The subject of the invention is the products of formula (I):

The subject of the present invention is steroids, their use as medicaments, their preparation process and the intermediates of this process, and the pharmaceutical compositions containing them.
The subject of the invention is the products of general formula (I):
in which either R1 represents a halogen atom, a hydroxyl radical, an alkyloxy radical containing 1 to 8 carbon atoms, an acyloxy radical containing 1 to 12 carbon atoms, and R2 represents a halogen atom or a hydrogen atom, or R1 and R2 form together a second bond, Z is chosen from alkyloxy groups containing 1 to 8 carbon atoms, non-substituted or substituted alkylthio groups containing 1 to 8 carbon atoms, non-substituted or substituted arylthio groups containing 6 to 12 carbon atoms, halogen, cyano, mercapto, thiocyanato, CO2A and CH2CO2A groups, A being a hydrogen atom or an alkyl group containing 1 to 8 carbon atoms, Y represents a hydrogen atom or a methyl, the dotted line in position 1-2 or 5-6 optionally representing a second bond, as well as their addition salts with acids or bases, it being understood that 9xcex1-fluoro-11xcex2-hydroxy-16xcex1-6-methyl-21-chloro-pregna-1,4-diene-3,20-dione is excluded and it being understood that when R1 and R2 form together a double bond, Z is not a halogen atom.
By halogen atom is meant fluorine, bromine, chlorine and iodine atoms.
By alkyloxy and alkylthio radical containing 1 to 8 carbon atoms is preferably meant methoxy, ethoxy, propoxy, butyloxy radicals and the corresponding sulphurated radicals.
By acyloxy radical containing 1 to 12 carbon atoms is preferably meant acetyloxy, propionyloxy, butyryloxy and benzoyloxy radicals.
By alkyl radical containing 1 to 8 carbon atoms is meant the following radicals: methyl, ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, butyl, isobutyl, tert-butyl, n-pentyl, n-hexyl, 2-methyl pentyl, 2,3-dimethyl butyl, n-heptyl, 2-methylhexyl, 2,2-dimethylpentyl, 3,3-dimethylpentyl, 3-ethylpentyl, n-octyl, 2,2-dimethylhexyl, 3,3-dimethylhexyl, 3-methyl-3-ethylpentyl. It is quite particularly the methyl, ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, butyl, isobutyl and tert-butyl radicals.
By arylthio radical is preferably meant thiophenyl.
When Z is a substituted alkylthio or arylthio radical, it can be one of the following substituents: fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine, an alkyl radical such as methyl, ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, butyl, isobutyl, tert-butyl, an alkoxy radical such as methoxy, ethoxy, propyloxy, isopropyloxy, butyloxy, an alkylthio radical such as methylthio, ethylthio, propylthio, isopropylthio, butylthio, an amino radical, an alkylamino radical such as methylamino or ethylamino, a dialkylamino radical such as dimethylamino, diethylamino, methylethylamino, an optionally acylated hydroxyl radical, for example acetoxy, or a radical of formula: xe2x80x94Oxe2x80x94COxe2x80x94(CH2)nCO2H in which n=2 to 5, an acyl radical containing 2 to 8 carbon atoms such as acetyl, propionyl, butyryl, benzoyl, a free carboxy radical, an esterified carboxy radical such as alkoxy carbonyl, for example methoxy carbonyl or ethoxy carbonyl, a cyano radical, a trifluoromethyl radical, or a phenyl radical. The alkyl term contains 1 to 12 carbon atoms.
Of course, the expression xe2x80x9coptionally substitutedxe2x80x9d indicates that one or more substituents, identical or different, can be present.
The substitution on the aryl can be carried out in ortho, meta or para position.
When Z is an optionally substituted alkylthio radical, the Sxe2x80x94CH2xe2x80x94CH2-Axe2x80x2 group is preferably meant in which Axe2x80x2 is a hydroxyl, a halogen atom or an acetyloxy group.
When ring B is saturated, Y is preferably in xcex1 position.
The invention naturally extends to the salts of the compounds of formula (I), when these contain an amino function, with in particular the following acids: hydrochloric, hydrobromic, nitric, sulphuric, phosphoric, acetic, formic, propionic, benzoic, maleic, fumaric, succinic, tartaric, citric, oxalic, glyoxylic, aspartic, alkane sulphonic such as methane and ethane sulphonic, arylsulphonic, such as benzene and paratoluene sulphonic and arylcarboxylic, and when the compounds of formula (I) contain an acid function, to the optionally substituted alkali metal, alkaline-earth and ammonium salts.
A more particular subject of the invention is the products of formula (I) as defined previously in which R1 is a hydroxyl radical and R2 is a fluorine atom, as well as their addition salts with acids or bases.
Among the compounds of the invention, there can preferably be mentioned the compounds of formula (I) for which ring B is saturated and Y is a hydrogen atom, as well as their addition salts with acids or bases.
A more particular subject of the invention is the products of formula (I) as defined previously in which Z is a cyano radical or an alkylthio group containing 1 to 8 carbon atoms.
Among the preferred products of the invention the following products can be mentioned:
9xcex1-fluoro-11xcex2-hydroxy-16xcex1-methyl-pregn-4-ene-3,20-dioxo-21-carbonitrile
methyl 3,20-dioxo-11xcex2-hydroxy-16xcex1-methyl-21-nor cholane 1,4-diene-24-oate
21-fluoro-11xcex2-hydroxy-16xcex1-methyl-pregna-1,4-diene-3,20-dione
21-thio-(2-hydroxyethylene)-9xcex1,11xcex2-dichloro-16xcex1-methyl-pregna-1,4-diene-3,20-dione
21-thio-(2-acetyloxyethylene)-9xcex1,11xcex2-dichloro-16xcex1-methyl-pregna-1,4-diene-3,20-dione
9xcex1,11xcex2-dichloro-21-fluoro-16xcex1-methyl-pregna-1,4-diene-3,20-dione and quite particularly,
9xcex1-fluoro-11xcex2-hydroxy-16xcex1-methyl-pregna-1,4-diene-3,20-dioxo-21-carbonitrile,
9xcex1-fluoro-11xcex2-hydroxy-16xcex1-methyl-21-thiomethyl-pregna-1,4-diene-3,20-dione.
A subject of the invention is also a preparation process for the products of formula (I) characterized in that a product of general formula (II):
in which either Rxe2x80x21 is a hydroxyl and Rxe2x80x22 is a halogen or a hydrogen, or Rxe2x80x21 is a halogen and Rxe2x80x22 is a halogen or a hydrogen, or Rxe2x80x21 and Rxe2x80x22 form together a second bond and Y is as defined previously, is subjected to the action of an activation reagent of the alcohol of formula Hal-SO2xe2x80x94B, Hal being a bromine or chlorine atom and B being an alkyl radical containing 1 to 6 carbon atoms, non-substituted or substituted by 1 to 5 halogen atoms, or a phenyl or naphthyl group non-substituted or substituted by 1 to 5 alkyl groups, containing 1 to 6 carbon atoms, in order to obtain a compound of general formula (III):
which product of formula (III) is subjected, if appropriate, to one or more of the following reactions in a suitable order, in order to obtain a product of general formula (I):
action of a chlorination, iodination, bromination or fluorination reagent,
action of an optionally substituted alkylthiol or arylthiol,
action of a thioamide or of a thiourea followed by a hydrolysis,
action of KCN,
hydrolysis of the cyano group in acid medium then optionally esterification or salification
successive action of CH2(COOEt)2, a saponification reaction then a decarboxylation reaction optionally followed by an esterification reaction,
action of KSCN or NaSCN,
action of an alcohol or an alcoholate,
acylation reaction in position 11,
alkylation reaction in position 11,
reduction of the double bond in position 1-2,
formation of the double bond in position 1-2,
dehydration reaction in order to form a double bond in position 9-11,
salification.
By B is preferably meant the xe2x80x94CH3, xe2x80x94CF3, xe2x80x94Phxe2x80x94Me radicals.
The mesylate, tosylate or triflate of formula (III) are formed by the action, cold, of methane sulphonyl chloride, tosyl chloride or triflic anhydride on the corresponding alcohol of formula (II) in the presence of a base such as pyridine.
The formation of the 21-chlorinated derivative from the corresponding mesylate of formula (III) is carried out according to methods known to a man skilled in the art, in particular by the action of lithium or potassium chloride.
The formation of the 21-brominated derivative from the corresponding mesylate of formula (III) is carried out according to methods known to a man skilled in the art, in particular by the action of lithium or potassium bromide. The 21-brominated products can also be obtained directly from the corresponding alcohols by the action of hydrobromic acid or phosphorus tribromide.
The formation of the 21-iodinated derivative from the corresponding mesylate of formula (III) is carried out according to methods known to a man skilled in the art, in particular by the action of sodium or potassium iodide.
The formation of the 21-fluoro derivatives from the corresponding 21-chlorinated, 21-brominated or iodinated derivatives is carried out in particular by the action of potassium fluoride in glycol under reflux or by using crown ether, by phase transfer, or by ion-exchange resin. The formation of the 21-fluorinated derivative from the corresponding mesylate of formula (III) is carried out according to methods known to a man skilled in the art, in particular by the action of potassium fluoride.
The formation of the 21 alkylthio or arylthio derivatives from the corresponding 21-chlorinated derivative is preferably carried out by the action of an alkylthiol or arylthiol in the presence of a base such as triethylamine in tetrahydrofuran.
The formation of the corresponding thiol is preferably carried out by an indirect method such as the action of a thioamide or a thiourea followed by a hydrolysis.
The formation of the 21-cyano derivatives is carried out by the action of potassium cyanide in ethanolic medium on the corresponding 21-chlorinated, brominated or iodinated derivative.
The hydrolysis reaction of the 21-cyano groups is preferably carried out in the presence of hydrochloric acid or sulphuric acid.
The formation of the 21-thiocyanate derivatives is carried out by the action of potassium or sodium thiocyanate in ethanolic medium on the corresponding 21-chlorinated derivative.
The action of the ethyl malonate on the 21-chlorinated derivative in order to obtain the corresponding 21-CH(COOEt)2 compound is preferably carried out in the presence of a strong base such as sodium hydride in an aprotic dipolar solvent such as HMPT.
