Techniques for detecting poor machine translations are disclosed herein. The techniques can include various diagnostics that can be performed to determine whether to adopt a potential translated key term as a translated key term. The diagnostics include a geographic location diagnostic, a reverse translation diagnostic, a local term diagnostic, and a narrow-to-broad diagnostic.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure.
On-line advertising has become an effective means to target potential consumers. One form of on-line advertising is advertising in search engines using key terms. A key term may be a phrase including one or more words or strings of characters that a search engine user may include in a query for a particular topic. An advertiser can direct Internet traffic to one or more web pages (called landing pages) using a search engine advertising campaign which utilizes key terms. The advertiser will provide a list of key terms that the advertiser believes a potential customer would enter when looking for a web page that contains subject matter similar to the landing page. For instance, a purveyor of hiking boots could provide a list of key terms to a search engine that includes "hiking boots," "hiking shoes," "trail shoes," and "outdoor gear" such that when a search engine user executes a search using any of the key terms as the search term, an advertisement containing a hyperlink to the landing page of the advertiser is presented to the user.

Techniques for detecting poor machine translations of key terms


A method of diagnosing malfunctioning of a bypass diode in a solar photovoltaic battery system is provided. The method may include: collecting solar photovoltaic battery operation information indicating a solar photovoltaic battery operation state, from a signal of a solar photovoltaic battery detection unit, while maximum power point tracking control is performed with the solar photovoltaic battery system in operation; and determining whether or not the bypass diodes based on the collected solar photovoltaic battery operation information.

In recent years, considerable effort has been made to develop alternative energy to solve problems such as depletion of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas, and environmental pollution due to the use of the fossil fuels. A result of this effort is a solar power generation system using solar energy.
Solar power generation is a technology that converts solar energy, solar thermal energy, or solar photovoltaic energy, into electrical energy. A solar photovoltaic battery that is configured with a semiconductor chip is used for solar power generation that converts sunlight into electrical energy.
The solar photovoltaic battery is a photovoltaic conversion element that converts sunlight into electrical energy. In the solar photovoltaic battery, a basic unit that has a function of converting optical energy of the sun into electrical energy is referred to as a cell. A group that results from connecting these cells (or solar battery modules) in series is referred to a string.
Generally, in a solar photovoltaic battery system, a solar photovoltaic battery string is configured with multiple solar photovoltaic battery cells or solar photovoltaic battery modules that are serially connected. In addition, a backflow prevention diode and a bypass diode are then installed in contact with each string, and auxiliary devices such as a surge protection device, a DC circuit breaker, and a connection box are further installed to constitute a solar photovoltaic battery array.
With the configuration in which the backflow prevention diode is installed in contact with each solar photovoltaic battery string, backflow due to a potential difference between strings is prevented, and an imbalance in output voltage between the strings in the solar photovoltaic battery system is prevented.
In addition, a bypass circuit is connected between both ends of each solar photovoltaic battery, and the bypass diode is installed in each bypass circuit. Thus, in a case where one portion of a cell is shaded, the bypass diode prevents the cell from being damaged by a hot spot attributable to current hogging.
A position of the solar photovoltaic battery in the solar photovoltaic battery system is very important. In addition, in order to expect the highest output, the solar photovoltaic battery has to be installed at an angle at which solar energy is most readily absorbed.
At this time, a factor to consider is the hot spot that occurs due to shade. Shading a very small portion of the solar photovoltaic battery cell or module can greatly decrease an output of the entire solar photovoltaic battery.
Accordingly, in order to prevent a loss due to shade, the bypass diode is installed in contact with each solar photovoltaic battery string. Thus, current is caused to flow taking a detour around a cell or a cell group (module) of which an output decreases due to shade and a reduction in output is caused to be limited only to a portion of the cell or the cell group, which is shaded. Thus, an output of the entire solar photovoltaic battery is maintained.
On the other hand, when the bypass diode malfunctions, the bypass circuit for the string can be open or shorted. Therefore, a technology that can precisely diagnose whether or not the bypass diode malfunctions or a state of the bypass circuit and then can alert an operator to the results of the diagnosis is needed.

