This radiating slot array antenna is made out of a printed circuit sandwich structure with: a radiating plate in printed circuit form transparent to microwaves having, on its upper face, a metallization plane in which there are etched alignments of radiating slots; chutes made of a plastic material with a metallized inner wall, the chutes having their hollow part before the upper face of the radiating plate, being soldered by their edges to the metallization plane of the upper face of the radiating plate on and parallel to the alignments of radiating slots so as to overlap them, and reconstituting the three missing walls of waveguides whose fourth wall is constituted by the metallization plane etched with radiating slots of the upper face of the radiating plate; and an upper plate assembled on the back of the chutes to ensure the stiffness of the antenna. Its composition as a sandwich of printed circuits gives it high rigidity, great lightness and a low cost price.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the antennas formed by an array of radiating slots made in a wall of a set of microwave signal feeder or collector waveguides positioned side by side. Antennas of this kind are well known in the prior art especially for their ability to be aimed by phase shifts or frequency variation of the microwave signals travelling through their waveguides.
A radiating slot array antenna usually has an entirely metal structure that makes it complicated and therefore costly to manufacture. This entirely metal structure also makes the antenna heavy and therefore difficult to carry and use in mobile equipment mounted on aircraft or land vehicles. It is also difficult for such an antenna to be simply carried by individuals.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There is a known way described in the French patent application FR-A-2.722.337 (THOMSON-CSF) of making slotted waveguides out of a thermoplastic material transparent to microwaves. These waveguides are lined, on the inner wall of their conduit, with a metal skin in which the radiating slots are etched. This technique for making radiating slotted waveguides is used to obtain a lighter material that costs less but is not directly usable for radiating slot array antennas for there arise problems of stiffness of the waveguide assembly supporting the radiating slots. These problems imply the use of a rigid frame that is heavy and bulky.
The idea of making waveguides without slots out of a conduit made of a plastic such as rigid polyvinyl chloride or a stratified polyester, with a metallized inner wall, has also been known much earlier from the French patent FR-A-1.436.490 (GEOFFROY-DELORE).
The present invention is aimed at providing a low-mass and low-cost radiating slot array antenna. A reduction of mass as compared with the standard approach using metal has indeed many advantages. It leads to additional gains in mass on the antenna support and especially on its motor and servomechanism when the antenna is mobile. It also makes it possible to envisage mounting the antenna on a light vehicle or even equipping an individual therewith.


In one embodiment, a dual configuration aircraft lavatory includes a plurality of walls enclosing and defining a lavatory interior space, wherein one of the walls is coextensive with a portion of the cabin. Within the lavatory interior space are a toilet, a washing station and a waste receptacle movable between a first position and a second position. In the first position, the waste receptacle is attached to a wall of the lavatory between the washing station and a door wall. In the second position, the waste receptacle occupies a second predetermined volume of space in the aircraft cabin separated from a first predetermined volume of space occupied by the waste receptacle in the first position. Moving the waste receptacle from the first position to the second position reveals additional space within the lavatory sufficient so that two adult humans simultaneously fit within the lavatory interior space.

Over time, air travel has become ubiquitous and as such aircraft carry passengers with a wide range of needs, including needs associated with limited mobility. For those passengers having special needs including those who are impaired, handicapped, or elderly, thereby causing reduced mobility, moving around on an aircraft may be difficult. Moreover, accessing a lavatory is no exception to this difficulty. Indeed, for many of these passengers, the assistance of another person is necessary to access and properly use a lavatory. Some passengers may require the use of an aisle wheelchair and thus require lavatories with certain dimensions and a particular arrangement of fixtures so that use of the lavatory with the aisle wheelchair is possible.
However, in many aircraft, particularly smaller aircraft with a single aisle configuration, lavatories are small and cannot accommodate more than one adult person at a time or a person in an aisle wheelchair. Even in instances where a person in an aisle wheelchair can enter a lavatory, access to the sink may be limited due to its position close to an inside, aisle facing wall of the lavatory, making it difficult to reach. And entering a lavatory does not mean that they can sit on or rise up from the provided toilet.
Thus, a need exists for lavatories onboard vehicles designed for long distance travel, such as aircraft, that can accommodate various persons requiring the need of assistance or the use of an aisle wheelchair to access and use a lavatory, or to permit the assistance of a second person while the lavatory door is closed.

Dual configuration lavatory with assist space


The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and method for compensating for pixel data, a display panel and a storage medium. In one or more embodiments, the method includes: obtaining a first display area and a second display area of the display panel; obtaining, by mapping respective initial pixel data of pixels in the first display area using a preset grayscale target value, respective intermediate pixel data of the pixels in the first display area; and obtaining, by compensating for respective initial pixel data of pixels in the second display area and the respective intermediate pixel data of the pixels in the first display area using preset compensation coefficients, respective target pixel data of pixels in the second display area and the first display area.

As users have higher and higher demands for display quality, display function, and power consumption of a display device, a display in which images are displayed with a high resolution at a high refresh rate in an area to which fixation points of an eye corresponds appears in the market, which is hereinafter referred to as a smartview display. Since the smartview display only displays images with high resolution at a high refresh rate in a fixation area, and displays images with low resolution at a low refresh rate in a non-fixation area, power consumption can be reduced.

Apparatuses and methods for compensating for pixel data, display panels and storage media


A humidifier for providing moisture to an airstream within an airduct comprises a base manifold configured for being secured to a side of the airduct, the base manifold including a steam inlet valve and a condensate drain valve; and a distributor pipe secured to the base manifold and configured to extend into the airduct, the distributor pipe being in communication with the base manifold. The distributor pipe includes first and second slots disposed opposite each other and longitudinally along a major portion of the length of the pipe, and the pipe is subject to flexing such that the slots open up in response to the steam being introduced thereinto, thereby to release steam in the airstream.

