To provide an aberration correction configuration that can realize both an aberration correction function for a long focus and an aberration correction function for a short focus. While having a conventional aberration correction apparatus configuration that has two rotationally symmetric lenses arranged between two multipole lenses, three rotationally symmetric lenses are disposed between an objective lens and a multipole lens instead of the conventional arrangement in which two rotationally symmetric lenses are disposed therebetween. When using the objective lens with a long focal length, aberrations are corrected using two rotationally symmetric lenses among three rotationally symmetric lenses disposed between the objective lens and the multipole lens. When using the objective lens with a short focal length, e.g. for high resolution observation, aberrations are corrected using two rotationally symmetric lenses of a different combination to those used for a long focus, among the three rotationally symmetric lenses disposed between the objective lens and the multipole lens. (See FIG. 3)

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an aberration correction apparatus and a charged particle apparatus, and more particularly to an optical system for correcting a spherical aberration of an objective lens, of a charged particle beam microscope typified by a transmission electron microscope with, for example, an aberration correction apparatus including multipole lenses and rotationally symmetric lenses.
2. Background Art
An electron lens that uses an electric field or a magnetic field to converge electron beams is essential in an electron microscope such as a scanning electron microscope (SEM), a transmission electron microscope (TEM), or a scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM). A lens that acts as a spherical lens using a rotationally symmetric electromagnetic field is most often used as an electron lens. It is known that a positive spherical aberration is unavoidable with this kind of rotationally symmetric electron lens. In this case, since it is not possible to create a negative spherical aberration even by using another rotationally symmetric electron lens, spherical aberration correction can not be performed by using a set of concave/convex lenses in optics, and in the conventional electron microscope apparatuses spherical aberration is a principal factor in deciding the substantial resolution.
Meanwhile, it has been indicated that the spherical aberration of an electron lens can be corrected in theory by a combination of non-rotationally symmetric multipole lenses. However, the structure of these multipole correctors is complex since the structures use multiple stages of four poles, six poles, eight poles, or the like.
One known aberration correction apparatus corrects the spherical aberration of a rotationally symmetric lens by generating a hexapole field with a multipole lens. The principle of the spherical aberration correction is as follows. With respect to a positive spherical aberration of a common objective lens, a negative spherical aberration is produced by generating a hexapole field with a multipole lens to thereby cancel out the spherical aberration of the objective lens. Further, since the negative spherical aberration can be controlled by changing the strength of the hexapole field, the spherical aberration of the lenses mounted in the electron microscope, that is, the entire optical system including an objective lens, converging lens, projection lens and the like, can be controlled to an arbitrary amount. However, the hexapole field generates a secondary aberration, and therefore the secondary aberration of the hexapole field can be cancelled out by arranging two rotationally symmetric lenses between two multipole lenses and inverting the trajectory of the electron beam between the multipole lenses.
For example, technology disclosed in JP Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 3-295140 A (1991) (hereunder, referred to as "Patent Document 1") relates to an apparatus that corrects the spherical aberration of a rotationally symmetric lens of an electron microscope of this kind. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram that illustrates that technology. In FIG. 1, although each electron lens is illustrated as an optical lens, this is done to simplify the diagrammatic representation, and in fact the lenses are electron lenses that use a magnetic field.
In the correction apparatus, rotationally symmetric lenses 4 are 5 are arranged between multipole lenses 2 and 3, and rotationally symmetric lenses 7 and 8 are arranged between a multipole lens 2 and an objective lens 6. The focal lengths of the rotationally symmetric lens are all the same length f. A distance between the rotationally symmetric lenses 7 and 8 is 2 f, and a distance from the multipole lens 2 to each of the rotationally symmetric lenses 4 and 8 is f. Further, a distance between the rotationally symmetric lenses 4 and 5 is 2 f, and a distance between the multipole lens 3 and the rotationally symmetric lens 5 is f. Conventionally, when performing high resolution observation with an electron microscope, a specimen position 9 exists inside an objective lens 6, and an extremely strong excitation of several mm is used as the focal length of the objective lens 6. An axial trajectory 10 is an electron beam trajectory that passes an intersection point between the specimen and the optical axis and that has a certain angle with respect to the optical axis, and is incident onto the multipole lens 2 in parallel with the optical axis. Thereafter, the trajectory is inverted by the rotationally symmetric lenses 4 and 5, and is incident on the multipole lens 3 in parallel with the optical axis (spherical aberration correction condition). When the multipole lenses 2 and 3 and the rotationally symmetric lenses 4 and 5 are arranged as described above, the axial trajectory 10 passes through the multipole lenses 2 and 3 in a condition in which the axial trajectory 10 is separated by the same distance from the optical axis (spherical aberration correction condition). Since the strength of a hexapole field is decided by the distance from the optical axis, a secondary aberration can be cancelled out by making the excitation of the two multipole lenses the same. More specifically, by applying a spherical aberration of opposite sign and half the amount with respect to the spherical aberration of the objective lens 6 with the respective hexapole fields of the two multipole lenses, the spherical aberration of the objective lens can be corrected while cancelling out the secondary aberration.
The aberration correction apparatus shown in FIG. 1 has a configuration for correcting an axial coma aberration. A rotationally symmetric lens has a plane without an axial coma aberration, and the plane is called a "coma-free plane". Since the coma-free plane normally exists in the vicinity of a back focal plane of the rotationally symmetric lens, in a case in which the specimen position 9 is arranged inside the objective lens 6 and high resolution observation of the objective lens 6 is performed using a strong excitation, a coma-free plane 11 of the objective lens 6 exists at a position that is several mm behind the objective lens 6. Assuming that the distance between the coma-free plane 11 of the objective lens 6 and the rotationally symmetric lens 7 is f, the coma-free plane 11 can be transferred to the coma-free plane of the rotationally symmetric lens 7.
According to the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the coma-free plane 11 can be transferred to the coma-free plane of the rotationally symmetric lenses 8, 4, and 5 according to the same principle. The coma aberration of a multipole lens has trajectory that passes through the center of the multipole lens, and the coma aberration can be cancelled out by the trajectory becoming symmetrical at the center between the two multipole lenses 2 and 3. In FIG. 1, an off-axis trajectory 12 that passes through the coma-free plane 11 of the objective lens 6 passes through the center of the multipole lenses 2 and 3, and by the trajectory being made symmetrical at the center between the two multipole lenses 2 and 3, the coma-free plane is transferred to correct the axial coma aberration.
According to the configuration of FIG. 1 described above, a spherical aberration correction apparatus is provided in which a spherical aberration correction condition (beam is incident in parallel with the optical axis with respect to the multipole lenses 2 and 3, and the beam is symmetrical (distance from optical axis is the same) at multipole lenses 2 and 3) is satisfied by the axial trajectory 10 between the multipole lenses 2 and 3 that are the latter half portion of the correction apparatus, and a coma-free plane transfer condition is satisfied by the off-axis trajectory 12 between the objective lens 6 and the multipole lens 2 that are the front half portion of the correction apparatus.
JP Patent Publication (Kohyo) No. 2002-510431 A (hereunder, referred to as "Patent Document 2") discloses technology for correcting a spherical aberration using a different configuration. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram that illustrates that technology. The apparatus in FIG. 2 is also an aberration correction apparatus for high resolution observation in which the specimen position 9 is inside the objective lens 6, similarly to FIG. 1. Although the configuration between the multipole lenses 2 and 3 as the latter half portion of the correction apparatus is the same as that shown in FIG. 1, the configuration between the objective lens 6 and the multipole lens 2 as the front half portion of the correction apparatus is different to that shown in FIG. 1.
In FIG. 2, the focal lengths of the rotationally symmetric lenses 7 and 8 are assumed to be f1 and f2, respectively. The distance between the coma-free plane 11 of the objective lens 6 and the rotationally symmetric lens 7 is assumed to be f1, the distance between the rotationally symmetric lenses 7 and 8 is assumed to be f1+f2, and the distance from the rotationally symmetric lens 8 to the multipole lens 2 is assumed to be f2. Since the latter half portion of the correction apparatus has the same configuration as that in FIG. 1 described above, the axial trajectory 10 satisfies the spherical aberration correction condition by the same principle. Further, although the configuration of the front half portion of the correction apparatus is different to the configuration shown in FIG. 1, by disposing the rotationally symmetric lenses 7 and 8 at the positions of the focal lengths, the off-axis trajectory 12 satisfies the coma-free plane transfer condition.
As a feature of the aberration correction apparatus shown in FIG. 2, the ease with which a spherical aberration can be finely adjusted may be mentioned. Since the spherical aberration and coma-free plane 11 of the objective lens 6 change when the focal length of the objective lens 6 is changed, according to the configuration shown in FIG. 1 it is necessary to adjust the focal length f of all the rotationally symmetric lenses. However, with the configuration shown in FIG. 2, when finely adjusting a spherical aberration correction of the objective lens 6, since the position of the axial trajectory 10 passing through the multipole lens 2 does not change when focal lengths f1 and f2 of the rotationally symmetric lenses 7 and 8 are finely adjusted, the spherical aberration can be corrected without changing the focal length f of the rotationally symmetric lenses 4 and 5 and the excitation of the multipole lenses 2 and 3. Hence, according to the configuration shown in FIG. 2, the spherical aberration correction condition and coma-free plane transfer condition can be satisfied by finely adjusting the positions and focal lengths f1 and f2 of the rotationally symmetric lenses 7 and 8, and the advantage that fine adjustment of a spherical aberration correction can be performed with ease can be expected. Further, since the focal length can be adjusted according to the configuration shown in FIG. 2, in comparison to the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the configuration shown in FIG. 2 allows greater flexibility and, for example, also enables magnification of an image.