The saponification reaction is carried out according to known methods, for example in the presence of soda in ethanolic medium.
The decarboxylation reaction is also carried out according to methods known to a man skilled in the art, in particular by thermal route.
The esterification reaction is carried out according to methods known to a man skilled in the art, in particular by the action of diazomethane. An acid chloride can also be formed beforehand then an aliphatic alcohol is reacted with it.
The formation of the 21-alkyloxy derivatives is preferably carried out by the action of an aliphatic alcohol such as CH3OH or nBuOH on the 21-chlorinated derivative in an aprotic dipolar solvent such as dimethylsulphoxide in the presence of a base such as soda.
The salification reactions can be carried out under the usual conditions. The operation is carried out for example in the presence of ethanolic soda. A sodium salt can also be used such as sodium or potassium carbonate or acid carbonate.
The dehydration reaction of the compounds of general formula (I), (II) or (III) in which R1 is a hydroxyl and R2 is a hydrogen atom, in order to obtain the compounds of formula (I) with a double bond in position 9-11 is carried out according to the usual methods, amongst which there can be mentioned for example: the action of a mesylate chloride or triflic anhydride followed by a thermal reaction.
The products of formula (I) possessing a second bond in position 1-2 can be reduced to products of formula (I) saturated in position 1-2 by the action of a hydrogenation reaction according to the usual methods known to a man skilled in the art.
The formation of a double bond in position 1-2 can be carried out according to the usual methods by enzymatic or chemical route, in particular by the action of 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyanobenzoquinone (DDQ) in dioxane.
The acylation reaction of the hydroxyl in position 11 is carried out by the action of a carboxylic acid or a carboxylic anhydride.
The alkylation reaction of the hydroxyl in position 11 is carried out for example by the action of an alkyl iodide in the presence of a base such as potassium tertbutylate in a solvent such as tetrahydrofuran.
A subject of the invention is also, as new industrial products, the products of general formula (III), with the exception of the following compounds:
21-(methanesulphonyloxy)-16xcex1-methylpregna-1,4,9(11)-trien-3,20-dione
21-(methanesulphonyloxy) 11xcex2-hydroxy-16xcex1-methyl-pregna-1,4-dien-3,20-dione
21-(4-methylphenylsulphonyloxy)-16xcex1-methyl-pregna-1,4,9(11)-trien-3,20-dione.
The products of formula (II) used as starting products of the preparation process are known in a general manner. They are in particular desoxymethasone (U.S. Pat. No. 3,232,839), 9xcex1,11xcex2-dichloro 16xcex1-methyl 21-hydroxy pregna 1,4-diene-3,20-dione (Application for Certificate of Addition N2381065), 16xcex1-methyl 1,4-pregnadiene-11xcex2,21-diol-3,20-dione (U.S. Pat. No. 3,354,186), 6xcex1,16xcex1-dimethyl 1,4-pregnadiene-11xcex2,21-diol-3,20-dione (U.S. Pat. No. 3,232,839) or 6xcex1-fluoro,16xcex1-methyl 1,4-pregnadiene-11xcex2,21-diol-3,20-dione (U.S. Pat. No. 3,232,839).
Among the anti-inflammatory and immuno-suppressive molecules currently available, the glucocorticoids constitute one of the most powerful therapeutic classes.
Their use is nevertheless limited due to their numerous side effects, amongst which there can be mentioned:
retarding effect on the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA)
intolerance to glucose, which can precipitate the appearance of diabetes
muscular fusion
retardation of healing
atrophy of the skin
osteoporosis
increased susceptibility to infections
neurological disorders
hypercholesterolemia.
The effects of the glucocorticoids are mediated by nuclear receptors belonging to the family of steroid receptors. These receptors are a xe2x80x9cligand-inductiblexe2x80x9d transcription factor which can positively or negatively modulate the transcription of the target genes. (Evans, R. M., 1988 Science, 240, 889-895), (Green, S., Kumar, V., Theulaz, I., Wahli, W., and Chambon, P. 1988 EMBO J., 7, 3037-3044), (Beato, M. 1989. Cell, 56, 335-344), (Jonat, C., Rahmansdorf, H. J., Park, K. K., Cato, A. C., Gebel, S., Ponta, H., Herrlich, P., 1990 Cell, 62, 1189-1204), (Pfahl, M. 1993 Endocrine Reviews, 14, 651-658).
The use of the mutants of the glucocorticoid receptors has allowed it to be established that distinct regions of these receptors are involved in the functions of transactivation or transrepression, and therefore, that these two functions are theoretically separable (Heck, S., Kullmann, M., Gast, A., Ponta, H., Rahmansdorf, H. J., Herrlich, P., and Cato, A. C. B. 1994 EMBO J., 13, 4087-4095).
The obtaining of ligands of the glucocorticoid receptor acting in vivo as anti-inflammatories, and deprived of transactivation function, would allow better tolerated molecules to be developed.
The compounds of general formula (I) have useful pharmacological properties:
1) Glucocorticoid Activity
The Applicant has, in fact, revealed a new class of glucocorticoids. Different animal models (rats, mice) have allowed the very powerful anti-inflammatory properties of the products of the invention to be revealed. In particular they possess a remarkable glucocorticoid activity by local route. (cf test for ear oedema induced by croton oil in a mouse, in vivo activity equivalent to or greater than prednisolone or dexamethasone).
2) Dissociated Activity
Furthermore, the products of the invention act via the following action mechanism: in fact these molecules allow the transactivation and transrepression functions of the receptor to be separated. They have a so-called xe2x80x9cdissociatedxe2x80x9d activity on the transcription of the target genes.
The molecules according to the invention have been tested in models of HELA cells transfected with the GRE-tk-CAT plasmid (transactivation), or with the pColl-CAT plasmid (transrepression). (Cf. TEST 1)
These molecules like DEXAMETHASONE are capable of inhibiting the transcription of the collagenase promoter; on the other hand, in contrast to DEXAMETHASONE, they do not or hardly activate the transcription of the GRE-tk promoter.
As the described products have anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive activities of the same order as PREDNISOLONE, the therapeutic uses are still the uses traditionally described for medicaments made from PREDNISOLONE.
They can for example be used for the treatment of allergic, dermatological, digestive, endocrinic, hematological, infectious, neoplastic, nephrological, neurological, ophthalmological, respiratory or rhumatological affections or illnesses. They are particularly useful for organ transplants to prevent rejection of the transplants but also for the treatment of local inflammatory reactions such as for example, oedemas, dermatoses, pruritus, the various forms of eczema, sun erythemas, tendinitis or sprains. They are also quite particularly useful for the treatment of ophthalmic inflammatory disorders.
Their dissociated activity makes the compounds of the invention particularly useful in the treatment of the illnesses mentioned above while reducing certain side effects.
Therefore a subject of the invention is the products of formula (I) as well as their addition salts with pharmaceutically acceptable acids or bases, as medicaments.
A more particular subject of the invention is the products of formula (I), as well as their addition salts with pharmaceutically acceptable acids or bases, as medicaments having a glucocorticoid activity.
A quite particular subject of the invention is the products of formula (I), as well as their addition salts with pharmaceutically acceptable acids or bases, as medicaments having a dissociated glucocorticoid activity, this dissociation allowing the side effects to be reduced or to disappear.
Among the medicaments of the invention there can be mentioned more particularly:
9xcex1-fluoro-11xcex2-hydroxy-16xcex1-methyl-pregna-1,4-diene-3,20-dioxo-21-carbonitrile,
9xcex1-fluoro-11xcex2-hydroxy-16xcex1-methyl-3,20-dioxo-pregn-4-ene-21-carbonitrile,
9xcex1-fluoro-11xcex2-hydroxy-16xcex1-methyl-21-thiomethyl-pregna-1,4-diene-3,20-dione,
methyl 3,20-dioxo-11xcex2-hydroxy-16xcex1-methyl-21-nor cholane 1,4-diene-24-oate,
21-fluoro-11xcex2-hydroxy-16xcex1-methyl-pregna-1,4-diene-3,20-dione.
Among the medicaments of the invention there can be mentioned quite particularly:
9xcex1-fluoro-11xcex2-hydroxy-16xcex1-methyl-pregna-1,4-diene-3,20-dione-21-carbonitrile,
9xcex1-fluoro-11xcex2-hydroxy-16xcex1-methyl-21-thiomethyl-pregna-1,4-diene-3,20-dione.
The useful posology varies according to the affection to be treated and the administration route. It can vary for example from 1 to 1000 mg per day for an adult by oral route.
The invention extends to the pharmaceutical compositions containing as active ingredient, at least one of the medicaments as defined above.
The compounds of formula (I) are used by digestive, parenteral or local route, for example by percutaneous route. They can be prescribed in the form of plain or sugar-coated tablets, capsules, granules, suppositories, ovules, injectable preparations, ointments, creams, gels, microbeads, implants, patches, which are prepared according to the usual methods.
The active ingredient(s) can be incorporated with excipients usually employed in these pharmaceutical compositions, such as talc, gum arabic, lactose, starch, magnesium stearate, cocoa butter, aqueous or non-aqueous vehicles, fatty substances of animal or vegetable origin, paraffin derivatives, glycols, the various wetting, dispersing or emulsifying agents, preservatives.
The useful dose varies, in particular, according to the patient to be treated and the affection in question. It can be comprised, for example, between 1 and 4 applications per day of an ointment containing 0.1% to 5% of product of Example 1.
A quite particular subject of the invention is the pharmaceutical compositions which can be administered by local route, containing as medicaments the following compounds as described above.

