Novel recessed surgical fastening devices are disclosed. The fastening devices have a compressible member and a fastening element disposed at least partially within the compressible member. The fastening element has at least one tissue engagement member that is extensible through the compressible member to engage tissue when a force is applied to the fastening device.

Surgical fastening devices are used in conventional surgical procedures to perform various critical functions. The functions may include soft tissue approximation, bone approximation, fixation or repair of organs, and the fixation of medical devices such as meshes to tissue. The various types of conventional fixation devices that are used in such surgical procedures include sutures, staples, screws, and tacks. Tacks have several advantages that provide particular utility in surgical procedures. The advantages include ease and rapidity of implantation, the ability to be readily implanted in minimally invasive procedures, holding force, etc. Surgical tacks are especially useful in hernia repair procedures, where it is necessary to secure a hernia repair mesh to the peritoneum or other body tissue to effect repair of a hernia defect. The tacks may have several configurations, however a particularly useful configuration is a strap-type tack having two legs with distal piercing members, where the legs are connected by a proximal strap member. Other variations include tacks having a head and a distally extending piercing member. The tacks are typically dispensed by a tack applier instrument loaded with a plurality of tacks that are fired or dispensed by the surgeon about the periphery of the hernia repair mesh. Typically, conventional surgical tacks cannot be dispensed without a tack applier instrument. In addition, the surgeon may have a need for only one or two tacks to fasten a mesh to tissue, but typically conventional tack applier instruments are loaded with a plurality of tacks. Since the tack appliers and tacks cannot be re-sterilized when using absorbable tacks, the unused tacks are wasted.
Although the surgical tacks and tack applier instruments known in the art are adequate for their intended purpose and use, there is a constant need in this art for improved surgical tacks. In particular, singulated tacks that can readily be applied by the surgeon without a tack applier instrument that may be useful adjuncts in tissue repair procedures.


A new and improved helmet with neck-shield is provided for a helmet which has a chin and jaw protecting area. The apparatus includes a neck-shielding assembly for protecting a neck area of a user without covering the eyes of the user. The neck-shielding assembly includes a curved upper portion capable of curving around the chin and jaw protecting area of the helmet. A curved lower portion extends downward from the curved upper portion and is capable of curving around a portion of the neck area of the user. A first connector is attached to the curved upper portion. The first connector connects the neck-shielding assembly to the chin and jaw protecting area of the helmet. The curved upper portion supports the curved lower portion, and the curved lower portion protects a portion of the neck area of the user from wind and airborne debris. A second connector is attached to the chin and jaw protecting area of the helmet. The second connector connects to the first connector and retains the neck-shielding assembly on the helmet. In this way, the neck-shielding assembly protects a portion of the neck of the user from wind and airborne debris without covering the eyes of the user. The first connector and the second connector may include complementary hook and loop connectors.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to helmets used by motorcycle and bicycle riders, and more particularly, to a helmet which includes apparatus especially adapted for protecting the neck of the rider.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Helmets worn by motorcycle and bicycle riders are primarily designed to afford head protection when the head is subjected to concussive force such as may occur in a collision or fall. However, during normal use, a serious problem that often confronts a user is the presence of wind at high speed. More specifically, the wind is often able to penetrate a motorcyclist's jacket by moving under the helmet, past the neck, under the jacket and into the rider's chest area. The wind that penetrates into the rider's chest area in this manner can be very uncomfortable and even a serious threat to the rider's health during cold and wet conditions. In this respect, it would be desirable if a helmet device were provided that prevented wind from entering a rider's chest area under a jacket by way of the rider's neck.
Once wind reaches the neck area of the rider, it can also advance upward from the neck to under the helmet. In this case, the wind entering by way of the neck can be very uncomfortable and even dangerous to the head area of the rider. In this respect, it would be desirable if helmet device were provided that prevented wind from entering a rider's head area under a helmet by way of the rider's neck.
When the neck area of the rider is not protected very well by the rider's helmet, the neck area itself is susceptible to injury from the wind. In this respect, it would be desirable if a helmet device were provided that protected a rider's neck from wind injury.
During motorcycle and bicycle riding, an inadequately protected neck area may be subjected to more than unpleasant wind conditions. During riding, a rider is often subjected to flying rocks and stones and contact with flying insects at high speed. Such solid objects, when contacting a rider's neck, can cause discomfort, pain, and even serious injury. In this respect, it would be desirable if a helmet device were provided that protected a rider's neck from contact with flying rocks and stones and contact with flying insects at high speed.
For a rider to be willing to wear any protective device, it is desirable that wearing the protective device provides more comfort than not wearing the protective device. This simple principle, when violated, often results in a rider doing without wearing an uncomfortable protective device. In this respect, it would be desirable if a helmet device were provided that protects the neck of the rider and is comfortable to wear.
Moreover, for a helmet-associated protective device to be used with consistency and regularity, it is important that the protective device not be difficult to be used and manipulated on the helmet. In this respect, it would be desirable if a helmet device for protecting a rider's neck were provided that is easily used and manipulated.
Aside from a desire to protect a rider's neck area from wind and debris, it must not be forgotten that the neck must have free, unconstricted movement while the rider is on the motorcycle. More specifically, the rider must be able to readily turn one's head to keep aware of traffic conditions all around the rider. A neck-protective device that constricted neck motion may itself be hazardous. Therefore, in this respect, it would be desirable if a helmet device were provided that protected the neck of the rider without constricting neck and head movement of the rider.
The concept of an air bag providing an air cushion is well accepted as a safety device for protecting rider's in motor vehicles. In this respect, it would be desirable if a helmet device were provided that employed an air cushion for protecting a rider's neck area.
Air tight seals are often employed to prevent air flow from one location to another. Some forms of air tight seals depend upon an inflatable member to provide the air tight seal. In this respect, it would be desirable if a helmet device were provided that employed the principles of an inflatable seal to protect a rider's neck area from the wind.
To overcome cold conditions, good insulation is not always enough. Sometimes it is desirable to provide an active source of heat to warm a cold area. In this respect, it would be desirable if a helmet device were provided that included an active source of heat for warming the rider's neck area.
A number of modifications of headgear are known in the prior art, and the following U.S. patents represent some of these modifications: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,551,910; 3,594,816; 3,797,042; 4,993,081; and Des. 287,300. More specifically, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,551,910, 3,594,816, 3,797,042, and Des. 287,300 disclose face shields for safety helmets. The face shield primarily protect the face areas and afford little protection for the neck. Moreover, they provide virtually no features for preventing wind from entering a rider's chest area under a jacket or entering a rider's head area under a helmet by way of the rider's neck. U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,081 may be of interest for its disclosure of a flexible sun shield used on a hard hat or military helmet.
The face shields disclosed in the patents cited above have panels which cover the eye area. As such, they impose an additional visual obstacle between the eyes of the wearer and the surroundings. Such an additional visual obstacle may impeded proper vision and impose additional dangers. In this respect, it would be desirable if a helmet device were provided that provided neck protection without adding a visual obstacle to the wearer.
The face shields in the prior art disclosed above have complex means for connecting the face shield to the helmet. In this respect, it would be desirable if a helmet device were provided that had neck-protecting features that is readily attached to and detached from the helmet.
Generally, the face shields in the prior art are attached to the helmet at the top of the helmet. For a face shield that covers the face area, this may be practical. However, for a neck-protecting apparatus that does not cover the eye area, it would be desirable if the neck-protecting apparatus would not be attached at the top of the helmet.
Thus, while the foregoing body of prior art indicates it to be well known to use helmets for motorcycle and bicycle riders, the prior art described above does not teach or suggest a helmet with neck-shield which has the following combination of desirable features: (1) prevents wind from entering a rider's chest area under a jacket by way of the rider's neck; (2) prevents wind from entering a rider's head area under a helmet by way of the rider's neck; (3) protects a rider's neck from wind injury; (4) protects a rider's neck from flying rocks and stones and contact with flying insects at high speed; (5) protects the neck of the rider and is comfortable to wear; (6) protects a rider's neck and is easily used and manipulated; (7) protects the neck of the rider without constricting the rider's neck and head movement; (8) employs an air cushion for protecting a rider's neck area; (9) employs the principles of an inflatable seal to protect a rider's neck area from the wind; (10) includes an active source of heat for warming the rider's neck area; (11) provides neck protection without adding a visual obstacle to the wearer; (12) is readily attached to and detached from the helmet; and (13) is not attached at the top of the helmet. The foregoing desired characteristics are provided by the unique helmet with neck-shield of the present invention as will be made apparent from the following description thereof. Other advantages of the present invention over the prior art also will be rendered evident.


An aqueous modified acid composition for use in oil industry activities, said composition comprising: an amino acid, an alkanolamine and strong acid wherein the mineral acid:alkanolamine/amino acid are present in a molar ratio of not more than 15:1, preferably not more than 10:1; it can also further comprise a metal iodide or iodate. Said composition demonstrates advantages over known conventional acids and modified acids.

