An improved tufting machine with a precision drive system for laterally shifting the reciprocating needle bars of the tufting machine across a tufting zone in which tufts of yarn are made in a backing material advanced through the machine beneath the needle bars is disclosed. The precision drive system includes the use of inverse roller screw actuators which may be adapted for driving the several moving components of the tufting machine, to include not only the shifting of the needle bars, but also can be used to reciprocate the needle bars toward and away from the tufting zone, rock the loopers and or knives of the machine, and to shift the backing material in which the tufts of yarn are made as it advances through the tufting machine.

The use of tufting machines to create tufted articles, for example tufted carpet, is well known. Conventional tufting machines use a reciprocating needle bar carrying a plurality of aligned needles, the needles being constructed and arranged to reciprocably penetrate a backing material passing underneath the needle bar on a bed, including a bed plate section, a bedrail and needle plate. As the needles penetrate the backing material, they carry yarn through the backing which is caught either by a looper to create a looped pile article, or by a hook moving in timed relationship with a knife to create a loop which is then cut to create a cut pile article. It is by these well known processes, for example, that looped pile and tufted cut pile carpeting is made.
Early tufting machines used mechanical devices to reciprocate the needle bar, the loopers, and the looper/knife arrangement of the machine in timed relationship with one another to accomplish this tufting operation. This arrangement included a main drive shaft which was rotated by a drive source, usually a motor. The drive shaft is positioned above the needle bar or bars in the head of the tufting machine, extending from one side to the other, transverse to the direction of backing moving through the machine. As the main drive shaft is rotated, it moves a series of spaced, vertical push rods, which are fastened through connecting elements to the needle bar, toward and away from the bed section and the backing material, as well as moving the looper and/or the hook/knife combination in timed relationship with the reciprocation of the needles. This has been done by using pinions or cams mounted on the main drive shift to reciprocate the push rods, while also using push rods or straps engaged with additional cams positioned on the main drive shaft to operate the looper and/or the looper/knife mechanisms.
Although these tufting machines have proven to be durable and capable of creating a high quality tufted product, an inherent problem has been their reliance upon mechanical connections, i.e. the interlinking of mechanical levers or straps to reciprocate the needle bar, the looper drive, and/or the looper/knife drives. These mechanical connections create a significant amount of mechanical drag, which leads to the creation of heat and increased friction and increased wear and vibration in the drive train. An example of an early tufting machine which uses a mechanical drive system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,361,096 to Watkins, as well as in British Patent No. 1,507,201 and British Patent No. 1,304,151.
In the effort to move away from using tufting machines having cams and straps, the use of belt drives for these components was developed. An example of this approach in powering a tufting machine component is the multiple stroke looper mechanism for a stitching machine disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,419,944 to Passons, et al. Passons, et al. passes a drive chain over a sprocket on the drive shaft, with a spaced second sprocket being attached to a cam shaft used to reciprocate a push rod for rocking the loopers in timed relationship with the reciprocation of the needles. A mechanical drive system is still disclosed, which drive system is subject to the inherent problems of mechanical wear, stress, and vibration.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,586,445 and 4,665,845 to Card, et al., respectively, disclose a high speed tufting machine using a flexible timing belt to vertically reciprocate the needle bar by transmitting the rotation of the tufting machine drive shaft to a series of aligned sprockets, and including a push rod as a part of a crank mechanism for reciprocating the needle bar. Although these two patents to Card, et al. represented a significant advance in the art by allowing still greater production speeds, Card, et al. did not address the limitation of using the tufting machine main drive shaft for mechanically powering, either directly or indirectly, the driven components in an adjustable timed relationship.
Additional examples of advances in the art are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,586 to Neely, et al., in which a belt driven looper drive assembly is disclosed, as well as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,706,745 to Neely et al., which discloses a belt driven looper and knife drive system.
During the evolution of the tufting machine, the use of laterally shiftable needle bars has also arisen. This is done in order to shift the needles, and thus the yarn carried by these needles with respect to the backing material, to produce carpet with a "graphic" pattern. Another type of tufting machine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,026,830 to Bryant et al. which uses a disc-shaped cam, the rotation of which is synchronized with the reciprocation of the needles, and thus the main drive shaft, to shift the needle bar laterally in timed relationship with the reciprocation of the needles.
A tufting machine and tufting method for producing multiple rows of tufts with single lengths of yarn is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,440,102 to Card, et al. This device uses a cam disc rotated in timed relationship with the rotation of the tufting machine main drive shaft. The cam disc has a pre-determined cam profile, with cam followers riding over the periphery of the cam. The cam followers are operably fastened to a shifting bar which engages the needle bar for transversely shifting the needle bar with respect to the backing material, and the loopers beneath the backing material, for producing tufted articles. Another shiftable needle bar tufting machine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,434 to Card, et al., which utilized cam rollers riding on opposite sides of the periphery of a pair of spaced cam discs. The cam discs are spaced on opposite sides of a needle bar and used together for transversely shifting the needle bar with respect to the backing material for creating tufted articles in a variety of patterns.
Although these devices utilizing cam discs for transversely shifting the needle bar have proven to be durable and reliable, they are subject to wear. Further, a specific cam profile is needed for each specific pattern required, requiring machine shutdown in order to change over the cam discs to change the pattern of the tufted articles being produced. Moreover, the use of a cam disc system is speed limited by the ability to drive a mechanical system without inducing excess machine vibration and stress.
One approach that sought to minimize the use of mechanical components in shifting needle bars to produce pattern-tufted articles is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,173,192 to Schmidt, et al. In Schmidt, et al., a hydraulic actuator is used to shift a needle bar transversely with respect to the backing material, the system having an electronic pattern control mechanism controlling the actuator in response to a predetermined stitch pattern. Although the device of Schmidt, et al. relies less upon a mechanical drive train for moving the needle bar transversely, it relies instead upon the use of a hydraulic actuator. This system requires the use of a motor, a hydraulic pump, hydraulic piping, and a hydraulic cylinder, which are subject to wear and which operate under high pressure, thus inducing machine stress, noise, and vibration.
In many tufting applications, the needle bar must be shifted frequently and at high rates of speed, which may result in induced machine stress and component wear. The hydraulic fluid of such a system typically is used to lubricate and cool the system, all of which can allow for hydraulic fluid to be degraded or become contaminated, which may lead to damage of the hydraulic pump, and/or the ported servo-valve controlling the device of Schmidt, et al., thus making the system less reliable. In using a hydraulic cylinder for shifting the needle bar, the problems of hydraulic lag and surge, and/or compression and shock of the hydraulic fluid, occurs, in which precise control of the shifting of the needle bar with respect to the backing material may be adversely affected. Schmidt, et al. also introduced a control system which required the use of a number of external position sensors, as well as a separate pump, motor, cylinder, and/or cylinders, and a servo valve for each cylinder to accomplish the shifting of the needle bar.
The device of Schmidt, et al. was modified in U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,917 to Morgante, et al. Morgante, et al. uses a computer to control the velocity of the transverse movement of the needle bar, accomplished by the hydraulic cylinder, so as to minimize any shock created by the transverse movement of the needle bar. This was achieved by signaling the commencement of the shifting of the needle bar prior to its actual shifting, and by signaling the termination of the shifting prior to the termination of the actual shifting in order to counteract any delayed inertial movement, i.e. fluid shock or compression, in the hydraulic cylinder during the movement of the needle bar in response to the computer command signals. Thus, Morgante, et al. sought to improve the control of the hydraulic actuator.
What has been needed, therefore, but seemingly unavailable in the art is an improved tufting machine having a precision drive system which reduces or moves away from the mechanical interlinkage of the needle bar drive, the shifting of the needle bar, the looper drive, and/or the looper/knife drive systems so that one or more of these components of the tufting machine is powered separately, yet all still work in timed relationship with one another at a high degree of precision.
The known devices are not constructed to perform this task, nor to fulfill these needs, and they fail to suggest how this may reasonably be accomplished. What is provided, therefore, is an improved tufting machine with a precision drive system using a machine controller, typically a computer or computing system, to control either selected or all tufting operations, including the reciprocation of the needle bar, shifting the needle bar, as well as the rocking of the loopers and/or the looper/knives in precise, timed, programmable relationship with one another, yet which eliminates the drive system in which the operation of any one component is mechanically linked to all other components.

Tufting machine with precision drive system


An article holding system includes a recognizing device for recognizing the state of the holding object, a holding method specifying means for specifying the holding method according to the state recognized by the recognizing device, and a holding device for holding the holding object according to the holding method specified by the holding method specifying means.