Steroids, their use as medicaments, their preparation process, the intermediates of this process and the compositions containing them

Abstract: in which either R1 represents halogen, hydroxyl, (C1-C8) alkyloxy or (C1-C12) acyloxy, and R2 represents halogen or hydrogen, or R1 and R2 form together a double bond, Z is chosen from optionally substituted (C1-C8) alkylthio, optionally substituted arylthio, (C1-C8) alkyloxy, halogen, cyano, mercapto, thiocyanato and (CH2)0-1xe2x80x94CO2H, optionally esterified, Y represents hydrogen or methyl, the dotted line in position 1-2 or 5-6 optionally representing a second bond, as well as their addition salts, their preparation process, the intermediates of this process and the pharmaceutical compositions containing them.


A sterilization tray is constructed primarily of a single stamped metal part which forms the bottom wall and at least two opposite side walls of the tray. The side walls of the tray are joined by end closures which form the end walls of the tray. In one tray embodiment, the end closures are plastic end walls which are hooked to the ends of the side walls. In a second embodiment, the end closures are formed by a bottom wall extension of the metal part which are folded up to form the tray end walls and plastic corner pieces which are hooked to the adjacent ends of the side and end walls. The tray is highly thermally conductive yet relatively inexpensive to make in quantity.

Surgical instruments are often transported in a box-like tray having a bottom wall and upstanding side and end walls all of which have vent holes. Prior to use, the instruments are placed in the tray and subjected to sterilization under pressure. Following sterilization, the tray full of instruments may be transported to an operating room and placed close to the surgical team whose members may withdraw the instruments from the tray as needed for the particular surgical procedure being performed. Usually, the instruments are selectively arranged in the tray so that the instruments can be picked from the tray in the order that they are needed for the particular surgical procedure.
During sterilization a substantial amount of steam accumulates in the tray. At the end of the sterilization process as the pressure drops, this water vaporizes. The heat to vaporize the water is mainly from conduction in the tray. Also, a drying time may be included at the end of sterilization. During this time, heat radiates from the sterilizer walls to the tray and is conducted through the tray walls to vaporize any residual water in the tray. Therefore to minimize the sterilization time, it is important that the tray be thermally conductive.
For this reason, the sterilization trays have historically been made entirely of a metal such as stainless steel or aluminum. It is easy to stamp and fold sheet metal to form a tray. However, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to produce a tray with rounded corners in this fashion. Round corners are desirable because the trays are often wrapped in anti-microbial paper or plastic jackets and during such handling any sharp corners might tear the jackets. Trays with rounded corners can be produced by a drawing process. However, the dies for doing this are very expensive so that the unit cost of such drawn metal trays is quite high.
Because of such cost considerations, the medical products industry has in recent years resorted to making sterilization trays with rounded corners entirely out of a plastic material able to withstand the sterilization temperatures. Unfortunately however, the plastic materials used for this purpose have relatively low thermal conductivity. Therefore, the tray actually acts as a thermal barrier. As a result, it takes longer to sterilize the instruments than would be the case if the instruments were supported in a metal tray.


A fault detection assembly of an integrated circuit having a supply port, an input port and a ground port. The fault detection assembly includes a first diode connected with one end to the supply port and connected with the other end to the input port, a second diode connected with one end to the input port and connected with the other end to the ground port, at least a first fault detection transistor of MOS type. At least one of first and second diodes includes a first diode-connected MOS transistor whose gate is connected to the gate of the first fault detection transistor.

Integrated circuits typically comprise a supply port for power supply, a ground port as well as an input port. Via the input port, the integrated circuit can be supplied with electrical signals to be processed by the integrated circuit.
In order to protect the integrated circuit against electrostatic charge or discharge the supply port, the input port and the ground port are provided with a diode arrangement as for instance illustrated in FIG. 1. The integrated circuit 1 comprising a supply port 2, an input port 4 and a ground port 6 has a first diode 8 and a second diode 9 forming a protective diode arrangement to prevent that electrostatic charge or discharge is present to the rather sensitive input port 4.
However, there may arise situations, in which either the supply port 2 or the ground port 6 is disconnected from a supply voltage V1 or from ground. In this case, e.g. with a disconnected supply port 2 and as illustrated in FIG. 1, a voltage V2 present at the input port 4 may propagate from the input port 4 via the diode 8 to the supply port 2.
In such a situation the power supply for the integrated circuit 1 is provided or branched off from the input signal. If for instance an alternating clock signal is present at the input port 4 the electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection diode 8 may rectify the clock signal and may create and provide a supply voltage for the integrated circuit 1. The integrated circuit may then power up unintentionally.
A corresponding situation may also arise when the ground port 6 is disconnected or broken. In this case, the input port 4 may substitute or replace the ground port 6 and the integrated circuit 1 may be supplied through the diode 9.
Interruption of the supply or of the ground may take place either by accident or when the integrated circuit 1 becomes subject to an attack. In these circumstances, the integrated circuit 1 may be unintentionally operated or activated, which may lead to undesired operation modes of the integrated circuit 1, to a damage of the integrated circuit 1 or of the device making use of the integrated circuit 1.


Methods for marking and verifying an authentication status of a wireless communication device are disclosed. When a wireless communication device is authenticated in a first wireless communication network, copies of a token, are stored in memory accessible by the wireless communication device and in memory accessible by a clearinghouse server. The clearinghouse server also stores a correlation between the token and the identity of the server that authenticated the wireless communication device. When the wireless communication device moves from the first network to a second network, the WCD transmits the token to a server in the second network, which can then query the clearinghouse server to determine the identity of the server that authenticated the WCD in the first network, confirm the authentication status of the wireless communication device, and allow the WCD to access a resource in or via the second network.

As wireless communication systems and devices have grown in popularity and functionality, users of wireless communication devices have adopted increasingly fast-paced, mobile lifestyles. Attendant to such active lifestyles is the need to communicate with others and rapidly access information when moving through a wireless communication network and between wireless communication networks. As users increasingly rely on wireless communication systems to obtain and exchange information, wireless communication system resources have become valuable. Consequently, the ability to identify and authenticate users of wireless communication systems has become an imperative part of ensuring that users of a wireless communication system are authorized to use the valuable system resources.
In order to maintain access control over wireless communication system resources, a wireless communication network can apply an authentication process to a wireless communication device when the device attempts to use resources within the particular network. For users who move between several networks while maintaining a conversation or accessing information, repeated authentication procedures can delay, disrupt or otherwise degrade the user's ability to use the wireless communication system. Further, the authentication procedure itself can consume system resources that could be allocated elsewhere within the wireless communication system.

Tokenized authentication across wireless communication networks


A method of dewatering a solids laden waste stream, whereby the slurry is pumped into a vertical filter retaining structure and the liquid is allowed to flow out through the pores of the filtration element while retaining the solids within the structure. After the solids have dewatered, doors or gates located at the bottom of the structure are opened and the solids drop out the bottom by gravity. The structure is elevated to allow a transport vehicle to be placed under the doors prior to dropping out the solids. One embodiment utilizes an open bottom, closed top filter bag that is closed off by the doors or sliding gates located at the bottom of the structure. Another embodiment disclosed would use rigid filter plates to retain the solids and drop out the accumulated solids by opening sliding gates at the bottom of the structure. The filter bag or plates is accessible from the side to allow either manual or automatic pressure washing of the filtration elements or filter bag after each dewatering cycle.