In the oil & gas industry, stimulation with an acid is performed on a well to increase or restore production. Typically a new well initially exhibits low production, and stimulation is employed to commence or initiate production from the reservoir. In other instances, stimulation or remediation is used to further encourage permeability and flow from an already existing well that has become under-productive due to scaling issues or exposed formation depletion.
Acidizing is a type of stimulation treatment which is performed above or below the reservoir fracture pressure in an effort to initiate, restore or increase the natural permeability of the reservoir, remove near wellbore damage and increase or maintain production levels. Acidizing is achieved by pumping acid, predominantly hydrochloric acid, into the well to dissolve typically limestone, dolomite and calcite cement between the acid insoluble sediment grains of the reservoir rocks, creating wormholes or conductive channels to increase formation contact to the wellbore or to treat scale accumulation.
There are four major types of acid applications: matrix acidizing, fracture acidizing, remedial acidizing and breakdown or spearhead acidizing (pumped prior to a fracturing pad or cement operation in order to assist with formation breakdown (reduce fracture pressures, increased feed rates), as well as clean up left over cement in the well bore or perforations. A matrix acid treatment is performed when acid is pumped into the well and into the pores of the reservoir formation below the fracture pressure creating wormholes. In this form of acidization, the acids dissolve the sediments formation and/or mud solids that are inhibiting the permeability of the rock, enlarging the natural pores of the reservoir or creating channels where formation exposure is limited (wormholing) and stimulating the flow of hydrocarbons to the wellbore for recovery. While matrix acidizing is done at a low enough pressure to keep from fracturing the reservoir rock (keeping treating pressures below the estimated fracture gradient), fracture acidizing involves pumping acid into the well at a very high pressure above the fracture gradient, physically fracturing the reservoir rock and etching the permeability inhibitive sediments. This type of acid treatment forms channels or fractures through which the hydrocarbons can flow, in addition to forming a series of wormholes. In some instances, a proppant is introduced into the fluid which assists in propping open the fractures, further enhancing the flow of hydrocarbons into the wellbore.
There are many different mineral and organic acids used to perform acid treatments on wells. The most common type of acid employed on wells to stimulate production is hydrochloric acid (HCl), which is useful in stimulating carbonate reservoirs, typically at a 15% or 28% strength.
Some of the major challenges faced in the oil & gas industry from using hydrochloric acid include the following: extremely high levels of corrosion (which is countered by the addition of 'filming' type corrosion inhibitors that are typically themselves toxic and harmful to humans, the environment and equipment) reactions between acids and various types of metals can vary greatly but softer metals, such as aluminum and magnesium, are very susceptible to major effects causing immediate damage. Hydrochloric acid produces hydrogen chloride gas which is toxic (potentially fatal) and corrosive to skin, eyes and metals. At levels above 50 ppm (parts per million) it can be Immediately Dangerous to Life and Health (IDHL). At levels from 1300-2000 ppm death can occur in 2-3 minutes. Hydrochloric acid is also very incompatible with wellbore fluids and thus requires the addition of additional chemistry to inhibit the formation of sludge. In addition, as hydrochloric acid spends (reacts) with the formation and the pH subsequently rises after the reactions have ceased the increase in pH will cause a precipitation of solubilized carbonate materials causing wellbore damage/blockage. It is very desirable to have an acid system that will not precipitate solubilized carbonate materials at increased pH levels.
The inherent environmental effects (organic sterility, poisoning of wildlife etc.) of strong mineral acids in the event of an unintended or accidental release on surface or downhole into water aquifers or other sources of water are devastating and can cause significant pH reduction of such and can substantially increase the toxicity and could potentially cause a mass culling of aquatic species and potential poisoning of humans or livestock and wildlife exposed to/or drinking the water. An unintended release at surface can also cause hydrogen chloride gas to be released, potentially endangering human and animal health. This is a common event at large storage sites when tanks split or leak. Typically if near the public, large areas need to be evacuated post event and a comprehensive, expensive to implement, emergency evacuation plan needs to be in place prior to approval of such storage areas. Because of its acidic nature, hydrogen chloride gas is also corrosive, particularly in the presence of moisture.
The inability for mineral acids with common corrosion and compatibility control additives and blends of such to biodegrade naturally results in expensive cleanup-reclamation costs for the operator should an unintended release occur. Moreover, the toxic fumes produced by mineral & some organic acids are harmful to humans/animals and are highly corrosive and/or produce potentially explosive vapours. Transportation and storage requirements for acids are restrictive and taxing. As well, the dangers surrounding exposure by personnel handling the blending of such dangerous products constrict their use/implementation in areas of high risk such as within city limits and environmentally sensitive areas such as offshore. It is highly desirable to have a strong acid that alleviates these storage, transportation, compatibility issues common with hydrochloric acid.
Another concern is the potential for exposure incidents on locations due to high corrosion levels, even at ambient temperatures, of acids causing potential storage tank structure or valve failures and/or deployment equipment failures i.e. coiled tubing or high pressure iron failures caused by high corrosion high rates (pitting, cracks, pinholes). Other concerns include: downhole equipment failures from corrosion causing the operator to have to execute a work-over and replace down hole pumps, tubulars, cables, packers etc.; inconsistent strength or quality level of mineral & organic acids; potential supply issues based on industrial output levels; high levels of corrosion on surface pumping equipment resulting in expensive repair and maintenance levels for operators and service companies; the requirement of specialized equipment that is purpose built to pump acids greatly increasing the capital expenditures of operators and service companies; and the inability to source a finished product locally or very near its end use; transportation and onsite storage difficulties.
Typically, acids are produced in industrial areas of countries located some distance from oil & gas producing areas, up to and sometimes over 10 additives can also be required to control various aspects of the acids properties adding to complications in the handling and shipping logistics. Having an alternative that requires minimal additives is very advantageous.
Extremely high corrosion and reaction rates with temperature increase causes conventional acids to spend/react or "neutralize" prior to achieving the desired effect such as deeply penetrating an oil or gas formation to increase the wormhole or etched "pathway" effectively to allow the petroleum product to flow freely to the wellbore.
When used to treat scaling issues on surface equipment due to water mineral precipitation, conventional acids are exposed to human and mechanical devices as well as expensive equipment causing increased risk and cost for the operator. When mixed with bases or higher pH fluids, acids will create a large amount of thermal energy (exothermic reaction) causing potential safety concerns and equipment damage, acids typically need to be blended with fresh water (due to their intolerance of highly saline water, causing potential precipitation of minerals) to the desired concentration requiring companies to pre-blend off-site as opposed to blending on-site with sea or produced water thereby increasing costs associated with transportation. It is advantageous to have an acid system that is compatible with high salinity water and produces a far less aggressive exothermic reaction when diluted with water.
Conventional mineral acids used in a pH control application can cause rapid degradation of certain polymers and other additives requiring increased loadings or chemicals to be added to counter these negative effects. Many offshore areas of operations have very strict regulatory rules regarding the transportation, handling and deployment of acids causing increased liability and costs for the operator. When using an acid to pickle tubing or pipe, very careful attention must be paid to the process due to high levels of corrosion, as temperatures increase to higher levels, the typical additives used to control corrosion in acid systems begin to degrade very quickly (due to the inhibitors "plating out" on the steel or sheering out in high injection rate applications) causing the acids to become very corrosive and resulting in damage to downhole equipment/tubulars. Conventional acids can be harmful to many elastomers and/or seals found in the oil & gas industry such as those found in blow out preventers (BOP's)/downhole tools/packers/submersible pumps/seals etc. Having to deal with spent acid during the flow back process is also very expensive as these acids typically are still at a lower pH and remain toxic and corrosive. In many cases the spent acid needs to be unloaded from the wellbore into special containment and then transported to a disposal or recycling site. It is advantageous to have an acid blend that can be exported to production facilities through production pipelines greatly reducing disposal costs/fees. Also mineral acids will typically precipitate iron and/or minerals solubilized during the operation as the pH of the spent acid increases causing facility upsets and lost production. It is advantageous to have a strong acid that will hold these solubilized minerals and metals in solution even as pH rises well above 3.0 levels, greatly reducing the need to dispose of spent acids and allowing them to be processed and treated in a more economical manner. Acids are used in the performance of many operations in the oil & gas industry and are considered necessary to achieve the desired production of various petroleum wells and associated equipment, maintain their respective systems and aid in certain drilling operational functions (i.e. freeing stuck pipe, post drilling filter cake treatments). The associated dangers that come with using mineral acids are expansive and it is thus desirable to mitigate them through controls whether they are chemically or mechanically engineered.
Eliminating or even simply reducing the negative effects of strong acids while maintaining their usefulness is a struggle and risk for the industry. As the public and government demand for the use of less hazardous products increases, companies are looking for alternatives that perform the required function without all or most of the drawbacks associated with the use of conventional acids.
While some modified acids have overcome some problems emanating from the use of strong acids, their reactivity rate becomes a concern for the user who, in some cases, would need a fast acting acid such as a conventional mineral acid like 15% HCl, commonly utilized as a spearhead treatment acid (a volume of acid pumped ahead of a predominantly water based stage to assist in lowering injection pressures and clean up any residual acid soluble materials that may inhibit fluid injection). The careful balancing of increased safety (i.e. less fuming, less corrosive to metal and skin) and quick reaction time creates difficulties with operators who encounter regulatory, environmental or operational issues utilizing hydrochloric acid.
There is a range of hydraulic fracturing techniques and several different approaches may be applied within a specific area. Hydraulic fracturing or stimulation programs and the associated fluid composition vary based on the engineering requirements specific to the formation and formation fluids compatibilities, wellbore mineralogy, porosity and permeability and location. However, water based stimulation programs typically require the following four steps: the spearhead step; the pad step; the proppant step; and the flush step. In the spearhead step, which is commonly referred to as an acid step, operators typically use 10% to 15% hydrochloric acid, most preferred being 15% hydrochloric acid due to the highly reactive nature of the acid reducing the time required to initiate the preferred feed rate into the formation with the next stage or step. A spearhead acids purpose is to clear debris that is present in the wellbore perforations and assists in initiating the next stage of the fracture treatment at lower pressures providing a clear pathway for fracture fluids to access the formation. In the second step, the pad step, fluid is injected into the wellbore to break or fracture the formation and initiate the hydraulic fracturing of the target formation. No proppant is used during this step. In the third step, the proppant step, a mixture of water and proppant (most commonly natural sand or high strength synthetic proppant) is injected into the wellbore. The proppant is carried by the gelled or viscous fluid (also referred to as fracking fluid) into the formation and deposited. Some of the proppant remains in the formation to maintain the fractures open while the pressure is reduced and fluid is removed from the formation. The proppant remaining in formation allows the formation to maintain its new increased permeability. Lastly, the flush step involves the injection of a large volume of fresh water to be pumped down the wellbore to flush out the leftover excess proppant which could still be residing within the wellbore.
Several operations in the oil industry expose acids to very high temperatures (some up to and over 190° C.), the compositions used in these various operations need to withstand high temperatures without losing their overall effectiveness. These compositions must also be capable of being applied in operations over a wide range of temperatures while not or at least minimally affecting or corroding the equipment with which it comes in contact in comparison to a conventional mineral acid of which the corrosion effect at ultra-high temperatures is very difficult and expensive to control.
Many countries bordering the waters where offshore drilling and production is routinely carried out have put into play a number of regulations and operational parameters aimed at minimizing the environmental and human exposure impact. These regulations and procedures may include the ban and/or highly taxing regulation of certain chemicals which may be harmful to marine life and/or the environment. In order to overcome these very restrictive regulations, many oil companies employ very costly containment programs for the handling of certain chemicals, such as acids, which have a wide array of uses in the industry of oil and gas exploration and production or simply forgo the use of such advantageous chemicals and thus lose substantial productivity gained by completions optimization.
Acids conventionally used in various oil and gas operations can be exposed to temperatures of up to and over 190° C. At these temperatures, their reactivity and corrosive properties is exponentially increased and as such their economical effectiveness is greatly decreased. Corrosion is one of the major concerns at high temperatures and is difficult and expensive to control with additional chemistry, if it can be controlled at all. In some situations a mechanical procedure must be utilized as opposed to a chemical solution due to temperature constraints, such as shutting down steam injection, running cool-down pads or slugs, or other very expensive solutions to bring the well to acceptable temperature levels.
Modified and synthetic acids developed and currently patented such as those containing main components of urea and hydrochloric acid are aimed at increasing personnel safety, reducing corrosion effects, slowing down the reaction rate and reducing the toxicity of HCl. However, it has been found that at temperatures above 90° C. to 100° C. the urea component in a synthetic or modified acid containing such compound will decompose and produce ammonia and carbon dioxide as a by-product of decomposition. The ammonia component will neutralize the acidic component of the HCl and render the product non-reactive or neutral. Additionally there is the risk of wellbore and/or formation damage due to uncontrolled solubilized mineral precipitation due to the increase in pH caused predominantly by the formation of ammonia during the decomposition phase.
US 2016/0032176 A1 discloses methods for treating subterranean wells in which the producing formation is a carbonate comprise preparing a treatment fluid comprising either: (a) an aqueous solution of a multivalent-cation reacting polymer; (b) a solution comprising a fatty acid and an ethanolamine; (c) an aqueous acidic solution of one or more compounds whose calcium salts are insoluble; or (d) an aqueous solution comprising urea or alkane derivatives thereof or both and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP). It states that the treatment fluid is placed in the well such that the solution contacts the carbonate formation at a pressure lower than the fracturing pressure. It further states that the treatment fluid is allowed to react with the carbonate formation, thereby depositing a film onto the formation surface or part of the formation surface. Then an acid solution is placed in the well such that the acid contacts the carbonate formation at a pressure lower than the fracturing pressure.
Despite the prior art and in light of the substantial challenges elicited by the use of acids in oil and gas operations at high temperatures, there still exists a critical need to find an alternative to known synthetic or complexed/modified acids (in particular, Lewis Acid-Base Adducts) which will remain stable above temperatures of 90° C. while still providing the safety and lower corrosion effects of a modified acid and having a performance comparable to that of a conventional mineral acid such as HCl. The inventors have found that by combining an amino acid with an alkanolamine and a mineral acid in appropriate ratios one can obtain both a safer alternative to this dangerous conventional mineral acid, all the while substantially maintaining the performance properties of the acid thereby remaining useful in oil and gas operations while still being competitively priced.
Consequently, there is still a need for safer, more technically advanced strong acid compositions for use in various oil industry applications at all temperature ranges and which can decrease/minimize or eliminate a number of the associated dangers and/or operational issues, such as high corrosion rates and/or safety but not necessarily limited thereto. There is also a need for a technically advanced acid system that has a more superior wormholing performance than hydrochloric acid allowing operators to stimulated production in their carbonate formations at or below fracture gradients (low injection rates). In many jurisdictions around the world, fracturing operations have been suspended or banned. As well, many of these jurisdictions have also greatly regulated or banned the use of dangerous chemicals such as hydrochloric acid. With most all acid systems, as the injection rate is reduced to be well below the fracture gradient (and thus bypass restrictions), the required volume to achieve the similar reach or penetration into the formation increases exponentially. It is highly advantageous to have an acid system that will perform positively across a wide range of velocities/rates. Although surface pumping rates can be maintained at an optimal rate to suit a conventional HCl acid systems performance parameters (optimal injection rate), the formation properties can greatly alter the actual downhole velocities causing a conventional acids to fall far outside their respective optimal conditions. It is highly advantageous to have a strong acid system that will provide excellent wormholing performance at or well below fracture gradients without the increased volumes required typical with mineral acids at these lower rates.
It was discovered that the compositions according to the present invention exhibits stability for operations at elevated temperature (above 90° C. and up to 190° C.) and therefore makes them useful in the oil and gas industry for all applications where an acid is required and provides operators the ability to treat high temperature completions and maintenance/production operations with a technology that provides a level of safety, multiple technical advantages and low corrosion. This combination which is rare in the industry until now. The composition according to the present invention can ideally be used in oilfield operations, including but not limited to: spearhead breakdown acid, acid fracturing or matrix stimulation operations, injection-disposal well treatments, high temperature cyclical steam injection (CSS) scale treatments, steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) scale treatments, surface and subsurface equipment and pipelines facilities, filter cake removal, tubing pickling, soaks, cement squeezes, fluid pH control, stuck pipe operations, and coiled tubing acid washes, soaks and squeezes. The most preferred use of a composition according to the present invention is for spearhead acid, matrix and frac acidizing.