The present invention relates to an article holding system for performing the holding of an article according to the state of the article, a robot for holding the article according to the state of the article, and a method of controlling the robot.
A device that is limited to holding a holding object of one type such as vegetable, cloth or the like, and that includes a handling section configured so as to be able to suitably hold the holding object is known as the conventional holding device (see e.g., patent documents 1, 2).
A holding device, including a plurality of handling sections corresponding to each type of holding object so as to be able to suitably hold each of the plurality of types of holding objects, and selecting the most suitable handling section according to the type of the holding object is also known (see e.g. patent document 3).
A holding device, storing with characteristic data of each type of holding object and the operating information for the relevant holding object in association with each other when a plurality of types of holding objects are present, for recognizing the type of holding object with a visual sensor based on the characteristic data and holding the same with the operation corresponding to the recognized holding object is also known (see e.g., patent document 4).
Patent document 1: Japanese Patent Publication No. 1976349
Patent document 2: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 8-132379
Patent document 3: Japanese Patent Publication No. 2710856
Patent document 4: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 64-2882
The holding device disclosed in each document is used in the field of a so-called FA (Factory Automation) such as factory or warehouse, and thus the type of holding object is limited and the information such as shape data, material data, holding position data at the holding object that become necessary when holding with the holding device are obtained in advance for each type of holding object.
On the other hand, mounting the holding device on a robot, for example, and having the robot perform the task in spaces where people live (hereinafter referred to as living space) such as general households, offices, hotels, shops, hospitals etc. is also considered. However, since the number of types of articles present in the living space is great, the number of types of holding objects of the holding device also becomes great.
Therefore, obtaining in advance the information that is necessary in holding for all the types of articles becomes difficult, and the article without the information may not be held.
Furthermore, the information that is necessary in holding may not be obtained in advance, in the living space. For example, although the portion where food is not dished up must be held (gripped) when holding a dished-up plate, at which position the food will be dished up cannot be determined in advance. In other words, the information necessary in holding cannot be obtained in advance.
Moreover, although the state of the holding object barely changes in factories and the like, the state of the article may change by the minute in the living space. For example, the paper normally is in a state of sheet form, but the form may change entirely if crumpled up into a ball. In this case, even if the information necessary in holding the article is obtained in advance, that is, the information in holding the paper in a sheet form is obtained in the above example, the relevant information will not be useful when holding the crumpled paper
An object of the present invention, in view of the above situations, is to provide an article holding system, a robot, and a method capable of controlling the robot to most suitably hold a wide variety of articles according to the state thereof.

Article holding system, robot, and method of controlling robot


A hand-held optical scanner comprising an optical sensor for generating a data signal representative of a scanned object; a housing for hand-displaceably supporting the optical sensor; a roller mounted on the housing for enabling rolling displacement of the housing over a scanned object in a predetermined scan direction; a displacement sensing device for sensing the angular displacement of the roller and generating a displacement signal representative thereof; a motor drivingly linked to the roller for applying a driving torque thereto; a controller for actuating the motor responsive to the displacement signal for angularly accelerating and decelerating the roller for urging an operator to hand displace the housing across a scanned object within a predetermined speed range which is optimal for scanning.

The present invention relates generally to hand-held optical scanners and, more particularly, to hand-held optical scanners in which the speed of hand scanning is controlled through the use of tactile feedback to the operator.
Optical scanners are used to produce machine-readable data which is representative of a scanned object, e.g. a page of printed text. Optical scanners employ line-focus systems to image scanned objects.
In a line-focus system, a light beam from an illuminated line object is imaged by a lens on a linear photosensor array which is positioned remotely from the line object. In an optical scanning device, the illuminated line object of the line-focus system is commonly referred to as a "scan line". The linear photosensor array is a single dimension array of photoelements which correspond to small area locations along the line object. These small area locations on the line object are commonly referred to as "picture elements" or "pixels". In response to light from its corresponding pixel location on the line object, each photoelement produces a data signal which is representative of the intensity of light which is impinged upon it. All of the photoelement data signals are received and processed by an appropriate data processing system which may subsequently store the data on a suitable medium or generate a display signal therefrom for reproducing an image of the object with a display device such as a CRT or printer.
Optical scanners and various components thereof are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,041 for OPTICAL SCANNER of David Wayne Boyd; U.S. Pat. No. 4,709,144 for COLOR IMAGER UTILIZING NOVEL TRICHROMATIC BEAM SPLITTER AND PHOTOSENSOR of Kent J. Vincent; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,268 for COLOR COMBINER AND SEPARATOR AND IMPLEMENTATIONS of Kent J. Vincent and Hans D. Neuman, which are each hereby specifically incorporated by reference for all that is disclosed therein.
Most optical scanners have photoelectric conversion assemblies which employ charge coupled device (CCD) type photosensors. All of the photoelements in a CCD linear array have the same fixed operating (sampling) interval, e.g. one millisecond. A data signal is produced by each element at the end of an operating interval and is representative of an average of the light intensity which the element experiences during the operating interval. The scan speed of a scanner employing a linear CCD photosensor array is thus limited by the CCD operating interval. If the scanner displacement rate is greater than one scan line width per CCD operating interval, the scanner will not be able to collect enough data to produce an accurate representation of the document which is being scanned. In most types of optical scanners, e.g. flatbed, sheet-fed and overhead scanners, the scan speed is directly controlled by the scanner control system. The control systems of such scanners are typically designed to provide a scan speed which is less than, but near the maximum scan speed possible for proper operation with the system photoelectric conversion assembly.
A hand-held optical scanner is an optical scanner which is moved across a scanned object, e.g. a page of text, by hand. During hand scanning, the scanning speed, i.e., the speed at which an operator moves the scanner across the object, is dependent on the operator. If an operator moves the scanner too rapidly with respect to the operating speed of the scanner photoelectric conversion assembly, data necessary for creating an accurate image of the scanned object will be lost. On the other hand, if the operator moves the scanner at a low rate of speed to avoid data loss, the scanning process may take much more time than is necessary.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,186 of Nakayama et al., which is hereby specifically incorporated by reference for all that it discloses, describes a hand-held optical scanner with a speed control device. Several different speed control embodiments are described. In one embodiment, a friction disk is mechanically linked to a guide roller which rotates as the scanner is moved across a document. The friction disk is constructed to expand and move into frictional contact with a housing and thus produce a load resisting scanning motion when scanning speed exceeds a predetermined speed. In another embodiment, a flywheel and a rotating weight which moves radially outwardly relative to its rotation axis with increased scanning speed is employed to limit scanning speed and maintain a relatively smooth scanning speed. In another embodiment, the scanning unit is moved along a guide rail. An associated guide roller rotates, and thereby a DC motor is rotated in the reverse direction. "Then, the DC motor functions as a generator which produces a load practically proportional to the revolving rate thereof. The load thus produced tends to maintain the revolving rate of the guide roller at a fixed value, which controls the moving speed of the scanning unit for an approximate uniform motion."
Nakayama et al. thus describes certain methods for limiting scanning speed, but does not consider the performance problem associated with scanning at a speed slower than necessary.

Manually operated hand-held optical scanner with tactile speed control assembly


An optical article, having an almost complete isotropy and dimensions equal to or lower than 500 .mu.m, is prepared by a sol-gel procedure comprising a preliminary step wherein the mould is filled cold with a sol containing the desired oxide precursors, sol gelation, gel drying, removal of the gel from the mould and the subsequent miniaturization of the dried gel. The optical article can be used for optic telecommunications.

The present invention refers to optical components consisting of silicon oxide, as such or suitably combined, in final or nearly final dimensions, having an almost totally isotropy and sizes equal to or lower than 500 um; furthermore the invention relates to the means used to carry out the preparation of such optical articles, as well as to the process for the preparation of both of them.
It is known that the optical materials, particularly the transparent optical materials, are typical materials of known machining difficulty and, sometimes, troublesome preparation because their fragility and hardness which, for example, are conditioning the hot molding by causing optical components and devices not being generally acceptable for reasons of product quality.
Usually, the methods for the production of uncommon morphology optical elements comprise reducing suitable preforms through extremely accuracy lens milling operations: These are methods requiring a very precise handling even through the employment of suitable equipment, this sometimes being the reason of difficult repeatibility and poor process flexibility.
One solution has been achieved by producing aspheric lenses through high temperature and pressure preparations, directly from suitable preforms of the desired optical material: however, the method has applicability limits, needs sophisticated equipment and can be carried out only through considerable investment.
One method for reducing costs consists in the use of organic optical material, i.e. plastic material, which can be melted and molded using very economical processes. However, the employment of plastic material is sometimes the cause of dimensional defects of final optical product, because of the insufficiently controllable material shrinkage during the molding treatment.
The Applicant is able to overcome all drawbacks being in the processes for the preparation of optical materials according to the known art, by means of the object defined in the European patents no. 586.013 and no. 705.797 it may freely use: according to such patents, it is possible to prepare perfectly and completely isotropic optical components in their final or nearly final dimensions by applying thermochemical densification treatment to an amorphous monolithic aerogel of silica, and/or other oxides, by the use of high precision tools and the former preparation of such aerogel via a so called sol-gel process during which the intermediate products, till the gel formation, undergo an ultrawave treatment.
The final optical product, obtainable through tolerable investments and absolutely repeatable methods, is characterized by very high precision and dimensional steadfastness: however, it is such and the relevant preparation method is advantageous when the optical article dimensions are beyond a threshold, under which machining difficulties may arise in the mould formation formation, particularly in the preparation of moulds representing microstructures which cannot be processed by means of the common machining tools such as, for example, the microlens matrix or other periodic microstructures needing a dimensional resolution of each element under the entrusting threshold of the existing machinery. Such difficulties increase in the case of preparation of optical articles in the peculiar microoptical field, wherein positioning and lining up problems have to solve of the magnitude order of micron and lower, and that, furthermore, has applications other than the ones pertaining to the traditional optic such as telecommunications, pick-up laser, semiconductor laser, optical memory.