Aberration correction apparatus that corrects spherical aberration of charged particle apparatus

Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Promotion Corporation


A method for releasably securing a sink strainer in a drain hole of a sink by providing a lock nut having a split defined by a pair of opposed surfaces and a locking system comprising a pair of opposed tabs attached to the outer surface of the lock nut with one tab on one side of the split having a threaded hole spaced perpendicularly with respect to the opposed surfaces for receiving a threaded fastener and a second tab attached to the outer surface of the lock nut on the opposite side of the split in opposed spaced relationship to the first tab. The second tab having a hole in axisymmetric spaced relationship to the threaded hole with a diameter of sufficient size to allow a threaded fastener to pass therethrough, and a threaded fastener positioned within the axisymmetric spaced hole and arranged to pass through the hole in the second tab and securely engage the threaded hole in the first tab. When engaged, the threaded fastener holds the opposed surfaces in mating relationship during normal use, and when removed, provide for the lock nut to release from its position in response to application of an external force.

Sink strainer lock nuts are utilized to attach a sink strainer to the underside of sink, such as, for example, a kitchen sink or any other similar type of sink. Typical sink strainers, also called basket strainers, include a lower end extending through a hole in the sink bottom and having threads thereon for engaging with a lock nut below the drain hole. Upon tightening the lock nut, the strainer is held in a watertight position in the drain hole.
Sink strainer lock nuts typically have an upper edge, which over time can become bonded to the underside surface of the sink and thus be difficult to remove. One removal method requires a hammer to drive a cold chisel or screwdriver against lugs on the lock nut to break the lock nut loose. This can be time consuming and expensive and result in damage to the sink and plumbing. Another method for removing the lock nut is to use a spanner-type wrench to engage the lugs. This method can be difficult and time consuming because of the tight space in which to work and a tendency of the wrench to slip due to poor contact with only a few lugs on the lock nut.
It is desirable, therefore, to provide an improved sink strainer lock nut design and method for releasably securing a sink strainer in a drain hole of a sink.

Method for releasably securing a sink strainer


A power conversion device includes a first inverter connected to first ends of m (m is an integer equal to two or more) coil groups, a second inverter connected to second ends of the m coil groups, m−1 separation relay circuits connected between two adjacent coil groups of the m coil groups, m−1 first neutral point relay circuits provided between two adjacent coil groups of the first inverter side of each of the m−1 separation relay circuits, and m−1 second neutral point relay circuits provided between two adjacent coils of the second inverter side of each of the m−1 separation relay circuits.

Recently, electromechanical integrated motors in which an electric motor (hereinafter, simply referred to as a "motor"), a power conversion device, and an electronic control unit (ECU) are integrated have been developed. In particular, in the field of vehicles, high quality assurance is required from the viewpoint of safety. Therefore, a redundant design that can continue to operate safely even when some parts fail has been introduced. As an example of a redundant design, a method of providing two power conversion devices for one motor is being studied. As another example, a method of providing a backup microcontroller with a main microcontroller is being studied.
In a related art, a power conversion device that includes a control unit and two inverters and converts power to supply it to a three-phase motor is disclosed. The two inverters are connected to a power supply and a ground (hereinafter referred to as "GND"). One inverter is connected to one end of a three-phase winding of the motor, and the other inverter is connected to the other end of the three-phase winding. Each of the inverters has a bridge circuit composed of three legs each having a high-side switching element and a low-side switching element. The control unit switches motor control from normal state control to abnormal state control when the control unit detects a malfunction of the switching element in the two inverters. Under the normal state control, for example, the motor is driven by switching the switching elements of the two inverters. Under the abnormal state control, for example, the motor is driven by the inverter that has not malfunctioned using a neutral point of the winding provided in the inverter that has malfunctioned.

Power conversion device, motor drive unit, and electric power steering device


Methods for synthesis of nanocrystalline apatites are presented, as well as a series of specific reaction parameters that can be adjusted to tailor, in specific ways, properties in the recovered product. Particulate apatite compositions having average crystal size of less than 150 nm are provided. Products also can have a surface area of at least 40 m2/g and can be of high density.