Method of diagnosing malfunctioning of bypass diode in solar photovoltaic battery


A control apparatus of an electric vehicle in which relays are switched to a disconnecting state without causing failure of the electric vehicle. Main relays Ry1, Ry2 switchable between a connecting state and a disconnecting state are provided between a drive motor 11 for driving driven wheels and a motor drive battery 34 for supplying current to the drive motor 11. When these main relays Ry1, Ry2 are to be switched to the disconnecting state, it is determined whether or not the output current I from the motor drive battery 34 is below a predetermined current and whether or not the vehicle speed V is below a predetermined speed. When it is determined that the output current I is below the predetermined current and the vehicle speed V is below the predetermined speed, the main relays Ry1, Ry2 are switched to their disconnecting states. By this means it is possible to prevent welding failure of the main relays Ry1, Ry2 and to protect an invertor 36 and high-voltage auxiliaries 58 from an induced voltage of the drive motor 11.

This invention relates to a control apparatus of an electric vehicle having a relay between a battery and an electric motor.
In recent years, many electric vehicles in which driven wheels are driven using an electric motor have been developed. This kind of electric vehicle includes electric cars having only an electric motor as a motive power source and hybrid cars having an electric motor and an engine as motive power sources.
A drive circuit such as an invertor for producing a driving current for the electric motor is provided between the battery and the electric motor in this kind of electric vehicle, and a relay for supplying or cutting off current to/from the drive circuit is provided between the drive circuit and the battery. The relay for controlling the supply of current to the drive circuit is switched in correspondence with the state of an ignition switch (hereinafter abbreviated to switch), and when the switch is turned ON by a driver the relay is switched to a connecting state and current is supplied to the drive circuit through the relay, and when the switch is turned OFF by the driver the relay is switched to a disconnecting state and current to the drive circuit through the relay is cut off.
In electric vehicles of recent years, to increase the motive power of the vehicle, the electrical power supplied to the electric motor has been tending to increase. Consequently, a large current has also been supplied to the relay, and when inadvertently the switch is turned OFF and the relay is switched to its disconnecting state, there has been a risk of a spark being produced across the contacts of the relay and of welding failure of the relay contacts occurring.
When this kind of welding failure occurs in the relay, because the output current from the battery cannot be cut off, it becomes difficult to ensure the safety of the vehicle. To overcome this, electric vehicles have been developed (see for example JP-A-10-144194) in which, when a disconnection signal has been outputted to the relay, by the voltage of a power supply circuit being measured, a diagnosis is made of whether or not the relay has disconnected normally, that is, whether or not there has been a welding failure. In this electric vehicle, when a welding failure of the relay has been detected, safety of the vehicle is ensured by travel prohibition processing, charge prohibition processing and alarm processing being carried out.
However, even if after a welding failure of the relay contacts is diagnosed safety of the vehicle is secured by these processes being carried out, because as a result of the welding failure the vehicle becomes unable to travel, a control apparatus capable of preventing welding failure before it occurs has been needed. And from the point of view of repair cost also, it is desirable for welding failure of the relay contacts to be prevented before it occurs.
Also, even if welding failure of the relay contacts does not occur, whenever the relay is switched to its disconnecting state by the switch being inadvertently turned OFF, there is a risk of the drive circuit being destroyed. That is, in a vehicle using a permanent magnet type motor, because an induced voltage arises along with rotation of the motor, when the relay is disconnected while the electric motor is rotating and the battery is thus cut off from the electric motor, there is a risk of the induced voltage from the electric motor being applied locally.