Optical articles and sol-gel process for their manufacture


A debugger program, embedded in a ROM of a computer, operates on instructions of a target process executed by the computer.

A processor in a computer operates on instructions with no indication of what is happening internally, except for external signals on I/O pins. The contents of registers and cache within the processor may be assumed, if the processor is functioning properly, but are usually unknown, unless a specific request is made to read such information. Since the internal functions of the processor are effectively hidden, if a hardware or software error occurs during execution of a program, it is often difficult or time-consuming to determine whether the cause of the error is in the processor, in some other component of the computer or in the program instructions.
Computer program execution tracing is a useful technique for locating hardware and software errors in the performance of a computer by generating, or "capturing," a "trace" of executed program instructions. The program execution trace may also log certain events as they occur, a so-called event-based profiling technique. The program execution trace is essentially a listing of the executed instructions, called subroutines and accessed resources and sometimes the results thereof. This technique may be used, for example, in a power-on self test (POST) of the computer to discover errors in the performance of the processor, the firmware or the system board. This technique may also be used after POST to discover errors in programs or peripheral devices operating in the computer.
Some variations in program execution tracing use logic analyzers, in-target probes (ITPs) or in-circuit emulators (ICEs) to view executed instructions or to generate the program execution traces. Each of these devices has various benefits or uses. However, in addition to the cost of these devices, each also has limitations.
The logic analyzer monitors signals within the computer, such as signals on a bus, the I/O pins of a processor or another component in the computer. The logic analyzer can capture the state of the signals at any given moment and can capture a trace of the signals to record changes in the state of the signals over a period of time. The logic analyzer does not, however, control the computer or issue commands to get specific data. Thus, a significant limitation in logic analyzers is that the captured traces are dependent on the external signals of the processor, or other component, being monitored. The internal workings of the processor, such as the state of the registers or the cache, remain hidden. Thus, when the internal cache of the processor is enabled, many instructions cannot be captured. Additionally, significant manual translation and filtering must be done to correlate the captured signal data to actual instructions executed.
An ITP or an ICE enables debugging of the computer, the processor or the program during hardware/software development not only by monitoring the I/O pins or bus signals, but also by controlling the processor, bus or other component to which it is connected. Thus, not only does the ITP or ICE intercede between the desired component (e.g. the processor) and circuit board to intercept and/or sense some or all of the signals from the component, but the ITP or ICE can also issue commands to the component. For example, the ITP or ICE can request data from the registers of the processor in addition to displaying a current state of the signals on the I/O pins. The ITP or ICE cannot, however, access the cache, and the less expensive ITPs or ICEs cannot capture a trace of the executed instructions. The ITP or ICE can be used to manually step through each instruction, but this process is very slow. Additionally, some ICEs have some trace capture ability that only runs off a particular bus that the ICE is monitoring, so the ICE captures only the bus activity.
Each of these devices (the logic analyzers, ITPs and ICEs) is used within a laboratory setting. In other words, they are used to debug computers, computer components and programs under development by a manufacturer or that have reported errors in the field and have been returned by a consumer. Due to the cost and size of the logic analyzers, ITPs and ICEs, these devices are almost never taken out of the laboratory setting to analyze a computer, component or program in the field.
In order to view the contents of the cache and other internal workings of the processor, special "bond-out" versions of integrated circuit chips have been produced. The bond-out chips resemble the standard versions of their integrated circuits, but have special pins, and sometimes complete buses, that make "internal" signals available at special external bond-out interfaces. The bond-out features, however, take up valuable space in, and can affect the operation of, the integrated circuit. Additionally, special devices and programs are needed to decode and give meaning to the signals provided at the special bond-out interfaces.
Another technique for monitoring internal functions of the processor involves an "on-chip trace cache" and supporting circuitry within the integrated circuit of the processor. Trace information is captured in the on-chip trace cache during operation of the processor. Afterwards, the captured information can be downloaded and analyzed. This technique, however, takes up valuable space within the integrated circuit.
Another technique to analyze the performance of a target computer, but which does not necessarily incorporate additional devices (e.g. the logic analyzers, ITPs and ICEs) or additional on-chip circuitry, is "instrumented source code." In this technique, executable "tag statements" are inserted into various branches and locations of source code, thereby "instrumenting" the source code. After the source code has been compiled and linked, the tag statements are executed along with the rest of the code. As each tag statement is executed, it performs an operation that can be either detected by an analysis device or recorded within the target computer for later examination. For example, each tag statement may write a value to different addresses so that the contents of the addresses provide an indication of which tag statements were executed and in what order. The general flow of the software is thus indicated by the contents of the addresses.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A toner producing apparatus including: a foreign matter separating unit including a foreign matter separating chamber for separating metallic foreign matters contained in raw powder material of toner from the raw powder material of toner by using gravity, a feeding pipe connected to the foreign matter separating chamber so as to feed the raw powder material of toner into the foreign matter separating chamber, and an exhausting pipe connected to the foreign matter separating chamber so as to exhaust the raw powder material of toner from the foreign matter separating chamber; and a pulverizing unit including a rotor, the pulverizing unit being connected to the exhausting pipe of the foreign matter separating unit.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a toner producing apparatus, and a toner producing method.
Description of the Related Art
In a method of producing fine powder with mills, impact plate type mills, counter jet mills, and mechanical mills may be included as examples of mills that can produce fine powder having an average pulverized particle diameter of 4 μm to 10 μm at a production output of 150 kg/h to 200 kg/h if raw powder material having a particle diameter of approximately 30 μm is fed into the mills.
The impact plate type mills have such a feature that accelerates raw powder material by jet streams, and forces the accelerated raw powder material to collide against an impact plate so as to pulverize the raw powder material. The IDS series of Nippon Pneumatic Mfg. Co., Ltd. may be included as an example of the impact plate type mills, for example.
The counter jet mills have such a feature that accelerates raw powder material with counter jet streams, and allows the accelerated raw powder material to collide against each other. PJM-I of Nippon Pneumatic Mfg. Co., Ltd., Micron Jet Mill and Counter Jet Mill of Hosokawa Micron Corporation, and Cross Jet Mill of Kurimoto Ltd. may be included as examples of the counter jet mills, for example.
The impact plate type mills and the counter jet mills have such a configuration that injects raw powder material along with ultra-high speed jet streams, and allows the raw powder material to collide against the impact plate, or collide against each other, thereby pulverizing the raw powder material.
The impact plate type mills and the counter jet mills require great amount of air in order to accelerate the raw powder material using jet streams. Consequently, they have problems such as great electricity consumption, high energy cost, and great impact on environment.
Meanwhile, in the light of reduction in energy cost and impact on environment, the mechanical mills have been used as mills more efficient than the impact plate type mills and the counter jet mills. The mechanical mills feed raw powder material into gaps between rotors rotating at a high speed and stators so as to pulverize the raw powder material. Hence, the mechanical mills require no jet streams, and consume almost no compressed air during pulverizing the raw powder material. Accordingly, the mechanical mills can produce fine powder with saved energy.
As an example of the mechanical mills, there has been suggested a mechanical mill that includes a pulverizing chamber including a rotor and a stator disposed with a predetermined gap therebetween, and pulverizes raw powder material fed in the pulverizing chamber into fine powder through collision among the rotor, the stator, and the raw powder material accompanied by the rotation of the rotor (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2010-51875, for example).
Not only such mechanical mills, but also any mills using rotors can produce fine powder with reduced energy.
Raw powder material to be fed in a mill using a rotor is produced such that resin, colorant, and others are kneaded, for example, and furthermore raw powder material may be roughly pulverized if necessary. The above kneading process is carried out by a kneading machine. For example, in producing raw powder material for electrophotographic toner, a kneading machine having a crew is generally used. Such a kneading machines having a screw includes the screw and a casing disposed at the outer periphery of the screw. The screw has helical projections around its shaft. The screw or the casing is provided with pins that are column-like projections. Such a kneading machine having the screw efficiently carries out kneading operation in cooperation with the projections of the screw, and the pins.
During producing raw powder material through a kneading machine having a screw, metallic foreign matters may be mixed in the raw powder material resulted from the screw and the pins. High pressure is generated inside the kneading machine during the kneading operation. Such high pressure is likely generated between the helical projections of the screws, between the pins, and between the helical projections and the pins, etc. Hence, the helical projections or the pins become broken due to fatigue, impact, or the like because of such high pressure, resulting in generation of the metallic foreign matters. It has also been known that, for example, fatigue fracture is caused to a screw in a kneading machine (see JP-A No. 2009-131965, for example). Broken pieces of the screw resulted from the fatigue fracture become the above metallic foreign matters.
Contamination of metallic foreign matters in raw material powder causes the following problems. One is that if the metallic foreign matters along with the raw powder material are fed in a mill, the metallic foreign matters collide against a rotor of the mill, which may case breakage of the rotor. The metallic foreign matters held in a gap between the rotor and stator may cause such a problem that the metallic foreign matters stop the mill. Another is that the metallic foreign matters mixed in the raw powder material are pulverized by the mill, resulting in contamination of fine pieces of the pulverized metallic foreign matters in finished toner. In this case, such a problem may be caused that the finished toner containing the fine pieces of the metallic foreign matters causes damage on a photoreceptor in an image forming process.
A method of providing a filter for removing the metallic foreign matters in conveyance piping may be included as an example of conventional methods of removing the metallic foreign matters, for example. Unfortunately, mills that produce fine powder have so small gaps inside the mills that the raw powder material is needed to be supplied at high static pressure. Particularly in the mills using rotors, the raw powder material passes through extremely fine gaps, so that it is difficult to supply the raw powder material at low static pressure, and thus high static pressure is inevitably required in conveyance piping for supplying the raw powder material. Consequently, no filter can be installed in the conveyance piping for supplying the raw powder material into the mills.
Accordingly, it has been desired to provide a toner producing apparatus capable of separating metallic foreign matters from raw powder material of toner before the raw powder material of toner is pulverized by a mill using a rotor, capable of preventing the mill using a rotor from being damaged and stopped, and also capable of preventing produced toner from causing damage on a photoreceptor.