Biomaterials are a class of functional materials designed to interact with and become incorporated into the human body for uses such as prostheses. Unlike products obtained through bioengineering, the manufacture of biomaterials rarely requires cellular processing or a biological intermediary.
There is a need for biomimetic structures friendly to body chemistry and physiology. Goals for these biomaterials are that they possess mechanical stability for hardness, compressive strength, flexural strength, and wear resistance, controlled microstructure to develop functional gradients, controlled interfacial properties to maintain structural integrity in physiological conditions, and well-understood surface chemistry tailored to provide appropriate adhesion properties, chemical resistance, long implant life, and patient comfort.
A wide variety of biomaterials exist such as biocompatible polymers and bioceramics. Biocompatible polymers include biodegradable polymers for use in providing structural support to organs and other body parts, drug delivery, and the like, and non-biodegradable polymers such as polymer prosthesis. For example, hip joint replacements typically make use of non-biodegradable polymers. The technique typically requires a traumatic in vivo polymerization reaction within the cup of a hip joint, and the use of a metal ball joint within the cup which can result in stress shielding (described below), causing bone dissolution. Uneven wear rates between the metal ball joint and the polymer sockets can cause the polymer to disintegrate within the body causing even more rapid dissolution. As a result, the interface between the metal ball joint and bone often loosens over time causing the patient great discomfort. The result is that hip joint replacement using current state-of-the-art technology may have to be performed more than once in a patient.
Bioceramics have found widespread use in periodontic and orthopedic applications as well as oral, plastic, and ear, nose, and throat surgery. Common materials for bioceramics are alumina, zirconia, calcium phosphate based ceramics, and glass-ceramics. Bioceramics can be categorized according to their in vivo interaction, typically as bioinert, bioactive, and resorbable bioceramics. Various types of bioceramics undergo fixation within the body according to different processes. Some processes are generally more favorable than others, but in many cases a bioceramic material that undergoes fixation within the body via one advantageous interaction may be associated with other disadvantages.
Bioinert bioceramics include single crystal and polycrystalline alumina and zirconia, and are characterized as such because the body encapsulates the ceramics with fibrous tissue as a natural mechanism in recognition of the inert ceramic as a foreign object, and tissue growth associated with this reaction is used to mechanically fix the ceramic article in the body. In dense alumina and zirconia, the tissue grows into surface irregularities. In porous polycrystalline alumina, zirconia, etc., tissue grows into the pores.
Resorbable bioceramics include tricalcium phosphate, calcium sulfate, and calcium phosphate salt based bioceramics. They are used to replace damaged tissue and to eventually be resorbed such that host tissue surrounding an implant made of the resorbable ceramic eventually replaces the implant.
Bioactive bioceramics include hydroxyapatite bioceramics, glass, and glass-ceramics. A "bioactive" material is one that elicits a specific biological response at its surface which results in the formation of a bond with tissue. Thus, bioactive materials undergo chemical reactions in the body, but only at their surfaces. These chemical reactions lead to chemical and biological bonding to tissue at the interface between tissue and a bioactive implant, rather than mere ingrowth of tissue into pores of the implant which provide mechanical fixation. A characteristic of bioactive ceramic articles is the formation of a hydroxycarbonate apatite (HCA) layer on the surface of the article. The degree of bioactivity is measured in terms of the rate of formation of HCA, bonding, strength, and thickness of the bonding layer as well as cellular activity.
Although many ceramic compositions have been tested as implants to repair various parts of the body, few have achieved human clinical application. Problems associated with ceramic implants typically involve the lack of a stable interface with connective tissue, or a lack of matching of the mechanical behavior of the implant with the tissue to be replaced, or both (L. L. Hench, "Bioceramics: from Concept to Clinic", J. Am. Ceram. Soc., 74, 1487-1510 (1991)). In the case of bioinert bioceramic materials, only a mechanical interlock is obtained, and if the mechanical fixation between the surrounding tissue and implant is not strong enough, then loosening of the bioceramic can occur causing necrosis of the surrounding tissue along with total implant failure. For example, when alumina or zirconia implants are implanted with a tight mechanical fit within the body and movement does not occur at the interface with tissue, they are clinically successful. However, if movement occurs, the fibrous capsule surrounding the implant can grow to become several hundred microns thick and the implant can loosen, leading to clinical failure.
Problems long associated with resorbable bioceramics are the maintenance of strength, stability of the interface, and matching of the resorption rate to the regeneration rate of the host tissue. Furthermore, the constituents of resorbable biomaterials must be metabolically acceptable since large quantities of material must be digested by cells. This imposes a severe limitation on these compositions.
The success of bioceramic implants depends upon properties of strength, fatigue resistance, fracture toughness, and the like. These properties are reported to be a function of grain size and purity, but strength typically decreases as grain size increases. High temperature sintering of β-tricalcium phosphate results typically in micron scale grains (Akao, et al., "Dense Polycrystalline β-tricalcium Phosphate for Prosthetic Applications", J. Mat. Sci., 17, 343-346 (1982)). It has been reported that an increase in the average grain size of polycrystalline α-Al2O3 to greater than 7 microns can decrease mechanical properties by about 20% (Hench J. Am. Ceram. Soc., referenced above). Additionally, as strength is increased, porosity typically decreases according to prior art liquid phase and solid state sintering techniques (Hench, et al., Ed., Introduction to Bioceramics, Chapter 1, pages 17-20 (1993)).
One problem associated with hard tissue prosthesis, for example, artificial bones or bone portions, is "stress shielding". This phenomenon results when a prosthesis of relatively high Young's modulus, such as alumina, is used as an implant against bone. The higher modulus of elasticity of the implant results in its carrying nearly all the load. This prevents the bone from being loaded, a requirement for bone to remain healthy and strong. That is, stress shielding weakens bone in the region where a load applied to the bone is lowest or in compression. Bone that is unloaded or loaded in compression undergoes a biological change that leads to bone resorption. The elastic modulus of cortical bone ranges between 7 and 25 GPa, which is 10 to 50 times lower than that of alumina. The modulus of cancellous bone is significantly lower than that of cortical bone. The modulus of elasticity of a variety of materials used for load bearing implants is compared with the modulus values of cortical bone and cancerous bone in Hench, et al., Ed. Introduction to Bioceramics, referenced above.
Hydroxyapatite, Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2, is an attractive and widely utilized bioceramic material for orthopedic and dental implants because it closely resembles native tooth and bone crystal structure. Though hydroxyapatite is the most common bioceramic, applications for its use have been limited by its processability and architectural design conceptualization. Conventional processing lacks compositional purity and homogeneity. Because hydroxyapatite is difficult to sinter, dense hydroxyapatite structures for dental implants and low wear orthopedic applications typically have been obtained by high-temperature and/or high-pressure sintering with glassy sintering aids which frequently induce decomposition to undesirable phases with poor mechanical stability and poor chemical resistance to physiological conditions. Thus, conventionally-formed hydroxyapatite necessitates expensive processing and compromises structural integrity due to the presence of secondary phases. Existing methods require high forming and machining costs to obtain products with complex shapes. Furthermore, typical conventional hydroxyapatite decomposes above 1250° C. This results in a material with poor mechanical stability and poor chemical resistance.
Jarcho, et al., in "Hydroxyapatite Synthesis and Characterization in Dense Polycrystalline Form", J. Mater. Sci., 11, 2027-2035 (1976)), describe a process for forming dense polycrystalline hydroxyapatite that is "substantially stronger than other hydroxyapatite materials", and that elicits "an excellent biological response when implanted in bone" (p. 2027). A precipitation method was used and material of average grain size of from about 150-700 nm recovered. However, Jarcho, et al. report low volume fraction of pores, and report considerable grain growth during sintering even at firing temperatures of 1000° C. Jarcho, et al. achieved 99% density in some cases, but using a technique that can be impractical for forming desired shapes. M. Akao, et al., in "Mechanical Properties of Sintered Hydroxyapatite for Prosthetic Applications", J. Mater. Sci., 16, 809-812 (1981), report the compressive flexural torsional and dynamic torsional strengths of polycrystalline hydroxyapatite sintered at 1300° C. for three hours and, compare the mechanical properties of the product with those of cortical bone, dentine, and enamel. The compressive strength of the sintered hydroxy apatite was approximately 3-6 times as strong as that of cortical bone.
There is much room for improvement in the use of hydroxyapatite as implants. As reported by Hench et al., "Bioceramics: from concept to clinic", American Ceramic Society Bulletin 72, 4, 93-98 (1993), "Because (hydroxyapatite) implants have low reliability under tensile load, such calcium phosphate bioceramics can only be used as powders, or as small, unloaded implants such as in the middle ear, dental implants with reinforcing metal posts, coatings on metal implants, low-loaded porous implants where bone growth acts as a reinforcing phase, and as the bioactive phase in a composite." (p. 97). Hench, J. Am. Ceram Soc. (1991; referenced above) reports that hydroxyapatite has been used as a coating on porous metal surfaces for fixation of orthopedic prostheses, in particular, that hydroxyapatite powder in the pores of porous, coated-metal implants would significantly affect the rate and vitality of bone ingrowth into the pores. It is reported that many investigators have explored this technique, with plasma spray coating of implants generally being preferred. Hench reports, however, that long term animal studies and clinical trials of load-bearing dental and orthopedic prostheses suggest that the hydroxyapatite coatings may degrade or come off (p. 1504). Thus, the creation of new forms of hydroxyapatite having improved mechanical properties would have significant use, but the results of prior art attempts have been disappointing.
Recently, attention has been focused on nanocrystalline or nanocomposite materials for mechanical, optical and catalytic applications. By designing materials from the cluster level, crystallite building blocks of less than 10 nm are possible, through which unique size-dependent properties such as quantum confinement effect and superparamagnetism can be obtained. Various nanocrystalline ceramics for structural applications have been especially rigorously investigated in the 1990's. R. Siegel discusses nanophase metals and ceramics in "Recent Progress in Nanophase Materials", in Processing and Properties of Nanocrystalline Materials, C. Suryanarayana, et al., Ed., The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (1996), noting that while many methods exist for the synthesis of nanostructured materials, including chemical or physical vapor deposition, gas condensation, chemical precipitation, aerosol reactions, and biological templating, synthesis and processing methods for creating tailored nanostructures are sorely needed, especially techniques that allow careful control of surface and interface chemistry and that can lead to adherent surface coatings or well-consolidated bulk materials. It is noted that in the case of normally soft metals, decreasing grain sizes of the metal below a critical length scale (less than about 50 nm) for the sources of dislocations in the metal increases the metal's strength. It is noted that clusters of metals, intermetallic compounds, and ceramics have been consolidated to form ultrafine-grained polycrystals that have mechanical properties remarkably different and improved relative to their conventional coarse-grained counterpart. Nanophase copper and palladium, assembled from clusters with diameters in the range of 5-7 nm, are noted for having hardness and yield strength values up to 500% greater than in conventionally-produced metal. It is also noted that ceramics and conventionally brittle intermetallics can be rendered ductile by being synthesized from clusters with sizes below about 15 nm, the ductility resulting from the increased ease with which the ultrafine grains can slide by one another in "grain-boundary sliding." However, synthesis of nanocrystalline or nanocomposite materials is difficult. Significant effort has been put into such synthesis and it is likely that in many or most attempts particle sizes on the nanometer scale are not recovered due to agglomeration. A delicate balance of synthetic parameters typically must be elucidated in connection with a particular set of materials.
In an article entitled, "New Nanocomposite Structural Ceramics", by Niihara, et al., the synthesis and characterization of micro- and nanocomposite structural ceramics is reported. A variety of ceramics including Al2O3/SiC, Al2O3/Si3N4, and the like were investigated. Nanocomposites including intra- and intergranular nanocomposites and nano/nanocomposites demonstrated improvement of mechanical properties and/or machinability and superplasticity.
While hydroxyapatite is used widely, and a hydroxyapatite formulation having mechanical and morphological properties advantageous for prostheses would be very useful, attempts to date have failed to produce reliable structural hydroxyapatite implants. Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide relatively simple techniques for synthesizing nanocrystalline apatite materials having structural and morphological properties useful for structural implants. In particular, it is an object to provide synthesis techniques that produce densified, nanocrystalline material under mild conditions including relatively low sintering temperature, reducing or eliminating decomposition and minimizing cost. It is another object to obtain apatite materials having enhanced mechanical and chemical resistance by maintaining an ultrafine microstructure in sintering through suppression of grain growth.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Nanocrystalline apatites and composites, prostheses incorporating them, and method for their production

Abstract: Hydroxyapatite material is investigated in particular detail. Compositions of the invention can be used as prosthetic implants and coatings for prosthetic implants.


A baseball bat having a fiber reinforced outer layer which is formed by a resin injection technique employing a continuous reinforcing fiber and a molding material which cures to provide a crosslinked polyaminoamide resin, a crosslinked epoxy-modified polyaminoamide resin or a crosslinked polyesteramide resin and method for manufacturing such baseball bat.

This invention relates to a bat used in baseball, and more particularly it relates to a bat made of fiber reinforced resin and a method of producing such a bat.
There is already known a bat used in baseball including soft ball made of fiber reinforced resin. Such a bat is produced usually by placing cloth, roving or braid of continuous fibers impregnated with a thermosetting resin in a mold cavity in the form of bat, and then pressing and heating the resin to cure. There is also known a bat which is produced by injection molding of fiber reinforced thermoplastic resin as described in, for instance, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-open No. 54-134565 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 59-10228.
The conventional bat of fiber reinforced resin as above mentioned uses an epoxy resin or a polyester resin reinforced with continuous fibers, and such a resin provides a solid and light bat. However, the production needs complicated and laborious steps. For instance, it is complicated and laborious to prepare prepregs and laminate the prepregs to form a preformed material. The conventional molding of such a preformed material needs a molding cycle as long as about 20-40 minutes at temperatures of about 100.degree.-150.degree. C. Thus, the conventional method needs a large number of molds for mass production, and hence the resultant bats are costly.
The conventional bats have further defects that they are rather brittle on account of properties which the resin as above mentioned originally has, although they are hard, and in addition they are of rather small vibration damping rate and wear resistance. Moreover, molded materials as molded have many voids on the surface and in the inside to necessitates complicated after treatment. As the case may be, there is obtained a bat having a smaller strength than expected.
On the other hand, there is also known a hollow bat which is produced by injection molding of a thermoplastic resin reinforced with short fibers. However, such a bat is inferior in strength and rigidity to a bat of a thermosetting resin reinforced with continuous fibers. Thus, such a hollow bat needs a reinforced outer layer of a large thickness, or reinforcing ribs in the hollow. This reduces freedom of design remarkably and prevents the production of light bats. Further, the injection molding needs a high molding pressure, and hence needs molds which bear such a high molding pressure, so that the production cost is high.
It is an object of the invention to provide a baseball bat formed of fiber reinforced resin and having a high strength and rigidity.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a method of producing such a bat in a high productivity.