The present invention relates generally to a steam humidifier used in HVAC systems in buildings.
Since 1985, most steam humidifiers used steam injection manifolds that contain nozzles in the duct distributor pipes. The nozzles can be in the form of plain holes placed along the length of the pipe. This arrangement has been found to be unsatisfactory, since it allows the condensate to flow out of the holes into the airstream along with the steam. By using nozzles instead of plain holes that feed off the center of the pipe where the steam is hottest and driest, condensate is prevented from getting out with the steam.
However, it is labor intensive to install the nozzles into the steam distributor pipes, since holes must be drilled before the nozzles can be inserted, into them and if a mistake is made on capacity, it is very difficult, if not impossible, to add nozzles to increase capacity Exceeding the capacity of the nozzles results in a very heavy steam flow, which takes longer to evaporate in the airstream. In some cases, the nozzles used have been made of plastic and can come loose and leak or blow out of the distributor pipes.
To shorten the distance it takes for the steam to evaporate in the airduct, the number of distributor pipes have been increased to spread out the steam output over the entire cross-sectional area of the airduct. However, because there is now more surface of the distributor pipes exposed to the cold airstream, the result is usually more condensate production (which can be as much as 50% loss of the steam to condensate), loss of steam output, and heat-gain to the air in the airduct, which could be as much as 15xc2x0 F. If the building is under cooling load, this heat-gain to the airstream will be detrimental to maintaining the building temperature.
In view of the above, there is, therefore, a need for a steam humidifier that avoids the shortcomings of the prior art.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a steam humidifier where the steam distributor pipes are provided with pressure variable apertures, instead of standard nozzles, that adjust their output to meet the demand.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a steam humidifies where the steam distributor pipes are installed to the manifold with slip fittings without tools, allowing the pipes to be easily disassembled and cut to fit the height of the airduct.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a steam humidifier where the distributor pipes can be cut in the field to fit the height of the existing airduct without any detrimental effect to its steam distribution capacity.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a steam humidifier that can easily be retrofitted to switch to a different means of steam production, including direct steam, steam heat exchanger, electric coil, or gas-fired heat exchanger.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a steam humidifier where the steam distributor pipes are insulated and where the nozzles are fed from the central part of the pipes where steam is hottest and driest, thereby minimizing production of condensate.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a steam humidifier where the contact ratio of steam to air is substantially 100%.
In summary, the present invention provides a humidifier for providing moisture to an airstream within an airduct, comprising a base manifold configured for being secured to a side of the airduct, the base manifold including a steam inlet valve and a condensate drain valve; and a distributor pipe secured to the base manifold and configured to extend into the airduct, the distributor pipe being in communication with the base manifold.
The present invention also provides a humidifier for providing moisture to an airstream within an airduct, comprising a base manifold configured for being secured to a side of the airduct; a heat-exchanger disposed within the base manifold configured to boil water disposed within the base manifold to steam; and a distributor pipe secured to the base manifold and configured to extend into the airduct, the distributor pipe being in communication with the base manifold.
The present invention further provides a nozzle for dispensing moisture into an airstream, comprising a pipe having a first end for connecting to a source of steam and a closed second end; first and second slots disposed opposite each other and longitudinally along a major portion of the length of the pipe; and the pipe being subject to flexing such that the slots open up in response to the steam being introduced thereinto, thereby to release steam in the airstream.
The present invention also provides a method for humidifying an airstream in a duct, comprising providing a nozzle configured to provide a sheet pattern of spray; disposing the nozzle in the airstream; connecting the nozzle to a source of steam; directing the steam sheet pattern transversely to the direction of the airstream such that maximum surface area of the sheet pattern is presented to the airstream.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description.

Steam humidifier with pressure variable aperture


An infrared remote control signal is entered into a receiving circuit where it is converted into an electrical, modulated signal made up of a carrier and a command signal. The modulated input signal is sent to a control signal output circuit where it is filtered to send only the carrier of the remote input signal to a frequency-voltage conversion circuit. The frequency-voltage conversion circuit generates a control DC voltage according to the carrier frequency. The control DC voltage changes the pass band characteristic of a voltage-controlled filter in such a manner that the voltage-controlled filter selectively passes the desired fundamental frequency component and harmonic components of the carrier signal. The voltage-controlled filter also passes the command signal component. Thus, at the output of the voltage-controlled filter is obtained a modulated output signal whose carrier frequency is varied from that of the modulated input signal. With the carrier frequency changed, the resulting infrared remote control signal sent out from a transmitting circuit can be prevented from being affected or interfered with by external noise from fluorescent lamps.

The present invention relates to a modulated signal transmitting apparatus for receiving modulated signals and sending them out.
A common process of performing remote control on equipment or devices to be controlled involves the following operations. A remote control transmitter modulates a carrier with a command signal and converts the modulated signal by a light-electricity conversion means into an infrared signal, which is transmitted as an infrared remote control signal. The equipment to be controlled receives the infrared remote control signal at the light receiving section, converts it into an electric signal, and demodulates it to recover the command signal. According to the command signal thus recovered, the controlled equipment performs the required control.
When such a remote control system is exposed to intermittent external noise such as from fluorescent lamps, especially when the carrier frequency of the remote control signal is in the same range as the external noise frequency, the remote control signal is interfered with by the noise, with the result that the remote control signal cannot be correctly received by the controlled equipment. The command signal therefore cannot be demodulated and recovered, resulting in an undesired operation of the equipment or failure to operate.
With a view to overcoming the above drawback experienced with conventional transmitters, it is an object of this invention to provide a modulated signal transmitting apparatus which is capable of outputting modulated remote control signals without being affected by external noise.


A system for providing video-on-demand service, broadband internet access and other broadband services over T-carrier systems including a pull multiplexer cherrypicker at the head end is disclosed. The pull multiplexer receives upstream requests and cull out MPEG or other compressed video packets, IP packets and other data packet types to satisfy the requests or to send pushed programming downstream. The downstream can be DSL or HFC. Each customer has a cable modem, DSL modem or a gateway which interfaces multiple signal sources to a LAN to which settop decoders, digital phones, personal computers, digital FAX machines, video cameras, digital VCRs etc. can be attached. Each gateway can coupled the LAN to a DSL line or HFC through a cable modem or a satellite dish through a satellite transceiver. A PSTN and conventional TV antenna interface is also provided.

This is a continuation-in-part of a co-pending U.S. patent application entitled HOME NETWORK FOR ORDERING AND DELIVERY OF VIDEO ON DEMAND, TELEPHONE AND OTHER
DIGITAL SERVICES, filed Jan. 14, 2000, Ser. No. 09/483,681 which is hereby incorporated by reference. Most cable TV systems in the prior art have been broadcast only where individual programs were modulated onto 6 MHz bandwidth analog RF carriers that were frequency division multiplexed. As the internet became more popular and telephone services became deregulated and other digital services became more popular, there has arisen the notion of delivery of digital data over cable TV systems in a portion of the bandwidth unused by the analog CATV programs. This gave rise to cable modems.
Video-on-demand services have been known in hotel television systems for several years. Video-on-demand services allow a user to select a program to view and have the video and audio data of that program transmitted to her television set. Examples of such systems include: U.S. Pat. No. 6,057,832 disclosing a video on demand system with a fast play and a regular play mode; U.S. Pat. No. 6,055,560 disclosing an interactive video-on-demand system that supports functions normally only found on a VCR such as rewind, stop, fast forward etc.; U.S. Pat. No. 6,055,314 which discloses a system for secure purchase and delivery of video content programs over distribution networks and DVDs involving downloading of decryption keys from the video source when a program is ordered and paid for; U.S. Pat. No. 6,049,823 disclosing an interactive video-on-demand to deliver interactive multimedia services to a community of users through a LAN or TV over an interactive TV channel; U.S. Pat. No. 6,025,868 disclosing a pay-per-play system including a high-capacity storage medium; U.S. Pat. No. 6,020,912 disclosing a video-on-demand system having a server station and a user station with the server stations being able to transmit a requested video program in normal, fast forward, slow, rewind or pause modes; U.S. Pat. No. 5,945,987 teaching an interactive video-on-demand network system that allows users to group together trailers to review at their own speed and then order the program directly from the trailer; U.S. Pat. No. 5,935,206 teaching a server that provides access to digital video movies for viewing on demand using a bandwidth allocation scheme that compares the number of requests for a program to a threshold and then, under some circumstances of high demand makes another copy of the video movie on another disk where the original disk does not have the bandwidth to serve the movie to all requesters; U.S. Pat. No. 5,926,205 teaching a video-on-demand system that provides access to a video program by partitioning the program into an ordered sequence of N segments and provides subscribers concurrent access to each of the N segments; U.S. Pat. No. 5,802,283 teaching a public switched telephone network for providing information from multimedia information servers to individual telephone subscribers via a central office that interfaces to the multimedia server(s) and receives subscriber requests and including a gateway for conveying routing data and a switch for routing the multimedia data from the server to the requesting subscriber over first, second and third signal channels of an ADSL link to the subscriber.
Video-on-demand on cable TV systems to receive requests from cable subsribers for video programs or services such as high speed internet access or access to T1 or other high speed digital telephony services have not yet completed development. Such systems receive upstream requests and deliver requested video programs with associated audio and other data, as well as bidirectional delivery of internet protocol packets from LAN or WAN sources coupled to the head end bidirectional delivery of telephony data packets to and from T1 or other high speed lines of the public service telephony network. A need has arisen for a video-on-demand service over cable TV systems as well as delivery of other services such as wideband internet and T1 telephony access over cable TV systems.