Toner producing apparatus and toner producing method


A combination subsurface heating system that incorporates electrical resistance heating and thermal conduction heating with systems disposed within a single borehole. The combination heating system includes an electrically conductive outermost well casing and a heating element that is electrically isolated from the casing but disposed within it or in an adjacent casing but within the same borehole. Each of the two heating components is powered by a separate power source.

Contaminants may be removed from soil, groundwater or rock by subsurface heating using thermal conduction heater wells or electrical resistance heating (ERH) electrodes. Thermal conduction heater wells are heating devices that are typically placed into the ground or soil pile to deliver heat energy into a contaminated media. In most applications, a hole is drilled into the ground to install a metal casing that can accommodate a heating device to transfer heat to the contaminated surroundings. In ERH subsurface electrodes are installed, between which alternating current flows, passing through soil or water. The subsurface media are resistant to the flow of electricity, and therefore, heat is produced. As with ERH, the increased temperature may cause a phase change, enabling removal of volatile contaminants. If both methods are employed simultaneously at a single site, each is performed in a separate bore hole location.
Combining thermal conduction heating with ERH may more efficiently treat subsurface contamination, particularly for sites containing a subsurface media with a substantially different electrical conductivity or thermal conductivity than the subsurface media overlying or underlying it.
Using conventional procedures, two different bore holes are installed to separately treat upper and lower lithological units of highly different electrical conductivity or thermal conductivity values. This may be done in lithologies of differing electrical conductivity by installing two different bore holes for ERH electrodes and applying different voltage potentials to the two different electrodes targeting the differing lithologies proportional to their resistivity, or by using a conductive heating well in a less electrically conductive media (such as a metamorphic or igneous bedrock) and ERH in a more electrically conductive media (such as an overlying saturated soil). Using two different bore holes doubles the cost of drilling during installation efforts.

Thermal conduction heater well and electrical resistance heating electrode


The invention relates to a pharmaceutical vaginal composition for treating or preventing vaginal infections. The composition includes a synergistic mix of a bioadhesive, extended release formulation that decreases the pH and that contains a peroxide in an amount sufficient to increase oxygen concentration without sterilizing the vagina or substantially killing the normally-desired local vaginal flora. The invention also relates to a method of treating or preventing vaginal infections in a patient comprising inserting vaginally an amount of the pharmaceutical vaginal composition in an amount sufficient to decrease the pH and increase oxygen concentration without sterilizing the vagina or substantially killing the normally-desired local vaginal flora.

Vaginal infections are a common problem among women. Bacterial Vaginosis (BV) is the most common form of infectious vaginitis, accounting for 45% of symptomatic cases and estimated to be present in 15% of asymptomatic sexually active women. See Breen, J. ed., The Gynecologist and the Older Patient, pp. 304-305 (1988). It is a polymicrobial vaginal infection believed to be caused by an increase in the number of anaerobic organisms with a concomitant decrease in lactobacilli in the vagina. The decrease in the number of lactobacilli in the vagina has a dual effect, i.e., (i) a decreased competition for nutrients, and (ii) a decrease in the amount of lactic acid present, thus allowing for the multiplication of opportunistic pathogens in the vagina, whose growth is normally suppressed by the lactobacilli. The principal pathogens associated with BV are believed to be Gardnerella vaginalis and anaerobes of the Mobiluncus species. However, numerous other pathogenic anaerobes are also believed to be involved in the etiology of vaginosis. See Kaufman et al., Benign Diseases of the Vulva and Vagina, 3rd ed., pp. 401-418 (1989). Thus, BV is considered a broad spectrum infection requiring a broad spectrum treatment.
In the United States discharge and foul smelling odor resulting from BV results in millions of women going to a physician's office each year in search of relief. An even larger number, estimated to be 30% of all adult American women, use douches that they purchase without a prescription. The idea of washing out the foul smelling discharge with an acid douche has a simplistic appeal. Medically, douching is frowned upon as studies have reported an association between douching and PID (Pelvic Inflammatory Disease), ectopic pregnancy, tubal infertility or reduced fertility. Furthermore, douching is unfavorable due to the fact that it also washes out normal and beneficial bacterial flora, leaving an environment prone to reoccurring BV.
The most troublesome aspect of BV is its impact upon the quality of fetal implantation and its potential to induce premature labor. The prevalence of BV in pregnant women has been reported to be 13 to 31%. BV during pregnancy is associated with increased risk of late miscarriage, pre-term labor, postpartum endometritis and low birth weight infants. In a recent study it was shown that BV is associated with an increased risk of miscarriage in the first trimester in women undergoing in-vitro fertilization.
U.S. application Ser. No. 09/748,753 discloses compositions useful in preventing miscarriage and premature labor associated with bacterial vaginosis by buffering the vaginal pH. The composition disclosed in the application comprises a therapeutically-effective amount of an aqueous pH-buffering bioadhesive water-insoluble, but water-swellable cross-linked polycarboxylic acid polymer, which provides the therapeutic effect without needing any additional treating agent, by itself buffering the vaginal pH to a normal, acidic pH, hostile to the infectant.
Clinically, BV presents itself as a superficial vaginal infection with few irritative symptoms and no inflammatory response. Some noticeable symptoms include an unpleasant smell, an elevated vaginal pH greater than about 5.0, a thin homogeneous discharge, the presence of Gardnerella clue cells and a high succinate/lactate ratio (not less than 0.4). See, e.g., Livengood et al., "Bacterial Vaginosis: Diagnostic and Pathogenic findings during Topical Clindamycin Therapy," Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol., Vol. 163, No. 2, p. 515 (August 1990).
It is believed that the composition of organic acids in the vagina shifts from primarily lactic acid (pKa=3.86) to succinic acid (pKa1=4.27, pKa2=5.64) as a result of the decrease in lactobacilli, which produce lactic acid, and a rise in Mobiluncus, which produce succinic acid. This shift in acid composition tends to raise the vaginal pH. It is unclear whether the change in acidity is a cause or effect of the infection. However, it is known that certain undesirable anaerobes grow better at a higher pH than is normally present in the vagina. It is thus believed that lowering the vaginal pH to a normal healthy level is an effective measure against symptoms of the infection, if not the infection itself.
Moreover, the odor of the amines which are produced in the vagina during BV is known to increase at higher pH's because unprotonated, volatile amines are more prevalent at higher pH—as the environment becomes more basic. Additionally, the higher pH level is thought to allow the undesirable anaerobes to grow and produce the odor-causing amines that are associated with a bacterial vaginosis infection.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,017,521 (the "521 patent") discloses a method of treating BV by topically contacting the luminal surface of vaginal epithelial cells with an effective pH buffering amount of an aqueous composition comprising water and an effective amount of a water-swellable, but water-insoluble, cross-linked pH buffering bioadhesive polymer wherein at least 80% of the monomers comprising said polymer contain at least one carboxyl group. The composition is kept in contact with the vaginal cells for a time period sufficient to lower the pH of the vagina to an acidic pH. The composition taught by the '521 patent is free of any treating agents.
The exact role of H2O2-producing lactobacilli is at best unclear. This may be the result of several factors the most important of which is concentration. Being able to detect H2O2-producing lactobacilli does not mean they are present in sufficient concentration to oxygenize the vagina and make the environment hostile to anaerobes. The solution many investigators have proposed is to add H2O2-producing lactobacilli to the vagina in high concentration as a means of eliminating the infection. The technical difficulties involved in such a project have prevented any investigator from developing a truly viable therapy.
Other attempts have been made to put H2O2 into a vaginal acidifier. However, those attempts have failed for two reasons. First, H2O2 is unstable in a gel and cannot be stored commercially. Second, the H2O2 concentration, which tends to be released quickly all at once, causing a "burst effect," not only obliterates the anaerobes, but also sterilizes the vagina making women more susceptible to reoccurring vaginal infections.
Such a treatment is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,741,525, (the '"525 patent"). The '525 patent discloses methods for maintaining or enhancing the normal protective function of vaginal flora by administering a therapeutically effective amount of a composition that has hydrogen peroxide in an amount of about 0.1% to about 3.0%. The '525 patent teaches that peroxide "amounts below about 0.1% have been found to be unsuitable to have any meaningful inhibitory effect on a wide variety of microorganisms." (The '525 patent at column 5, lines 57-59). The concentrations of hydrogen peroxide taught by the '525 patent to be useful in treating BV, however, are often detrimental to the growth of beneficial bacterial and can cause severe vaginal irritation and even vaginal peroxide bums. Furthermore, the treatment simply supplies a sudden burst of peroxide, killing a substantial number of bacteria and leaving it to chance as to whether a beneficial bacterial flora will recolonize or there will be a reoccurrence of BV.
Thus, there exists a need for an effective pharmaceutical composition for treating vaginal infections such as BV that does not have a "burst effect" causing vaginal irritation and excessively inhibiting or destroying beneficial bacterial flora. Furthermore, there is a need for a pharmaceutical composition that treats BV without sterilizing or significantly killing the normally-desired local vaginal flora the vagina and leaving it susceptible to reoccurring BV. There is also a need for a pharmaceutical composition that is simple to use and still effectively achieves a balance between inhibiting undesirable microorganisms, while providing a favorable environment for desirable local flora. The present invention successfully addresses these needs as detailed below.

