatively economical process. The solutes can generally be stripped from the soluble polymer allowing the polymer to be recycled for additional rounds of solute binding. The recycling of the polymer significantly reduces the cost of the removal process because the reagents may be used multiple times. Moreover, because the polymer is recycled, less secondary waste is created, which reduces or eliminates disposal issues. The soluble polymers are generally harmless to the environment, which allows the method to be used at sites of large scale contamination. Polymer Filtration also works with dilute solutions at a variety of temperatures thereby eliminating the need for closely controlled reaction conditions.
Pollutants are not the only solutes dissolved in solutions. Frequently, valuable metal ions may be found in dilute solutions. Because the cost of recovery of metal ions is very high, it is often not economically feasible to recover the metals from solution. Thus, a large amount of potentially valuable materials are lost to aqueous stream. Other solutes such as boric acid and silicic acid are frequently found in solutions. Other dissolved solutes may include inorganic acids and bases as well as organic molecules. Polymer Filtration may be useful to recover or remove these solutes if selective water-soluble polymers were available to bind them.
Other solutes that can contaminate waste streams are acids, bases, and neutral organic molecules. Such acids may be organic acids including diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA), nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA), imidodiacetic acid (IDA), and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA). Nonmetallic, inorganic acid contaminants may include phosphorus acid, phosphoric acid, boric acid, silicic acid, arsenous acid, arsenic acid, silicic acid, and selenic acid. Bases may include ammonia, and organic amines such as pyridine, methylamine, and dimethylamine. Neutral contaminants include alcohols, aldehydes, nitrites, and amides as examples. Polymer Filtration may be useful to recover these solutes and other solutes of value if soluble polymers were available to bind them.
There may be situations where small molecules have contaminated a surface such as in a radiological contamination or toxic organic chemicals contamination. An aqueous solution of the water-soluble polymer could be used to clean, decontaminate, or deactivate the material from the surface. Or there might be solids that are composed of valuable materials where it might be desirable to leach the valuables from the solid. In these cases the small molecules or ions are extracted into the aqueous solution and bound by the water-soluble polymer and then the solute-polymer complex can be concentrated using ultrafiltration. The solute could be recovered from the polymer in concentrated form and the soluble polymer reused for further cleaning. Or if the soluble-polymers are deactivating the toxic or hazardous contaminate, it might be more desirable to not reuse the polymer, but just stabilize the concentrate.
Other aqueous solutions may contain dissolved solutes that need to be recovered. Such aqueous solutions may be reaction solutions in which useful compounds are synthesized. Such small molecules may include drugs, food additives, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and the like. Frequently these chemicals are produced in low yield solutions with other reaction products. Therefore, the compound must be concentrated and purified before it can be used for its intended purpose. Such purification methods may be expensive and slow. Also, the purification method itself may create additional byproducts that must be destroyed or otherwise disposed of.
Other useful solutes are produced in aqueous solutions such as growth media from a bioreactor or serum, blood, urine or other bodily fluids from an animal. These small molecules can include polypeptides, nucleic acids, antibodies, drugs, and the like. Like chemically synthesized small molecules, these molecules must be concentrated and purified prior to use. The currently available purification methods for these types of small molecules can be very expensive. Additionally, purification methods frequently use harsh chemicals and conditions, which may result in damage to the useful small molecule or to the bioreactor components. Furthermore some methods of purification are not able to selectively distinguish between a desired product and an unwanted byproduct or other contaminant. Polymer Filtration may be useful to recover these solutes if polymers were available to bind them.
Other aqueous streams that contain solutes requiring recovery or removal are radioactive process streams that come from actinide reprocessing, nuclear power coolant waters, nuclear power reactor wastes, coal power plant waste-waters, and other operations that product waters containing radioactive solutes. The solutes can consist of species such as uranium, plutonium, americium, neptunium, curium, thorium, technetium, radioactive active cobalt, silver, antimony, iodine, and other potential activation products.
There may be some situations where Polymer Filtration technology cannot be incorporated into a separations process. There may be cases where the same solute selectivity that was developed for the soluble polymers is needed in an insoluble form. Then the soluble polymer can be in a crosslinked form and used as a solid gel or resin. Though the solute selectivity may be retained, the rapid kinetics of a homogenous binding system would likely be lost as a two-phase system (water and solid polymer) is established. Cross-linking agents can include a variety of bifunctional agents such as dihalogen alkanes (e.g., 1,2-dibromoethane), dialdehydes (e.g., gluteraldehyde), dienes (e.g., 1,3-butandiene), diepoxides (e.g., diglycidol) and the like. Other modes of crosslinking can include radiation treatment producing radicals that allow the large soluble molecules to bind together forming insoluble polymers.
In light of the foregoing, it would be an advancement in the art to provide new functionalized polymers for use in removal of solutes from water through Polymer Filtration methods. It would be an additional advancement if the polymers had functional groups capable of binding solutes at varying pH levels. A functionalized polymer that could bind RCRA metal ions such as arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, mercury, lead, silver, and selenium, and other metal ions such as actinides, fission and activation products, and transition metals would provide significant advancements in clean-up of water contamination. A functionalized polymer that could bind other solutes such as boric acid, silicic acid, organic molecules, and inorganic acids and bases would be a further advancement. An additional advancement would be achieved if the functionalized polymer were able to bind to valuable molecules in dilute solutions. It would be a further advancement to provide polymers capable of binding to anionic solutes or cationic solutes. It would be a further advancement to provide functionalized polymers, which could bind solutes by an interaction other than ionic bonding.