Process for supplying video-on-demand and other requested programs and services from a headend


A hydraulic lock of a tiller-based watercraft steering system is responsive to tiller release to lock a watercraft's steered element in the last commanded position upon tiller release. The hydraulic lock can be controlled through an actuator assembly that is provided between a tiller arm and the watercraft's steered element. One or more cables connect the actuator assembly to other components of the hydraulic lock. A thermal compensator regulates pressure within the hydraulic lock by accommodating changes in temperature related characteristics of the fluid within the hydraulic lock Increases in fluid pressure due to thermal expansion can be mitigated within the thermal compensator by automatically or manually directing a volume of fluid from the hydraulic lock, through a compensating valve assembly, and into a reservoir. Decreases in fluid pressure can be mitigated by directing fluid from the reservoir back into the hydraulic lock.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to marine steering systems and, more particularly, relates to a steering system for a boat or other watercraft that is powered by a motor and steered by a tiller. Specifically, the invention relates to a tiller-operated steering system that is self-locking upon tiller release so as to immunize the tiller from reaction forces that would otherwise be imposed on the tiller by the motor or other steered element. The watercraft's steered element therefore retains the last steering angle commanded upon tiller release.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In one type of conventional marine steering system, a watercraft such as a boat is steered by pivoting an outboard motor on the stem of the watercraft about a vertical steering axis under control of an operator. The steering forces are typically generated manually using a tiller that is located at the stern of the boat and that is connected to the motor either directly or indirectly via a mechanical steering linkage.
Reaction forces are imposed on and/or by the motor or other steered element during normal operation of the typical boat. These reaction forces may cause the steering angle to change unless the reaction forces are countered by the operator. The operator must therefore retain control of the tiller at all times in order to maintain a desired steering angle. The operator's freedom of movement therefore is sharply curtailed. In addition, the reaction forces increase generally proportionately with motor size. The relatively large reaction forces imposed on and by larger motors require commensurately larger retention forces by the operator, leading to operator fatigue over time.
Several proposals have been made to incorporate features into a marine steering system to prevent reaction or backlash forces imposed on or by the motor or other steered element from being translated back to the tiller. Most of these systems take the form of a wrapped spring brake or similar mechanical lock that acts on a steering shaft assembly or other rotational steering system component. The mechanical lock releases automatically when steering forces are imposed on one end of the rotational component so as to permit rotation of that component for the purpose of changing the steered element's steering angle. The lock engages automatically when backlash or reaction forces are transmitted to the opposite end of the rotational component, thereby locking the component from rotation and maintaining the last commanded steering angle of the steered element. Systems of this type are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 2,927,551 to Bevis; U.S. Pat. No. 2,947,278 to Magill; U.S. Pat. No. 3,039,420 to Bevis; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,796,292 to Harrison.
Others have proposed the coupling of a watercraft's steered mechanism to a hydraulic cylinder whose piston is locked from motion upon release of the steering mechanism so as to lock the rudder or other steered element in position and, thereby prevent backlash forces from being transmitted back to the steering mechanism. Systems of this type are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,631,833 to Shimanckas; U.S. Pat. No. 3,658,027 to Sturgis; U.S. Pat. No. 4,227,481 to Cox; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,695 to Neissen.
However, all of the self-locking steering systems described above are rather complex and cannot be easily installed without substantial modification to the existing steering system. Most of these systems are configured exclusively for use with a helm-based steering system rather than a tiller-based steering system. None is configured to be easily incorporated into an existing tiller-based steering design or retrofitted onto a pre-manufactured tiller-based steering system.
Perhaps as a result of these deficiencies, the prevailing approach used by engine manufacturers utilizes a friction based system, located between the tilt tube for an outboard engine and a tiller, and operable to resist tiller movement. The degree of resistance can be adjusted by manually adjusting a knob. While such friction-based devices reduce the transfer of forces on the tiller, they also hinder tiller operation. They also are necessarily limited in the capacity to block the tiller against undesired movement. They also tend to wear with time, requiring frequent readjustment to maintain the desired resistance.
The need therefore has arisen to provide a simple, effective, self-locking tiller operated power assist steering system that maintains a steering angle against reaction forces on or by the steered element, thereby negating the need for the operator to constantly man the tiller.
The need has additionally arisen to provide a self-locking system that can be incorporated into an existing tiller-based steering system with minimal or no modification to the existing steering system design.
Furthermore, the need has arisen to provide a self-locking system with a hydraulic lock that automatically regulates its operating pressure, optionally having manual pressure relief functionality.


Methods, systems, and devices for image processing are described. The method may include identifying a face in a first image based on identifying one or more biometric features of the face, determining an angular direction of one or more pixels of the identified face, identifying an anchor point on the identified face, sorting each of one or more pixels of the identified face into one of a set of pixel bins based on a combination of the determined angular direction of the pixel and a distance between the pixel and the identified anchor point, and outputting an indication of authenticity associated with the face based on a number of pixels in each bin.