In a lighting unit, fluorescent lights and LEDs of different spectroscopic characteristics are alternately arranged in a direction X on an irradiation plane. Light sources of equal light intensity are arranged in a certain pitch for the fluorescent lights such that a uniform light amount is achieved around end portions in the direction X. The LEDs include LEDs aligned on a bottom surface of a chassis and LEDs arranged on an inner sidewall surface of the chassis. As a result, a lighting unit having a uniform amount of light across an entire irradiation plane is achieved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lighting unit using two types of light sources, to a backlight unit including such a lighting unit, and to a liquid crystal display device equipped the backlight unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display device is usually configured such that a backlight unit supplies a display light since a display element is non-emissive. As FIG. 6 illustrates, there is a configuration where an optical member such as a diffusing plate (not shown in FIG. 6) is combined with a lighting unit 100 that includes a plurality of aligned white light sources 101 such that the display light is provided uniformly in an in-plane direction of a display plane of the display device.
Fluorescent lights are usually used as white light sources 101 in the lighting unit 100. The use of fluorescent lights is associated with such a problem that color purity of display light generated by the fluorescent lights is low since light purity of R is generally lower than that of G or B in the fluorescent lights.
Therefore, as an art improving color reproducibility of an image on the liquid crystal display device, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-139876 discloses a backlight unit as illustrated in FIG. 7, which includes optical members (not illustrated in FIG. 7) and a lighting unit 110 including two types of light sources; fluorescent lights 111 and LEDs (Light Emitting Diode) 112.
In the lighting unit 110, red spectrum characteristics are eliminated from the fluorescent lights 111; therefore, the fluorescent lights 111 having only blue spectrum characteristics and green spectrum characteristics are used. Combinational use of the fluorescent lights 111 with the LEDs 112 having red spectrum characteristics generate high color purity in R, G, and B. As a result, the lighting unit 110 provides high color reproducibility.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-187623, meanwhile, discloses a lighting unit including LEDs of plural types for emitting light of different colors.
However, the conventional configuration disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-139876 has the following problem.
That is, in the lighting unit 110 in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2004-139876, the two types of light sources must be arranged in an irradiation plane without overlapping each other. Therefore, the lighting unit 110 cannot obtain the uniform display light in both types of light sources simultaneously.
Take FIG. 7 as an example: when a pitch between neighboring fluorescent lights 111 is 2L, a pitch between the endmost fluorescent light 111 and an end portion of the lighting unit 110 is L; therefore, light outgoing from the fluorescent lights 111 will be uniform. On the other hand, the LEDs 112 are aligned respectively between the neighboring fluorescent lights 111; therefore, when a pitch between the neighboring LEDs 112 is 2L, a pitch between the endmost LED 112 and the end portion of the lighting unit 110 is 2L. As a result, the light intensity of the light outgoing from the LEDs 112 is insufficient at the end portions. Thus, the display light around the end portions of the lighting unit is bluish due to insufficient red light intensity.

Lighting unit including alternately arrange first and second light sources, backlight unit, liquid crystal display device


Embodiments of the invention provide a vertical motion pendant arm for supporting an enclosure at a desired height. The vertical motion pendant arm can include an enclosure mounting assembly, a support mounting assembly, and one or more connectors. The vertical motion pendant arm can also include a drawbridge mechanism having a rotatable worm, a rotatable gear that engages the rotatable worm, one or more drawbridge arms coupled to the rotatable gear, and one or more gas springs coupled to the drawbridge arms and the connectors. The gas springs can provide a counterforce to the enclosure.

Pendant arms are used in the electronics industry for mounting and/or positioning of electrical enclosures that include, for example, operator interface controls. Pendant arms can move vertically and/or horizontally and can be mounted to walls, ceilings, machines, etc. The repositioning of conventional pendant arms can be accomplished in a variety of different ways, such as with threaded bolts and sliding members, mechanical springs and custom frictional disks, or multiple pivoting bars and counterweight assemblies.


Speech recognition is performed by matching between a characteristic quantity of an inputted speech and a composite HMM obtained by synthesizing a speech HMM (hidden Markov model) and a noise HMM for each speech frame of the inputted speech by use of the composite HMM.