Functionalized polymers for binding to solutes in aqueous solutions


An expandable bladder for shaping a pneumatic tire is provided. The bladder in an unmounted, relaxed state has a shaped body having a pair of opposed annular beads, said body further comprising a central portion, sidewall portions, and shoulder portions interposed between the central portion and the sidewall portions, wherein the body is defined by an outer contour surface and an inner contour surface, wherein the central portion has gauge which increases to a maximum value axially inward of the shoulder portion, and wherein the bladder gauge in the shoulder is less than the maximum value, and wherein the bladder gauge increases from the shoulder to the bead.

Pneumatic rubber tires are produced by molding and curing a green tire in a tire press. The green tire is pressed outwardly against a mold surface by an inner bladder which is expanded inside the tire by fluid. The green tire is shaped against the mold wherein the sidewalls and tread is shaped. By application of heat and pressure, the tire is molded and cured at elevated temperatures.
It is important that the bladder be designed to fit the green tire, so that the bladder remains in contact with the tire. One problem that may occur during expansion of the bladder into the tire mold is that the shoulder portion of the bladder does not engage the shoulder of the tire. This problem may be greater in the case of low aspect ratio tires and run on flat tires. Prior art existing bladder designs were established based on experiences with regular aspect ratio tires. If a bladder for a regular aspect ratio tire is used to shape a low aspect ratio tire, problems may occur due to poor bladder/tire fitment. For example, problems may be due to an undesirable contact sequence or locally too high contact pressure, trapped air, severe rubber squeeze in a local area, and non-uniformity. This can result in uncontrolled distortions in the insert and innerliner geometries during shaping as well as innerliner flow. The bladder shape mismatch may also cause liner buckling in the shoulder area of the tire. Thus an improved bladder shape is desired which more closely matches the green tire geometry and prevents the distortion of the cured tire.


A charging system for use with an electric vehicle in that a primary coil 32 is structured in such a manner that a conductive pipe 34 is wound around a primary core 33. Cooling water is allowed to circulate through the conductive pipe 34, while the cooling water is cooled by a radiator device provided on the charging unit side. To the two ends of the conductive pipe 34, there are connected the core wires of a charging power cable 40 through energizing terminals 37, so that the primary coil 32 can be excited.