The following relates generally to object recognition, and more specifically to anti-spoofing in facial recognition.
Object recognition may refer to a field of computer vision for finding and identifying objects in an image or video sequence. As an example of object recognition, facial recognition may refer to a process used to identify or verify a person (e.g., from a digital image, a frame of a video clip, etc.) based on one or more facial features. Generally, facial features may be extracted from the image and compared with features stored in a database. Additionally or alternatively, the extracted facial features may be fed to a classifier, which may in turn generate an identity hypothesis based on the input features. Facial recognition may involve one or more steps including face detection, face tracking, facial landmark detection, face normalization, feature extraction, identification/verification, or a combination thereof. In some cases, facial recognition may be based at least in part on processing the digital image or video frame using machine learning.
Generally, machine learning may refer to a class of artificial neural networks in which the connectivity pattern between nodes of the neural network resembles that of neurons in various biological processes. Machine learning for facial recognition may be computationally complex, utilizing large amounts of memory, processing, power, time, etc. There currently exist a variety of portable computing devices, such as portable wireless telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), laptop computers, tablet personal computers, eBook viewers, and the like. More specifically, some of these devices may include digital imaging sensors for taking photos (and video) as well as components for communicating voice and data packets over wired or wireless networks (e.g., for downloading videos and images). Such devices may benefit from improved facial recognition techniques (e.g., to identify and prevent spoofing in facial recognition; to reduce memory requirements, processing load, power consumption, time, etc.).


The present invention refers to an accelerating cyclone that separates solid particles, comprising in its general structure a lower conical body (1) (17A and 17B), comprising a lower opening (18), a central cylindrical body (2) immediately above the conical body (1) whose diameter is smaller than the largest diameter of the conical body cone (1), and a third upper, also cylindrical, body (3) of smaller diameter than the diameter of the central cylindrical body (2), comprising a side opening for the acceleration air output (5); where the cylindrical central body (2) allows to accelerate the speed of the solid material particles and is the cyclone pressure chamber; and where said cylindrical central body (2) comprises a side opening for the acceleration air input (8) and at least one duct (9).

Constant research in different areas of the art has been carried out based on the need to regulate the costs associated to the processes of drying, dewatering and pulverizing solid substances, and the processes of collecting solid particulate material.
Cyclones, consisting essentially of a sedimentation chamber operating with centrifugal acceleration instead of gravitational acceleration, are the most commonly used equipment in retrieving or settling solid particles. Cyclones have been used for years to retrieve solid particles due to the lower manufacture and operability cost thereof. In general, the physical structure of a cyclone comprises a vertical cylinder with a lower conical section, which forces the descending vortex to change its direction, which results in an increased particle collection as the turning radius is reduced. The solid material to be separated enters as mixed with gas through a tangential inlet that said vertical cylinder has, and the separated solid material is removed through an open lower mouth located on the lower conical section. Cyclones are basically simple constructions with no moving parts, which makes maintenance operations easier. Cyclones are equipment with very good performance in retrieving solids, but they are not as suitable if the particles to be separated are too small, e.g. with a diameter less than about 10 μm. Additionally, its efficiency decreases when the particles of the materials to be separated have a tendency to stick, thus remaining stuck in the corners formed by the joints between the upper vertical body and lower conical section, and in the inner walls of the lower cone as said cone is downwardly convergent and has an inner surface affected by the action of gravity and the speed effect on the falling particles as the diameter of the conical part decreases.
Additionally, grinding systems that take the air use into account to improve efficiency, either by using a large volume of air that is generated by a fan or by using high-speed air that is also generated by a fan, have been developed. A further drying method that has been developed uses a variant consisting of a spray drying, which operates by reducing the material to be dried to droplets, then subjecting said droplets to a large amount of hot air in order to provide the necessary heat to dry the liquid. The equipment that is associated with this method is referred to as spray dryer.
Considering the above, it is necessary to have a conical separator equipment or cyclone that is suitable to separate particles from the solid material of any type and, without losing efficiency, that is capable of keeping its inner surfaces clean even when the particles to be separated are of the sticky type.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,971,594 describes an apparatus and method for compressed air vortex flow (circular or rotational flow at high velocity) in grinding solid material. The grinding apparatus therein uses high velocity compressed air in the grinding process for grinding, and also drying, diverse materials including by way of example, but not limited to, glass, grain, paper, plastic, aluminum and granite. The grinding apparatus includes an annular upper enclosure defining an upper chamber into which material to be ground is introduced, a conical lower enclosure defining a lower chamber affixed in vertical orientation in tandem with the annular upper enclosure. The annular upper enclosure has holes for introducing compressed air in its sidewalls. The air is introduced relatively circumferentially into the upper chamber so as to generate a circular vortex flow of air for material grinding and drying to take place. The air flow is exhausted through a pipe located in the annular upper enclosure, and the dried material is discharged through a lower end of the lower enclosure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,251,243 describes an improved cyclonic separator comprising a lower frustoconical body that has a conical wall, which ends at its lower end with a cylindrical short wall forming the mouth for discharging solid material. At its upper end having a larger diameter, said conical body ends in a radially outwardly directed flange over which an annular lid may be suitably mounted. On the other hand, the upper body is formed by a conical wall, whose upper lower diameter end is closed by means of a circular lid through whose center the suction duct is provided and its larger diameter end is inserted in the lower cone.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,066 describes a cyclone dryer comprising a cyclonic chamber consisting of a lower cone-shaped chamber, a lower cylindrical chamber located immediately above the cone, an upper cylindrical chamber located on the lower cylindrical chamber, where both cylindrical chambers have a substantially similar outside diameter. In one embodiment, both cylindrical chambers can be as many as one. The lower cone has the material outlet. As the cross section of the cone-shaped chamber gets smaller to the bottom, the air starts to spin upwards, and this way only solid material exits. The high-speed airstream enters the cylindrical chamber and is forced to spirally rotate downwards against the lower, cone-shaped portion, thus creating a downward vortex. An air outlet is on the top, over the cylindrical chambers.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,966,703 describes a cyclone-type separator for separating two liquid components, one of greater density and the other of lesser density, by means of a separating chamber that is generally tapered from a larger diameter end to a smaller diameter end. The separating chamber has an overflow outlet for the less dense component, located at the larger diameter end, and an underflow outlet at the smaller diameter end, for the outflow of the denser component. The cyclone comprises a helical flight to direct the flow (the heaviest) downwards, thus accelerating the fluid.
CN201692732, which corresponds to a utility model, provides a compressed air dewatering equipment; compressed air enters the dewatering equipment which consists of a conical shell body to form a vortex in the cyclone body.
The dewatering equipment, in order to be more efficient, dewaters and cleans the fluid by means of centrifugal force and by the action of baffles that drive the fluid to the bottom of the cyclone. The dewatering equipment thus completes the process of removing impurities, oil stains and water in quite big drops. The baffles separate air-water in the cyclone body.
DE1245267 describes a cyclone dust separator into which compressed air is injected through the upper nozzles, where a helical accelerator is provided to take the air/dust particles and directs the densest to the bottom.
DE 10317772 describes a dust separator with an air current with two series-connected cyclones (1, 2) of different separation, in which the highest cone-shaped cyclonic power is tapered from the inlet with an equipment in order to generate an accelerated air current with a dust-laden air inlet. The cyclone has a truncated helical sector with guide plates that enable direct the fluid to the bottom.
One of the objects of the present invention is developing a cyclone equipment that separates solid particles and assures an effective separation or retrieval of solid particles powder with low moisture percentage.