One of the subjects in speech recognition processing for recognizing a speech by means of a computer has been to perform highly precise recognition even under an environment where a variety of noise sources exist. Heretofore, as methods for performing the speech recognition under such a noise environment, various methods have been proposed, which include the spectral subtraction method, the HMM (hidden Markov model) composition method, the ODCN (codeword-dependent cepstral normalization) method, and the like.
In view of the fact that these methods have an aspect to recognize a speech, basically, the methods specify a part corresponding to noise from a speech signal in concerned speech after completion (or generation) of one utterance, and perform the speech recognition, considering (or removing) the specified noise part.
For example, the HMM composition method synthesizes various HMMs of noises and speechs together to generate phoneme hidden Markov models (composite HMMs) into which noise elements are incorporated, and performs the speech recognition based on a composite HMM highest in likelihood with respect to the speech to be recognized, thus coping with the noise. Such a conventional HMM composition method selects a composite HMM highest in likelihood for each speech and adopts the composite HMM as a recognition result. Specifically, one noise HMM comes to be selected for each utterance.
Incidentally, the way of noise generation is diversified by including noise that continues to be generated regularly, noise that is generated suddenly and noise that is generated irregularly under the environment where various noise sources exist. The above-described technology of coping with noise in the conventional speech recognition processing recognizes a type of the noise for each speech. Therefore, the technology exerts a sufficient effect for the noise that continues to be generated regularly and the noise that is generated regularly, and can realize good speech recognition.
However, the noise generated suddenly or the noise generated irregularly may possibly be generated during speech, and the conventional technology of recognizing the type of noise for each speech cannot cope with such noise that changes rapidly. This has been causing the precision of the speech recognition to be lowered.

Speech recognition system and program thereof

International Business Machines Corporation


An improved modular system of solids separation is described. In the invention, a settling tank is provided which consists of one or more hoppers having sloped sides downwardly to a drain. Liquids with entrained solids are permitted to accumulate within the hopper as the solids settle until the settling has been completed; whereupon a pump lowered into the liquid is used to decant the liquid. The pump is suspended from a flexible conduit and is lowered as the liquid level lowers so that it remains submerged until the pump reaches a predetermined level above the level of the suspended solids. The sludge is removed from the hopper by gravity flow by opening a drain valve in the bottom therein and an anti-vortexing cap is provided over the drain. The cap has sides which conform to the hopper vessels but slope in the opposite direction so that the lower edge of the cap side is a predetermined distance from the hopper side adjacent the drain.