Low concentration of peroxide for treating or preventing vaginal infections


Tripod roller for a constant velocity joint in a tripod construction having an interior ring, an exterior ring, and roller bodies arranged therebetween, whereby provided on the interior and on the exterior ring are two mutually opposing annular shoulders that limit the axial movement of the roller bodies in one direction. One of the rings has another annular shoulder for limiting the axial movement of the roller bodies in the other direction, while other ring is axially extended and has a circumferential annular groove in which is received a radially projecting locking ring that laterally overlaps the one ring.

Such a tripod roller or a constant velocity joint constructed with such a tripod roller is known e.g. from EP 0 426 186 B1. Such constant velocity joints are used for instance in all drive shafts in front wheel-drive passenger vehicles. They have a rotatable exterior joint part with three circumferentially distributed raceway devices, each of which has two parallel, flat running faces, as well as a tripod star that the joint exterior part wraps around and that has three circumferentially distributed radial journals, whereby each of the journals is received in the interior ring of a tripod roller.
The tripod roller that is described in EP 0 426 186 B1 provides an exterior ring and an interior ring, between which the roller bodies are arranged. At one end, the interior ring has an integral, outwardly projecting projection on which the exterior ring is borne on its first end face. Arranged at the opposing end of the roller unit is a disk and a locking ring via which the roller unit is held together. The disk sits outside on the interior ring, and the exterior ring is placed thereupon with its second end face and with no clearance. The locking ring is received in a groove embodied on the interior ring and overlaps the disk such that no axial movement of the interior ring is possible relative to the exterior ring. The roller bodies that are received between interior ring and exterior ring with minimum axial clearance are guided at their end faces on the projection of the interior ring or of the disk. Although this multi-part design of the tripod roller does serve its purpose, four parts are required in addition to the roller bodies, which is disadvantageous in terms of assembling the roller and in terms of production costs.


A method of bioactive molecule delivery includes providing a first aqueous medium comprising native graphene oxide and a second aqueous medium comprising a bioactive molecular component that includes Gd(III)-labeled molecules; mixing said first and second media to form a mixture thereof; co-incubating the mixture for a first period of time for coupling said molecular component on a surface of said native graphene oxide, to provide a co-incubation product; and contacting a cellular medium with said co-incubation product for a second period of time for cellular delivery of said bioactive molecular component.

Graphene oxide (GO) is a two-dimensional mosaic of hydroxyls, epoxides, carbonyls, and aromatic rings. Its specific surface area surpasses that of other nanomaterials by 10-fold and encroaches on the theoretical maximum. These quintessential surfaces non-covalently interact with each other and with molecules in solution through a rich, multivalent combination of hydrogen bonding, charge interactions, π chemistry, and hydrophobic effects. The unparalleled surface area and the diverse surface chemistry make GO an attractive platform as a cellular delivery vehicle.
Recently, surface-modified GO has been shown to deliver a variety of molecules, with hydrophobic drugs and single-stranded DNA being the most actively explored. However, an incomplete understanding of the GO system and the synthetic proficiency required to produce the nanocomplexes have hindered the adoption of these approaches by the larger biomedical community. Of equal importance, hydrophilic small molecules as a class have been largely overlooked in the studies of GO delivery thus far due to the presumed critical role of π-π stacking and hydrophobic effects in the cargo-GO interaction.

Graphene oxide mediated cellular delivery of gadolinium-labeled molecules


A hand tool for removing and collecting used staples. The tool includes a handle hollowed out to form an interior compartment for storing removed staples. At a first end, or working end, and adjacent an entranceway of the compartment, is an outwardly extending prong for wedging under the bridge of an embedded staple. Adjacent to, and substantially coextensive with the prong is a guide member that acts to confine movement of removed staples toward the compartment entrance. The prong and guide define a pathway extending from the point of staple engagement at the working end of the tool, all the way to the entranceway of the storage compartment. The hand tool is designed to be separated to provide access to the interior, and includes a removable plug to dump collected staples as necessary. This hand tool avoids injuries and damage typically caused by prior staple removal devices.

This invention relates to the field of hand tools, and more specifically to implements for manually removing staples from stapled materials or documents.
During the early 20th Century, papers, fabrics and other laminar materials or documents were fastened together by sharply pointed pins, very much like "straight pins" currently used by tailors. The document pins generally were elongated, with one end bent to form a blunt pushing surface. When pinning papers or other materials, a user would employ the finger or thumb of one hand to press against the blunt pushing surface, while using finger tips of the other hand to guide the sharply pointed end of the pin in a double pass through the layers to be attached. Injuries from this procedure were common, and often to the extent that blood spots would appear on important documents.
Years later, mechanical staplers were developed, thus putting an end to the hazardous pinning method. Table model staplers were popular for decades, soon to be joined by smaller hand-wielded versions. More recently, stapling is most often performed automatically by auxiliary stapling units mounted on high volume copiers. Despite advances in stapling techniques, staple-related injuries have continued. Such injuries are no longer brought about in the stapling process, but rather occur during subsequent un-stapling.
The removal of staples from documents and other materials was often performed by hand, in the early years by force of tough thumbnails and by the sharp pointed blades of a pocketknives or letter openers. Naturally, these-techniques-induced injuries, as well. In the past quarter century or longer, special staple pullers were developed. These generally were of a hand tool variety, with a wedging blade to lift the staple.
Blade type staple removers are constructed simply by machining and angling a piece of metal into a blade or prong tip such that it can fit between the embedded legs of a staple where it is binding documents or materials. The staple is removed by grasping the device and sliding the sharp tip of the blade underneath the staple and rocking it out or simply pushing the blade further and further between the embedded legs until a thick portion of the blade displaces the staple from its binding position.
The force of the tool acts to pull on the staple at the front side of the documents, forcing the folded ends of the staple at the backside of the documents to unbend and exit from staple holes which were generated in the initial stapling process. The removed staple may fall to the desktop or floor, it may cling to the tool, or perhaps even take flight.
Other staple removers in wide use are best described as jaw-type extractors, wherein hinged jaws with curved claw-like implements are forced under a staple. As the extractor jaws are brought together by manual force, the implements cooperate to lift the staple and then push it from its clamping position. Again, the removed staples will fall, cling to the jaws or take flight.
Regardless of the tools and techniques used, a problem still exists since post-removal handling of the staple continues to cause injury. The staples, considerably deformed yet still with hazardously sharpened ends, must be plucked by hand from their new location—bound to the tool itself, scattered on the desktop, or lurking in the carpet (threatening damage to vacuum cleaners or stockings) or on the clothing of the user (threatening skin injuries and damaged clothing). Thus, a century or more of stapling technology has done little to eradicate these annoying office injuries. The broken, jammed or clinging staple can cause painful damage to the user's fingers and damage to the device itself, as well as to the documents or materials to which the staple is attached.
The prior art is filled with proposed solutions to stapling problems, but none has successfully addressed the two main issues, namely the device's effectiveness with respect to the removal and/or collection of staples, and the safety of the user performing these processes. For example, the staple remover described by Crutchfield in U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,663 suggests a blade type staple remover that provides a staple storage magazine. The magazine is in fact a gap between upper and lower prongs where removed staples are accumulated as they are removed. In this position, the user is exposed to the staples. And to remove the staples, the user must grasp the deformed staples between thumb and index finger and forcefully pull them from their wedged position in the magazine. Viel, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,625,482, discusses another blade type staple remover where staple collection is addressed. However, the removed staples pulled from the bound papers by a removal bar, must follow an uncontrolled pathway to the collection chamber, face high potential for being dropped or jamming the chamber entrance.
Thus, because of design flaws the currently available blade-type staple removers fall short of successfully addressing staple collection challenges. The object of the present invention is to solve current problems in removed staple collection, particularly where blade-type removers are employed. A further object is to provide a staple remover that successfully removes staples without allowing them to cling to, or become jammed in, the papers or the staple remover itself.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a guard or shield to prevent staples from being projected or propelled throughout the work area, littering the workplace and endangering users. The guard or shield actually controls the movement of removed staples along a confined pathway to storage. Another object is to provide a staple remover that removes staples and stores them within the body of the remover until the storage area is emptied. Yet another object is to provide a staple remover that can be readily opened into two halves in order to grant access to the inside of the device.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a staple remover which is inexpensive, easy to use, and readily manufactured from metal, wood, plastic, or a combination of two or more of these materials. Other objects, features, and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following full description and the appended claims, with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals designate corresponding elements in the various figures.