Modified acid compositions as alternatives to conventional acids in the oil and gas industry


A caddy 30 for a hand mixer 32 includes a base 38 and a cover 40 which are joined to form a housing 36. The housing 36 is formed with a nest 74 having a pair of mounting posts 44 extending upward from a floor wall 76 of the nest. The mounting posts 44 are formed with a stem 54, an annular groove 56 and a head 58 which cooperate with accommodating biased fingers 116 and radially inward nubs 118 of the fingers to retain the mixer 32 with the caddy 30 upon assembly therewith. Openings 98 are formed in the caddy 30 to receive implement mounts 104, which are held with the caddy by biased fingers 63 and nubs 64 located within the openings. The caddy 30, with the hand mixer 32 and the implements 34, is transportable and may be stored when the mixer and implements are not in use.

This invention relates to an caddy for an appliance, and particularly relates to a portable caddy for a hand mixer and the accessory implements used therewith.
A hand mixer is an example of a portable appliance which facilitates the preparation of food with relative ease. The portability of the hand mixer allows the user to be able to prepare the food without the necessity of considerable counter space required when using other types of appliances. Further, during a single food preparation session, such as preparing batter for a cake, the portable hand mixer can be set aside on a counter for brief periods, and then be recovered quickly and easily when use thereof is required.
In some instances, the hand mixer, and the implements used therewith, are stored separately and loosely in a drawer or cabinet when not in use. At times, the mixer is not stored in the same drawer or cabinet as the implements. When it is desired to use the mixer and implements, a time-consuming search mission is required to locate the mixer and the implements.
Therefore, there is a need for a facility to retain the mixer and the implements together during a period when the mixer is not being used but is being stored.