The effluent from a waste water treatment plant contains suspended solids and may, in most instances, be regarded as a colloidal suspension of such solids. This effluent, unless treated to an 85% removal of said suspended solids by other treatment means, is not suitable for release into the environment, as a minimum condition. Depending on the receiving stream, the percentage of treatment required could go as high as 95% removal of suspended solids.
When treating the effluent from a waste water treatment plant using chemical additives to coagulate and flocculate said suspended and dissolved solids, and in conjunction with the unique apparatus for use in a sequential batch treatment to separate the solids and liquid, 100% of the solids can be removed from the effluent of a waste water treatment plant.
When water treatment consists of the sterilization only, such as with the use of disinfectant, chlorine, and the liquid contains no suspended or dissolved solids, a continuous treatment process is most effective.
However, when the water has dissolved impurities which will precipitate and/or colloidal solids in suspension, a continuous method of treatment is not cost effective. In such a situation, if an additive or coagulating or flocculating agent is necessary, the cost of treatment can increase as much as five times.
The increased cost in this situation is related to the requirement for additional phases of treatment. Such additions are (a) chemicals, (b) chemical feeders, (c) mixers to coagulate or flocculate, (d) settling chambers and (e) filters. As noted above, the continuous treatment in such a situation is not cost effective.
In the treatment of water using additives on a continuous basis, the coagulated floc created by the additives that settle, when slightly disturbed, will go back into suspension.
In the prior art this condition makes it necessary to use very large settling chambers (item "d" above), which are only 90% effective at best. Therefore, large gravity sand filters (item "c" above) must be used to remove the 10% that escaped from the settling chambers.
Both the settling chamber and the gravity filters require a great deal of space and are very expensive. In addition to the initial cost, the gravity filters use 20% of the already treated water to backwash the filters.
The cost effective means for treating such volumes of water then is by a batch process, using the same chamber for coagulating, flocculating, and settling, whereby the solids settle to the bottom of the chamber for removal and the liquid is decanted from the top.
It is essential in such a settling chamber that the clear water is decanted from the top of the chamber without disturbing the settled solids therebelow and that the settled solids be removed from the chamber when they reach a desired level, quickly and efficiently, with a minimal use of clear treated water escaping with the solids being removed.
As will be subsequently explained then in a water purification system wherein solids are to be removed, a modular plant using sequential batch processing can be much more efficient than continuous processing and the large settling tanks normally associated with water purification can be eliminated. Combining the adding of chemical to coagulate, flocculate, and settling in a single tank, however, requires both an efficient and a non-invasive means for removing the treated liquid without disturbing the settled solids, and for removing the settled solids without using undue quantities of the already treated clear water, so that once such a combination tank has processed one batch, it can be cleared for re-use.
Decanting on a continuous treatment process served no useful purpose that can not be better solved using a properly designed baffled tank and a properly designed over-flow weir. Decanting in a continuous treatment process is employed to increase the density of the settled sludge and lower the moisture content before solid disposal, such as in digesters. The decanted liquid is returned to the head of the treatment plant for re-treatment, since it still contains a large amount of suspended solids.
Concerning decantation of treated liquid, a variety of float pumps are known in the prior art (see for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,186,610). Such pumps are designed to float on a surface, such as a pond or lagoon, so that as liquid is pumped out, the pump itself will descend within the confines of the large area. These devices, however, are not structurally sufficiently durable and controllable with the confines of a small vessel used in sequential batch treatment of large quantities of water. The treatment process which requires additives to coagulate and flocculate, and there must be no obstructions below the surface where settling solid can cling and accumulate.
In addition to U.S. Pat. No. 5,358,644, a skimmer or decant mechanism is provided using a ridged pipe with flexible couplings at each end. The pipe extends downwardly and projects from the center of the vessel to the outer walls, and through the wall of the tank, so that when the valve at the lower end of the pipe is opened, liquid will flow by gravity from the decant downwardly through the pipe. The decanter then rides downwardly with the level of liquid to a predetermined depth. The obstruction below the surface creates an unwanted condition where settling solids can cling and accumulate. This also has the undesirable feature of requiring a pipe which extends downwardly through the tank on which the decanter rides.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,447,688 describes an adjustable tubular skimmer in a fixed location. The range of the adjustment is the diameter of the tube. It is intended for use in a continuous flow sewage plant, and therefore, is not pertinent to a sequential batch water treatment plant, wherein the separate phases of adding chemicals to effect coagulation, flocculation and settling are combined in a single vessel.


The assembly comprises a pair of substantially identical unitary plastic molded units, each unit having a tubular stem formed with a piston at one end and a nozzle head at the other. Each unit has a female snap-type connector facing to one side and spaced therefrom a male snap-type connector facing to the same side, the molded units being disposed side-by-side with the male snap-type connectors snappingly received into the female snap-type connectors of the respective stems.

This invention relates to a piston/nozzle assembly for a pump dispenser for simultaneous dispensing of two separate liquids. More specifically, this invention is concerned with the structure of two substantially similar piston/nozzle units formed into a single sturdy and durable assembly.
The Bachand dispenser of the above mentioned patent includes a pair of side-by-side forwardly facing cylinders with a cylinder-type vent valve below each cylinder. Fitting into the separate cylinders and vent valves are pistons which are part of a piston/nozzle assembly disclosed in simple form in the Bachand application. These assemblies comprise a pair of side-by-side main pistons fitting into the main cylinders, stems extending forwardly from the pistons, and nozzle heads/caps disposed at the forward ends of the stems. The stems individually are provided with depending valve pistons which fit into the vent cylinders described above. A trigger-type actuator pivots down from above the cylinders in the dispenser of Bachand and engages the piston/nozzle assembly so that when the trigger is squeezed, the pistons will move into the cylinders and a pumping will be affected driving liquid through the stems toward the dispenser nozzles.
In the Bachand application the two piston/nozzle units are held in assembly by a bridging member extending between and connected to the respective stems. A spring is based between the main cylinders and extends forward to the bridge element which also forms a platform for the forward end of the spring to work against.
The present invention presents a structure which facilitates the assembly of the piston/nozzle units together in a single assembly. It provides a reliable joining of the two units by means of a dual head/socket arrangement. Once the assembly is properly joined, its integral structure is sturdy and serviceable.