A combined viscous heater and viscous coupling fan drive operates on principles of viscous coupling to provide both, supplemental vehicle interior cabin heating, and rotation to a cooling fan mounted to a fan shaft. A viscous drive chamber and case surround a drive plate and a viscously driven plate. A liquid coolant chamber and case surrounds the viscous drive case that houses the plates for viscous coupling. Liquid coolant passes through the liquid coolant chamber as coolant circulates through the engine block. The coolant chamber has a coolant inlet and outlet. An electromagnetic clutch engages to turn a shaft and the driving plate which viscously couples to and turns the driven plate, which is connected to a shaft and engine cooling fan. The electromagnetic clutch and a fan brake are controlled to govern viscous heat generation by the plates and cooling fan operation.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art. Certain automotive internal combustion engines, diesel engines in particular, require a high airflow engine-driven cooling fan to provide a heat-removing airflow through the radiator and past the engine during high engine load, high engine temperature, conditions. Such engines may also require a supplemental heat-generating device to provide supplemental heat to the interior cabin of a vehicle. Such a supplemental heat-generating device may be necessary for internal combustion engines during periods of low ambient temperature, such as during sub-freezing temperatures, especially with diesel-powered vehicles, which may not generate a sufficient output of engine heat to satisfactorily heat the interior cabin of a vehicle. A supplemental heat-generating device may also be used to hasten the delivery of heat to a vehicle interior cabin when a vehicle engine is initially started. Without such a supplemental heat-generating device an engine may never develop enough heat to heat a vehicle cabin, or may require extended periods of time to provide such heat. While separate devices of viscous cooling fans and supplemental viscous heaters have generally proven satisfactorily for their individual purposes, each is associated with their share of limitations.
One such limitation associated with each device is the amount of space that each utilizes within a vehicle's engine compartment. A second limitation is that the current devices each require their own separate pulley on the engine accessory drive. A third limitation is that each device must be separately assembled to an engine during engine assembly. This requires valuable time which has an associated cost.
What is needed then is a device that does not suffer from the above limitations. This, in turn, will provide a device that integrates an engine cooling fan drive and a supplemental heat generating device that can reduce engine assembly time and the cost associated with producing two separate parts, and requires only one pulley on the accessory drive for both functions.

Combination viscous fan drive and viscous heat device


The invention relates a control or regulation of a multipiston squeeze head or block squeeze head of a molding machine for clay-bonded molding sand (molding material). In an active pressing process with a squeeze head moving in downward direction, e. g. consisting of multislides or multipistons, the displacement of individual multislides has so far been detected through by end switches (approach switches) or through inductive stroke transducer. Thus, reached positions are registered and processed in a control means. Subject matter of the invention is an adaptation of influenceable parameters to obtain a sand mold of good quality on a long-term basis. Surprisingly, the measurement of the flown oil (Q;q.sub.t (t)) provides a basis for the improvement of the sand mold. If models of different sizes are molded subsequently, the quantity of sand required is different. According to the control signal of the invention (Q;q.sub.t (t)), more or less sand is filled into the bunker.

The invention relates to a control or regulation of a multipiston squeeze head or block squeeze head of a molding machine for clay-bonded molding material (e. g. molding sand).
In an active pressing process from above with a squeeze head, e. g. consisting of multislides or multipistons, the displacement of individual multislides or multipistons has so far been detected through main control switches (approach switches) or through inductive stroke transducer. Thus, reached positions are registered and processed in a control means. This kind of position measurement is also possible for the squeeze head--with or without multislides or multipistons--as a whole. At present, two prior art documents are known.sup.1.
Compacting of sand by individually operated pistons by oil flow is disclosed in J-A 57/142743 (Komatsu), "Patent Abstracts of Japan," Vol. 006, No. 246 (M176), Dec. 4, 1992. The control of the filling height of sand in compacting units is subject matter of DE-A 41 12 466 (Georg Fischer), as there are used two switch members to physically detect the filling height of the compacted sand.

Method of controlling compacting by measuring hydraulic fluid


A personal cleansing composition which comprises. a. a skin cleansing effective amount of a surfactant or mixture of surfactants, PA1 b. a hydrophobic active component in quantities which brings about a perceived effect on the skin, said effect selected from the group consisting of skin conditioning, skin protection from irritants and antibacterial agents, PA1 c. a hydrocarbon containing component, and PA1 d. a cationic polymer. the quantities of c and d selected so that the effect on the skin by component b is enhanced over the additive effects of c and d alone.

Basic skin cleansing activities have been long addressed by the personal care industry. Removing soil from the skin is a worldwide requirement of the consumer population that has been met by the available skin cleansing products. The consumer population is now looking for additional benefits beyond basic cleansing. Skin conditioning i.e. smoothness, texture, etc., is a desired characteristic and brought about through the presence of emollients in a basic skin cleansing composition. Additionally, the presence of components which bring about an antibacterial effect on the skin are now becoming ever more acceptable and desirable by the consumer population.
In order for these effects to be perceived by the consumer or measurable to various degrees, there must be contact of the active ingredient which brings about the effect with the skin. Therefore, increased deposition of an active ingredient on the skin is certainly desirable since a greater effect should normally follow and less active ingredient may be employed, thereby potentially reducing the cost of the formulation.
A new way of increasing the deposition of hydrophobic active ingredients from skin cleansing compositions has been discovered. This provides both liquid and solid skin cleansing compositions with the ability to deliver greater quantities of active ingredients to the skin during an ordinary skin cleansing procedure and/or maintain them on the skin for a longer period of time.


Devices and methods are disclosed for an optical component mounting system for supporting an optical component such as a laser. The mounting system comprises a first component comprising a first surface, a second component comprising a second surface facing the first surface, and adhesive between the first surface of the first component and the second surface of the second component, wherein the first component comprises at least three mounting pads extending from the first surface for contacting the second surface of the second component and providing direct support between the first component and the second component. The component comprising the mounting pads may be a lower mount, an upper mount such as an upper clamping mount, or a bonding pad or other component in the stack of components. A method of assembling the stack of components may comprise curing the adhesive at a temperature at or above an upper end of an expected temperature operating range for the optical component mounting system.

Lasers are used in many different medical procedures including a number of different ophthalmic procedures. For example, therapeutic lasers are used for photocoagulation of retinal tissue to treat issues such as retinal tears and effects of diabetic retinopathy. In an example of such procedures, the distal end of a laser probe is introduced into the eye globe through a trocar cannula. The laser system can be activated to emit an aiming laser beam, which may be a first color such as red, to show where the laser probe is pointed. When the operator (e.g., an eye surgeon) has the aiming laser beam pointed at the intended spot, the operator then can activate the laser system to emit a therapeutic laser beam, which may be a second color such as green, to the intended spot, or areas around the intended spot, to effect treatment (e.g., photocoagulation).
In certain laser arrangements, light from multiple lasers may be coupled into a single optical fiber. For example, in an arrangement for an ophthalmic procedure as described above, the light emitted from an aiming laser and the light emitted from a therapeutic laser may be coupled together into a single optical fiber for the laser probe. In this way, the beam from the therapeutic laser is aligned to be directed at the same location as the aiming spot.
In these and other related laser arrangements, it is important to precisely align the lasers. For example, it is important to precisely align a laser for coupling the beam of the laser into a fiber core. In addition, in is important that a laser beam remain stable and free from directional drift or other movement once the laser is aligned. It is also important that other optical components, such as beam splitters, lenses, and mirrors, remain mechanically stable. Lasers and other optical components can become misaligned due to external factors such as temperature, humidity, and/or vibration. There is a need for improved optical component mounting systems that allow alignment of a laser or another optical component while maintaining stability of the laser or other optical component and preventing and/or minimizing directional drift of the laser or other optical component once it is aligned.