1. Field
This invention generally relates to the process of filtering the liquid from a solids laden slurry or waste material. More specifically, it is an improved method of separating the water from the solids and allowing the water to filter out leaving the solids inside the filter after which they can be extracted for disposal or reprocessing. The process is generally known as "dewatering" and is desirable in that it allows the solids to be reprocessed, transported or disposed of at a lower cost than a liquid.
2. Prior Art
There are many different types of "dewatering" apparatus in use today. Many of these are mechanical in nature and require a large amount of energy to operate and specialized skills to maintain. One example is disclosed in Heywoods "Apparatus For Treating Sewage" U.S. Pat. No. 392,607. Another is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,970,552 "Method and Means For Separation Of Liquids From A Mixture Of Solids And Liquids" by Bongert.
Many other examples can be found of mechanical dewatering equipment that is in use today for high volume dewatering of liquid slurries. Many of these devices work very well but all have the disadvantage of high operating and maintenance costs. There are also examples that can found of devices that address the disadvantage of the mechanical dewatering processes. One example of this is U.S. Pat. No. 4,116,838 "Sludge Filter" by Lazzarotto. This device is an enclosed sludge filter utilizing an open top tank and filter panels to filter out the solids.
Another example of a similar device is U.S. Pat. No. 4,133,769 "Liquid Filter Having Self-Retaining Filter Bag" by Morgan, Jr. This device is a filter bag suspended inside a shell. The sludge is pumped into the bag and the liquid allowed to flow through the bag and discharged out the bottom of the shell. While this device may work well for some types of slurry it has a major disadvantage in that the dewatered material must be lifted out of the device to dispose or reprocess. This limits the amount of material that can be effectively dewatered due to the weight of the dewatered material.
Another example of prior art would be U.S. Pat. No. 5,287,985 "Container For Dewatering or Packaging and Transportation" by Hatayama. This device again has the limitation in that the volume of dewatered material would have to be limited to the weight limitations of the device. Most dewatering processes require large volume and weight capabilities.
There are examples of prior art that utilize static filters or plates fixed inside of various types of containers. In general these devices are open top containers where the sludge is pumped into the container or box and the liquid allowed to filter out and out of the container. When dewatered the material is dumped out and the filters cleaned and the process repeated. Examples of this type of prior art would be U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,353 "Portable Liquid-Solid Separator For Bulk Sludge by Harris, U.S. Pat. No. 5,156,749 "Dewatering System For Sludge Removal" by Williams, U.S. Pat. No. 5,589,081 "Divided Phase Separator For Liquid/Solid Seperation In Sludge" by Harris, U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,654 "Sludge Filtration System And Method" by Caughman, Jr., and U.S. Pat. No. 4,871,454 "Portable Dumpster Slurry Separating System" by Lott. All of these systems utilize some type of filter fixed in the bottom and or sides of the open top container. The solids can be emptied out with a few variations of tilting up and dumping out.
Large Geotextile dewatering bags have been used successfully in dewatering many different types of slurries. These large filter bags are sewn in cylindrical shapes in sizes from 6 foot circumference and 12 feet long up to 90 foot circumference with lengths of 300 feet. The slurry is treated with a flocculent and pumped into the bags where the solids are captured and the liquid bleeds out through the filtration fabric. After the contents have been allowed to dry for various time periods of from a few days to months or even years the bag is cut open and the contents removed. One example of this type of prior art is U.S. Pat. No. 6,186,701 B1 "Elongate Flexible Container" by Kempers.
Another example would be U.S. Pat. No. 7,112,283 B2 "Method And System For Processing Waste by Stephens. This type of slurry dewatering has the advantage of low initial cost and minimal operating and maintenance expenses. The disadvantages of this process include the handling expense of the consolidated solids and also the fact that these bags are laid out on the ground and are subject to weather related problems and drainage issues. In addition the fact that the bag is positioned on the ground tends to blind off the bottom of the bag which is where the liquid is most likely to drain out. That fact causes the liquid to pool up inside the bag and increases the drying time required to accomplish the dewatering phase.
The device presented in this patent application addresses the many of the disadvantages of the current processes. This device utilizes a vertical skeletal frame work into which filter panels or a filter bag can be installed. At the bottom of the framework a set of doors or gates that can be opened or closed are utilized for dumping the collected and dewatered solids. The filter panels or bag are easily accessible for cleaning after each use. The vertical orientation of the filter retention frame work utilizes the natural forces of gravity to induce maximum drainage of the liquid from the bag. There are few moving parts to this device so maintenance and operational costs are minimal. The advantages of this device over current systems is readily apparent.

Method of dewatering solids laden liquids utilizing a reusable filter element


A floatable, illuminable decorative device, usually in the shape of a flower, is made from a light transparent or translucent flexible thermoplastic material. A light emitting diode powered by a micro cell is sealed within the flower. A water activated switch is mounted in the seal so as to activate the light emitting diode when the device is floated on water.

Floating decorative devices, such as flowers and water birds such as ducks, which can be illuminated have been well known for many years. Generally, such floating devices have been in the form of floating wax candles of any selected design. Such candles have limited visual appeal, may represent a serious fire hazard, and have a very limited burning time. Some users may be allergic to either candle smoke or to candle wax. An improved decorative floating device that obviates all or some of the above defects of the prior art has considerable consumer appeal and finds a ready market.


This invention relates to an improved shrink film having balanced properties. In particular, this invention relates to a biaxially oriented polyolefin shrink film made from a particular polymer mixture which includes a first ethylene polymer component having a single differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) melting peak or a single Analytical Temperature Rising Elution Fractionation (ATREF) peak and a second ethylene polymer component having one or more DSC melting peaks, wherein the density differential between the two component polymers about 0 to about 0.03 g/cc. Improved properties include increased shrink responses, wide orientation windows, higher modulus and high softening temperatures.

Food items such as poultry, fresh red meat and cheese, as well as nonfood industrial and retail goods, are packaged by various heat shrink film methods. There are two main categories of heat shrink films--hot-blown shrink film and oriented shrink film. Hot-blown shrink film is made by a hot-blown simple bubble film process and oriented shrink film is made by elaborate processes known as double bubble, tape bubble, trapped bubble or tenter framing. Heat shrink films can be monoaxial or biaxial oriented and are required to possess various other film attributes. In addition to a high shrink response, for successful use in hot-fill or cook-in applications, shrink films must also possess a relatively high softening point.
The shrink packaging method generally involves placing an article(s) into a bag (or sleeve) fabricated from a heat shrink film, then closing or heat sealing the bag, and thereafter exposing the bag to sufficient heat to cause shrinking of the bag and intimate contact between the bag and article. The heat can be provided by conventional heat sources, such as heated air, infrared radiation, hot water, combustion flames, or the like. Heat shrink wrapping of food articles helps preserve freshness, is attractive, hygienic, and allows closer inspection of the quality of the packaged food. Heat shrink wrapping of industrial and retail goods, which is alternatively referred to in the art and herein as industrial and retail bundling, preserves product cleanliness and also is a convenient means of bundling and collating for accounting and transporting purposes.
The biaxial heat-shrink response of an oriented polyolefin film is obtained by initially stretching fabricated film to an extent several times its original dimensions in both the machine and transverse directions to orient the film. The stretching is usually accomplished while the fabricated film is sufficiently soft or molten, although cold drawn shrink films are also known in the art. After the fabricated film is stretched and while still in a stretched condition, the stretch orientation is frozen or set in by quick quenching of the film. Subsequent application of heat will then cause the oriented film to relax and, depending on the actual shrink temperature, the oriented film can return essentially back to its original unstretched dimensions, i.e., to shrink relative to its stretched dimension.
Hence, clearly the orientation window and shrink response of oriented films affected by resin properties and fabrication parameters. The orientation window depends upon the broadness of the resin melting range and, as such, relates directly to the short chain branching distribution of the resin. In general, ethylene alpha-olefin interpolymers having a broad short chain branching distribution and broad melting range (e.g., heterogeneously branched ultra low density polyethylene resins such as ATTANE.TM. resins supplied by The Dow Chemical Company) exhibit a wider orientation window compared to ethylene alpha-olefin interpolymers characterized as having a narrow short chain branching distribution and narrow melting range (e.g., homogeneously branched linear ethylene polymers such as EXCEED.TM. and EXACT.TM. resins supplied by Exxon Chemical Corporation).
Oriented polyolefin film shrinkage depends on shrink tension and film density. Film shrinkage is decreased as the orientation temperature is increased due to lower shrink tension. Film shrinkage is increased at lower density (lower crystallinity) because crystallites provide topological constraints and, as such, hinder free shrinkage. Conversely, for given draw ratio, shrink tension depends on the crystallinity of the resin at the orientation temperature.
While the temperature at which a particular polymer is sufficiently soft or molten is a critical factor in various orientation techniques, in general, such temperatures are ill-defined in the art. Disclosures pertaining to oriented films that disclose various polymer types (which invariably have varying polymer crystallinities and melting points), simply do not define the stretching or orientation temperatures used for the reported comparisons. U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,769 to Lustig et al., WO 95/00333 to Eckstein et al., and WO 94/07954 to Garza et al., the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference, are two examples of such disclosures.
The direct effect of density or crystallinity on shrink response and other desired shrink film properties such as, for example, impact resistance, are known, for example, from WO 95/08441, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. That is, even where the orientation temperature is presumably constant, lower density polymer films will show a higher shrink response and improved impact resistance. However, the effects of density and other resin properties on the orientation temperature is not well-known. In the prior art, there are only general rules of thumb or generalized teachings relating to suitable stretching or orientation conditions. For example, in commercial operations, it is often said that the temperature at which the film is suitably soft or molten is just above its respective glass transition temperature, in the case of amorphous polymers, or below its respective melting point, in the case of semi-crystalline polymers.
While the effects of density and other resin properties on the optimum orientation temperature of polyolefins are generally unknown, it is clear that heterogeneously branched ethylene polymers such as ATTANE.TM. resins and DOWLEX.TM. resin have a relatively broad orientation window (i.e., the temperature range at which the resin can be substantially stretched when molten or softened). It also clear that softening temperatures and other film properties such as, for example, secant modulus, tend to decrease at lower polymer densities. Because of these relationships, films with high shrink responses, wide orientation windows, high modulus and high softening temperatures (i.e., shrink films with balanced properties) are unknown in the prior art. That is, polymer designers invariably have to sacrifice high softening temperatures and high modulus to provide films with high shrink responses and wide orientation windows. The importance of higher modulus pertains to, for example, the need for good machinability during automatic packaging operations and good handling during bag making operations.
An example of teaching that's beyond ordinary rules of thumb (but is nevertheless fairly generalized) is provided by Golike in U.S. Pat. No. 4,597,920, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. Golike teaches orientation should be carried out at temperatures between the lower and higher melting points of a copolymer of ethylene with at least one C.sub.8 -C.sub.18 .alpha.-olefin. Golike specifically teaches that the temperature differential is at least 10.degree. C., however, Golike also specifically discloses that the full range of the temperature differential may not be practical because, depending on the particular equipment and technique used, tearing of the polymer film may occur at the lower end of the range. At the higher limit of the range, Golike teaches the structural integrity of the polymer film begins to suffer during stretching (and ultimately fails at higher temperatures) because the polymer film then is in a soft, molten condition. See, U.S. Pat. No. 4,597,920, Col. 4, lines 52-68 bridging to Col. 5., lines 1-6. The orientation temperature range defined by Golike (which is based on higher and lower peak melting points) generally applies to polymer blends and heterogeneously branched ethylene/.alpha.-olefin interpolymers, i.e. compositions having two or more DSC melting points, and does not apply at all to homogeneously branched ethylene/.alpha.-olefin interpolymers which have only a single DSC melting point. Golike also indicates that a person of ordinary skill can determine the tear temperature of a particular polymer and discloses that for heterogeneously branched interpolymers having a density of about 0.920 g/ cc, the tear temperature occurs at a temperature above the lower peak melting point. See, U.S. Pat. No. 4,597,920, Col. 7, Example 4. However, Golike does not teach or suggest how a person of ordinary skill in the art of shrink film can optimize the orientation process as to stretching temperature at a given stretching rate and ratio to maximize the shrink response and achieve balanced properties.
Hideo et al. in EP 0359907 A2, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, teach the film surface temperature at the starting point of stretching should be within the range of from 20.degree. C. to about 30.degree. C. below the melting temperature of the polymer as determined in regards to the main DSC endothermic peak. While such teaching is considered applicable to homogeneously branched ethylene/.alpha.-olefin interpolymers having a single DSC melting peak, the prescribed range is fairly general and broad. Moreover, Hideo et al. do not provide any specific teaching as to the optimum orientation temperature for a particular interpolymer respecting heat shrink response, nor any other desired shrink film property.
WO 95/08441, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, provides generalized teachings pertaining to homogeneously branched ethylene/cc-olefin interpolymers. In the Examples of this disclosure, several different homogeneously branched substantially linear ethylene/.alpha.-olefin interpolymers were studied and compared to one heterogeneously branched ethylene/ .alpha.-olefin interpolymers. Although the homogeneously branched substantially linear ethylene/.alpha.-olefin interpolymers had densities that varied from about 0.896 to about 0.906 g/cc, all of the interpolymers (including the heterogeneously branched linear ethylene/.alpha.-olefin interpolymer, ATTANE.TM. 4203, supplied by The Dow Chemical Company, which had a density of 0.905 g/cc) were oriented at essentially the same orientation temperatures. Reported results in WO 95/08441 disclose three general findings: (1) at an equivalent polymer density, substantially linear ethylene/.alpha.-olefin interpolymers and heterogeneously branched linear ethylene/cc-olefin interpolymers have essentially equivalent shrink responses (compare Example 21 and Example 39 at pages 15-16), (2) shrink responses increase at lower densities and constant orientation temperatures, and (3) as orientation temperature increases, orientation rates increase. Furthermore, careful study of the Examples and unreported DSC melting point data for the interpolymers reported on in WO 95/08441 indicate for the Examples disclosed in WO 95/08441 that, at a given stretching rate and ratio, there is a preference for orienting multilayer film structures at orientation temperatures above the respective DSC melting point of the polymer employed as the shrink control layer. Moreover, none of the teachings or Examples in WO 95/08441 suggest a shrink film with balanced properties is obtainable.
Other disclosures that set forth orientation information regarding homogeneously branched ethylene polymers yet do not specify orientation conditions relative to respective lowest stretch temperatures, nor teach requirements for balanced shrink film properties include EP 0 600425A1 to Babrowicz et al. and EP 0 587502 A2 to Babrowicz et al., the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Accordingly, although there are general rules and general disclosures as to shrink responses and suitable orientation temperatures for biaxially orienting polyolefins, there is no specific information as to optimum orientation conditions as a function of polymer type and, more importantly, there is no specific information as to balanced or optimized shrink responses, wide orientation windows, high modulus and high softening temperatures. As such, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved shrink film with a maximized shrink response, an increased orientation window and, for a given modulus or polymer density, a relatively high softening temperature . This and other objects will become apparent from the description and various that follow.