A method of mapping the location of at least one object in three dimensional space, relative to an initial point in three dimensional space by an EIR terminal which contains a microprocessor, memory, a scanning device, a motion sensing device, and a communication interface. The method includes scanning a signal of decodable indicia located at a pre-defined area of a physical object, locating the decodable indicia within this signal, decoding the decodable indicia into a decoded message. The decoded message is an identifier for said physical object, which is then displayed. After receiving an interface command, the EIR terminal is placed in mechanical contact with the pre-defined area of the physical object and a first spatial position is stored as a point of origin in the EIR terminal.

Radio-frequency identifier (RFID) methods are widely used in a number of applications, including smart cards, item tracking in manufacturing, inventory management in retail, etc. An RFID tag can be attached, e.g., to an inventory item. An EIR terminal can be configured to read the memory of an RFID tag attached to an inventory item.
EIR terminals with integrated RFID reading capabilities can read RFID tags from a range of distances and various terminal orientations with respect to an RFID tag being read. When an EIR terminal comprising an RFID reading device is configured to display a scan trace, it provides the EIR terminal's operator with a visual feedback with respect to the scanning progress. At any moment in time, the RF signal coverage emitted by an EIR terminal can be defined by a 3D shape. The form and size of the 3D shape defining the RF signal coverage depends, among other factors, on the orientation of the EIR terminal, the RFID transmit power level, and the number and configuration of the RF antennas employed by the EIR terminal. Hence, a target scan area by an EIR terminal can be visualized as a projection of the 3D RF signal coverage shape onto an arbitrarily chosen plane.
For a moving EIR terminal, a visual scan trace can be provided by different graphical representations such as a solid line, continuous line, or a dotted line, each line defined by a multitude of time varying points, each point being a projection of the 3D RF signal coverage shape onto the arbitrarily chosen plane at a given moment in time. The imaginary plane onto which the visual scan trace is projected can be chosen to intersect a physical structure containing a plurality of items to be inventoried, and thus the scan trace can be overlaid over an image of the physical structure.
RFID reading devices usually offer improved efficiency over bar code scanning devices for retail inventory, by being capable of reading multiple RFID tags that are within range of the RF signal transmitted by an RFID reading device. A downside to this multiple-read capability is lack of scanned items localization, due to insufficient correlation between where the RFID reader is located or oriented, and the RFID tags being read. Retail inventory management typically requires more than 90% of the RFID tags present in a department to be successfully acquired during the inventory process. When this high accuracy is not achieved, it is currently necessary to rescan the entire department, since the locations of any unread RFID tags are unknown.
A need exists for a method and system for inventory management that capitalizes on the advantages of RFID tags, while improving efficiency.

System and method for calibration and mapping of real-time location data


Systems and methods for injecting gas into a fluidized bed of particles are provided. The system can include a gas distribution system. The gas distribution system can include a header having a flow passage and a nozzle body coupled to the header. The nozzle body can have an inlet end in fluid communication with the flow passage and an outlet end positioned outside of the header. The nozzle body can have a longitudinal axis that is substantially perpendicular to a direction of flow through the flow passage. The nozzle body can have an orifice positioned between the inlet end and the outlet end.

Field
Embodiments described generally relate to systems and methods for injecting a fluid into a fluidized bed of solid particles. More particularly, such embodiments relate to nozzles used to inject a fluid into a fluidized bed of solid particles.
Description of the Related Art
Fluidized beds of solid particles are used in many refining and chemical processes to uniformly mix a gas with the solid particles to support a chemical reaction or other process. A variety of gas distribution systems, including, but not limited to, plate grids, pipe grids, and pipe rings, can be used to inject gases into a vessel containing solid particles to "fluidize" the bed.
In many gas distribution systems, a plate and/or pipe is used as a header to distribute pressurized gas among an arrangement of outlets. The outlets can be fitted with nozzles selected to provide a pressure drop as the gas is injected into the bed. The pressure drop across the nozzles allows gas within the header to be evenly distributed among all of the nozzles.
One type of nozzle that can be used in a gas distribution system is a "Borda" Tube nozzle. A simple Borda Tube nozzle includes a straight tube with a concentric outlet positioned proximate to an outer surface of the header. The opposite end of the straight tube, which is positioned within the header, has a concentric inlet that draws gas from the header. The inlet can be fitted with an orifice sized so as to generate the desired pressure drop across the nozzle.
One problem with conventional Borda Tube nozzles is erosion of the nozzle outlet by the solid particles in the fluidized bed. As gas is injected into a fluidized bed, fluid pressure within the bed fluctuates due to the turbulent nature of the bed and the movement of gas through the bed. This fluctuation of fluid pressure can force solids to migrate into the nozzle outlets, which can cause erosion of the nozzle. Erosion of the nozzles can affect the performance of the gas distribution system, eventually necessitating repair or replacement of the system.
This erosion can be especially problematic where the nozzle is oriented substantially perpendicular to flow through the header. As gas in the header flows across the nozzle inlet it has to change direction to move through the nozzle. This "crossflow" of gas relative to the nozzle can create an uneven velocity profile at the nozzle outlet that can allow solid particles to migrate into the nozzle outlet causing erosion.
There is a need, therefore, for improved systems and methods for injecting gas into fluidized beds of particles.


An object of the present invention is to provide a piston ring for an internal combustion engine capable of preventing aluminum cohesion for a long time under high temperature and high load conditions. Specifically, a piston ring 1 for the internal combustion engine including a piston ring base material 11 coated with an aluminum cohesion resistant film 12, wherein the aluminum cohesion resistant film 12 is made of ceramics coated on at least one of an upper side face 11a and a lower side face 11b of the piston ring base material 11.

Three piston rings: a top ring, a second ring, and an oil ring those used in an internal combustion engine are disposed in such a manner that each of them engages with a piston ring groove provided on a surface of a piston and serve a gas sealing function of preventing combustion gas from leaking out from a combustion chamber, a heat conduction function of transmitting heat of the piston to a cylinder wall which is cooled down and thereby cooling the piston down, and a function of scooping out excess oil by applying an appropriate amount of engine oil serving as lubrication oil to the cylinder wall, respectively.
Those three piston rings, during operation of the internal combustion engine when the piston is reciprocated by explosion of fuel in the combustion chamber, repeat collision against an inner wall surface of the piston ring groove of the piston ring. Also, the piston rings are slidable inside the piston ring groove in a circumferential direction thereof and slide inside the piston ring. However, the piston ring groove has projections having a height of approximately 1 μm on a surface thereof generated by machine turning in forming the groove. Therefore, the projections wear due to the sliding collision of the piston ring, causing exposure of an aluminum surface on the surface of the piston ring groove.
When the exposed aluminum surface comes into contact with a piston ring side face by the collision and the piston ring further repeats the sliding, aluminum cohesion, a phenomenon that aluminum alloy is adhered to the piston ring side face, occurs. This phenomenon is especially noticeable at the top ring located proximate to the combustion chamber and exposed to high temperature.
When the aluminum cohesion further progresses, wear of the piston groove rapidly progresses and the piston ring becomes fixed to the ring groove. As a result, the gas sealing function of the piston ring is degraded and causes a phenomenon what is called blow-by that high pressure combustion gas flows out to a crank chamber from the combustion chamber, leading a reduction in engine power.
As such, there have been suggested a variety of techniques for preventing the aluminum cohesion of the piston ring. PTL 1, for example, describes a technique for preventing the aluminum cohesion by providing a resin-based film containing carbon black particles on the side face of the piston ring that slides and collides against the piston ring groove, thereby improving conformability.
Also, PTL 2 describes a technique for effectively preventing the piston ring from the aluminum cohesion by providing a heat-resistant resin containing, relative to an entire surface film, 10 to 80 mass % of one or more powder selected from a group including nickel-based powder, lead-based powder, zinc-based powder, tin-based powder, and silicon-based powder to at least one of an upper side face and a lower side face of the piston ring.
However, the films described in PTLs 1 and 2 have a problem that, when temperature inside an engine rises, aluminum cohesion resistance is degraded. As such, PTL 3 describes a technique that provides a polyimide film containing hard particles and having a solid lubricant function to at least one of the upper side face and the lower side face of the piston ring, thereby maintaining high aluminum cohesion resistance for a long time under high temperature conditions over 230° C.
Further, PTL 4 describes a technique that provides, instead of the resin-based film, a first diamond like carbon (DLC) film containing at least silicon and a second DLC film formed under the first DLC film and containing at least W, or W and Ni, to the upper side face and the lower side face of the piston ring, thereby providing a piston ring having excellent aluminum cohesion resistance, scuff resistance and abrasion resistance.

Piston ring for internal combustion engine


A method for making multilayer thin films is disclosed. The method of comprises orienting a thick multilayer film in the machine direction at a drawdown ratio effective to produce a multilayer thin film. The thick multilayer film has a thickness within the range of 1 mil to 5 mils and comprises at least one layer of a linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE) and at least one layer of a high density polyethylene (HDPE) or a medium density polyethylene (MDPE).