The present invention relates to a charging system for charging an electric vehicle by use of electromagnetic induction and, in particular, to an improved coil cooling structure.
A charging system of this type is able to supply power to an electric vehicle with no intervention of an electric contact, that is, in a non-contact manner. Due to this, the charging system of this type provides various advantages and there have been proposed various structures for such charging system. Referring to the basic structure of the charging system, for example, as disclosed in Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication 5-258962, 5-260671, 6-14470 and the like, there is applied the principle of a transformer that coils are respectively wound around primary and secondary cores and, when charging the electric vehicle, an alternating current is allowed to flow through the primary coil to thereby cause the secondary coil to generate an electromotive force due to electromagnetic coupling.
The charging system of this type is strongly required to be compact as a whole and, in order to attain such compact charging system, it is necessary to cool the coils sufficiently during the charging operation of the electric vehicle. As described above, the basic principle of the present charging system is derived from the transformer and thus, as the cooling structure of the charging system, there is applied a similar structure to the transformer; for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,304, as shown in FIGS. 31 and 32, there is employed a structure in which a core 2 is stored in a housing 1, a primary coil 3 is wound around the outer periphery of the core 2, and there are formed a large number of cool air passages 4 extending along the primary coil 3 as well as air exhaust ports 5 in communication with the cool air passage 4. And, a cool air supply hose 6 coming from a cooling device is connected to the housing 1 so that the open air can be supplied into the cool air passages 4, that is, if the open air flows through the cool air passages 4 and flows out from the air exhaust ports 5, then the heat of a primary coil unit as well as the heat of a secondary coil unit disposed adjacent to the primary coil unit can be discharged.
However, in the above-mentioned structure, the heat generated in the primary coil 3 is cooled only from the outside thereof and thus the cooling efficiency of the primary coil 3 cannot be enhanced to a sufficient degree, so that the heat is easy to remain in the interior portion of the primary coil 3. Also, since heat is generated not only in the primary coil 3 but also in the core 2, in order to cool the heat of the core 2, as shown in FIG. 32, it is necessary to provide a refrigerant passage 4 in the neighborhood of the core 2. Further, for the sake of efficient cooling of the primary coil 3, there are arranged a large number of refrigerant passages 4 extending along the primary coil 3, which is unable to enhance the rate of occupation of the primary coil 3 but increases the size of the whole charging system.
Also, in the above-mentioned structure, there is found a further problem: that is, because the open air is simply supplied to the neighborhood of the heat generated portions of the structure, the cooling efficiency is still not sufficiently high and the heat is easy to remain in the interior portion of a charging coupler.
Further, in the above-mentioned structure, there is found a still further problem: that is, in order to remove the heat within the coil unit, it is necessary to provide a special cooling device.

Electric vehicle charging system including refrigerant system


A height of cut adjustment system for a reel type grass cutting unit includes adjustment screw mechanisms mounted at each corner of the cutting unit. Linkages between the adjustment screw mechanisms permit driving all of the adjustment screw mechanisms synchronously from a single adjustment point to change the cutting height. The linkages may be worm gear drives or other mechanical linkages.

Reel type grass cutting units typically used on golf courses and athletic fields are designed so the height at which the grass is cut can be adjusted to various levels as desired. This is an important adjustment because the appearance and health of the turf, and the quality of the athletic activity may be affected by the cut height. Throughout the growing season, the cut height may need to be changed to suit the growing conditions. Additionally, the cut height may need to be changed for different areas. On a golf course, for example, areas such as fairways are usually cut at different heights than roughs or approaches.
On a manually adjusted reel type grass cutting unit, the height of cut adjustment is labor intensive, time consuming, and requires a high level of skill. Turf managers may not change the cut height as frequently as may be needed because of the time and work involved in the adjustment process. Many facilities will have multiple mowers, each dedicated to a specific cut height, instead of re-adjusting the height of cut of a machine.
A self-adjusting reel type grass cutting unit has been developed that sets the cut height automatically when commanded through a user interface. This adjustment system has two separate frameworks: the cutting unit frame and the ground contacting frame. A pair of adjusting screws actuated by dc electric motors may raise and lower the cutting unit frame with respect to the ground contacting frame. A four bar linkage on each end of the cutting unit frame sets the attitude of the cutting unit frame and keeps the cutting unit frame approximately parallel with the ground as the cut height is adjusted. A self adjusting reel is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 7,114,318 assigned to Deere & Company of Moline, Ill.
The self adjusting reel described above has many advantages over manually adjusting the height of cut, including savings in time, skill and effort required to make the adjustment, and high accuracy. It would be desirable to further reduce the work required to set or change the height of cut of a reel type grass cutting unit.

Height of cut adjustment system for reel mower