Polyolefin compositions with balanced shrink properties


Poultry parts (13) are placed on carrier trays (22) of a tray conveyor (14) and move on an endless loop conveyor first through a rectilinear loading run (24), then through a curved deboning run (26), and then through a lower return run (25). The curved deboning run extends about the deboning unit (35), which includes a stationary cam drum (36) and a revolving carrier assembly (38) that carriers the series of deboning modules (55) about the drum (36). Each deboning module becomes aligned with a carrier tray and is actuated by the cam tracks (81) of the stationary cam drum (36) so as to engage and push the bone of the poultry part through the aperture (63) of a bowed resilient stripper disk (61) that is mounted in a meat stripper disk assembly (56) having a disk retainer plate (132).

In the processing and preparation of parts of poultry and animals such as poultry thighs for sale and consumption in the retail market, such as in restaurants and grocery stores, it is highly desirable to package and deliver the meat to the restaurants and grocery stores with the bones removed. Deboned meat can be easily cut-up and used in sandwiches or other food products where it is desirable to have the bones previously removed prior to cooking and serving.
An additional advantage of removing the bones from the meat during processing and before cooking is that the bones do not have to be cooked with the meat, thereby conserving heat energy. Further, the removal of the bone from the poultry part prior to cooking the meat allows the bone to be saved and used for bone meal or related products.
In the past, automated processes have been developed for the removal of meat from the bone of a poultry part, such as from the bone of a poultry thigh, by engaging the bone with a scraping tool and scraping along the length of the bone. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,672,000, 4,327,463, 4,495,675, and 4,736,492 disclose deboning apparatus having two or more notched scraping blades which engage the bone. The notches of the blades are moved from opposite sides of the bone and closed about the bone with the notches of the blades straddling the bone, and the bone is moved longitudinally through the blades. As the bone is moved through the notched blades, the blades progressively scrape the meat from the bone.
However, the raw meat has a tendency to cling tightly to the bone. Consequently, it usually is necessary for the scraper blades to engage the thigh bones in frictional contact to ensure the meat is completely scraped from the bone. A problem that arises with such prior art deboners is that the blades engaging the bone sometimes inadvertently gouge or chip and sometimes crack the bones as they scrape the meat from the bones. This might tend to create bone fragments that can become lodged in the stripped meat, which poses a health risk to the ultimate consumer who expects that when he or she purchases a "boneless" product, it is indeed completely boneless.
In order to avoid the creation of bone fragments during the deboning process, apertured elastic meat stripper disks have been substituted for the scraper blades. The bone is pushed longitudinally through the aperture of the disk and the resilient disk retards the movement of the meat, thereby separating the meat from the bone. U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,456 teaches the use of such elastic disks.
Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,173,076 discloses an automated deboning apparatus which includes a series of elastic stripping disks, each of which is mounted adjacent and moves with a conveyor tray on which a poultry thigh is received and moved about a processing path. As the thigh is moved along the processing path, the thigh bone is urged through openings in the stripper disks, whereupon the meat of the thigh is progressively stripped from its bone. Such a system is, however, limited in size and in the number of deboning modules included therewith, which limits the production capacity of the apparatus. Conventional deboning apparatus also generally are not readily expandable to increase the number of parts that can be processed as needed.
Accordingly, it can be seen that it would be highly desirable to provide an improved method and apparatus for completely separating the meat from the bones of poultry parts or similar animal parts and reducing the risk of creating bone chips or fragments of bone that can become lodged in the meat of the parts, and with the apparatus being expandable to enable a greater quantity of poultry parts to be processed.

Expandable poultry deboner with improved stripper disk


The invention can provide a liquid crystal display device in which a homeotropic alignment liquid crystal layer is interposed between a pair of substrates and a transmissive display region and a reflective display region are provided in one dotregion. A liquid crystal layer thickness-adjusting layer for making the thickness of the liquid crystal layer in the reflective display region smaller than the thickness of the liquid crystal layer in the transmissive display region can be formed between at least one substrate of the pair of substrates and the liquid crystal layer, and wherein, in at least one substrate of the pair of substrates, convex portions that protrude from the internal surface of the substrate to the inside of the liquid crystal layer are formed in the transmissive display region in the dot region and in the region where the liquid crystal layer thickness-adjusting layer is formed outside the dot region. Accordingly, the invention can provide a liquid crystal display device capable of displaying images with a wide angle in both of transmissive display and reflective display.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to a liquid crystal display device and an electronic apparatus. More specifically, the invention is related to technology for obtaining a wide viewing angle in a liquid crystal display device using a homeotropic alignment liquid crystal.
2. Description of Related Art
Transflective liquid crystal display devices which include a reflective mode and a transmissive mode are known. In a transflective liquid crystal display device, a liquid crystal layer is interposed between an upper substrate and a lower substrate. A reflecting film with a light transmissive window in a metal film such as aluminum is provided on the internal surface of the lower substrate. The reflecting film functions as a transflective sheet. In this case, in the reflective mode, external light incident from the upper substrate is reflected from the reflecting film on the internal surface of the lower substrate after passing through the liquid crystal layer, then passes through the liquid crystal layer again and is emitted from the upper substrate to contribute to display. On the other hand, in the transmissive mode, the light from a backlight incident from the lower substrate passes through the liquid crystal layer through the window of the reflecting film and is emitted from the upper substrate to the outside to contribute to the display. Therefore, the region of the reflecting film with the window is the transmissive display region and the other region is the reflective display region.
In conventional transflective liquid crystal devices, the viewing angle in transmissive display is narrow. This is because, since a transflective sheet is provided on the internal surface of a liquid crystal cell so that parallax is not generated, only one polarizer provided on an observer side works on the reflective display and the degree of freedom of optical design is small. Therefore, in order to solve this problem, Jisaki et al. suggested a new liquid crystal display device using a homeotropic alignment liquid crystal in "Development of transflective LCD for high contrast and wide viewing angle by using homeotropic alignment", M. Jisaki et al., Asia Display/IDW'01, P. 133-136 (2001) cited below. The liquid crystal display device has the following three characteristics:
(1) A vertical alignment (VA) mode, in which liquid crystal molecules with negative dielectric anisotropy are vertically aligned on a substrate and the liquid crystals fall by applying a voltage.
(2) A "multi-gap structure" is adopted, in which the thickness (a cell gap) of the liquid crystal layer in the transmissive display region is different from that of the liquid crystal layer in the reflective display region (with respect to this point, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 11-242226).
(3) The transmissive display region is an octagon and protrusions are provided in the middle of the transmissive display region on a counter substrate so that the liquid crystal molecules fall in eight directions in the region.
See also, generally, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-350853.