Polyethylene is divided into high-density (HDPE, density 0.941 g/cm3 or greater), medium-density (MDPE, density from 0.926 to 0.940 g/cm3), low-density (LDPE, density from 0.910 to 0.925 g/cm3), and linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE, density from 0.910 to 0.925 g/cm3). See ASTM D4976-98: Standard Specification for Polyethylene Plastic Molding and Extrusion Materials. Polyethylene can also be divided by molecular weight. For instance, ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene denotes those which have a weight average molecular weight (Mw) greater than 3,000,000. See U.S. Pat. No. 6,265,504. High molecular weight polyethylene usually denotes those which have an Mw from 130,000 to 1,000,000.
One of the main uses of polyethylene (HDPE, MDPE, LLDPE, and LDPE) is in film applications, such as grocery sacks, institutional and consumer can liners, merchandise bags, shipping sacks, food packaging films, multi-wall bag liners, produce bags, deli wraps, stretch wraps, and shrink wraps. The key physical properties of polyethylene film include tear strength, impact strength, tensile strength, stiffness and transparency. Film stiffness can be measured by modulus. Modulus is the resistance of the film to deformation under stress.
Machine direction orientation (MDO) is known to the polyolefin industry. When a polymer is strained under uniaxial stress, the orientation becomes aligned in the direction of pull. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 6,391,411 teaches the MDO of high molecular weight (both Mn and Mw greater than 1,000,000) HDPE films. However, MDO of such high molecular weight HDPE films are limited because these films are difficult to stretch to a high drawdown ratio.
The current polyethylene films typically compromise several properties, such as modulus, yield strength, and break strength, to meet the package requirements for dart drop impact strength. Polymer films that do not compromise such properties are desirable for improving the performance of the bags, as well as the economics associated with producing and filling the bags. For example, by increasing the modulus and the yield strength of the film, larger bags can be produced, which would allow packaging larger quantities of goods while retaining their shape after being handled by the consumer. Bags with higher modulus would also allow the filling lines to run faster, improving the overall economics of the filling process.
By increasing the yield strength of the film, the bags would be less likely to elongate under stress and therefore they retain the original shape and dimensions. This would reduce the amount of breaks which are resulted from the film yielding and thinning under load. Also, the printed surface of the bag would not be distorted, maintaining the aesthetic quality of the package and enhancing brand recognition by the consumer.
In addition, the films that do not compromise the aforementioned properties could allow the reduction in the film thickness, further improving the economics associated with the products. Such innovations are desirable to all in the can liner and retailer bag industry for creating new products that provide both performance and economic benefit.

Preparation of multilayer polyethylene thin films


In a multilayer ceramic substrate having a cavity, base-material layers are arranged on a base side with respect to an interface between the base and a wall defining a cavity, and a constraining interlayer is arranged on the wall side. A conductive film is arranged between the base-material layers and the constraining interlayer, the base-material layers and the constraining interlayer sandwiching the interface. The effect of the first conductive film results in an increase in the adhesion of the constraining interlayer to the substrate layers, thus enhancing a shrinkage-inhibiting effect of the constraining interlayer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multilayer ceramic substrate and a method for producing the multilayer ceramic substrate. In particular, the present invention relates to a multilayer ceramic substrate produced by a non-shrinkage process, the multilayer ceramic substrate having a cavity.
2. Description of the Related Art
When a multilayer ceramic substrate is produced, a green laminate to be formed into a multilayer ceramic substrate is fired. When such a firing step is performed, the laminate inevitably shrinks. In particular, the occurrence of uneven shrinkage prevents a higher density of wiring in a multilayer ceramic substrate. Thus, it is important that the laminate does not shrink unevenly in the firing step.
To prevent the occurrence of such uneven shrinkage, a method for producing a multilayer ceramic substrate called a non-shrinkage process has been used. When a multilayer ceramic substrate is produced by the non-shrinkage process, constraining layers are arranged so as to sandwich a green laminate to be formed into a multilayer ceramic substrate. The constraining layers include an inorganic material powder that is not sintered at a firing temperature. Thus, the constraining layers prevent the shrinkage of the laminate in the firing step, and thus, prevent the occurrence of uneven shrinkage. The constraining layers are removed after the firing step.
However, when a multilayer ceramic substrate having a cavity is produced, even when the non-shrinkage process described above is used, the cavity, in particular, the periphery of the bottom of the cavity may be undesirably deformed so as to cause cracks and breaks in conductive lines in the multilayer ceramic substrate. The reason for this is as follows. Since the constraining layers are arranged on surfaces of a green laminate, the shrinkage-inhibiting function of the constraining layers is reduced as the distance from the opening of the cavity increases. Thus, the shrinkage rate is maximized at the farthest location from the opening, i.e., at the bottom of the cavity, which causes stress concentration. With respect to the depth of the cavity, the shrinkage rate at the bottom of the cavity is increased as the depth of the cavity increases.
To solve this problem, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-273513 discloses that a constraining layer, i.e., a constraining interlayer, is arranged at an interface between green base-material layers defining a wall of a cavity of a green laminate. The constraining interlayer is not removed after the completion of a firing step. However, the constraining interlayer is solidified by the penetration of a portion of materials included in the base-material layers and remains in the completed multilayer ceramic substrate. The arrangement of the constraining interlayer in the wall of the cavity suppresses deformation, the formation of cracks, and breaks in conductive lines at the bottom of the cavity at which the shrinkage-inhibiting effect is reduced.
For example, when a multilayer ceramic substrate having a deep cavity is produced, even when the method described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-273513 is used, the shrinkage-inhibiting effect is insufficient at the bottom of the cavity. This may disadvantageously cause deformation, the formation of cracks, and breaks in the conductive lines at the periphery of the bottom of the cavity on which a shrinkage stress concentrates. To solve the foregoing problems, the shrinkage-inhibiting effect should be increased.
To increase the shrinkage-inhibiting effect of the constraining interlayer, an increase in the thickness of the constraining interlayer or an increase in the number of the constraining interlayers would appear to be effective. However, in the former, an inorganic material powder included in the constraining interlayer is densified and solidified by the penetration of glass and other materials contained in the base-material layers. Thus, the constraining interlayer should have a thickness to the extent that the inorganic material powder included in the constraining interlayer is solidified by the penetration of glass and other materials included in the base-material layers. This limits the amount that the thickness of the constraining interlayer can be increased. In fact, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-273513 discloses a thickness of about 1 μm to about 2 μm. In the latter, also as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-273513, when the constraining interlayers are arranged at all interfaces between the base-material layers, a reduction in the sinterability of the base-material layers is significant.

Multilayer ceramic substrate and method for producing same


A processing vessel suitable for use with a washing system intended to wash a plurality of wafers. The processing vessel includes a washing solution supply source, a circulation pump, a filter, a main vessel portion provided with inlets in the bottom thereof, a boat for holding the plurality of wafers in the center area of the main vessel portion and a flow control assembly arranged between the inlets and the wafers. The flow control assembly includes a scattering plate for scattering washing solution, which is introduced into the main vessel portion through the inlets, in the horizontal direction, and guiding passages through which the washing solution introduced through the inlets is made to have a substantially laminar flow and is guided into the center area of the main vessel portion. The guiding passages are formed by intervals between side plates and the scattering plate and by a plurality of apertures in the scattering plate. These guiding passages enable most of the washing solution to positively flow through spaces between the adjacent wafers. The flow control assembly also include a flow rate reducing section for reducing the amount of the washing solution which flows along the peripheral area of the wafers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a processing vessel suitable for use with the washing system intended for washing semiconductor wafers with chemical solutions and water and drying them by heat.
2. Description of the Related Art
Semiconductor devices such as super LSIs have been more and more highly integrated and their circuit patterns have been micro-structured to the order of sub-microns. In addition, the diameters of semiconductor wafers have been made larger than 8 inches and up to 12 inches. When a quite small amount of particles which could be conventionally neglected adheres to the semiconductor wafers, therefore, the productivity of wafers is lowered to a great extent. In order to overcome this, the semiconductor wafers are immersed in acid and alkali solutions in the processing vessels to clean their surfaces.
The automatic washing system can be cited as this type of system for washing and cleaning the surface of each wafer. It includes a plurality of processing vessels in which the semiconductor wafers are washed by chemical solutions and by water and dried by heat. In short, it includes an ammonia processing vessel, a water-washing vessel, a rinsing vessel, a hydrofluoric acid processing vessel and a drying chamber to sequentially apply a series of processes to the semiconductor wafers.
According to a processing vessel disclosed in Japanese Patent Disclosure Sho 61-59838, a straightening plate 200 is arranged adjacent to the bottom of the processing vessel 7 and a washing solution is supplied into the process vessel 7 through supply holes (not shown) and then into intervals between the adjacent wafers, which are held above the plate 200, through a plurality of apertures 201 in the plate 200, as shown in FIG. 1. According to this processing vessel 7, the washing solution which is passed through the apertures 201 in the perforated plate 200 can be straightened so as to have a laminar flow. Even when the dimensions, position and number of apertures 201 are accurately set in this perforated plate 200, however, it is difficult to uniformly straighten (laminar flow) the washing solution flow in the whole area of the processing vessel 7. In addition, air bubbles which have passed through the apertures 201 in the perforated plate 200 adhere to the wafers to degrade the quality of these wafers. Further, the perforated plate 200 is made of quartz, which makes it difficult to accurately make apertures 201. This difficult working which must be done on the quartz makes the cost high.
In order to enhance the throughput, therefore, it is required that neither particles nor oil adhere to the wafers. However, it is extremely difficult to make the quartz-processing accuracy high. When quartz is to be processed, a quartz plate is cut off, washed by hydrofluoric acid solution and then annealed by heat. The shape of the quartz plate, however, is little changed by the heat-annealing process. This makes it difficult to make the perforated plate 200 and, therefore, the vessel 7 with high accuracy.
It is required needed, therefore, that dimensional errors (or working tolerances) caused at the time of processing are taken into consideration. Even if they are taken into consideration, however, a slight clearance S is unavoidably caused between the inner wall of the vessel 7 and an end face 202 of the straightening plate 200. The clearance S has a width of about 1 mm along the inner wall of the vessel 7. The sectional area of this clearance S is so large as not to be neglected when compared with the total of sectional areas of apertures 201 in the plate 200. A large amount of washing solution is thus allowed to flow through the clearance S. As the result, most of the washing solution flows not into spaces between the adjacent wafers but along the peripheral portion of the wafers. The amount of the washing solution which flows through spaces between the adjacent wafers is thus made quite small. This causes vortexes and the washing solution remains in the processing vessel 7 so as to thereby lower the wafer-washing efficiency of the wafers and "the resistivity-restoring characteristic" of the washing solution. A long period of time is thus needed to wash the wafers.
"The phrase resistivity-restoring characteristic" used here is represented by a time period needed to increase (or decrease) the purity (degree of contamination) of the washing solution higher (or lower) than a certain level while removing impurities from the washing solution. In a case where the washing solution is water, for example, an index (or resistivity value) which represents the rate of an electric resistance value obtained when current is applied to pure water (or theoretically pure water) relative to that obtained when current is applied to the washing solution is detected and the time period needed to purify the washing solution until the index thus detected becomes near or equal to the value of 1. The "resistivity-restoring characteristic" is denoted by this time period.
Most of the washing solution is caused to flow along the peripheral area of the processing vessel to thereby allow only quite a small amount of it to flow through the center area thereof. This is because a plurality of wafers are positioned in the center area of the vessel and because fluid resistance becomes larger in the center area of the processing vessel than in the peripheral area thereof. The amount of the washing solution which passes between the wafers is made insufficient or not uniform so as to thereby make it impossible to sufficiently and uniformly remove dust and particles from the wafers. This washing process being made insufficient or not uniform can be seen all over the surface of a wafer and also when the surface of one wafer is compared with that of the other one.