According to one embodiment of the invention, a method for supplying power over Ethernet includes determining whether a first port of power sourcing equipment is supplying current to a power over Ethernet device in a predetermined current range. The method also includes logically connecting a second port of the power sourcing equipment to the power over Ethernet device in response to determining that a first port of the power sourcing equipment is supplying current to the power over Ethernet device. The method also includes supplying power from the second port to the power over Ethernet device.

Numerous powered devices utilize power delivered over four-pair Ethernet cables. IEEE has issued a standard, IEEE 802.3af, that specifies methods of power delivery over Ethernet. In particular, the standard describes the use of two of the four pairs to deliver power to a powered device. However, as telecommunication devices adapt to meet new communication demands, such devices may have different power needs, which may include the need for additional power.
One approach described in co-pending application entitled "Improved Power Delivery Over Ethernet Cables," filed May 13, 2004, and having a Ser. No. 10/845,021, addresses the need for increased power by providing power over all four pairs. However, in some instances it may be desirable to provide increased power using conventional power supplies.

Increased power for power over Ethernet applications


A plating apparatus includes a plating vessel for holding a plating bath containing at least metal ions, a conveying device for conveying a long conductive substrate and immersing the long conductive substrate in the plating bath, a facing electrode disposed in the plating bath so as to face one surface of the conductive substrate, a voltage application device for performing plating on the one surface of the conductive substrate by applying a voltage between the conductive substrate and the facing electrode, and a film-deposition suppression device fixedly disposed in the plating vessel so that at least a portion of the film-deposition suppression means is close to shorter-direction edges of the conductive substrate. At least a portion of the film-deposition suppression device close to the shorter-direction edges of the conductive substrate is conductive. By holding the conductive portion of the film-deposition suppression device and the conductive substrate at substantially the same potential, film deposition on the other surface of the conductive substrate is suppressed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plating apparatus and method for performing plating on a long conductive substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
Plating apparatuses and methods for continuously performing plating on a long conductive substrate are used in various technical fields. For example, photovoltaic devices, such as solar cells or the like, are configured by laminating a reflective layer, a transparent layer (for example, a zinc-oxide layer), a semiconductor layer and a transparent conductive layer on a supporting member. Plating apparatuses and methods for a long substrate are sometimes used for manufacturing such devices.
The configuration of a photovoltaic device, and a method for manufacturing the same, and the like will now be described.
Hydrogenated amorphous silicon, hydrogenated amorphous silicon germanium, hydrogenated silicon carbide, microcrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon or the like is used for the semiconductor layer.
The reflective layer has the function of improving absorption efficiency for long-wavelength light, and desirably has a reflection property effective at wavelengths near the band gap of a semiconductor material where absorption is small, i.e., wavelengths of 800–1,200 nm. A metal layer made of gold, silver, copper, aluminum or the like sufficiently satisfies this condition.
The transparent layer (for example, a zinc-oxide layer) is disposed between the reflective layer and the semiconductor layer for confining light and improving a short-current density Jsc by effectively utilizing the reflective layer. In order to prevent degradation of characteristics due to a shunt path, a layer made of a conductive transparent material, i.e., a transparent conductive layer, is provided between the reflective layer and the semiconductor layer. Usually, these layers are deposited according to vacuum deposition or sputtering, and improvement in terms of a short-current density equal or more than 1 mA/cm2 is obtained.
For example, in "A light confinement effect in an a-SiGe solar cell on a 29 p-MF-22 stainless steel substrate", Extended Abstracts (the 51st Autumn Meeting, 1990) of the Japan Society of Applied Physics, p. 747, or in "P-IA-15a-SiC/a-Si/a-SiGe Multi-Band Gap Stacked Solar Cells with Band Gap Profiling", Sannomiya et al., Technical Digest of the International PVSEC-5, Kyoto, Japan, p. 381, 1990, studies have been done on the reflectivity and the texture structure of a reflective layer made of silver atoms. In these examples, effective projections and recesses are formed by using two silver layers deposited at different substrate temperatures as the reflective layer, and an increase in short current due to a light confining effect is achieved by combination with a zinc oxide layer formed thereon.
The transparent layer used as the light confining layer is deposited according to vacuum deposition by resistance heating or electron-beam heating, sputtering, ion plating, CVD (chemical vapor deposition) or the like. However, a high cost of vacuum deposition apparatuses, a high manufacturing cost of target materials, inferior efficiency of utilization of materials, and the like result in a very high manufacturing cost of photovoltaic devices using these techniques, and cause large problems for industrial application of solar cells.
As a method for solving these problems, a technique for manufacturing zinc oxide according to liquid deposition ("Formation of a ZnO film according to aqueous electrolysis", Extended Abstracts (the 65th Autumn Meeting, 1995) of the Japan Society of Applied Physics) has been reported.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) No. 10-195693 (1998) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,804,466), a method for forming a zinc-oxide layer according to electrolytic deposition (identical to electroplating, hereinafter abbreviated sometimes as "ED") has been proposed. In this publication, a method for forming a zinc-oxide layer on a conductive substrate by immersing a conductive substrate and an electrode in an aqueous solution containing nitrate ions, zinc ions and carbohydrate, and applying a voltage between the conductive substrate and the electrode.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) No. 10-140373 (1998) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,804,466), a method for forming a uniform zinc-oxide layer having an excellent substrate adhesion property according to ED has been proposed. More specifically, the method has a process of forming a first zinc-oxide layer on a substrate according to sputtering, and a process of forming a second zinc-oxide layer on the first zinc-oxide layer by immersing the substrate in an aqueous solution containing at least nitride ions, zinc ion and carbohydrate, and applying a voltage between the substrate and an electrode immersed on the solution.
According to these methods, since a vacuum deposition apparatus and a target that are expensive are unnecessary, it is possible to greatly reduce the production cost of zinc oxide. Since deposition can also be performed on a large substrate, these methods are promising for manufacturing a large photovoltaic device, such as a solar cell.
However, such methods of electrochemically depositing zinc oxide have problems to be solved.
That is, when forming a zinc-oxide layer according to ED, if a conductive substrate is used, a zinc-oxide layer is more or less deposited also on a non-film-forming surface (the back) as well on a film-forming surface of the substrate. The zinc-oxide layer deposited on the back of the substrate (hereinafter termed a "back film") sometimes has a property different from the property of the zinc-oxide layer deposited on the surface of the substrate depending on deposition conditions (mainly a manner of application of an electric field). More specifically, the back film sometimes becomes a low-density and fragile film having different surface roughness and mechanical strength. If such a back surface is more or less present, the following problems will arise when forming, for example, a semiconductor device, such as a photovoltaic device (solar cell) or the like.
(1) When using a substrate having a zinc-oxide layer formed thereon according to ED for manufacturing a photovoltaic device, photoelectric conversion characteristics may be degraded due to degassing in a vacuum apparatus. Particularly, since the back film tends to have a low density and a large surface area, there is a large possibility of introducing absorbed gases, such as oxygen, nitrogen, water and the like, into the vacuum apparatus.
(2) When conveying the substrate within the vacuum apparatus, the back film may peel to produce dust, resulting in contamination of the inside of the vacuum apparatus, and degradation of characteristics by being mixed in the semiconductor layer or the like.
(3) When a roll-to-roll configuration is used, the back film is also wound during a winding process, in which the back surface may peel to be mixed between substrates as foreign matter. In this case, the foreign matter may contact the zinc-oxide layer deposited on the surface, thereby causing a possibility of producing damage.
(4) Deviation in winding and problems in conveyance may occur due to variations in the coefficient of friction caused by the presence of the back film.
(5) When performing soldering, bonding by an adhesive, or the like at the back surface as a post-process after forming the zinc-oxide layer, the film of the back surface may cause insufficient soldering, degradation of the adhesive property, and the like.
In other technical fields, when intending to perform plating only on one surface of a long conductive substrate, the presence of the back film may cause various problems, such as bad influence on a post-process, degradation of appearance, and the like. Accordingly, a method for preventing formation of the back film as much as possible, or removing the formed back film is requested.
In order to remove the back film, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-286799 (1999) discloses a method of etching a zinc-oxide layer deposited on the back of a substrate according to electrolysis using a back-film-adhesion preventing electrode. This method can greatly reduce formation of the back film. However, it is difficult to remove only a zinc-oxide layer deposited on the back of a substrate without badly influencing a zinc-oxide layer formed on the surface. Furthermore, when using a metal film that is reactive with an oxidizing liquid, such as silver or the like, between the substrate and zinc oxide, there is the possibility that electrochemical reaction is also exerted to the metal film by an electric field for etching, and problems, such as discoloration, dissolution and the like, may arise in the metal film.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) No. 10-60686 (1998) (application in a second country not confirmed) discloses a technique for preventing adhesion of plating on a non-plating surface by disposing, when performing continuous plating on one surface of a metal strip, an insulator, operating as a blocking member, between an edge portion of the strip and an anode. A similar blocking technique is also described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) No. 2002-155396 (2002) (application in a second country not confirmed). However, these techniques have the problem that it is very difficult to perform optimum design of an apparatus for effectively preventing adhesion of plating on a non-plating surface as well as performing uniform plating on a plating surface. Furthermore, since such optimum design may differ depending on plating conditions, it is impossible to design an apparatus capable of flexibly dealing with changes in plating conditions.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (Kokai) No. 10-259496 (1998) (U.S. Pat. No. 6,077,411) proposes a technique for preventing deposition of a zinc-oxide layer on the back of a substrate when forming a zinc-oxide layer according to ED. More specifically, deposition of an unnecessary zinc-oxide layer on the back of a long substrate immersed in an aqueous solution containing nitrate ions and zinc ions by providing a rotating belt for conveying the substrate while covering one surface of the substrate.
According to this method, it is possible to effectively suppress deposition of the back film. However, since it is necessary to provide a configuration of conveying a member for covering the back of a substrate, the configuration of the apparatus is complicated, and the cost of the apparatus will increase.