Accelerating cyclone that separates solids particles


A chair comprises a seat and a back rest. At least one vibrator is positioned in the seat and/or the back rest. The chair further comprises a housing for receiving a replaceable battery for powering the vibrator. A main power control is positioned so as to be accessible to a person when seated in the chair. A separate mobile controller, which includes controls for actuating the vibrator, is provided.

Conventional office chairs are known in the art. A person may remain seated in an office chair, such as at a desk or at a work station, for many hours at a time. Many approaches have been taken to improve the long term comfort of such chairs. This includes improving the ergonomics of the chair and increasing the padding of the chair. A further approach which has been developed is to provide a motor for providing motion to all or a portion of a chair. For example, Gamba (U.S. Pat. No. 5,113,851) discloses a chair which includes a motor for rocking the seat of a chair. In contrast, Yamasaki et al (U.S. Pat. No. 5,247,925) discloses a chair which has included therein a vibration transmission device which is provided in the seat and the back rest of a chair for providing a massage action.
Massage pads and the like which can be placed on top of existing furniture or cars have also been developed. See for example Foster, Jr. et al (U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,517), Cutler (U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,608 and Yoo (U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,096).
It has also been known to include massage apparatus in lounge chairs for the home and the like. See for example Murphy (U.S. Pat. No. 3,446,204) and Oetinger (U.S. Pat. No. 3,678,923).
Lounge chairs and the like are typically bulky and are typically designed as a stationary piece of furniture. The massage apparatus for these chairs has generally been designed to be plugged directly into an AC outlet. When incorporating such devices into office chairs, it has also been considered to obtain power by using an electrical cord to connect the mechanised apparatus to an external source of power (see Yamasaki et al).
In order to provide a device which will customize the massage action to the requirement of a particular individual, massage devices typically come with a controller which is connected via an electric cord to the massage apparatus (see for example Foster, Jr. et al, Yoo and Cutler). However, when these devices are added to an office chair, the controller may be positioned so as to interfere with the other controls of the chair and, in addition, may interfere with the regular use of the chair.


An electrostatic charge image developing toner includes a toner particles containing a binder resin and a metallic pigment and aliphatic acid metal salt particles as an external additive in an amount of from 0.1 parts by weight to 2.0 parts by weight with respect to 100 parts by weight of the toner particles, wherein the toner particles have an average circle equivalent diameter D longer than an average C of a maximum thickness of the toner particles.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an electrostatic charge image developing toner, an electrostatic charge image developer, and a toner cartridge.
2. Related Art
Methods for visualizing image information through an electrostatic charge image, such as xerography, are currently used in various fields.
In the xerography in the related art, there is generally used a method of visualizing image information through a plurality of processes including: forming an electrostatic latent image on a photoreceptor or an electrostatic recording medium using various methods; attaching test conductive particles, called a toner, onto the electrostatic latent image to develop the electrostatic latent image (toner image); transferring the developed electrostatic latent image to the surface of a transfer medium; and fixing the transferred electrostatic latent image by heating.
Among toners, brilliant toners are used for the purpose of forming an image having brilliance such as metallic luster.

Electrostatic charge image developing toner, electrostatic charge image developer, and toner cartridge


The presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept(s) relates to a transparent and reusable vacuum infusion heating bag for heating one or more curable materials against a tool, dispersing a permeating substance through the curable material and forming composite parts. The transparent and reusable vacuum infusion heating bag comprises a substantially transparent laminate containing a heating element. The heating element is sandwiched between a first layer and a second layer of flexible polymer material.

1. Field of the Presently Disclosed and Claimed Inventive Concepts
The presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept(s) relates generally to a transparent and reusable vacuum infusion heating bag with a heating element for forming polymeric materials. More particularly, the presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept(s) relates to a transparent and reusable vacuum infusion heating bag or a laminate layer with a heating element in resin transfer molding and bagging operation. The presently disclosed and claimed inventive concept(s) further relates to methods of making the vacuum infusion heating bag and using the vacuum infusion heating bag for making composite parts.
2. Background and Applicable Aspects of the Presently Disclosed and Claimed Inventive Concept(s)
Vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) is a composite part manufacturing process in which dry fibers of composite material are laid on a forming tool beneath a vacuum bag and vacuum sealed while liquid resin is drawn through the composite material with a vacuum pump. Traditionally, a flow media or resin distribution media made of nylon, plastic, or metal and having a high permeability is placed over the composite material to allow resin to flow over it and subsequently be evenly dispersed throughout the composite material. Additionally, a breather cloth made of fiberglass or peel-ply may be placed beneath the vacuum bag to help pull resin through the material and allow air to be evacuated from between the vacuum bag and the tool. The vacuum bag may then be placed over the composite material, flow media, and breather cloth, and sealed to the forming tool with a vacuum sealing apparatus. A vacuum inlet and a vacuum outlet may allow the liquid resin to be pulled through the composite material. Once the liquid resin is distributed throughout the composite material and the vacuum bag is compressed against the composite material by vacuum force, the vacuum pump may be removed, and the part may then be cured at ambient or by heat to harden the composite part. The vacuum bag is then removed from the forming tool so that the composite part may be separated from the tool.
Because the construction of vacuum bags is time-consuming and expensive, it is desirable that the vacuum bag be reusable. A common vacuum bag material is nylon. For fabricating a composite part on a forming tool having small inside and outside radii, nylon vacuum bags are desirable as the thin nylon film can be laid over the composite part on the forming tool. The nylon film can then be hand conformed to the small inside radii of the forming tool. However, nylon loses considerable resiliency after a single use in an autoclave and therefore cannot be reused to fabricate another composite part. Furthermore, composite parts fabricated using nylon vacuum bags may exhibit flaws in that wrinkles and pinholes may appear due to the bunching up of the nylon film against the forming tool under vacuum pressure. Leakage of the seal between the vacuum bag and the forming tool has also limited production of composite from nylon vacuum bags.
As an alternative, silicone rubber has been utilized to fabricate vacuum bags because it has an elongation of over 500% which allows it to be stretched over small radii on a forming tool. Furthermore, silicone rubber has a maximum exposure temperature of 260° C. which allows for greater curing cycle flexibility. Finally, as compared to nylon, silicone rubber retains its resiliency over many curing cycles and is therefore suitable as a reusable vacuum bag material.
Generally, a transparent or translucent vacuum bag is preferred to allow easy inspection of composite materials to be cured. Much improved visual quality control can be achieved because the resin flow front line can be seen through the transparent or translucent vacuum bag, as well as its penetration through the composite materials.
Some resins have to be cured above room temperature, for example but not by way of limitation, an epoxy resin is cured usually around 60 to 65° C. depending on the process. In order to cure a resin composite part above room temperature, the part has to be heated at a certain temperature. Currently, heat is supplied from a tool side (it is usually called A side on which a part is being laid). The tool side has a built-in heating element. However, the heat is not uniform on the top surface of the part because heat is only provided from the bottom and in some cases a core material in the complex composite part prevents heat to be transferred from the bottom to the top surface (basically the core material acts like insulation). So in those cases, a source of heat from top (it is called B side heating) has to be provided.
Normally, a "heating blower" is used to blow heat in a plastic sealed covered tool. The plastic keeps all the hot air coming out of the blower around the tool area by creating an air bubble or balloon on top of the tool. So this type of heating uses convection to heat the B side. Convection heating is very inefficient compared to conduction heating for heat transfer. Most of heat are lost and cannot be transferred to the B side. As a result, it takes a long time to reach the cure temperature of resin.