Processing vessel for a wafer washing system


An electrically conductive paste providing low alpha particle emission is provided. A resin and conductive particles are mixed, and a curing agent is added. A solvent is subsequently added. The electrically conductive paste including a resin compound is formed by mixing the mixture in a high shear mixer. The electrically conductive paste can be applied to a surface of an article to form a coating, or can be molded into an article. The solvent is evaporated, and the electrically conductive paste is cured to provide a graphite-containing resin compound. The graphite-containing resin compound is electrically conductive, and provides low alpha particle emission at a level suitable for a low alpha particle emissivity coating.

The present disclosure relates to a conductive coating material, and particularly to a graphite-containing conductive coating material and a method of forming the same.
Low alpha particle emission materials are employed in packaging materials. Alpha-particle emission from packaging materials, near the active layers of the chip, is now measured in single-digits of alpha particles/khr-cm2. Few materials provide alpha particle emission as low as, or even lower than, 2 α/khr-cm2.
Measuring the alpha particle activity at this low level is challenging with the present-day proportional detectors. Recently developed ionization detectors employ active signal rejection based on pulse-shape analysis and therefore have ultra-low background detection levels. One problem with such detectors is that, for samples that are smaller in dimension than the dimension of the anode, the detectors cannot distinguish alpha particles from the sample tray from the alpha particles emitted from the sample itself. Thus, a low alpha particle emission electrically-conductive material is desired to coat the sample tray.

Low alpha particle emission electrically-conductive coating


A multi-layered film includes: a plate-like flexible base member; first inorganic members that are each plate-like and arranged on the base member in separation from each other in a direction parallel to a main surface of the base member; a first organic member provided on the base member so as to be positioned between each adjacent two first inorganic members and surround each first inorganic member; a second inorganic member that covers an upper surface and lateral surfaces of the first organic member; and a second organic member that is provided on or above the first inorganic members, and is surrounded by the second inorganic member. Each lateral surface portion of the second inorganic member covering a corresponding lateral surface of the first organic member is thinner than each first inorganic member and each upper surface portion of the second inorganic member covering a corresponding portion of the upper surface.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multi-layered film, an electronic device, and manufacturing methods thereof.
(2) Description of Related Art
Electronic devices having features of being light, thin, less subject to splitting, bendable, and so on are realized by being formed on a plastic film. Such electronic devices are collectively called flexible electronics devices, and development of the flexible electronics devices has been actively promoted in recent years. Examples of such electronic devices include displays, photoelectric conversion elements, and RF tags. An outline of flexible displays is for example found in Flexible Flat Panel Displays, Gregory P. Crawford, 2005, Wiley.
A plastic film is more gas-permeable than a conventional glass substrate. This might cause deterioration of an electronic device due to gas permeation. In particular, moisture vapor is generally known for promoting temporal deterioration of a metal wiring, a semiconductor layer, and so on. In order to prevent this, a method of forming a gas barrier layer on a film has been adopted. For example, Specification of U.S. Pat. No. 6,866,901 discloses a configuration of alternately laminating inorganic films and organic films.
A moisture vapor transmission rate is evaluated by mass of water that transmits per unit area per day. Generally, an inorganic thin film has higher gas barrier properties than an organic thin film.
The inorganic film has a lower moisture vapor transmissivity than the organic film. This is because the inorganic film is denser than the organic film, and accordingly is less subject to permeation of gas molecule (water molecule in the case of moisture vapor) than the organic film.
In contrast, the inorganic film is generally easier to break than the organic film when bent or stressed. In the case where the organic film is split, gas barrier properties are lost. Furthermore, an electronic device formed on the film is destroyed, and as a result suffers from a fatal defect. It is generally known that the higher a density of a film is, the higher an elastic modulus of the film is, and the higher an elastic modulus of a film is, the more subject to splitting the film is.
In order to fully utilize the bendability which is an advantage of a flexible electronic device for industrial application, it is necessary to exhibit both gas barrier properties and bending tolerance of a gas barrier layer.
According to the configuration which is disclosed in Specification of U.S. Pat. No. 6,866,901, when an inorganic film is bent or stressed, a stress is spread inside the inorganic film. This configuration results in that the inorganic film is subject to splitting at a part thereof where a stress concentrates compared with a case where an organic film is used.