The weight and volume of a centrifugal fuel pump ideally suited for use in a fuel system for a turbine engine (12) may be reduced in a construction including a single shaft (10) mounting an inducing impeller (18), an impeller (22) for a regenerative pump, and an impeller (24) for a centrifugal volute pump. Hydrostatic bearings (26), (28) journal the shaft (10) within a pump housing (14) and are provided with fuel under pressure via a conduit (30) connected to the outlets of the regenerative pump and the centrifugal volute pump defined by the impellers (22) and (24), respectively.

Modern aircraft engines require lightweight and highly reliable fuel pumping equipment. A lightweight pump reduces aircraft weight over that of an otherwise identical conventional pump, thereby increasing aircraft range and/or pay load. Moreover, in the usual case, the reduction in the weight of the pump will result in a reduction in it's volume as well. As a consequence, in the usual case a lightweight pump will fit in a smaller envelope which provides the aircraft designer with increased flexibility as well as the ability to progress towards a more slippery aerodynamic design. Consequently, aerodynamic drag may be reduced, further enhancing aircraft performance.
Centrifugal type fuel pumps address many of these demands. Unfortunately, their reliability is somewhat limited due to a relatively short fatigue life of oil-lubricated rolling elements such as ball bearings which must be designed to accommodate the high speeds involved as well as inherent critical speed considerations. Moreover, for obvious reasons, it is necessary to maintain lubricating oil and fuel streams completely separated. Conventionally, this is accomplished through the use of drained cavities within the pump that separate the pumping elements and the lubricated bearings. This in turn translates into the need for complex sealing systems as well as increased size. In the usual case, the axial length of the pump may be increased and the overhung moment is inevitably increased which increases the design complexity.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the above problems.

High speed self-lubricated fuel pump with hydrostatic bearings


A storage device for recordable media provides for ease of access for replacing disks, and transportability with ease of installation at any desired site. A front storage portion and a rear storage portion both of which include magazines are arranged in a body case. Each magazine is capable of containing a plurality of disks. A transfer mechanism freely transfers disks from or to magazines of the front storage portion or the rear storage portion. A vertical motion drive mechanism moves the transfer mechanism to a desired transfer position to transfer a disk to or from a magazine. The transfer mechanism can be moved to a retracted position at a sufficient distance from the magazines so that an extension mechanism can move the front and rear storage portions along the body case. After the vertical motion drive mechanism moves the transfer mechanism to the retracted position, the extension mechanism permits the front storage portion and the rear storage portion to be pulled out of the body case so that each magazine itself can be inserted, removed or exchanged.

The present invention relates to a recordable media storage device having magazines, each of which is capable of storing a plurality of recordable media, wherein said device is adapted to position each recordable media at a given location inside a magazine and remove the same therefrom.
There are various devices which store numerous recordable media, magnetically or optically, containing information therein in a magazine or magazines. The devices position the recordable media at a given location or locations inside the magazines and remove the same therefrom. An example of such a device is a disk changing apparatus.
A disk changing apparatus typically stores a large number of disk-shaped recordable media such as CDs or DVDs in magazines and is provided with a drive unit for magnetically or optically recording onto and playing information stored on the disks. The disk changing apparatus is further adapted to set a disk from a magazine into the drive unit and insert a disk from the drive unit into a magazine.
A typical structure of a conventional disk changing apparatus of the above type is explained hereunder, referring to FIGS. 13 and 14.
In FIGS. 13 and 14, numeral 11 denotes a body case. A front storage portion 13 and a rear storage portion 14, each of which is adapted to store therein vertically stacked recordable media (disks 12 in this case), are respectively provided at the front and rear parts of the interior of the body case 11. A vertically movable transfer mechanism 15 is disposed between the front storage portion 13 and the rear storage portion 14. The transfer mechanism 15 is adapted to be driven by a vertical motion drive mechanism 16 so as to move to a desired transfer position, i.e. a desired height, between the front and rear storage portions 13, 14.
An access mechanism 17 for inserting and removing disks 12 is disposed above the front storage portion 13. The access mechanism 17 is attached to a support plate 18 which is mounted on a ceiling surface 11a of the body case 11. The access mechanism 17 includes an access tray 19 which can be pulled partway out of the case body 11 and thus transport disks 12 back and forth between the exterior of the apparatus and the transfer mechanism 15. A plurality of drive units 20 (for example four units) for magnetically or optically performing reading and/or writing of disks 12 are vertically stacked and disposed below the rear storage portion 14. Each drive unit 20 has a driving tray 21 to transport a disk 12 to and from the transfer mechanism 15.
The transfer mechanism 15 is supported and guided on two vertically extending rails 23 to move up and down. As shown in FIG. 14, the two rails 23 are disposed to the left side of the interior of the body case 11, with the upper and the lower ends thereof attached to a rail plate 24. The vertical motion drive mechanism 16 includes a vertically extending timing belt 25 that vertically moves the transfer mechanism 15, which is affixed to the timing belt 25.
The timing belt 25 is wrapped around an upper pulley 27 and a timing pulley 30. The upper pulley 27 is supported by a pulley shaft 26 affixed to the upper part of the rail plate 24 by crimping. The timing pulley 30 is rotated by a vertical motion drive motor 28 through a worm gear 29, and is supported by a pulley shaft 30a affixed to the lower part of the rail plate 24 by crimping as shown in FIG. 14. The front storage portion 13 has a pair of laterally arranged front chassis 32 formed on the bottom 11b of the body case 11 as an integral body therewith. The inner space defined by the two chassis 32 is divided by a top plate 33 and magazine tables 34 into a plurality of levels, each of which serves as a magazine 35. Each disk 12 is placed on a magazine tray 36 which has a shape shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. Each magazine 35 is adapted to store numerous disks 12 which are respectively placed on these magazine trays 36 which are vertically arranged. As shown in FIG. 14, a handle 37 on the front face of each magazine 35 permits the magazine 35 to be pulled out after opening a front door 38 of the body case 11.
In the same manner as the front storage portion 13, the rear storage portion 14 has a pair of laterally arranged rear chassis 40 formed on the bottom 11b of the body case 11 as an integral body therewith. Disposed in the inner space defined by the two chassis 40 is a pair of laterally arranged fixed racks 41 which form a plurality of shelves. Each shelf of the racks 41 is adapted to house a disk 12 which is placed on a magazine tray 36.
The conventional disk storage device shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 transports a disk as described herein. The access tray 19 is drawn out from the access mechanism 17. A disk 12 is then placed in the access tray 19. The access tray 19 is then pushed back into the access mechanism 17. In conjunction with this operation, a vertical motion drive motor 28 of the vertical motion drive mechanism 16 rotates the timing belt 25 through the worn gear 29 and the timing pulley 30, thereby elevating the transfer mechanism 15 to the same height as the access tray 19. Subsequently, the transfer mechanism 15 moves the disk 12 on the access tray 19 to the transfer mechanism 15.
After the disk 12 is moved to the transfer mechanism 15, the transfer mechanism 15 performs either one of the two transfer actions in accordance with the nature of the operation command.
A first transfer action transfers the disk 12 from or to a drive unit 20. A drive tray 21 is pulled out of a specified empty drive unit 20 according to a command to transfer the disk 12 to the drive unit 20. The transfer mechanism 15 moves to a location directly above the drive tray 2 that has been pulled out. The transfer mechanism 15 places the disk 12 on the drive tray 21. Thereafter, the drive tray 21 is retracted into the drive unit 20, and reading and/or writing of the disk 12 is performed. Similarly, the disk 12 can be received from the drive unit 20 in the reverse order of the above described process.
The other transfer action transfers the disk 12 back and forth between the transfer mechanism 15 and either a magazine 35 or the racks 41. According to a command, the transfer mechanism 15 containing the disk 12 moves either to a location corresponding to the magazine 35 at the front or a magazine tray 36 of the racks 41 at the rear of the body case. The transfer mechanism 15 then places the disk 12 either on the empty magazine 35 or the magazine tray 36. Through repetition of this action by the transfer mechanism 15, a plurality of disks 12 may be successively housed in the magazine 35 or magazine trays 36 of the racks 41 in the body case 11. Similarly, receiving a disk 12 from either a magazine 35 or the racks 41 is accomplished by reversing the order of the above described process.
The processes described above relate to cases where disks 12 are handled one at a time. The processes described above are inconvenient because too much time and labor is required when there is a large number of the disks 12 are to be processed by the access mechanism 17. This problem may be overcome by pulling out a magazine 35 itself from the body case 11 together with a plurality of magazine trays 36 that are contained in the magazine 35. The disks 12 can then be exchanged, replaced and/or reordered outside of the body case 11, and the magazine 35 can then be inserted back into the body case 11. By opening the front door 38, each and every magazine 35 disposed at the front part of the body case 11 can be moved into or out of the body case 11 as shown in FIG. 14.
As described above, according to the structure shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, it is possible to move the magazines 35 located at the front part of the body case 11 in and out of the body case 11. However, the racks 41 located at the rear part of the body case 11 are affixed to the case body 11 and cannot be moved. Therefore, when transferring disks 12 to or from magazine trays 36 of the racks 41, the disks 12 can be moved only one at a time by means of the access mechanism 17. It is highly inconvenient to insert, eject or exchange a large number of disks 1 one at a time since this requires a large amount of time and effort.
Another conventional storage device is shown in FIG. 15. This structure is basically the same as the above example in that a front storage portion 13 and a rear storage portion 14, which house disks 12, together with drive units 20, are disposed in the body case 11. The front storage portion 13 is located at the front part of the body case 11, and the rear storage portion 14 and the drive units 20 are located at the rear part of the body case 11. The transfer mechanism 15 is vertically moved by a vertical motion drive mechanism 16 disposed between the front storage portion 13 and the members located at the rear part, i.e. the rear storage portion 14 and the drive units 20. However, a double-hinged side door 42 is provided at the right side of the body case 11, where the vertical motion drive mechanism 16 is absent. Magazines 43, 44, which respectively constitute the front storage portion 13 and the rear storage portion 14, are adapted to be pulled out to the right.
The operation of the apparatus in FIG. 15 is discussed hereunder. The magazines 43, 44, respectively located at the front a rear parts of the body case 11 can be pulled out after opening the side door 42 at the side of the body case 11. By removing the magazines 43, 44, it is possible to conduct setting, ejection or exchange of all the disks 12 in a magazine collectively. The double hinged door 42 makes it possible to remove the rear magazine 43 and conduct setting, ejecting or exchange of the disks 12 located in the rear of the body case 11. The above discussed structure can reduce working time and make operation more convenient.
However, there are restrictions concerning the site of installation for an apparatus having the above structure because a double-hinged side door 42 requires a large clearance for opening and closing. Consequentially, it is not difficult to install the apparatus so that the side door 42 is located adjacent to a wall or another apparatus.
A disk changing apparatus of this type is often installed under a desk or in a similar space. The above structure requires that when changing magazines 43,44 is desired it is necessary for a user to crawl under the desk or take the body case 11 out of the space under the desk to expose the side door 42 to allow the user to open the side door 42 and change the magazines. However, as a power cable and various cables for exchanging data (not shown in the drawings) are connected to the back of the body case 11, moving the apparatus carelessly gives rise to considerable danger of these cables being inadvertently removed. Inadvertent removal of the cables is undesirable because it jeopardizes the safety of the apparatus and the data.