Liquid crystal display device and electronic apparatus


An aircraft seat having a voltage supply connection assigned only to the aircraft seat and/or at least one data connection assigned only to the aircraft seat, a voltage supply unit assigned to the aircraft seat and having a voltage input for connection to an on-board voltage network of an aircraft and at least one voltage output, each connected to another of the voltage supply connections. A switching arrangement is assigned only to the aircraft seat and connected between the voltage output and the voltage supply connection and/or between the data connection and a data network. A control unit is assigned only to the aircraft seat and connected to the switching arrangement. An infrared reading device is connected to the control unit and assigned only to the aircraft seat to wirelessly receive infrared signals from an external infrared transmitting device. The infrared reading device can receive infrared signals from a predetermined group of predetermined infrared signals, and the control unit can activate the voltage supply connections and/or at least one of the data connections by the switching arrangement, only in response to reception of a predetermined infrared signal.

Aircraft seats may have voltage supply connections and/or data connections which allow the respective passenger, for example, to connect electrical devices and thus to supply them with power and data on board. Such voltage supply connections and/or data connections can also be permanently connected to devices assigned to the aircraft seat and can supply them with power and/or data. An example of the latter devices is a screen of an on-board entertainment system. The voltage supply connections are usually connected to the on-board electrical system of the aircraft via a voltage supply unit. The voltage supply unit can convert the voltage from the on-board electrical system into a suitable output voltage in this case and, if a voltage supply unit is provided for a plurality of aircraft seats, can distribute the voltage from the on-board electrical system to the different voltage supply connections.
If the voltage supply connections and/or data connections of the aircraft seat can be selectively activated and deactivated, it is possible to individually provide the relevant passenger with an activated voltage supply connection and/or data connection at his aircraft seat for a fee. In this manner, the airfare can be kept low if the passenger does not require a voltage supply connection and/or data connection. Nevertheless, this service can be provided for those passengers who want it.
A central control system, such as, in particular, a central cabin management system (for example CIDS) is usually provided for the purpose of selectively activating and deactivating functions. It is then possible, for example, to configure the individual voltage supply connections and data connections or the voltage supply unit in such a manner that it/they can be connected to the central control system and can be controlled by the latter in order to selectively activate the individual voltage supply connections and/or data connections. In particular, in the case of airline companies offering low-price flights, the on-board technology provided for passenger comfort may be reduced for reasons of cost, however, and a connection of the voltage supply connections and data connections or of the voltage supply unit or of the passenger seat to a central control system or even actually a central control system may be absent. However, in such situations, in particular, it would be advantageous to be able to provide passengers with an activated voltage supply connection and/or data connection and the functionalities associated therewith for an extra charge.

Aircraft seat, aircraft seat arrangement having an aircraft seat, and aircraft having an aircraft seat arrangement


An apparatus for permitting quiet manual setting of an appliance timer is disclosed. The apparatus has an appliance control cam which has a first cam surface defined on a first side thereof and a second cam surface defined on a second side thereof. The apparatus includes a rocker arm positionable between a first cam reading mode of operation and a first idle mode of operation. The rocker arm contacts the first cam surface when the rocker arm is positioned in the first cam reading mode of operation. The rocker arm is spaced apart from the first cam surface when the rocker arm is positioned in the first idle mode of operation. The apparatus also includes a cam follower arm positionable between a second cam reading mode of operation and a second idle mode of operation. The cam follower arm contacts the second cam surface when the cam follower arm is positioned in the second cam reading mode of operation. The cam follower arm is spaced apart from the second cam surface when the cam follower arm is positioned in the second idle mode of operation. The apparatus further includes a control shaft positionable between a first position and a second position. The apparatus also includes an intermediate member. The control shaft locates the intermediate member so as to cause the intermediate member to position (1) the rocker arm in the first idle mode of operation, and the cam follower arm in the second idle mode of operation when the control shaft is positioned in the first position, and (2) the rocker arm in the first cam reading mode of operation, and the cam follower arm in the second cam reading mode of operation when the control shaft is positioned in the second position.

The present invention relates generally to timing devices, and more specifically to an appliance timer having an apparatus for permitting quiet manual setting of the appliance timer.
Appliance timers are commonly used in many household appliances, such as dishwashers, clothes washers, and clothes dryers. The appliance timer controls operations of the appliance by actuating and deactuating switches which start and stop various work operations within the appliance such as a rinse operation in the case of a dishwasher. The switches within the appliance timer are actuated and deactuated by interaction of a cam surface defined in a cam of the appliance timer and a cam follower which is associated with a particular switch.
One common appliance timer is an interval drive timer. This type of appliance timer typically includes a number of vertically mounted cylindrical cams driven by a ratchet and drive pawl assembly. Each of the cams includes a cam profile defined in an outer surface thereof which selectively actuates one or more switches thereby controlling various work operations of the appliance. In operation, the drive pawl indexes the ratchet at predetermined intervals. Accordingly, the ratchet, and thus the cams attached thereto, are in motion for a first period of time. Thereafter, the ratchet is at rest for a second period of time until the next movement thereof by the drive pawl. For example, a one-minute interval timer may cause the ratchet to be in motion for five seconds and then at rest for 55 seconds.
It is desirable to control an entire cycle of the appliance with one 360.degree. rotation of the cam of the appliance timer. This feature enables the appliance timer to possess a reduced number of parts since only one cam would be necessary in the timer. In addition, this feature enables manual setting of the appliance timer to be simplified. This is true since any operational segment of the appliance cycle may be accessed by manually rotating a setting knob, which is operatively coupled to the cam, a rotational distance of less than 360.degree..
However, by controlling the entire cycle of the appliance with one 360.degree. rotation of the cam, the amount of cam surface which is available for actuating and deactuating switches within the appliance timer is limited. This becomes a problem since it is desirable to quickly rotate the cam so as to increase the accuracy of the timer. More specifically, the timer's ability to control timing accuracy of the duration of a work operation between the point in time at which the work operation begins and the point in time at which the work operation ends is directly proportional to rotational speed of the cam. This is true since dimensional errors (e.g. manufacturing errors) and design tolerances associated with the components of the timer (e.g. the cam profiles and the cam followers) remain constant regardless of rotational speed of the cam. For example, if the location of a drop along the cam profile associated with actuation of a particular work operation is placed 2.degree. further down the cam profile by a manufacturing error, the cam follower will be required to travel the additional 2.degree. prior to dropping, therefore delaying the actuation of the work operation. If the cam is rotating at a speed of 0.5.degree. per second, actuation of the work operation will be delayed by four seconds. However, if the cam is rotating at a speed of 4.degree. per second, actuation of the work operation will be delayed by only one-half second thereby improving the accuracy of the timer.
Thus, in the operation of an appliance timer, it should be appreciated that there exists a tension between the desire to quickly rotate a cam of an appliance timer so as to improve the accuracy of the timer, and the desire to slowly rotate the cam of the appliance timer so that the entire cycle of the appliance is controlled by one 360.degree. rotation of the cam.
Moreover, it is also desirable to provide an appliance timer which may be manually set by the operator in a quiet manner. More specifically, it is desirable to provide an appliance timer in which noise generating components (e.g. a number of cam followers and their associated cam profiles) are disengaged from one another during a period of time in which the operator manually sets the appliance timer. This disengagement of noise generating components reduces the noise associated with the appliance timer.
What is needed therefore is an appliance timer which rotates a cam at a high speed when actuating or deactuating switches within the appliance timer so as to more accurately control critical work operations, yet rotates the cam at a low speed when the appliance timer is actuating or deactuating switches of work operations which are not critical so that space on the surface of the cam is conserved. What is further needed is an appliance timer which has an apparatus for permitting quiet manual setting of the appliance timer.

Apparatus for permitting quiet manual setting of an appliance timer


A CRC circuit, CRC method, and method of designing a CRC circuit, the CRC circuit, including: a packet data slice latch having outputs; a multiple level XOR subtree, each level including one or more XOR subtrees, each output of the packet data slice latch coupled to an input of the multiple level XOR subtree, each lower level XOR subtree coupled to a higher level XOR subtree through an intervening latch level; a remainder XOR subtree; a combinational XOR subtree, the outputs of the remainder XOR subtree and the outputs of the multiple level XOR subtree coupled to the inputs of the combinational XOR subtree; and a current CRC result latch, the output of the combinational XOR subtree coupled to the inputs of the current CRC result latch and the outputs of the M-bit current CRC result latch coupled to the inputs of the remainder XOR subtree.

Error checking of data transmissions between sending and receiving devices use a cyclic redundancy check circuit (CRC) implementing various CRC codes in both the sending and receiving devices. The CRC code is calculated by an exclusive OR (XOR) subtree. As high speed serial interconnect technologies evolve, many of the standards governing these technologies allow bandwidths well beyond the traditional 96 and 128 bits per cycle bandwidths, yet maintain the same transmission frequency as for the older smaller 96 and 128 bits per cycle bandwidths. As bandwidth increases, the complexity and depth of the XOR subtree must increase as the need to process more bits per clock cycle grows. Traditional CRC designs when applied to large bandwidth data transmissions very quickly develop the interrelated problems of timing closure and physical silicon area required to implement the XOR subtree. Therefore, there is a need for a CRC circuit that can handle large bandwidths without timing closure problems.