Multi-layered film, electronic device, and manufacturing methods thereof


An autozeroing floating-gate amplifier (AFGA) is an integrated continuous-time filter that is intrinsically autozeroing. It can achieve a highpass characteristic at frequencies well below 1 Hz. In contrast with conventional autozeroing amplifiers that eliminate their input offset, the AFGA nulls its output offset. The AFGA is a continuous-time filter; it does not require any clocking. The AFGA includes at least one floating-gate MOS transistor that is capable of hot-electron injection of electrons onto the floating gate of the MOS transistor. Electrons are continuously removed from the floating gate(s), for example, via Fowler-Nordheim tunneling. The AFGA has a stable equilibrium for which this tunneling current is balanced by an injection current of equal magnitude. When the circuit is driven away from its equilibrium by an input or something else, an imbalance between the tunneling and injection current charges (if the tunneling current exceeds the injection current) or discharges (if the injection current exceeds the tunneling current) the floating gate(s) until the equilibrium is re-established. The equilibrium is chosen to achieve a desired baseline of operation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a bandpass floating-gate amplifier that uses tunneling and pFET hot-electron injection so that the amplifier returns to its sensitive region despite large changes in the DC input voltage.
2. The Prior Art
Offsets often present a difficult problem for designers of MOS analog circuits. A time-honored tradition for addressing this problem is to use a blocking capacitor to eliminate the input DC component; however, for integrated filters, this approach requires enormous input capacitors and resistors to get time-constants of less than 1 Hz. Existing on-chip autozeroing techniques rely on clocking schemes that compute the input offset periodically and then subtract the correction from the input. See, e.g., E. A. Vittoz, "Dynamic analog techniques", in Y. Tsividis and P. Antognetti, Design of MOS VLSI Circuits for Telecommunications, Prentice Hall, 1985. These autozeroing techniques add significant complexity to the circuit, as well as clock noise, aliasing, and other problems. Accordingly, there is a need for improved autozeroing techniques and apparatus.
Prior floating-gate transistor devices, which utilize electrical charge stored in a floating polysilicon gate imbedded in an insulator such as silicon dioxide, provide a method of storing analog values as a quantity of electrical charge on an integrated circuit chip. The charge on such a floating gate is known to remain fixed for periods of up to many years. Although the advantages of using floating gate transistors as memory elements are well known, J. Lazzaro, et al., "Systems Technologies for Silicon Auditory Models," IEEE Micro, Vol. 14, No. 3, 1994, pp. 7-15, T. Allen, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,166,562, entitled: "Writable Analog Reference Voltage Storage Device," they have not been used previously to construct bandpass amplifiers. The principal reason has been the lack of a suitable bi-directional mechanism for writing and erasing the offset. Since the gate of a floating gate transistor is completely embedded within an insulator, writing the memory involves moving charge carriers through this insulator. Two non-light-based mechanisms are known which will move electrons through an insulator. These are tunneling and hot-electron injection. The inherent difficulty in performing these operations has been a primary impediment to the implementation of floating gate transistors in such systems.
Transporting electrons across the barrier presented by the silicon/oxide interface requires that an electron possess more than about 3.1 eV of energy. At room temperature the probability that semiconductor electrons will possess this amount of energy is exceedingly small. Alternatively, an electron could tunnel through this barrier; however, at the voltages and oxide thicknesses used in conventional silicon MOS processing, the tunneling probability is also exceedingly small.
Fowler-Nordheim tunneling involves applying a voltage across the oxide which enhances the probability of an electron tunneling through it. Bi-directional oxide currents are required to achieve a balance of current into or out of a bandpass amplifier. Although the tunneling process has no preferred direction, bi-directional tuneling requires either dual polarity high voltages, or a single polarity high voltage and a means for pulling the floating gate to this voltage when adding electrons, and pulling it near ground when removing them. Both approaches are unattractive. The dual polarity solution requires a negative voltage much lower than the substrate potential; the single polarity solution does not support simultaneous "reading" and "writing".
Single polarity bi-directional tunneling is often used in writing digital EEPROMs. Since writing the memory involves pulling the floating gate either to the supply voltage or to ground, the EEPROM cell cannot be read during the write process. Excess charge is typically added to the floating gate to compensate for this lack of memory state feedback. Although excess charge is acceptable when writing a binary valued "digital" memory, where the exact quantity of charge is irrelevant once it exceeds the amount necessary to completely switch the device to one of its two binary states, uncertainty in the amount of charge applied to an analog device is unacceptable for bandpass amplifier applications.
Hot-electron injection is a process whereby electrons near the surface of a semiconductor acquire more than about 3.1 eV of energy, typically by acceleration in an electric field, and then surmount the silicon/silicon-dioxide barrier. Once in the silicon dioxide conduction band, an electric field applied across the oxide carries these electrons to the floating gate. There are a number of ways of accomplishing hot-electron injection.
One source for a high electric field is a depletion region. For instance, the collector-to-base depletion region of either a vertical or lateral BJT (bipolar junction transistor) can be used. An example of a lateral BJT used in a similar application is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,928 to Anderson, et al. Alternatively, the channel-to-drain depletion region of a high-threshold N-type MOSFET in a moderately doped substrate can be used. An example of such a device used in a similar application is shown in U.S. patent application, Ser. No. 08/399,966 filed on Mar. 7, 1995 by Diorio, et al. Finally, the drain-to-channel depletion region of a subthreshold P-type MOSFET can be used. Hot-electron injection in such devices is usually thought of as a source of oxide degradation in MOSFETs, Y. Leblebici and S. M. Kang, Hot Carrier Reliability of MOS VLSI Circuits, Kluwer Academic, 1993. Nonetheless, this process can be reliably and safely used as a mechanism to adapt the charge stored on a floating-gate MOSFET as shown herein.
Another source for a high electric field is the channel region of a split-gate N-type MOSFET. Split-gate injectors, as shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,622,656 to Kamiya, et al., contain two partially overlapping gate regions at very different voltages. The resulting surface potential drops abruptly at the interface between the two gates, creating a high electric field localized in this small region of the transistor channel.


A tube cleaning implement with elongate shaft supporting a brush in a median section and similar scrapers or wipers fitted to opposite ends of the shaft to provide for a scrape-brush-scrape cleaning action of tube interiors, and to provide a reversible implement having extended useful life.

This invention relates to tube cleaning and particularly to cleaning condenser tubes utilizing a fluid propelled cleaning implement for removing deposits and dirt from the interior surface of condenser tubes as well as other power plant equipment fitted with tubes.
In normal operation, hard deposits such as rust and scale containing calcium, and soft deposits including slime and loose dirt build up on the interior surface of heat exchanger tubes that diminishes thermal efficiency and restricts fluid flow through the tubes. To maintain thermal efficiency and design flow in operation of the heat exchanger, it is necessary to remove such deposits.
These deposits are removed mechanically using a projectile driven through the tube by pressurized media including air, water, steam, or other gas. The pressure media propels the projectile through a tube. The projectile is fitted with scrapers engaging the tube interior wall for removing deposits as the projectile transits the tube. Preferably, the projectile pushes removed deposits ahead through the tube so both projectile and deposits are ejected from the far end of the tube.
The chief objective of the present invention is to provide an improved reversible tube cleaning implement with multiple wipers to pre-clean and post-clean for median bristles in removing deposits from the interior surface of heat exchanger tubes.


A method is described that involves creating a private key and a public key cryptographic key pair, generating a unique and random identifier for a voter's vote and accepting an election vote from said voter. The vote and identifier are electronically signed with the private key to create a digital signature. The vote and identifier are provided in a human readable format to the voter.

Voting is one of the hallmarks of democracy, but counting votes or ballots is a perennial problem. Recent elections have been marred by controversies suggesting that ballots were improperly counted in various statewide and national races in the United States, and allegations of theft of elections occur regularly in other parts of the world. Election monitors are a regular feature in many parts of the world.
Historically, certain types of election systems have allowed for play within the system—the ability to change the outcome of a close election by committing election fraud in difficult to detect ways. Allegations of election fraud have played a part in many historical elections, not least of which was the close national race between Kennedy and Nixon in 1960. Moreover, machine politics has a long and colorful history in general, with suggestions that political machines could and did throw elections to favored candidates, whether honestly or dishonestly. It has also been suggested that some machines routinely throw elections where no risk exists, merely to keep the machine working effectively.
Problems with counting ballots corrode the system in a variety of ways. Voters can be discouraged from voting and thereby exercising rights due to a belief that a vote will not count. Election supervisors experience poor morale due to allegations of fraud or incompetence brought on by problems with voting—whether legitimate or not. Any discretion accorded to the person counting votes provides power, but also provides an opening for criticism about use of such discretion.
Thus, it may be useful to provide a voting system which eliminates most forms of discretion and judgment—that related to whether to count a ballot due to issues such as processing of a ballot or questions about voter intent. Technology potentially provides a solution to such problems. However, many technological solutions lack features desirable for a robust and complete voting system. Thus, it may be desirable to provide a system which allows for an auditable record of votes and public access to vote information.


A method of forming pierce and clinch nuts by rolling a section having the desired cross-section, punching equally spaced bores through the central pilot portion and then punching configured openings through the central pilot portion having convex arcuate surfaces and eliminating sharp corners. The strip of interconnected self-attaching fasteners may be installed directly from the strip in a panel, fed in bulk or separate fasteners interconnected by frangible connectors. The resultant self-attaching nut includes a central pilot portion having a bore through the top face, integral flange portions extending from opposed sides and the pilot portion includes convex arcuate faces reducing or eliminating stress cracking and propagation of stress cracks.

Self-piercing female fasteners or pierce nuts were invented and developed by the predecessor in interest of the assignee of this application over fifty years ago as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,707,322. A pierce nut is driven by a reciprocable plunger to pierce its own opening in a panel and the pierce nut is then permanently secured in the panel by a die member. The pierce nut disclosed in this patent has been commercially successful, particularly for mass production applications for attachment of one component to a second component by the automotive and appliance industries. In a typical application, the pierce nut is installed in a metal panel by an installation head commonly installed in the upper die shoe or die platen of a die press and the die member or die button is installed in the lower die shoe or die platen of the die press. The panel to which the pierce nut is installed may be simultaneously formed by the die press. Numerous improvements have been made to the pierce nut disclosed in the above-referenced patent, including improved retention by providing dovetail-shaped grooves on opposed sides of the pilot portion as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,648,747, also assigned to the predecessor in interest of the assignee of the present application. Finally, in many mass production applications, it is preferable to assemble the pierce nuts in a continuous frangible strip as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,845,860, which is also assigned to the predecessor in interest of the assignee of the present application.
The pierce nuts of the type disclosed in the above-referenced U.S. patents are formed by rolling the desired cross-sectional configuration of the pierce nuts, generally starting with a round wire, as known by those skilled in this art. The round wire is rolled, flattening opposed sides of the wire and the wire is then continuously rolled into the desired cross-sectional configuration of the pierce nut, generally starting with a round wire, as known by those skilled in this art. The round wire is rolled by flattening opposed sides of the wire and then rolled into the desired cross-section of the pierce nut, including a rectangular central projecting pilot portion and rectangular flange portions on opposed sides of the pilot portion as a result of the rolling process. In the Hi-Stress® pierce nut available from the assignee of this application, grooves are rolled into the top faces of the flange portions on opposed sides of the pilot portion, preferably having at least one inclined groove side wall, referred to as a "re-entrant" groove, which significantly improves the retention of the pierce nut on the panel following installation. The rectangular pilot portion of the nut strip or nut section is pierced or punched, forming a generally cylindrical bore and the pierce nut section is then cut to length between the bores and the bores may be tapped or internally threaded, if desired. Alternatively, the pierce nut bore may remain unthreaded for receipt of a thread forming or thread rolling male fastener.
As will be understood by those skilled in this art and shown in the above-referenced U.S. patents, the pierce nuts formed by the rolling process described are necessarily rectangular and include a rectangular pilot portion having relatively sharp corners which could create or propagate stress risers and cracks in the metal panel during and following installation. Cracking of the panel may reduce the integrity of the nut and panel joint and the joint may leak making the installation unsuitable for a sealed joint. There has therefore been a long felt need for a pierce nut of the type disclosed in the above-referenced U.S. patents which may be formed by a rolling process, but which eliminates the sharp corners of the pilot portion and thus eliminates or reduces the propagation of stress risers and stress cracking. Various attempts have been made by the Applicant and others to eliminate the sharp corners of the pilot portion as disclosed, for example, in co-pending application Ser. No. 10/691,677 filed Oct. 23, 2003, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