Storage device for storing magazines of recordable media


A run flat support body for a pneumatic tire, including an annular shell and elastic rings, where the elastic rings are composed of a composite elastic material made by compounding reinforcement fillers with an elastic material so as to provide anisotropy to an effect of reinforcement thereof. Additionally, the compressive rigidity of the elastic rings in a radial direction of the tire is made larger than that of unreinforced elastic rings in the radial direction, and the bending rigidity of the elastic rings in an axial direction of the tire is made substantially equal to that of the unreinforced elastic rings in the axial direction. Preferably, the elastic rings include a layered body formed by alternately laminating layers of a composite elastic material in which short fibers are aligned in a circumferential direction and layers of a composite elastic material in which short fibers are aligned in the axial direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a run flat support body for a pneumatic tire. Particularly, the present invention relates to a run flat support body for a pneumatic tire, which achieves a good balance between run flat durability of the run flat support body to be inserted inside the pneumatic tire and workability for mounting the run flat support body on a rim (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "mounting").
2. Background Art
As measures enabling a vehicle to make an emergency running to a repair shop such as a gas station when a pneumatic tire of the vehicle is punctured while the vehicle is running, numerous proposals have been made, in each of which a core is inserted as a run flat support body in a hollow part of the pneumatic tire mounted on a rim of a wheel.
Among the proposals, there is a run flat support body, which is formed of an annular shell having left and right bifurcated leg parts on a cross section in a width direction of the tire, and which is formed in a manner where elastic rings are attached respectively onto the both leg parts. The run flat support body has an advantage that a conventional wheel can be used as it is without making any substantial modifications to a rim structure of the wheel. However, for the run flat support body formed as described above, it is required to compose the elastic rings supporting of a material having high rigidity so as to secure durability of the run flat support body during run flat driving.
For this reason, in Patent Document 1, it is proposed that the durability of the run flat support body is improved by covering a periphery of the elastic rings with a fiber reinforcing layer. However, if the run flat support body has a structure in which simply the elastic rings are covered with the fiber reinforced layer, the rigidity of the elastic rings becomes too high. Because of that, a problem occurs in which workability for mounting at a time of mounting a run flat support body onto the rim of the wheel becomes extremely poor. That is, when mounting the run flat support body onto the rim of the wheel, the mounting is performed by bending the elastic rings in an axial direction of the tire by applying a large lateral force to the run flat support body. Accordingly, when the bending rigidity of the elastic rings becomes too high as described above, a problem arises in which a difficulty occurs in the mounting operation.
Patent Document 1: Japanese patent application Kokai publication No. 2004-98882.

Run flat support body for pneumatic tire


Central coordinate data located on a circle of magnetism obtained from the X-Y coordinate data detected by a terrestrial magnetism sensor are calculated in correspondence with the direction of the road, calculated using map data or by a GPS device, and a present declination correction value each time the direction of the road is obtained. The declination correction value is automatically updated in such a manner as to decrease the radius of the circle of magnetism.

The present invention relates to a vehicle-mounted navigation system, and more particularly to a vehicle-direction measuring apparatus using a terrestrial magnetism sensor.
In a terrestrial magnetism sensor, a pair of magnetism detecting elements are disposed in the same plane and have a phase angle of 90.degree. with respect to each other. One of them is adapted to detect a terrestrial magnetism component in the X-direction (easterly direction), while the other is adapted to detect a terrestrial magnetism component in the Y-direction (northerly direction). If this terrestrial magnetism sensor is placed in a horizontal direction and is made to undergo one complete revolution, then the path of a circle, i.e., a magnetic circle, is depicted on X-Y coordinates by means of output values from both the X- and Y-direction magnetism detecting elements. Accordingly, if it is assumed that a central point of the path of the circle is (x0, y0), and that the X-Y coordinate data, which are output values of the terrestrial magnetism sensor, are (x, y), the direction .theta. can be expressed as EQU .theta.=tan.sup.-1 (y-y0)/(x-x0) (1)
However, in a case where the terrestrial magnetism sensor is mounted in a vehicle, in addition to the magnetization of a steel plate of the body, the length of the vehicle body exerts an influence on the direction .theta.. Since the body of an automobile has a rectangular configuration having a long longitudinal side, the perpendicular projection density of a magnetizable material such as a steel plate differs between the longitudinal direction and the transverse direction of the body. Therefore, even if the body is magnetized uniformly, the detection sensitivity of the X-and Y-direction magnetism detecting elements that are perpendicular to each other still differs.
Accordingly, the path of output values of the terrestrial magnetism sensor becomes elliptical when the vehicle with the terrestrial magnetism sensor mounted thereon makes one rotation rather than a circle, as shown in FIG. 5. If an ellipticity k (=Rx/Ry) is used to correct the output values (x, y) obtained by the terrestrial magnetism sensor, the output values become (x, ky-ky0+y0), so that the elliptical path is corrected to a round path. Hence, the direction .theta.M of the vehicle obtained by the terrestrial magnetism sensor can be expressed as EQU .theta.M=tan.sup.-1 {k(y-y0)}/(x-x0) (2)
An angular difference between north on the map (true north) and north obtained from terrestrial magnetism (magnetic north) is called declination. This declination occurs due to the fact that the pole of the earth and the magnetic pole differ. For instance, the declination of the Kanto district (including Tokyo) and its vicinity is -6.degree. (indicating that the magnetic north is offset by 6.degree. to the west from true north), while the declination of San Francisco and its vicinity is +15.degree. (indicating that the magnetic north is offset by 15.degree. to the east from true north). Accordingly, in the vehicle-mounted navigation system using the terrestrial magnetism sensor for measuring terrestrial magnetism, it is necessary to correct declination in order to determine an accurate direction. In addition, in the navigation system, a mounting error unavoidably occurs when the terrestrial magnetism sensor is mounted in a vehicle. A numerical value for correcting declination by taking into account this error as well is a declination correction value .theta.0. If the direction .theta.M of the vehicle is corrected by the declination correction value .theta.0, it becomes EQU .theta.M=tan.sup.-1 {k(y-y0)}/(x-x0)-.theta.0 (3)
With the conventional vehicle-mounted navigation system, however, at the time of setting the declination correction value .theta.0 the difference between the direction of terrestrial magnetism displayed on the screen and the direction of the road estimated at the present position is manually inputted by the user through a key operation or the like. Therefore, it is difficult to input a small value of several degrees as an appropriate value, resulting in a lowering of the accuracy with which the direction on the map is detected.