Piston/nozzle assembly for simultaneous pump dispenser


Assisted magnetic forming uses a magnetic field to assist in the forming or molding of metallic and non-metallic materials. For example, such a forming process may form a blank of ferromagnetic metals like high-strength steel and high-hard armor, non-ferromagnetic metals like aluminum and magnesium, as well as non-metals like ceramics, plastics, and fiber-reinforced composites into formed or molded parts. The magnetic field is generated to partially or completely saturate the blank during the forming process, which increases the blank's formability and/or moldability while in the presence of the magnetic field.

Forming high strength material, such as rolled homogeneous armor (RHA), high hard (Hi-Hard) armor, advanced high strength steel, and other metals can be difficult due to low formability and moldability of the material, namely, such material does not bend well. Hot stamping has been developed to overcome the forming limitations of traditional metals. The process takes advantage of a metal's increased ductility at elevated temperatures. As the metal heats up, the constitutive atoms are allowed more freedom of movement, which means that the atoms can flow and rearrange themselves to achieve a lower stress state. An implication is also decreased forming pressure. More simply, the heat allows the metal to stretch without breaking while using lower press tonnage. Over time, this concept has evolved into technologies like hot stamping, hot metal gas forming (HMGF), and superplastic forming (SPF). Unfortunately, hot stamping, HMGF, and SPF all have a similar flaw in regards to RHA and Hi-Hard: heat. When material heats and the atoms move around, the effects from cold working, thermal processing, and hardening are removed. These effects are important in developing or maintaining the mechanical properties of materials being formed; therefore, a material cannot be heated to a point that removes these effects, which renders hot stamping, HMGF, and SPF processes unusable. Another option is to use a hot stamping process on a part and then apply the mechanical or thermal processing after forming. Applying any mechanical processing after forming would severely alter the shape of a part, and quenching or other thermal treatment would cause warping.


Apparatus for the application of adhesive to one side of a running web of tipping paper for use in filter cigarette makers has a single source of adhesive or two or more sources containing identical or different adhesives, and one or more conduits leading from the source(s) to one or more nozzles which applies or apply one or more films of a single adhesive or of different adhesives to selected portions of the one side of the web. The rate of admission of adhesive(s) to the nozzle(s), including interruption and restarting of admission of adhesive(s), is regulated by one or more valves each having a body receiving a rotary valving element provided with one or more peripheral projections and/or recesses serving to regulate the rate of flow of adhesive toward the single nozzle or the respective nozzles. The rotary elements of two or more valves can constitute disc-shaped sections of a single rotor confined in a valve body common to all valves. The adhesive or at least one of two or more different adhesives being applied to the web can contain one or more taste- and/or odor- and or flammability influencing agents.