Transparent and reusable vacuum infusion heating bag and methods of making and using same


While a microcomputer is executing a self-diagnosis (A), second diagnosis pulse output means of a B-system microcomputer is not used utterly. Further, during this time, the B-system microcomputer 100B does not execute a processing relating to at least the self-diagnosis (A) utterly. By shifting the timings for the A-system and the B-system to output the diagnosis pulses, independencies can be secured between respective diagnosis processing (self-diagnoses (A) and (B)). Thus, the independencies between the A-system and the B-system can be verified briefly by the self-diagnosis (A) on the A-system side. Further, first diagnosis pulse group are outputted parallel and simultaneously from first diagnosis pulse output means. Thus, since cyclic control is not required for respective external input devices, it can be done to verify the independencies between the A-system and the B-system within a short period of time.

There is a system wherein a programmable controller performs the sequence control like that aforementioned above. In recent years, there is becoming widespread a PLC (so-called safety PLC) of an independent construction which is specialized for the safety management of the system in detecting the abnormality and the emergency state of the system as well as in automatically performing an emergency safety stop of the system. Patent Documents 1 and 2 noted below exemplify technologies relating to a so-called safety PLC like this.
As one of other technologies, FIG. 14 exemplifies a circuit diagram (in normal state) of a known input circuit 201 which is utilized in a programmable controller in the prior art. This input circuit 201 partly and briefly shows an input circuit in actual use. In the present circuit, switches SW1 and SW0 constituting an emergency stop switch are duplexed and are normally closed contacts. Photo couplers 10, 20, 30 and 40 are used in the operation state that electric current always flows therethrough. When the switches SW1, SW0 are brought into open states, the electric current flowing through the photo couplers 10, 20 and the electric current flowing through the photo couplers 30, 40 are cut off either. In this way, duplex constructions are provided by a circuit system for inputting and processing an input signal from the switch SW1 (the upper-half system of the illustrated input circuit 201 will be referred to occasionally as A-system) and by another circuit system for inputting and processing an input signal from the switch SW0 (the lower-half system of the illustrated input circuit 201 will be referred to occasionally as B-system).
Then, with the duplexed constructions, when the input signal detected in the A-system to indicate the open/close state of the switch SW1 coincides with the input signal detected in the B-system to indicate the open/close state of the switch SW0, the signals are treated as a normal input signal, and the subsequent logic processing is executed to control an output device. For example, when the depression of the emergency stop switch brings the contacts into open states, the two input signals outputted from the switches become signals both indicating the open states and come to coincidence, so that they are treated as a true input signal to execute an emergency stop processing for stopping the operations of all the output devices.
On the contrary, when the input signals from the switch SW1 and the switch SW0 of the two systems do not coincide, such is judged to be the occurrence of an abnormality, in which event an abnormality stop, that is, an emergency stop is performed to emergently stop all the output devices in a moment.
On one hand, the input circuits and the control devices therefor are always self-diagnosed. The method therefor will be described hereunder.
In FIG. 14, symbols (a), (b), (c) and (d) respectively denote inverters (logic reversers). When a diagnosis pulse OA (signal L in the figure) is outputted to the inverter (b) from an A-system control microcomputer (not shown) which controls the illustrated safety management, the electric potential at a diagnosis pulse input terminal 40a of the photo coupler 40 rises due to the reverse action of the inverter (b). Thus, since the emission of an LED built in the photo coupler 40 is discontinued temporarily for the period of the pulse (signal L) only, the normal current (in) flowing through the photo coupler 30 is once interrupted. As a consequence, a diagnosis result (response signal IB to the diagnosis pulse OA) which is inputted to a B-system control microcomputer (not shown) on the other side through the inverter (c) is temporally displaced from "1" to "0".
FIG. 15-A shows this relation. That is, FIG. 15-A shows the relation between the diagnosis pulse OA and the response signal IB at the time when the aforementioned diagnosis pulse OA (signal L in the figure) is outputted with the terminals P and Q being not short-circuited therebetween and with both of the switches Sw1 and SwO being closed. The same symmetrical relation holds at the time when a diagnosis pulse OB is sent from the B-system control microcomputer conversely. FIG. 15-B shows the relation between the diagnosis pulse OB and the aforementioned response signal IA in FIG. 14. These relations can be understood easily in terms of the symmetry of the circuit.
For example, the aforementioned diagnosis wherein a sender side of the diagnosis pulse and a receiver side of the response signal to the diagnosis pulse are constructed by the different computers in this way will be referred to as cross-diagnoses hereafter. In the cross-diagnoses like this, however, between the microcomputers, there may be provided communication means or diagnosis result sharing means of the configuration that enables the diagnosis pulse sender side to make reference immediately to the aforementioned response signal received on the receiver side.
By conducting the cross-diagnoses like this, it can be realized to always monitor the conductive states between respective terminals (O, P, Q, R) and the operational state of the circuit through the complimentary cooperation, so that the duplexing and steady monitoring of the input circuit can be attained. Further, by making the diagnosis pulses cross mutually between the different systems, there can also be obtained an advantage that the control microcomputer of the opposing system is always monitored for the normal operation.
In the prior art system, in the aforementioned manner, the input circuit 201 is duplexed by duplexing the transmission line for switch open/close signals, switches themselves and so on as shown in FIG. 14, whereby the safeness of the system can be ensured.
Patent Document 1 is Japanese unexamined, published patent application No. 2004-46348, and Patent Document 2 is Japanese unexamined, published patent application No. 2002-358106.
However, when a short-circuit occurs between the input terminals P and Q to the same input device whose input circuit 201 is duplexed as shown in FIG. 16, it results that the photo couplers for the A and B-systems are connected directly, whereby there is generated a short-circuit current (is) shown in the figure. This causes electric current to continuingly flow through the respective photo couplers 10, 20, 30, 40 regardless of the open/close states of the switches SW1, SW0. As a result, even when the emergency stop switches SW1, SW0 are brought into open states, each of the aforementioned switch open/close signals (IA, IB) remains to indicate the closed states without changing. That is, both of them are always held to remain at "1". As a consequence, the abnormality caused by the short-circuit like this cannot be detected even by the use of non-coincidence detection means which has been known for monitoring the non-coincidence between the response signals IA, IB duplexed as mentioned above.
When the duplexed switches are turned into the open states in the state that a short-circuit is taken place between input terminals for different input devices, the input signal to the system whose terminal has not been short-circuited is brought into the open state, while the input signal to the other system remains in the closed state. Thus, the duplexed signals are judged to be in non-coincidence, and an emergency stop processing is brought into operation immediately, so that no problem arises.
On the other hand, description will be described regarding the case that after the occurrence of the aforementioned short-circuit, the emergency stop switches SW1, SW0 are brought into the open states and then, the aforementioned cross-diagnoses are carried out. Actually, since the input circuit 201 as shown in FIG. 14 become needed by the number corresponding to the number of the devices to be controlled and peripheral devices therefor, the plurality of the input circuits 201 shown in FIG. 14 are arranged in parallel. In this case, the prior art safety PLC which is composed mainly of the aforementioned A-system control microcomputer and the B-system control microcomputer always monitors the safety of the system by repetitively executing the processing that the microcomputers read the states of respective input terminals at respective parts of plurality of the input circuits arranged in parallel in this way by cyclically outputting diagnosis pulses to each terminal.
In this case, since the circuit has been short-circuited, it results that electric current flowing through the short-circuited circuit in the other system is also interrupted by the diagnosis pulse, and this phenomenon can be detected by the change in level of the input signal. Accordingly, even when the non-coincidence detection circuit does not operate effectively, it becomes possible to detect the aforementioned short-circuit fault based on the cyclic diagnosis insofar as the cyclic diagnosis like this is always carried out.
However, since the cyclic diagnosis is carried out sequentially for the respective terminals, the diagnosis cycle at which the cyclic diagnosis is carried out is proportional to the number of objects to be diagnosed. Therefore, the cycle tends to become very long, as exemplificatively described later with reference to FIG. 6 and the like. Therefore, the present situation is that it is hard to say that a required time taken to detect the abnormality such as the aforementioned short-circuit can be shortened sufficiently.
Further, since the diagnosis cycle in the cyclic diagnosis is proportional to the number of the input terminals of the input circuits, it is likely that the problem like this will increasing become prominent and actual as the system becomes large in scale.
The present invention is made to solve the aforementioned problems, and the object thereof is to make it possible to perform a fault detection reliably and to perform an emergency stop more reliably and quickly.