Self-attaching female fasteners, method of forming same and strip of interconnected fasteners


UV curing of adhesives with light beam shaping utilizes a spot curing process that focuses a limited amount of UV light onto a target area, such as glue dots. A focusing lens may be used to direct the UV light beam to the target area. The target areas have different geometrical shapes, and the UV light is advantageously concentrated in a more efficient manner. Beam-shaping optics or lenses are used to facilitate re-shaping and re-defining the UV-light beam. The UV beam may be defined and limited to a rectangular spot to improve the spot process quality and efficiency.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to curing adhesives and, in particular, to an improved system, method, and apparatus for ultraviolet curing of adhesives with light beam shaping.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the prior art, some manufacturing materials are applied as fluids and then cured (i.e., set or hardened) with light or heat treatment processes. For example, some liquid adhesives are cured with ultraviolet (UV) light. These classes of materials are widely utilized in various types of industries.
In the production of hard disk drives, one such application is the head stack assembly (HSA). HSA assembly utilizes a liquid or gel adhesive during the fabrication process to join some of the components. In one example, small dots of glue are used to attach the integrated lead suspension (ILS) to the actuator comb in order to improve the dynamics of the disk drive. The assembly process typically utilizes "oven flood UV curing" to set the liquid glue dots, which comprises indiscriminately flooding an entire array of the assemblies with UV light. Although this type of processing for UV-cured adhesives is workable, an improved solution that more selectively cures adhesives would be desirable.

System, method and apparatus for ultraviolet curing of adhesives with light beam shaping in disk drive manufacturing

Hitachi Global Technologies Netherlands, B.V.


A computer system includes a scoreboard mechanism that provides a locking scheme to preserve data dependencies. An index is used to unlock (i.e., invalidate) scoreboard entries when a terminating event associated with that entry's instruction has occurred. For a load instruction, the terminating event that triggers invalidation for a particular scoreboard entry is the return of the load data. An index is used to identify the scoreboard entry associated with the returning load instruction, since load instructions may return load data out of order.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to computing devices and, more particularly, to a computing device that provides index-based scoreboarding.
2. Description of the Related Art
In multiple-thread processing, an automated system for various processing applications may handle multiple events or processes concurrently. A single process is termed a thread of control, or "thread", and is the basic unit of operation of independent dynamic action within the system. A program has at least one thread. A system performing concurrent operations typically has many threads, some of which are transitory and others enduring. Systems that execute among multiple processors allow for true concurrent threads. Single-processor systems can only have illusory concurrent threads, typically attained by time-slicing of processor execution, shared among a plurality of threads.
Some programming languages are particularly designed to support multiple-threading. One such language is the Java™ programming language that is advantageously executed using an abstract computing machine, the Java Virtual Machine™. A Java Virtual Machine™ is capable of supporting multiple threads of execution at one time. The multiple threads independently execute Java code that operates on Java values and objects residing in a shared main memory. The multiple threads may be supported using multiple hardware processors, by time-slicing a single hardware processor, or by time-slicing many hardware processors. In 1990 programmers at Sun Microsystems developed a universal programming language, eventually known as "the Java™ programming language". Java™, Sun, Sun Microsystems and the Sun Logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All SPARC trademarks, including UltraSPARC I and UltraSPARC II, are used under license and are trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Index-based scoreboarding system and method


Control apparatuses (6, 10) include an ending process element that, when a locked state is established within a reference period after operation of a parking mechanism (5), performs a normal ending process that stops a vehicle drive source (1) and switches to an ignition off position, and when the locked state is not established within the reference period, performs an abnormal ending process that stops the vehicle drive source (1) and switches to an accessory position; and a support process element that, when the parking mechanism (5) is operated, if a vehicle speed increase is detected, performs a support process that prohibits operation of the parking mechanism (5) and extends the reference period.

A conventional automatic transmission is ordinarily configured so that by a driver sliding a sliding shift lever provided at the driver's seat, the force of that sliding operation is directly transmitted to a parking mechanism or a manual valve by a wire, a rod, or the like, and thus the driver selects, for example, any of a parking range P, a reverse (rearward travel) range R, a neutral range N, and a drive (forward travel) range D.
Here, when the parking range P has been selected, the parking mechanism establishes a locked state in which it is not possible to rotate an output shaft of the automatic transmission. When the reverse range R, the neutral range N, or the drive range D has been selected, the requested range is established by engaging or releasing a frictionally engaged element such as a clutch or a brake provided in a transmission mechanism unit by changing the state of a manual valve that is one constituent element of a shift range switching hydraulic circuit provided in the automatic transmission.
Next is a description of the configuration and operation of the above parking mechanism.
The parking mechanism is ordinarily configured to include a parking gear, a parking lock pole, and a parking rod.
The parking gear is externally fixed to the output shaft of the automatic transmission. The parking lock pole is supported so as to be capable of tilting to be displaced towards or away from the parking gear, and has a catch that can be engaged between teeth of the parking gear, or disengaged. A tapered cone for tilting the parking lock pole is provided at one end of the parking rod, and the parking rod is displaced frontward or rearward approximately parallel to the output shaft of the automatic transmission. This parking rod is driven by a detent lever that drives the manual valve.
As for operation of the parking mechanism, first, when the parking rod is, for example, displaced rearward by tilting the detent lever, the tapered cone pushes up the parking lock pole, so that the catch of the parking lock pole engages between the teeth of the parking gear, and thus the locked state in which it is not possible to rotate the output shaft of the automatic transmission is established.
On the other hand, when the parking rod is, for example, displaced frontward by tilting the detent lever in the opposite direction as described above, force of the tapered cone pushing up the parking lock pole is released, and the parking lock pole is pulled with a spring and thus moves downward, so the catch of the parking lock pole is pulled out from between the teeth of the parking gear, and thus the unlocked state in which it is possible to rotate the output shaft of the automatic transmission is established.
Incidentally, as the mode of operation of the detent lever, there is a so-called direct operation method in which the shift lever is directly linked in communication with the detent lever by, for example, a wire, a rod, or the like, and the detent lever is directly driven by operating force of the shift lever, and there is also a so-called shift-by-wire method.
In the shift-by-wire method, operation of the shift lever by the driver is detected with a sensor, a switch, or the like, and the detent lever is operated by an appropriate actuator according to the detected shift range signal (for example, see Patent Documents 1 and 2).
In the case of a shift-by-wire method, other than the above ordinary shift lever, a joystick, a push-button, or the like may be used as an operation member that outputs a parking request signal or a parking release request signal of the parking mechanism.
Further, when providing a shift-by-wire parking mechanism, it is known to perform so-called auto parking control in which, without operating the operation member, the parking mechanism is set to the locked state by driving the actuator when, for example, a predetermined condition has been established (e.g., see Patent Document 3).    Patent Document 1: JP H5-280637A    Patent Document 2: JP 2005-69407A    Patent Document 3: JP H6-72296A


An applicator device for applying lotion or the like to one's body, and particularly the back, includes an elongated generally rectangular strip of flexible microfiber material having opposite ends to which hand-grippable handles are connected by elastic members, whereby a lotion may be applied to the strip and then to one's back by grasping the handles and manipulating the strip over the back. The elastic members enable the user to readily vary the contact pressure applied by the strip against the back.

The present invention relates generally to lotion applicators, and more particularly to a novel body lotion applicator that finds particular application in applying a body lotion to one's back.
Devices are known which enable a person to apply a cleaner, such as soap, or a lotion to an area of the body that is generally difficult to access with one's hands or a hand-held wash cloth, such as a major portion of the back. The known applicator devices are generally characterized as having an elongated flexible strip of fabric material that may have multiple layers and has one or more pockets formed therein to receive soap or the like. Hand grippable handles, frequently formed by fabric loops or the like, enable the user to grasp opposite ends of the applicator and extend it across his/her back in a manipulating movement. Representative examples of such prior applicators are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,404,401 (Novick), 2,035,014 (Schaefer), 2,730,745 (Norman) 3,674,374 (Jennings), 3,720,205 (Liebman), 3,959,841 (Horne), 3,977,796 (Gillespie) and 4,422,205 (Braxter).
More recent lotion applicators of the aforedescribed type have included features that are believed to enhance their effectiveness in applying a lotion to the user's back. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,013,171 (Almond), 5,035,523 (Allinder) and 5,251,990 (Vought et al.)
A drawback in the prior lotion applicators of the aforedescribed type intended to enable application of lotion or the like to the user's back is that they are of relatively fixed length. This can lead to difficulty in efficiently using a fixed length applicator by person's of different size who must grasp the ends of the applicator and try to manipulate it behind their back. Accordingly, an applicator of the type having an elongated strip of fabric-like material operative to receive a lotion for application to one's back, and having hand-grippable handles connected to opposite ends of the strip through elastic members so as to more readily enable use by person's of different size and arm length, while also enabling the user to easily vary the contact pressure applied by the applicator to the body, would provide significant advantages over the known prior applicators for applying a lotion or the like to hard-to-reach areas of the body.