A mode-switching transformer including a first conductive line between two common-mode access terminals and a second conductive line between two differential mode access terminals, the lines being coupled and sized according to a central operating frequency of the transformer, each line being formed of two stacked spirals in two different metallization levels and each spiral of a line being interdigited with a spiral of the other line.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of mode-switching transformers which are used to convert a voltage from a common mode to a differential mode and conversely. Such transformers are generally called "balun" transformers, for "balanced-unbalanced".
2. Discussion of the Related Art
An example of application of a mode-switching transformer relates to radio frequency transceiver channels, for example, of a mobile phone. This type of application currently uses devices of balun type since, on the antenna side, it most often is a single-ended device.
Two main categories of mode-switching transformers are known, that is, coupled line baluns or distributed baluns, and baluns with local components. Baluns with coupled lines are formed of conductive tracks coupled to each other, the transformer's operating frequency being conditioned by the line length. Baluns with local components are formed of capacitive and inductive elements forming LC cells.
The present invention more specifically relates to baluns with coupled lines. Among these, the present invention more specifically relates to a Marchand-type balun, that is, a symmetrical balun having its coupled lines calculated in λ/4, where λ represents the wavelength corresponding to the central frequency of the passband desired for the balun.
FIG. 1 very schematically shows the equivalent electric diagram of a conventional balun of Marchand type. Such a transformer is formed of four conductive sections each having a quarter wavelength coupled two by two. Two first sections 1 and 2 are in series between two differential mode accesses or terminals 5 and 6 and have their grounded midpoint 7 forming the reference on the differential side. The two other sections 3 and 4 are in series between a common-mode access port 8 and an access 9 generally open or left floating. Common mode terminal 8 is intended, for example, to be connected to an antenna. The corresponding signal is referenced, for example, to ground M of the equipment comprising the mode-switching transformer. Differential mode input-output terminals 5 and 6 are phase-shifted by 180° with respect to each other.
Distributed baluns are generally used for their wide-band character and for the fact that the differential access biasing is performed via midpoint 7 shown as being grounded.
FIG. 2 illustrates the practical implementation of a balun of the type illustrated schematically in FIG. 1, for example, on a glass substrate 10. Each section 1 to 4 is made in the form of a conductive track P1 to P4 wound to gain space with respect to a rectilinear line. The coupling between sections 1 and 3, respectively 2 and 4, is obtained by forming these sections on the same level or in different conductive levels. Tracks P1 and P2 are made in a first level and are formed of laterally spaced apart windings joining (connection P12) in the same level. Tracks P3 and P4 are made in a second level and are formed of laterally spaced apart windings respectively interdigited or superposed to windings P1 and P2. Tracks P3 and P4 are connected by a connection by vias and bridges P7 in a third level. Other vias are required to bring all terminals to a same level.
A mode-switching transformer essentially characterizes by four parameters measured by loading the different accesses with standardized 50 -ohm impedances.
A first parameter relates to differential insertion losses corresponding to the path loss between the common-mode terminal and the two differential terminals. This parameter is generally considered as good if the losses are less than 1 dB.
A second parameter is the amplitude difference from on path to the other (amplitude imbalance), which corresponds to the difference between insertion losses from one path to the other. In an ideal transformer, that is, perfectly well balanced and with no insertion loss, the signal divides in two for the two differential ports and −3 dB are thus obtained on each path with respect to the common mode signal. The amplitude imbalance is then zero. The amplitude imbalance parameter is considered as good if it ranges between −0.5 dB and 0.5 dB.
A third parameter is the phase difference (phase imbalance) which measures the interval between the phase difference of two differential accesses with respect to the 180 degrees desired in the ideal case. The phase imbalance is considered to be good if it ranges between −5° and 5°.
A fourth parameter is the matching or return loss which corresponds to the impedance matching on the common mode and differential mode accesses. This last parameter is evaluated according to the circuits connected at each end of the transformer and is considered as acceptable if it is smaller than −15 dB.
All the above parameters are evaluated for different signal frequencies and are in fact given for an operating frequency range of the transformer around a central frequency.
A disadvantage of baluns with coupled lines is linked to the significant size required by the λ/4 lines which, in addition to a significant bulk, causes high insertion losses.


A vacuum coffee maker has a starved electric heating arrangement having a solid body providing a reservoir. The chamber is covered by a circular lid that prevents flow of steam directly vertically up a tube from the chamber. At the end of a normal heating cycle, the temperature of the body rises rapidly and power supplied to a heating element is automatically turned off under the control of a thermostat. The heating arrangement is used without alteration (e.g. to the setting of the thermostat) to keep-warm hot coffee in a lower container after the end of the normal heating coffee-making cycle. The effect of having the lid is that during a keep-warm function, the reservoir is generally starved of liquid because any liquid entering the reservoir is immediately evaporated and this restricts flow of more liquid into the reservoir and hence starves the reservoir.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to vacuum coffee makers.
2. Description of Prior Art
In a vacuum coffee maker, there are two containers one above the other with a tube extending down from the bottom of the upper container through the lower container to adjacent its base. Conventionally the lower container has a base integrally formed with the rest of the container which is arranged to be heated by a flaming burner or grill plate. A filter is placed at the top of the tube, that is in the bottom of the upper container, and dry coffee grounds placed on top of the filter. The lower container is filled with water, usually pre-heated, and the two containers fitted together and separated and sealed by a supporting resilient stopper.
In order to prepare coffee, a burner is placed under the base of the lower container to heat the water. As the water expands and boils, water is forced up the tube past the filter and into the upper container, mixing with the coffee. When the water has all evaporated in the lower container, the burner is removed. Water is drawn down through the filter by vacuum to the lower container, the upper container is removed and the freshly made coffee served from the lower container.
Such vacuum coffee makers however require supervision, particularly to remove the burner at the required time. Also, the flow of water up the tube, especially when only a small quantity remains in the lower container, can become erratic due formation of steam bubbles from the heater surface. This leads to spasmodic flow of water upwards through the tube especially towards the end of a heating cycle.


A personal watercraft has a hull, a deck disposed on the hull, a bin, and hood. The hood is operatively connected to the deck and is movable between an open position providing access to the storage bin and a closed position preventing access to the storage bin. An opening having a contour is provided in the deck forwardly of the watercraft's steering handles. The storage bin is disposed in the opening. The storage bin has a container disposed in the opening and a lid operatively connected to the container. The lid is movable between an open position providing access to an interior of the container and a closed position preventing access to the interior of the container. A storage bin to be used in combination with a personal watercraft is also disclosed.

Most personal watercraft are provided with one or more storage bins to store various items. Some items are required by law such as, but not limited to, a watertight flashlight, flares, a whistle, a paddle, an anchor, a bailer, a rope, watercraft registration documents, an/or a fire extinguisher (it should be understood that these will vary depending on the jurisdiction). Others are items that the users of the watercraft may want to bring with them, such as towels, a cooler, or tools. Depending on the watercraft, a storage bin may be located under the seat or under the hood or both. A glove box is often also provided to store smaller items. One of the challenges faced by watercraft manufacturers is to discourage water from entering the storage bins.
FIGS. 7 to 10 illustrate a prior art personal watercraft storage bin and hood arrangement. In this arrangement, a personal watercraft 200 has a first storage bin 202, a second storage bin in the form of storage tray 204, and a hood 206 hinged to the deck 208. The first storage bin 202 is fixedly connected to the deck 208 of the watercraft 200 below an access opening in the deck 208. The storage tray 204 is disposed in the opening above the first storage bin 202 and rests on the edge of the opening (see FIG. 9). The storage tray 204 can be removed from the watercraft 200. The handle 210 provided in the storage tray 204 allows the storage tray 204 to easily be carried. The hood 206 is movable between an open position (FIG. 10) providing access to the storage bins 202, 204, and a closed position (FIGS. 7 and 8) preventing access to the storage bins 202, 204. As best seen in FIG. 9, a trim element 212 having three sealing ridges 214 is disposed around the opening. A pair of deformable seals 216 are connected to ridges 218 on an inner surface of the hood 206. When the hood 206 is in its closed position, the sealing ridges 214 engage the deformable seals 216 to provide a watertight seal which discourages water from entering the storage bins 202, 204. Additional details concerning an arrangement of this type can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,668,742 issued on Dec. 30, 2003.
Although the arrangement illustrated in FIGS. 7 to 10 satisfactorily discourages water from entering the storage bins 202, 204, providing the seals 216 on the hood 206 has some disadvantages. One disadvantage is that the inner surface of the hood 206 needs to be shaped to add the ridges 218 that will permit the seals 216 to press onto the sealing ridges 214. This increases the complexity of the hood 206. Also, care must be taken when fastening the hood 206 to the deck 208 to make sure that the seals 216 align with the sealing ridges 214 when the hood 206 is in its closed position.
Although the removable storage tray 204 allows items stored therein to be easily carried by the user away from the watercraft 202, once the storage tray 204 is removed from the watercraft 200, the items stored therein are exposed to the elements. If, for example, the storage tray 204 is carried on a beach, sand can go inside the storage tray 204.
Therefore, there is a need for a different arrangement for discouraging water from entering a storage bin to be used in a personal watercraft.
There is also a need for a storage bin for a personal watercraft which can be removed from the watercraft while maintaining the items stored therein protected from the elements.
Embodiments of the present invention address at least one of the above-mentioned needs or problems, but do not necessarily address all of them.