The present invention is directed to a method for the high throughput tack-free packaging of a hot-melt thermoplastic or thermosetting pressure sensitive adhesive composition. The method provides for the conveyorized packaging of a continuous stream of a molten hot-melt adhesive composition in a non-tack thermoplastic film wherein the stream is converted into two or more rows of tack-free packaged hot-melt blocks.

A. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a method for packaging hot-melt pressure sensitive adhesive compositions. In particular, the present method is directed to a method for the high throughput tack-free packaging of a thermoplastic or thermosetting hot-melt pressure sensitive adhesive composition, wherein the packaging is both tack-free and compatible with the adhesive composition in the molten state. The present invention is useful because it provides a clean and convenient method to handle the otherwise tacky hot-melt adhesive composition and eliminates the waste typically associated with its packaging.
B. Background
Hot-melt, pressure sensitive adhesive compositions are typically applied while in the molten or liquid state. However, at room temperature, they are generally solids and they are sold to the industry in the form of blocks. However, the solid block are so tacky that if untreated, they would stick to hands, each other, dirt and anything else that they contacted. Accordingly, various methods have been developed to provide for the low-tack or tack-free handling of hot-melt adhesive compositions.
A variety of methods employ a tack-less micronized powder that is dusted on the outer surface of the hot-melt, pressure sensitive adhesive as it cools. Moreover, they need to be applied at the appropriate temperature. A problem with these micronized powders is that they are expensive to make and thus, costly to use.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,748,796, which issued Oct. 22, 1988, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,755,245, which issued Jul. 5, 1988, disclose a method for powder coating a hot-melt, pressure sensitive adhesive composition by electrostatically coating a mold or cavity with a powder, pouring the hot-melt adhesive into the powder coated mold, and then dusting the top of the hot-melt in the mold cavity.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,439 discloses coating a micronized powder for the release packaging of a hot-melt pressure sensitive adhesive composition in a siliconized plastic film.
Other methods pour the hot-melt, pressure sensitive adhesive into molds that are sprayed with a film of non self-sticking hot-melt material. Still other methods squeeze the molten hot-melt, pressure sensitive adhesive as an inner layer surrounded by a molten outer layer of a compatible non-tacky polymer. Such methods are expensive because they require separate vats of molten materials. The latter method is particularly expensive to operate because it requires a specialized piece of equipment with precisely controlled flows to completely envelop the hot-melt in molten non-tack polymer.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,373,682 and 5,392,592 disclose a method for the vertical packaging a hot-melt, pressure sensitive adhesive by extruding the molten hot-melt down into a continuous cylindrical tube of plastic film that is liquid cooled on the outside to keep the molten hot-melt from melting through. The plastic film is selected to be meltable with the adhesive composition and blendable therein. To form appropriate sized cartridges or tubes of adhesive, the plastic film containing the molten adhesive is squeezed with voider rolls, which crimp the packaging while cooling the molten adhesive at the crimped end. The '592 patent discloses crimping the ends and holding them closed with a meltable plastic wire. The resulting product resembles a series of sausage links hanging end to end. A problem with these methods is that the output of each machine is relatively slow, since each machine has a single nozzle that is only capable of extruding a single cartridge or tube of adhesive at a time. Moreover, the output is limited by the time it takes each chilled voided roll to crimp and cool the ends of each segment of adhesive before release.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,387,623 discloses a method for the waste-free packaging of hot-melt adhesive composition in a biodegradable polymeric packaging material. In the '623 patent, the biodegradable packaging is meltable in the adhesive without adhesive effect. The method of the '623 patent is very slow because it requires providing an individual portion of the hot-melt adhesive composition and solidifying the individual portion before packaging it.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for the high throughput packaging of a hot-melt adhesive composition in a tack-free manner, wherein the packaging is meltable therein without adverse effect.