A process controlling unit included in a multifunction-device controller sends an acquired ID number and a request for identifying the user corresponding to the ID number, to a controller server. The controller server searches a user management file for user information corresponding to the ID number. The controller server sends, to the multifunction-device controller, information representing that user verification is successfully made when user information is acquired. Upon reception of such information, the process controlling unit permits the verified user to operate a copier making copies of documents. Upon completion of the copying operation, the process controlling unit acquires information representing the number of copies made by the user. Then, the process controlling unit creates usage information of the copier, and sends the created usage information to the controller server. The controller server stores the received usage information into a usage-information management file.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a device management system a management client, a controller server, and a method for managing device usage.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, OA devices such as copiers, printers, etc., are widely used in many offices to improve the efficiency of office work. For example, a copier may be arranged in each section of a company and used by employees to make copies of documents. In addition, a printer may be arranged in each work group within a section to print documents output from terminal devices (such as personal computers, etc.) of the employees.
In recent years so-called "multifunction devices" have been widely used. Such multifunction devices may perform copier functions, scanner functions, printer functions, etc. Such multifunction devices may copy papers, print documents, and also read documents while serving as a scanner so as to acquire image data from the documents.
A plurality of such OA devices may be connected with each other through a Local Area Network (LAN), etc. In such an arrangement each of the OA devices may be operated by manipulation of user terminal devices.
Even if such OA devices are operable by manipulation of user terminal devices, the users must still go to the place where a corresponding OA device is located for some operations. For example, when printing a document from a user's terminal device, the user must go to the printer to get the printed paper. In addition, when copying any papers, the user must go to the copier to operate the copier.
Hence, the efficiency with which office work can be performed depends on the location of the OA device. That is, if the OA device is located far from the user, then the efficiency of the office work may decline, and the cost for managing the system may increase.
To determine whether an OA device is arranged in an optimum location, it is necessary to monitor the usage of each device. Conventionally, the usage of each device is monitored based on a counter value of each device or the number of papers consumed by a user through each printer, etc. For example, a system administrator may sum up the counter values of each copier, to thereby monitor and manage the usage of the OA device in each section.
However, in such case, no consideration is given as to whether the OA device of a predetermined section has been used by a user from another section. Thus, the counter values do not necessarily accurately indicate the usage context of the OA device, as used by the users from a predetermined section. Therefore, the usage context of the OA device can not be optimally managed, according to each section of the company.
Thus, it is difficult to determine whether an OA device is arranged in an optimum location, or whether an optimum number of OA devices have been arranged. Consequently, in such circumstances, it is difficult to enhance the efficiency of office work, and it is difficult to reduce the cost of managing the system.
Further, to use an OA device such as a printer connected to a LAN, it is necessary to install software for driving the OA device. Installation of software is also required when using a new OA device. Because such installation is particularly troublesome, an easy process for installing the software into the OA device is desired.

Device management system, management client, controller server, method for managing usage context of device, and recording medium which records the method


A dynamic color mixing LED device that includes a plurality of light emitting diode units. Each light emitting diode unit includes e.g. a first LED of a first color (e.g. red) and a second LED of a second color (e.g. green). A third LED of a third color (e.g. blue can also be provided). A controller supplies respective driving signals to each of the first LED, second LED, and third LEDs individually. The respective driving signals individually control relative intensity outputs of the respective first LED, second LED, and third LED. With such an individual control each of the light emitting diode units can be controlled to output different color signals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a light emitting diode (LED) device with a dynamic color mixing scheme-so that the LED device can efficiently and effectively output a wide range of colors.
2. Discussion of the Background
All colors are formed of different combinations of red, green, and blue (RGB) components. Controlling the relative intensity ratio of the different contributions of red, green, and blue components allows multiple colors to be displayed. The quantity of possible colors is proportional to the accuracy of incrementing the ratio between the different color components of red, green, and blue. A broader spectrum of colors can be achieved when each component's contribution is precisely controlled.
As an example, if each of red, green, and blue component contributions can be controlled in 256 increments, then 16.7 million precise ratios or colors are possible (2563). FIG. 1 graphically shows how-the three different components of red, green, and blue can be utilized to form any color. FIG. 1 specifically shows how the different contributions of red, green, and blue (RGB) can form any of the colors of cyan (C), white (W), yellow (Y), and magenta (M), or any colors therebetween.
As a concrete example evident from FIG. 1, the color magenta (M) is produced when the blue (B) and red (R) components are at the maximum value and the green (G) component is at a minimal value of zero. That is, the color magenta (M) can be formed by maintaining the components of red (R), green (G), and blue (B) to be (255, 0, 255).


In a film cassette, a spool core about which a filmstrip is coiled is rotated in an unwinding direction to thrust a leading end portion of the filmstrip from inside to outside the cassette. The filmstrip has a trailing or inner end portion with a hole in it. The spool core includes a double-hook piece in the hole having a shorter hook and a longer hook. The shorter hook projects from the hole in the unwinding direction to slightly overlie the trailing end portion to engage the trailing end portion for pushing the filmstrip off the spool core to thrust the leading end portion outside the cassette when the spool core is rotated in the unwinding direction, but which will exit the hole as the trailing end portion begins to separate from the spool core. The longer hook projects from the hole in a winding direction to substantially overlie the trailing end portion to engage the trailing end portion for preventing the trailing end portion from completely separating from the spool core when the shorter hook is removed from the hole, but which can be backed out of the hole by rotating the spool core relative to the trailing end portion in the unwinding direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of photography, and in particular to a film cassette containing roll film.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,031,852, issued Jul. 16, 1991 discloses a film cassette wherein a film roll whose outermost convolution is a film leader is coiled about a spool core rotatable within the cassette shell in film unwinding and winding directions. A pair of flexible flanges are coaxially arranged on the spool core to radially confine the film leader within respective skirted peripheries of the flanges to prevent the leader from clock-springing against an interior wall of the cassette shell. A film stripper projects from the interior wall to be received between a leading end portion of the film leader and the next inward convolution of the film roll to free the leader from the flanges and guide it into a lighttight passageway to the exterior of the cassette shell responsive to rotation of the spool core in the unwinding direction. Thus, when the spool core is rotated in the unwinding direction, the film leader will be thrust or propelled from inside to outside the cassette shell.
Various means such as tape or a fastening hook may be devised for attaching an inner or trailing end portion of the film roll to the spool core. However, such known means have been found not to work well in the film cassette.

Film cassette with spool core having fastening hook


A spindle head for performing friction stir welding includes concentric spindle shafts driven by stacked, coaxial motors contained within a spindle housing. The coaxial arrangement of the motors results in a more compact package. Each of the motors is concentrically arranged around one of the spindles by directly connecting a rotor of the motor to a spindle shaft. The stators of the motors are mounted on the housing and are concentrically arranged around the concentric spindle shafts.

Friction stir welding (FSW) may be used to join two sheets of metal along a weld line without the use of welding filler materials. The weld is created by a combination of frictional heating of the metal by a rotating tool, and mechanical deformation of the weld using a rotating tool. These tools may comprise a retractable pin tool rotatable within an annually shaped shoulder tool. The pin tool and shoulder tool may be connected to concentric spindles which are respectively driven by separate motors. These motors are typically mounted on or near a spindle head and are laterally offset from the spindle axes. The ends of the concentric spindles are coupled with the motors either through gear sets or drive belts.
The spindle head construction described above may not be suitable for some applications due to the bulk of the spindle head caused by the laterally offset motors. For example, FSW machines on which the spindle head is mounted may have structural elements that interfere with the laterally offset motors as the spindle head is moved along multiple axes during a welding operation.
Accordingly, there is a need for a FSW apparatus having a compact spindle head which overcomes the problems discussed above. Embodiments of the disclosure are intended to satisfy this need.