The invention relates to improvements in methods of and in apparatus for applying flowable adhesives to running strips or webs of paper or the like. More particularly, the invention relates to improvements in methods and in apparatus which can be resorted to with advantage in connection with the application of adhesive to running strips or webs (hereinafter called webs for short) of wrapping material of the type utilized in connection with the making and processing of smokers' products.
Examples of webs of wrapping material which must be provided with layers or films of special adhesive and/or with layers or films containing different types of adhesive are those which are employed for the assembly of filter rod sections with plain cigarettes to form filter cigarettes of unit length or multiple unit length. Wrapping material of such character is known as tipping paper and is utilized in machines known as filter cigarette makers or tipping machines. Examples of such machines are those known worldwise as MAX (distributed by the assignee of the present application). A MAX machine is designed to assemble successive groups of co-axial plain cigarettes and filter rod sections of unit length or multiple unit length, to connect the constituents of such groups with each other by resorting to so-called uniting bands (sections of a web of tipping paper one side of which carries a continuous or composite film of adhesive) which are convoluted around the filter rod sections and the adjacent end portions of plain cigarettes, and to thereafter sever the groups to obtain filter cigarettes of unit length.
German patent No. 24 45 342 C2 discloses a machine which can change the quantity of adhesive being applied to successive still coherent uniting bands of tipping paper, i.e., prior to separation of successive foremost uniting bands from the leader of a running web of tipping paper. The quantity of adhesive per uniting band is changed by reducing or increasing the thickness of the film of applied adhesive and/or by changing the area(s) of the adhesive-coated portion(s) of each uniting band. The purpose of changing the quantity of adhesive per uniting band is to properly relate the quantity of applied adhesive to the permeability of the web of tipping paper and/or to properly relate the quantity of adhesive to the force with which certain portions of a uniting band must adhere to the filter mouthpiece, to the plain cigarette and/or both. The patented machine is further provided with means for intermittently interrupting the application of adhesive to the running web of tipping paper. This is accomplished by resorting to a rotary cam the RPM of which is related to the speed of the running web of tipping paper and which serves to alternatingly move the running web toward and away from the adhesive applying nozzle.
The patented apparatus exhibits certain drawbacks, especially as far as its versatility is concerned. For example, the patented apparatus applies adhesive to those portions of the running web which are not to be bonded to constituents of filter cigarettes. Furthermore, the patented apparatus increases the rate of application of adhesive immediately subsequent to each interruption of transfer of adhesive to the running web of tipping paper.
The aforementioned German patent also discloses a method of applying adhesive to a running web of tipping paper. The method involves the utilization of at least one nozzle with an orifice which discharges adhesive into contact with the running web of tipping paper. The method does not take into consideration the possibility of injury to a smoker, e.g., when the filter cigarette is smoked all the way to the end of the tobacco-containing part (i.e., to the end of the plain cigarette forming part of the filter cigarette). Combustion of the inner end of the tobacco-containing part of the filter cigarette can result in the development of flame (due to combustion of adhesive which forms part of the adhesive coat on the inner side of the convoluted uniting band), and such flame can cause injury to and can frighten the smoker. Moreover, once the tobacco-containing part of a filter cigarette is combusted close or very close to the end portion which is surrounded by the respective terminal portion of the convoluted uniting band, the glowing remaining part of the tobacco-containing portion is likely to fall to the floor or onto a chair or table or suit or dress with resulting damage to the carpet, to the piece of furniture or to the clothing and the danger of fire.
A further drawback of the patented method and apparatus is that the accuracy and predictability of the application of adhesive decrease when a tipping machine turns out filter cigarettes at a rate which can be achieved by resorting to modern high-speed tipping machines. This results in the making of a high percentage of rejects as well as in customer complaints.

Method of and apparatus for applying adhesive to webs of wrapping material


An in-line method of rejecting composition-filled pouches having a defect such as a leak comprises inspecting a first composition-filled pouch. If a leak is detected, that pouch is rejected from the manufacturing process. The pouch adjacent to the leak is also rejected.

Water-soluble polymeric films are commonly used as packaging materials to simplify dispersing, pouring, dissolving and dosing of a material to be delivered. For example, pouches made from water-soluble film are commonly used to package household care compositions such as laundry or dish detergent. A consumer can directly add the pouched composition to a mixing vessel, such as a bucket, sink or washing machine.
Composition-filled water-soluble pouches or "unit dose pouches" may be manufactured on high-speed production lines. The production lines typically comprise a series of steps or stations at which different portions of the unit dose pouch are made and/or modified. These steps are often accomplished at the highest possible speed in order to achieve high output and low production costs. Yet, it remains desirable to maintain certain quality standards for the finished product. As such, high-speed production lines typically include a means of inspecting the unit dose pouches.
The high-speed manufacture of unit dose pouches requires precision in forming and sealing the water-soluble films together to form filled pouches. If problems arise, including, but not limited to, those related to film indexing or timing of the filling and sealing, then leaky unit dose pouches may be formed. One current means of inspecting leaky unit dose pouches involves their collection at the end of the pouch converting line. The unit dose pouches are collected into a hopper, which is then inspected for contamination by the pouch composition. However, if a leak is found at this point in the production process, a large number of leaky unit dose pouches may have already been produced. This can be particularly problematic when a liquid composition leaks onto a neighboring water-soluble pouch since it may cause premature degradation of the neighboring pouch. Moreover, if a leak is found, the entire production line may need to be shut down for decontamination.

Method of rejecting a defective unit dose pouch from a manufacturing line