Scalable cyclic redundancy check circuit

International Business Machines Corporation


In a blood flow measuring apparatus, a data processor in a computer determines three parameters from a (ΔCT value of CT image data corresponding to) time-course change, consisting of a test region rate constant K, an arterial blood rate constant Ka, and a xenon partition coefficient λ. A blood flow f is determined using the determined rate constant K, and the xenon partition coefficient λ.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a xenon CT apparatus in which the blood flow of a test region inside a subject's body can be calculated with high accuracy.
Further, the present invention concerns a method of determining an arterial blood rate constant, so as to determine a rate constant of xenon concentration of the blood flowing inside an artery of the subject, from a time-course change in the xenon concentration of the test region.
Moreover, the present invention also concerns a method for calculating blood flow, so as to calculate the blood flow of the test region, utilizing the aforementioned method of determining an arterial blood rate constant.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method is known in which, by means of an X-ray CT (computed tomography) apparatus, while tomographic images, for example, of the head region of a patient who serves as a subject are obtained, after a mixed gas made up of xenon gas and oxygen gas, which are delivered out from a gas inhalation device, is inhaled for a fixed time period by the patient through a breathing mask, and then normal air is inhaled. The taken tomographic images are analyzed, and the blood flow within the head region of the patient is measured (see, Japanese Patent No. 3681610).
According to this method, the mixed gas is absorbed into the pulmonary veins from the lungs, and via the heart flows into the cerebral tissue as an arterial blood flow. Then, through the cerebral tissue, the mixed gas is returned to the heart in blood flowing through the veins, and is returned to the pulmonary arteries via the heart. At this time, a time-course change in xenon concentration inside the cerebral tissue is observed by an X-ray CT apparatus, and by comparing the same with a time-course change of xenon concentration of the normal cerebral region, a diagnosis of the patient's cerebral region can be performed.
Using this method, for obtaining a blood flow in the brain, it is necessary to have both the xenon concentration within the cerebral tissue, together with the xenon concentration of blood flowing in the arteries. However, with the above method, as a means for determining xenon concentration within the arteries, the end-tidal xenon concentration, for which detection thereof is possible by a non-invasive method, is substituted.
Notwithstanding, as shown in FIG. 7, when a time-course change of the xenon concentration (hereinafter referred to as an arterial xenon concentration) Ca(t) (where t is a time variable) of blood flowing within the arteries is compared with a time-course change of end-tidal xenon concentration Ce(t), since an error exists between Ca(t) and Ce(t), when the arterial xenon concentration Ca(t) is substituted as is by the end-tidal xenon concentration Ce(t), due to such an error, the (absolute value of the) blood flow cannot be detected reliably.

Xenon CT apparatus, method of determining arterial blood rate constant, and method for calculating blood flow


A portable loudspeaker enclosure is made of a collapsible shell of a fabric material, e.g., canvas, having top, bottom, left, right, and back walls. These walls each are each formed of a sandwich of fabric layers and an acoustic insulation layer, such as foamed plastic or glass fiber, the insulation layer being disposed to the inside of the shell. The fabric at each wall forms a pouch co-extensive with the wall. A rigid speaker frame serves as a front wall for the enclosure and is fitted into the front of the enclosure. The frame extends within the shell towards the back wall to a point behind the loudspeaker, i.e., about one-third of the front-to-back dimension. For each wall there is a rigid batt or insert that is dimensioned to fit removably into the pouch. The batts create a rigid cavity behind the loudspeaker. The portable enclosure can have a front cover that removably covers the front wall of the enclosure, i.e., for storage and transit. The cover includes space for carrying the batts when they are removed from their pouches.

This invention relates to loudspeakers, and is more particularly directed to loudspeaker enclosures that are collapsible to facilitate take down and set up, and which are also light-weight. The invention is specifically concerned with a portable speaker enclosure for performance or similar use that can replace bulky, and heavy rigid speaker enclosures.
Loudspeaker assemblies require an enclosure or chamber, which may or may not also include a vent or port, for the purpose of projecting the sound that is generated in the speaker. At the front of the enclosure is a front baffle, i.e., a board or plate on which the speaker or speakers are mounted. The baffle also has openings through which the sound is projected to radiate toward the audience. Typically, the enclosure has a large cabinet, with an interior volume of specific number of cubic inches so as to match the speaker's frequency response. The cabinet is usually very heavy, usually wood or equivalent, so that the cabinet does not vibrate or create undesirable buzzing or other noises. The inside of the cabinet is usually lined with plastic foam, fiber glass batt, or another acoustic insulating material. This absorbs unwanted vibrations, especially at higher frequencies, which can also cause undesirable distortion. A typical portable loudspeaker assembly with a rigid enclosure is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,168,762.
Folding cabinets for speaker enclosures have been proposed, but these have not been satisfactory. The folding cabinets generally have hinged sides to permit them being set up and taken down so that they occupy less space during transport. However, these folding speaker enclosures are every bit as heavy as a conventional speaker enclosure and are equally as cumbersome once set up for use. Also, the hinged sides tend to rattle and produce unwanted noises during use, decreasing suitability of the speaker assembly for musical performers.
Ideally, a soft-sided, portable speaker enclosure would have the advantages of low weight and collapsibility, but would not have the disadvantages of the rigid enclosures mentioned above. However, because of the need for rigidity of the walls that define the acoustic chamber behind the speaker, no suitable soft-sided enclosure has been proposed to date.


A set of tiles each of which is distinct from the other tiles in the set is arranged in a particular circle tiling having various unusual properties. As a result of these properties, each one of a number of sub-sets of these tiles may be identified by a characteristic color or other characterizing mark, and these sub-sets, so identified, may be used in various ways as a recreational puzzle, as a game, as an educational tool, for aesthetic purposes, and for a variety of other uses.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of geometry known as tessellation, which has been defined as the covering of prescribed areas with tiles of prescribed shapes. Practical applications of this field include the design of paving and wall-coverings, the production of toys and games, and educational tools.
2. Description of the Prior Art
This invention makes use of the set of tiles disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,223,890 to Schoen.


A fountain faucet is comprised of a housing defining a water chamber and having an inlet communicating the water chamber and an outlet communicating the water chamber through an opening, a float valve disposed in the water chamber and movable between valve open and valve closed positions. A control unit engaged in the housing by means of a thread operable to retain the float valve in its closed position or allow the float valve movable freely between the valve open and valve closed positions.

The present invention relates to a fountain faucet and more particularly to a fountain faucet having a float valve which automatically shuts off the fountian faucet to prevent water from running waste.
Nowadays, fountain faucets are provided for controlling water flow of water pipes. Sometimes fountain faucets may be left open when water supply is shut off. Once the water supply is restored, water may keep running to waste until someone pays attention to it and turns the faucet off. It is therefore desirable to provide an effective means to automatically close a fountain faucet which is either left open or properly closed.
My U.S. Pat. No. 5,159,950 illustrates a fountain faucet operable to automatically shut off water supply for preventing water from running waste. The fountain faucet consists of a housing defining a water chamber and having an inlet communicating the water chamber and an outlet communicating the water chamber through an opening, a float valve hinged within the water chamber for a swinging movement between valve open and valve closed positions, a control unit engaged in the housing by means of a thread operable to retain the float in its closed position or allow the float valve swingable freely between the valve open and valve closed positions.
This device has the disadvantage in its release operation. For example, an operating knob of the control unit should be threaded to move a spindle axially downwardly to its lowermost position so as to release the float valve which is retained in its closed position by a retainer so that the float valve can rise to lay open the opening between the water chamber and outlet and restore the control functions of the device.

Shang Lun Tsun, Jen Te Hsiang, Tainan Hsien


A method for making a part, the method comprising: (a) providing an uncured upper layer on a part, a substrate, a workpiece, a support platform, or a base layer, wherein the uncured upper layer comprises resin and also comprises fibers, particles, powder, and/or electronic devices; (b) optionally providing a new uncured upper layer on the uncured upper layer provided in step (a), whereby the uncured upper layer provided in step (a) becomes an uncured lower layer, and wherein the new uncured upper layer comprises resin and also comprises fibers, particles, powder, and/or electronic devices; (c) curing the uncured upper layer and/or the uncured lower layer after step (b) using an electron beam; (d) after step (c), providing a new uncured upper layer on the cured or uncured upper layer, whereby the cured or uncured upper layer becomes a cured or uncured lower layer, and wherein the new uncured upper layer comprises resin and also comprises fibers, particles, powder, and/or electronic devices; (e) optionally curing the lower layer resulting from step (d) if the lower layer is uncured to yield a cured lower layer; (f) after step (e), optionally providing a new uncured upper layer on the uncured upper layer provided in step (d), whereby the uncured upper layer provided in step (d) becomes an uncured lower layer, and wherein the new uncured upper layer comprises resin and also comprises fibers, particles, powder, and/or electronic devices; (g) after step (f) curing the uncured upper layer and/or the uncured lower layer(s) after step (f) using an electron beam; and (h) optionally repeating steps (d) through (g) a number of times to form a desired number of cured layers.