Apparatus for friction stir welding using spindle-in-spindle


An 8/9 coding apparatus which suppresses the DC component of input data to be recorded on a magnetic tape by converting the 8-bit input data to 9-bit coded data, provided with a CDSc table for the CDSc data, that is, the data of the complement of 2 of the cumulative value of bits in a symbol included in coded data based on the input data. In a DSVc adder, CDSc data is cumulatively added by a polarity in accordance with polarity data, DSVc data indicating the complement of 2 of the cumulative value of the bits for every sector is generated, and an MSB bit thereof is output as MSB data to a table selector. The table selector outputs a table switching signal generated based on the polarity data and the MSB data to a data table, a polarity table, and the CDSc table. The tables are selectively used based on this switching signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an 8/9 coding apparatus used in a digital data recorder.
2. Description of the Related Art
One format for digital data recorders is the ID-1 system described in "ANSI X3.17-1990".
In the recording system of such a digital data recorder, the recording data is subjected to two types of error correction coding by an outer code and an inner code, randomization, 8/9 coding, NRZI(1) modulation, magnetization, and optimization of recording, then is recorded on a recording medium.
Here, the 8/9 coding is for converting a randomized serial byte stream to a 9-bit NRZL word stream. By this conversion, after the next performed NRZI(1) modulation of the 9-bit NRZL word stream, it becomes possible to obtain a recording wave form in which the DC component is suppressed.
Below, an explanation will be made of an 8/9 coding apparatus not covered by this application.
FIG. 1 is a view of the configuration of an 8/9 coding apparatus not covered by this application. The 8/9 coding apparatus 1 has a data table 2, a polarity table 3, a codeword digital sum (CDS) table 4, a polarity register 5, a converter 6, a digital sum variation (DSV) adder 7, and a table selector 8.
The data table 2 is a table for converting the randomized serial byte stream to a 9-bit NRZL word stream and has a data table (+) 2a and a data table (-) 2b which are selectively used by the switching of the selector 2c according to the conditions at the time of the conversion.
The polarity table 3 defines the rules indicating whether or not the signal will be inverted after the 8/9 coding and has a polarity table (+) 3a and a polarity table (-) 3b which are selectively used by the switching of the selector 3c according to the conditions at the time of the conversion.
The CDS table 4 is a table storing the CDS value of the data after the 8/9 coding and has a CDS table (+) 4a and a CDS table (-) 4b which are selectively used by the switching of the selector 4c according to the conditions at the time of the conversion.
Here, the CDS shows the cumulative value of the bits from the head to the tail of the wave form of one NRZI(1) symbol. The cumulative addition is carried out by defining the code "1" of the NRZI(1) as "+1" and defining "0" as "-1".
The DSV is the cumulative value of the values of the recording wave form of the NRZI(1) for all 9-bit symbols contained in one sector. Accordingly, DSV becomes a value obtained by cumulatively adding all 9-bit symbol CDSs contained in one sector.
The polarity register 5 is a register holding the polarity of the current signal and records the polarity inversion data from the polarity table 3.
The converter 6 converts the input signal from NRZL to NRZI.
The DSV adder 7 calculates the DSV value for a period from the head of the sector to the present time as shown in the following Table 1 by using a sector start indication signal S10, the CDS data S4, and the polarity inversion data S5 and holds the result of the calculation.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ Previous polarity Next DSV ______________________________________ + DSV - CDS - DSV + CDS ______________________________________
The table selector 8 receives as its inputs the polarity inversion data S5 from the polarity register 5 and the DSV data S7 from the DSV adder 7, determines which of the tables of (+) or (-) to be selected based on these data, and outputs the table switching signals to the selectors 2c, 3c, and 4c. At this time, the relationship of the polarity inversion data S5 and DSV data S7 with the tables to be selected next are shown in the following Table 2.
TABLE 2 ______________________________________ Previous state DSV Polarity Table to be selected next ______________________________________ + + Table (+) + - Tahle (-) - or 0 + Table (-) - or 0 - Table (+) ______________________________________
In Table 2, Table (+) indicates that the data table (+) 2a, polarity table (+) 3a, and the CDS table (+) 4a are to be selected. Further, Table (-) indicates that the data table (-) 2b, polarity table (-) 3b, and the CDS table (-) 4b are to be selected.
FIG. 2 is a view of the configuration of the table selector 8.
As shown in FIG. 2, the table selector 8 is constituted by discriminators 8a and 8b for discriminating whether DSV<0 and DSV=0, respectively, an OR circuit 8c, and an exclusive logical OR circuit 8d.
Next, an explanation will be made of the processing of the 8/9 coding apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1.
Step S1: First, when the sector start indication signal S10 indicates the head of the sector, the polarity register 5 and the DSV adder 7 initialize these values.
Step S2: Next, the table selector 8 outputs the table selecting signal S8 found under the conditions shown in above Table 2 and 4c by using the input polarity inversion data S5 and the DSV data S7 to the selectors 2c, 3c.
By this, in the data table 2, the polarity table 3, and the CDS table 4, either of the tables (+) or (-) are selected.
Step S3: Then, based on these selected tables, in the data table 2, the 9-bit NRZL data S2 is found from the 8-bit input data S0. This NRZL data S2 is converted to the 9-bit NRZI in the converter 6.
Step S4: Based on the selected CDS table, the CDS data S4 corresponding to the input data S0 is output from the CDS table 4 to the DSV adder 7.
Then, at the DSV adder 7, the 5-bit DSV data is generated based on Table 1 by using the polarity inversion data S5, the CDS data S4, and the sector start indication signal S10 and is output to the table selector 8.
Further, based on the selected polarity table, the polarity inversion data S3 corresponding to the input data S0 is output from the polarity table 3 to the polarity register 5. The value of the polarity register 5 is updated by this polarity inversion data S3.
Step S5: Returning to step S2 again, the processing for the next input data S0 is carried out.
Next, an explanation will be made of the conventional 8/9 coding apparatus 21 not having the CDS table.
FIG. 3 is a view of the configuration of the conventional 8/9 coding apparatus 21 not having the CDS table.
As shown in FIG. 3, the 8/9 coding apparatus 21 is not provided with the polarity table and the CDS table. Namely, in the CDS calculator 25, the 5-bit CDS data S25 is calculated based on the 9-bit NRZI format output data S21 output from the converter 26. Further, the converter 26 generates the polarity inversion data from the NRZL data S2, feeds back this polarity inversion data S26 again and, at the same time, outputs the same to the table selector 28. The DSV adder 27 generates the 5-bit DSV data based on the CDS data S25 and the sector start indication signal S10 and outputs this DSV data S27 to the table selector 28.
The table selector 28 generates the table selecting signal based on the DSV data S27 and the polarity inversion data S26 and outputs this table selecting signal S28 to the selector 2c of the data table 2.
According to the 8/9 coding apparatus 21, the configuration of the apparatus can be simplified since it is not provided with the polarity table and the CDS table.
In the above 8/9 coding apparatus 1, however, when the table selector 8 performs the selection of the tables under the conditions shown in Table 2, it is necessary to decide which of the conditions of A or B shown in the following (1) stand.
A: DSV is positive PA1 B: DSV is negative or zero
(1)
Note that DSV is usually expressed by using a binary value of the complement of 2 or an offset binary value.
However, when performing the above decision shown in (1) for the DSV data expressed by the binary value of the complement of 2 etc. in this way, the condition under which the bit of the DSV data changes and the condition under which the result of decision shown in above (1) changes do not coincide. For this reason, in the table selector 8, the decision of the conditions shown in the following (2) and (3) is carried out with the circuit configuration shown in FIG. 2, the results of these decisions are combined, and then the decision shown in above (1) is carried out. EQU DSV<0 (2) EQU DSV=0 (3)
Namely, the table selector 8 performs the decisions as shown in the following (4) and (5) by using the results of the decisions of the conditions of the above (2) and (3).
______________________________________ When "(2) is false" and "(3) is false", A of the above (1) stands (4) When "(2) is true" or (3) is true", B of the above (1) stands (5) ______________________________________
However, since the table selector 8 has to carry out such a complex operation, there is a problem in that the circuit configuration becomes complex as shown in FIG. 2 and, at the same time, the processing time becomes long.
Further, in the above 8/9 coding apparatus 1, the DSV data S7 output from the DSV adder 7 becomes a value within a range of from -8 to +9 at the punctuation of the input data words when including the influence of the Sync pattern. For this reason, the DSV adder 7 is required to have a 5-bit addition, subtraction, initialization, and Sync part processing function.
Further, in the above 8/9 coding apparatus 1, the CDS data recorded in the CDS table 4 has a value within a range of from -6 to +8, therefore 5 bits become necessary to express the CDS data by a binary value.
A similar problem occurs also in the 8/9 coding apparatus 21 explained above referring to FIG. 3.


Memory devices and methods of manufacturing memory devices are provided. The device and methods described suppress oxidation of metal layers exposed to ambient oxygen. After an opening is formed, a nitridation process occurs to nitridate the surface of the exposed metal layer inside the opening. The nitridated region formed on the surface of metal layer inside the opening works as a barrier layer for oxygen diffusion. In addition, the nitridated region works as an electrode for charge trap memory cells.

Semiconductor technology has advanced at a rapid pace and device dimensions have shrunk with advancing technology to provide faster processing and storage per unit space. In NAND devices, the string current needs to be high enough to obtain sufficient current to differentiate ON and OFF cells. The string current is dependent on the carrier mobility which is enhanced by enlarging the grain size of the silicon channel.
Existing 3D-NAND memory stacks with alternating layers of oxide and nitride require replacement metal gate (RMG) processes to build wordlines. Because the stack height is becoming thicker, high aspect ratio (HAR) memory hole etch/fill processes and stress control are becoming more difficult. The alternating layers of oxide and nitride film stack can be a candidate to avoid replacement metal gate (RMG) steps and get stack height thinner.
For non-replacement metal gate (RMG) process, cell components must be protected from the diffusion of metal from metal and protect metal from oxidation during heat process in oxygen ambient.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for 3D-NAND devices having thinner stack heights and where cell components and metal layers are protected. Additionally, there is a need in the art for methods and apparatus for forming the 3D-NAND devices.


A heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) system that includes a fan. The fan includes a plurality of blades coupled to a hub. A shroud is coupled to the plurality of blades, wherein the shroud focuses a flow of air along a rotational axis of the fan and reduces the flow of the air radially outward from the fan.

The disclosure relates generally to HVAC systems.
Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems condition enclosed spaces by exchanging energy between a refrigerant and air. HVAC systems accomplish this by circulating a refrigerant between two heat exchangers commonly referred to as an evaporator coil and a condenser coil. As refrigerant passes through the evaporator coil and the condenser coil, the refrigerant either absorbs or discharges thermal energy. More specifically, as air passes over the evaporator coil, the air cools as it loses energy to the refrigerant passing through the evaporator coil. In contrast, the condenser coil enables the refrigerant to discharge heat into the atmosphere as air flows over the condenser coil.