A coherence microscope has a divider (3) that divides light emitted by a light source (1) into measurement light, which is supplied to and reflected by a specimen (13), and reference light. A superimposition device (25, 31) superimposes the measurement light reflected by the specimen (13) with the reference light. A short sensor array (41) detects the light resulting from the superimposition and permits a read-out rate of at least about 60 kHz. The superimposition device has an emission device (25, 31) for emitting the measurement light and the reference light arranged to effect extensive irradiation of the sensor array (41) with superimposed light. The ratio of distances covered by the measurement light and the reference light from the emission device (25, 31) to impingement points on the sensor array (41) varies in the portion of the sensor array (41) that is irradiated with superimposed light.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a coherence microscope and a method of operating such a microscope.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional microscopy problems are involved in the sharp representation of spatially extensive objects. Image sharpness is adversely affected due to blurred contributions of object regions above and below the focal plane. Different apparatuses and methods of imaging spatially extensive objects have therefore been developed.
One method with which sharp images can be obtained from spatially extensive objects utilises a confocal optical system for the imaging procedure. The concept of imaging by means of a confocal optical system is described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 3,013,467. That concept is based on the fact that a light source in point form is made available for example by means of an aperture member with a small hole (pinhole), the light of that light source being focussed on to a point on the specimen. The light reflected by that point on the specimen is in turn focussed on to a point which represents an image of the point of the specimen. Arranged at the location of that image is a second pinhole, behind which is disposed a detector for detecting the reflected light. Only light originating from the focal plane is projected on to a point at the location of the second aperture member and can pass through the pinhole. Light which has been reflected at the specimen in front of or behind the focal plane in contrast forms a disk at the location of the second aperture member. Such light therefore cannot pass through the pinhole so that essentially only light from the focal point reaches the detector. Accordingly images of even spatially extensive objects can be sharply produced by a confocal imaging procedure as contributions from regions of the object which are above or below the focal plane are not involved in the imaging procedure. Slot apertures can also be used instead of pinholes. In that case the image of the light source on the specimen is in the form of a line and the image of the light reflected by the specimen appears as a line on the same or a further slot aperture.
Confocal microscopes, that is to say microscopes based on confocal imaging, are used for example as laser scan microscopes (LSM) in particular in biology, material science and medical diagnostics. In terms of intraoperative diagnostics the particular challenge on the corresponding microscopic scanning method is to be fast, of high resolution and compatible for use in an endoscope. Methods of that kind can be used to effect optical biopsies for tumor detection for example in the gastrointestinal tract.
A confocal laser scan microscope in conjunction with an endoscope is for example the laser scan microendoscope described in Y S Sabharwal et al 'Slit Scanning Confocal Microendoscope for High Resolution In-Vivo Imaging', Appl Opt 34, pages 7133-7144 (1999). That instrument produces the image of a laser beam by means of a confocal aperture member on the specimen, scans the specimen with the laser beam two-dimensionally (laterally) and receives the stray light reflected by the specimen. In order to record a spatial, that is to say three-dimensional image, two-dimensional planes are scanned at various depths. The depth of the plane to be recorded is adjusted by displacement of the focal plane of the microscope in the specimen. The result of that method is a so-called z-stack of two-dimensional images. The scans are either implemented manually (with a high degree of inaccuracy and a lack of reproducibility) or by means of miniaturised focusing devices which must satisfy high demands in terms of accuracy and reproducibility and which in addition are to be only of a small size. The mechanical demands on such focusing devices are very high. Laser scan microendoscopes have therefore not yet become commercial products.
Longitudinal resolution of the laser scan microendoscope is determined by the confocal optical system. Confocal imaging by means of an aperture member provides that only stray light from a longitudinally closely delimited region in respect of depth impinges on the detector. The depthwise extent of that region and thus the longitudinal resolution of the microscope depends on the opening in the aperture member, that is to say for example the hole of the aperture diaphragm, and in practice reaches values of typically less than 10 μm. Better levels of longitudinal resolution, that is to say more narrowly delimited depthwise regions, are possible by further closure of the aperture opening, which however is linked to a high degree of light loss. Disadvantages of the laser scan microendoscope are the long scanning time which is necessary to record a z-stack and a low level of optical sensitivity. Optical sensitivity is adversely affected by the generally low degree of transmission of the optical fiber bundle of the laser scan microendoscope and troublesome reflections at the optical surfaces.
An alternative for imaging spatially extensive objects which is not based on the principle of confocal imaging is the apparatus described in DE 199 29 406 for performing optical coherence tomography (OCT). It includes a light source which emits substantially incoherent light and a beam producing device for producing a measurement light beam and a reference light beam which is coherent with respect to a reference time relative to the measurement light beam, from the incoherent light. The specimen is irradiated with the measurement light beam. The light reflected by the specimen is picked up and spatially superimposed with the reference light beam. Because of the incoherence in respect of time of the radiation, interference phenomena occur in the superimposition operation only with substantially identical optical travel lengths of the measurement light beam and the reference light beam. Therefore different optical travel lengths for the reference light beam result in interference phenomena with measurement light reflected by the object at different depths. Thus the different optical travel lengths of the reference light beam can be related to the depth at which reflection of the measurement light took place in the specimen in order to obtain a depth profile of the specimen.
A disadvantage of the apparatuses set forth is that they cannot be used to implement an optical biopsy in the desired manner.
Therefore the object of the invention is to provide an apparatus with which an optical biopsy can be implemented in a manner which is advantageous in comparison with the state of the art. A further object of the invention is to provide a method of operating such an apparatus.

Coherence microscope using interference of time incoherent light to achieve depth resolution in a measurement specimen


A system performs identification system enrollment and validation and/or authentication. In some examples, the system receives a digital representation of a biometric for a person from a device, biographic information for the person, and monitoring of capture of the biometric and determines whether the biometric is genuine. In others, the system obtains data from a network search using the biometric and the information, generates a comparison of the biometric and the information to the data from the network search, and uses the comparison to determine whether the person is who the person asserts. In still others, the system performs a number of identity checks using the information and the biometric, weights certainty and risk of each of the number of identity checks, and determines whether to approve the person for identification system enrollment using an aggregation of the identity checks.

Identification systems may use a variety of different mechanisms to identify a person, track that person, determine actions the person is authorized and/or trustworthy to perform, protect access to information stored in association with an identity, and so on. For example, a security checkpoint at an airport, sporting event, workplace, car rental agency, or other restricted access venue may use an identification system to determine that a person is authorized to enter, the kind of security screening to perform on that person, actions to allow that person to perform, and so on.
Identification systems may use one or more biometrics (such as one or more hashes or other digital representations of one or more fingerprints, facial images, iris images, retina images, voiceprints, gaits, heart rhythms or other biological information, and so on) to identify a person. In order to allow a person to be identified using a biometric, that person may first be enrolled with the identification system. Enrollment may involve the person providing a digital representation of his or her biometric as well as biographic information. This may allow the biographic information to be later retrieved to identify the person when the person later again provides a digital representation of his or her biometric.

Identification system enrollment and validation and/or authentication


An apparatus for determining and/or monitoring a process variable of a medium in a container. including: a probe unit, which has a sensor electrode and a guard electrode; and an electronics unit, which supplies the sensor electrode with an activating signal and which supplies the guard electrode with a guard signal; An amplifying unit; and a limiting element arranged in series between the guard electrode and the output of the amplifying unit. The amplifying unit supplies via the limiting element the guard electrode with the guard signal; and the amplifying unit supplies via the limiting element the sensor electrode with the activating signal. The evaluating unit is provided, which determines and/or monitors the process variable based on an electrical current signal measurable at the sensor electrode, and the activating signal and/or the guard signal.

In the state of the art, it is known to monitor fill-level of a medium by detecting whether the conductive medium is providing electrical contact between a probe electrode and the wall of a conductive container or a second electrode. Since, in the case of many media, an accretion can form on the probe unit, so-called guard electrodes are used, which lie at the same electrical potential as the probe electrode and surround the probe electrode (see e.g. DE 32 12 434 C2). Depending on the character of the accretion, it is, however, possible, that there will be difficulties with suitably producing the guard signal.

Apparatus for determining and/or monitoring a process variable