This invention involves preparing composite parts by using an electron beam to selectively cure an electron-beam-curable thermoset resin. The invention advances the art in two related technical areas: fabrication of organic-matrix composites and rapid prototyping.
Fabrication of Advanced Organic-Matrix Composites
High-performance thermoset-matrix composite parts are used extensively in military aircraft, commercial aircraft, space vehicles, and sporting goods; and their use is expanding as manufacturing techniques improve and costs are reduced. These materials contain a high volume fraction (greater than about 50%) of continuous fiber reinforcement, which helps to give the materials the required strength and stiffness. There are a variety of methods for fabricating shaped parts from continuous fiber-reinforced plastic parts, including prepreg layup, resin transfer molding, pultrusion and compression molding, but all require the use of a tool (a mold, die, mandrel, etc.) to give the part its shape. (The term "pultrusion" comes from a combination of the words "pulling" and "extrusion." Fibers and resin are pulled through a die of a desired shape. This is used to make long parts of continuous cross section, such as rods or beams.)
The tool mentioned in the preceding paragraph is typically made of a metal (e.g., aluminum, steel, or Kovar, depending on the part shape) or composite and may require months and many thousands of dollars to make, depending on the complexity and size of the part. (Kovar is a nickel-cobalt alloy with a low thermal expansion coefficient, which makes Kovar useful for tooling for curing composites because a low amount of tool expansion during heating or curing of the composite part limits stress on the part, while a large amount of tool expansion during heating or curing of the composite part can stress the part. Instead of Kovar, any other suitable low-expansion alloy may be used.) The time and cost required to make a tool can be a major impediment in the fabrication of composite parts for prototyping or small production runs, where quick response times can be crucial and the cost of the tool cannot be amortized over many parts.
Electron-beam curing, which is also known as "e-beam curing," is a relatively new method for curing composite materials that has stimulated significant interest. Curing a part using an e-beam allows curing at low temperatures and much faster cycle times, which reduces processing costs, equipment costs, and tooling costs. Current e-beam curing processes either utilize a high-energy beam (typically 2 to 10 MeV) to cure the entire thickness of the part (that has been laid up over a tool or injected into a tool such as a mold) at one time, or use a lower energy beam (e.g., 300 to 400 keV) to cure one ply of pre-impregnated fiber as it is layed down over a shaped tool. All these approaches require the fabrication of a tool.
The subject invention can eliminate the need to use a tool (such as a mold, die, mandrel, or any other type of tool) to make a continuous fiber-reinforced composite part. A three-dimensional part can be made directly from a computer design file, using the same raw material that is kept on hand for fabricating any composite part, regardless of shape and design. (Of course, the raw materials used would have to be consistent with the requirements of this invention.) This capability could dramatically decrease response time and the cost to fabricate prototypes or small quantities of parts.
Rapid Prototyping
Rapid prototyping (also called "desktop manufacturing" or "free-form fabrication") has been a very active area in the last 15 years, with a variety of approaches in use or under development. Stereolithography (SLA), as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,575,330 (which is incorporated herein by this reference), was one of the earliest rapid prototyping methods and utilizes a laser-generated ultraviolet (UV) beam to selectively cure UV-curable acrylate resins. However, the available UV-curable resins have much lower mechanical properties (strength, toughness, glass transition temperature, etc.) than most recently developed electron-beam-curable resins; and since UV radiation does not penetrate the material as deeply, especially when carbon fibers are included, it cannot be used to fabricate carbon-fiber-reinforced composites with thermal and mechanical properties that would be obtainable using the subject invention. Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) was also an early rapid-prototyping method; it operates by using a laser to selectively fuse powder of the working material, adding another layer of powder, and building a part up in this manner. An important advantage of SLS compared to many other techniques is its ability to use a variety of materials, including wax, nylon, polycarbonate, and even (in a limited way) metal. However, SLS does not work well on thermoset plastics (which tend to have superior mechanical and thermal properties compared to thermoplastics), since these materials cannot be melted without significant chemical degradation once they have been cured. Other rapid-prototyping methods include: Three-Dimensional Printing, in which a binder is sprayed in controlled manner onto a bed of particles; Fused Deposition Modeling, in which a thermoplastic filament is melted and applied similarly to squeezing toothpaste from a tube; and other approaches. However, none of these rapid-prototyping approaches is capable of fabricating a thermoset plastic part with thermal and mechanical properties similar to epoxy.
A continuous fiber-reinforced organic-matrix material consists of a resin made of organic material (such as a thermoplastic or thermoset, as opposed to ceramic or metal) which is reinforced by long aligned fibers (e.g., fibers having any suitable size, including, but not necessarily limited to, fibers having a median length of at least about 2 cm, at least about 2.5 cm, at least about 2.6 cm, at least about 3 cm, at least about 4 cm, at least about 5 cm, at least about 10 cm, at least about 13 cm, at least about 15 cm, or at least about 20 cm and optionally having a median length of less than about 50 m, less than about 25 m, less than about 10 m, less than about 5 m, less than about 200 cm, less than about 150 cm, less than about 100 cm, less than about 50 cm, or less than about 25 cm), which optionally extend approximately over the length, width, or depth of the part (these may be straight fibers or fibers woven into a fabric and may have a size approximately equal to the length, width, or depth of the part). By contrast, a discontinuous fiber-reinforced composite is reinforced by small fibers, typically less than about 2 cm long, which are often oriented randomly but may also be aligned. Because the reinforcing fibers are much stronger and stiffer than the organic matrix, and because longer fibers can better carry and distribute mechanical loading, a part reinforced by continuous fibers is much stronger and stiffer than a part reinforced by short fibers. However, fabricating parts reinforced with long, oriented fibers is more difficult, especially when trying to use a rapid-prototyping method.
Our invention is different from current rapid-prototyping methods (with the possible exception of Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM)) in its ability to combine two capabilities which together produce parts with mechanical and thermal properties that are dramatically superior to those that can be made with existing rapid-prototyping methods:                1) the ability to incorporate continuous (i.e., long, not short) carbon (not glass) fibers as the reinforcement; and        2) the ability to use thermoset (rather than thermoplastic) resins as the matrix.
As discussed above, other rapid-prototyping methods (with the possible exception of LOM) may have one or the other of the above capabilities, but none can incorporate both the ability to use continuous carbon fibers and the ability to use a thermoset matrix to make a composite part.
Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM) is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,730,817 and 5,876,550. As currently practiced, LOM uses heat, not an electron beam, to bond together layers of material that have been cut by a computer-controlled laser. The invention described in this application differs from LOM and, as explained below, has several advantages over LOM:                (1) Because each layer is simultaneously formed and bonded to the previous layer in the present invention, the integrity of the bonding between layers will be better in the present process than in LOM; and, thus, the present process will yield a higher quality product with fewer voids and better mechanical properties. This is especially important because there is no flow of the e-beam curable matrix during cure.        (2) Because the present process does not require that layers be formed separately and then picked up and placed onto the workpiece, the present process is more flexible than LOM. For example, the present process allows reinforcement only in selected areas, thereby allowing formation of very thin layers and avoiding indexing issues that can contribute to dimensional inaccuracies.        (3) Because reinforcing fibers for one or more layers can be laid down before introduction and curing of the e-beam curable resin matrix in the present invention (by contrast with LOM), introduction of z-direction reinforcing short fibers can be accomplished; and those fibers can then be immersed in resin and the surrounding resin cured, thereby completely integrating the z-direction fibers into the part.


A method and apparatus for making structural panel from the rinds of sugarcane and similar woody grasses. The method includes providing a collection of straight and rather long rind fiber-bundle strands, coating them with binder, depositing coated strands in a loose pile with the strands randomly oriented in substantially parallel planes, pressing the pile to a final thickness, and curing to interconnect each strand with others. The curing step preferably includes moving air through the pile, which had been deposited on a perforated belt and pressed between a pair of such belts.

Many kinds of board products have been made from woody plant fibers in the form of chips, slabs, strands, shreds, particles, sawdust, shavings, comminutions, and other fiber forms. Such fibrous materials have been bound together using a variety of binders and forming methods to produce boards or panels referred to as chipboard, particle board, fiberboard, strand board, wood-wool board, veneer board, and pressboard, to name just some.
It is known that the woody rinds of grasses such as sugarcane and sweet sorghum can be used in producing some of such boards. Additionally, it is known that such rinds, that is the fibers from such rinds, can be aligned and bonded to form boards having characteristics much like solid natural hardwood.
United States patents have been granted on various improvements relating to the above-noted manufactured panels and boards, including the following patents:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,592,470 (Ryberg) PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,648,262 (Croston et al.) PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,717,420 (Roy) PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,853,413 (Christian) PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,164,511 (Elmendorf) PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,464,881 (Miller et al.) PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,464,877 (Miller et al.) PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,567,511 (Tilby) PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,690,358 (Tilby) PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,025,278 (Tilby) PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,212,616 (Tilby) PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,312,677 (Tilby et al.).
While some of these patents relate to the solid boards mentioned above, most relate to lighter and less expensive boards and panels. A long-standing problem or shortcoming of the latter boards and panels is their structural weakness. Because of this, few of them have excellent weight-bearing and structural characteristics; such boards and panels often serve lesser covering, underlying, or decorative needs. Many of such boards and panels have little ability to serve in situations exposing them to weather, because weakening can occur.
In many cases, the strength of such panels and boards is provided primarily by the binder rather than by the fibers used in manufacture. In some cases, a degree of strength is achieved by the degree of packing. In others, the use of large amounts of binder per unit volume of product increases the cost of such panels.
Such panels not only are lacking in structural strength, but typically do not have good insulating qualities. Because of this the usefulness of such panels is often quite limited.
Manufacture of such panels and boards has been carried out in various methods, some requiring complex extrusion equipment or other manufacturing equipment. The processes used in making such panels and boards often require extended periods to achieve drying throughout the cross-section of the board or panel, and significant amounts of energy.
A major problem in many developing countries and elsewhere is the shortage of high-quality building materials or, stated differently, the high cost of materials used for various building needs, including residential housing. In many cases, locally manufactured materials may not be available, requiring importation which adds to costs.
In summary, there is a clear need for an improved apparatus and method for manufacture of structural panels. Such apparatus must be low in cost and be able to produce low-cost, light-weight structural panels having good load-bearing qualities, good insulative qualities, and good weather-resistance An apparatus for production of structural panels from sugarcane and sorghum rinds, particularly in developing countries, would provide important advantages.

Apparatus for manufacture of structural panel