Method for the tack-free packaging of a hot-melt pressure sensitive adhesive


An antenna includes a substrate having a first layer, a second layer, a third layer and a fourth layer, and an antenna unit having a first pattern being of a substantially coiled shape and printed on the first layer, a second pattern being of a meandering shaped and printed on the second layer, a third pattern being of a meandering shaped and printed on a third layer, and a fourth pattern being of a substantially coiled shaped and printed on the fourth layer. The first pattern, the second pattern, the third pattern and the fourth pattern are of a serial connection. The free end of the first pattern connects a feeding point. The free end of the fourth pattern connects a grounding point. Thus, the antenna has advantages of compact size and low cost, due to the antenna unit printed on the substrate and the pattern of the antenna unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antenna, more particularly, to an antenna with compact size and low cost.
2. The Related Art
The mobile phone has become one of essential apparatuses in daily lives nowadays. According to progress of the mobile and marketing request, there are various types of functions, such as taking a picture, playing music, recording voice, recording video, playing games, receiving broadcast, etc, embedded in the mobile phone. The functions mentioned above have become essential functions of the mobile phone.
For an instance of receiving broadcast, the mobile phone need an antenna for receiving broadcast signal and a means for processing the received broadcast signal. Because the broadcast bands cover the range from hundreds KHz to hundreds MHz, the length of the antenna capable of receiving broadcast signal needs to be from one meter to several meters.
Thus, the antenna capable of receiving broadcast signal has a certain size. Considering the compact size is a necessary element for the mobile phone, it is difficult to manufacture the antenna embedded in the mobile phone to be capable of receiving broadcast signal.
An embedded broadcast receiving antenna is disclosed at Taiwan patent M320194. The Taiwan patent discloses a FM antenna has a ceramic body and a microstrip conductor disposed on the ceramic body. The ceramic body is of a rectangle shape. The microstrip conductor is of a helix shape and winded on surfaces of the ceramic body.
The ceramic body in prior art is made of ceramic material with high dielectric constant for the purpose of shortening the length of the microstrip conductor. Thus, the FM antenna can be a small size and is likely to be well-configured in the mobile phone. However, the FM antenna has high cost due to the high cost of the ceramic material.
A further type of the FM antenna is shown from U.S. Pat. No. 7,064,720. The U.S. patent discloses an earphone antenna having an earphone unit including an earphone, an earphone cable for supplying audio signals to the earphone, and a first pin jack connector portion on one end of the earphone cable, the earphone cable functioning as an antenna wire.
Because the earphone cable functions as an antenna wire, the mobile phone must connect the earphone antenna for receiving FM signal from the earphone antenna and processing the FM signal. The earphone phone antenna has the following defects: It is inconvenient to carry the earphone antenna all the time. The size of the earphone antenna can hardly be reduced. Moreover, it takes more cost and longer repairing time.


One embodiment of the present invention concerns novel end effectors that may incorporate hexagonal drive shafting and are particularly well suited to be used as scrubbing/abrasive or wiping elements for the cleaning of surfaces. Another embodiment of the present invention is a tool that can wipe and scrub a surface to be cleaned and dry the same surface. Yet another embodiment of the present invention is a tool or a kit of tools that can be adapted to either wipe or scrub a surface or the tool may be adapted to accomplish other tasks such as acting as a power screw driver, power nut-driver, power hand drill, power sander, etc. And yet another embodiment is a novel powered device that serves as a duster.

The present invention relates to the cleaning and treating of various surfaces. The invention also relates to a power tool for accomplishing common maintenance tasks. Many tools have been created to clean, and there have also been many tools created to help accomplish common maintenance tasks ranging from drilling holes to driving fasteners. The result has been that the end user has had to have a great many of these individual tools in order to accomplish all of the aforementioned tasks. And so one object of the invention is to reduce the number of cleaning and maintenance tools by enabling a common interface between a power unit and its driven accessories. Another object of the invention is to create new and novel ways of cleaning surfaces. While there have been a multitude of tools to clean our environments there are serious limitations, as the solutions to date have been manual, limited in cleaning capacity, and lacking the advantages and efficiency that automation brings to most tasks. And yet another object of the invention is that various elements of the disclosed invention may be combined to form consolidated kits of tools for consumers.


Lithium carbonate can be efficiently produced from a brine by (i) removing the boron therefrom, (ii) diluting the boron-free brine, (iii) removing magnesium from the diluted brine, and (iv) adding sodium carbonate to thereby precipitate lithium carbonate. By diluting the boron-free brine, the co-precipitation of lithium carbonate during the magnesium removal process is greatly reduced, thereby improving the recovery and purity of the lithium carbonate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for the production of lithium carbonate of high purity from natural or artificial brines which contain boron.
2. Description of the Related Arts
Lithium, the third element in the Periodic Table, has an atomic weight of 6.939 and occupies No. 32 among the elements of the earth's crust with an average concentration of only approximately 20 ppm, which confers it the characteristic of a rare metal. Despite this fact, lithium is found distributed in numerous minerals due to its chemical reactivity. However, there are very few commercial sources for producing lithium, the main one of these being the mineral spodumene, which is a double lithium-aluminum silicate, LiAl (SiO.sub.3), which has a theoretical lithium content of 8.03%. Other minerals which are exploited are petalite, LiAl(Si.sub.4 O.sub.10), which has a theoretical content of Li.sub.2 O of 4.88%, and lepidolite, which has a variable composition represented by the formula K.sub.2 (LiAl).sub.3 (SiAl).sub.4 O.sub.10 (OH,F).sub.2. These two minerals are used mostly as additives in special kinds of glass rather than for obtaining lithium. Another mineral of high potential value for obtaining lithium is hectorite, which is a low grade mineral with the composition Na.sub.0.33 (Mg,Li).sub.3 Si.sub.4 O.sub.10 (OH,F).sub.2 and which is as yet not exploited for economic reasons, since its lithium content does not exceed 0.5%.
Other sources for obtaining lithium, which have grown in importance in the last two decades, are the brines of salt mines, geysers, and salt lakes, wherein lithium can be found generally in the form of chloride, sulfate, double potassium and magnesium, and as lithium borates. The lithium content in brines varies, from 0.02% as in the brines found in Clayton Valley in Nev., USA, to 0.2% at the Atacama Salt Mines in Chile. By evaporation of the brine and fractionated crystallization of the salts contained therein, it is possible to concentrate the lithium and obtain close to a 6% lithium content.
Besides lithium, natural brines also contain other elements like potassium, sodium, calcium, magnesium, iron, boron, bromine, chlorine, as well as nitrates, chlorides, sulfates, and carbonates. This requires that each brine be treated in a particular manner according to its composition.
All brines are concentrated before processing by solar evaporation to increase the lithium content and also to precipitate other salts that could have commercial value like potassium chloride, sodium chloride, potassium sulfate, sodium sulfate or boric acid, as well as other double salts like silvinite, carnalite, bishoffite, schoenite, kainite, glasserite, glauberite, epsonite, singenite, etc. Natural brines are richer in sulfates and chlorides, especially the latter.
The largest of the salt mines being exploited currently is the Atacama Salt Mine in Chile, which is estimated to contain about 30% of the total lithium commercially exploitable in the world. This salt mine was first evaluated for commercial exploitation in the 1970s, and the first plant to produce lithium carbonate started production in 1984.
The brines are pumped from the salt mine and are evaporated in large shallow pools, where a sequential crystallization of the salts is started. Since the brines of chlorides are generally saturated with sodium chloride, the first salt to be precipitated is halite, or if sulfates are present, halite and hydrated calcium sulfate. The precipitation continues with silvinite (KClNaCl) and afterward silvite (KCl). The latter is a product for industrial use so that toward the end of the precipitation of the silvite, the brine is transferred to another pool and the precipitated salt thereof is recovered for obtaining potassium chloride by differential floatation. Continuing afterward with the precipitation produces crystallizing of carnalite (KClMgCl.sub.2 6H.sub.2 O) and then bishoffite (MgCl.sub.2 6H.sub.2 O). In this stage, the lithium is increased to about 4.5%, with a magnesium content of about 4%. Due to the fact that in the further chemical purification of the brine it is costly and complex to treat brines with high magnesium content (about 2%), the crystallization of the brine continues until 5.5% to 6% lithium is obtained. At that point, the conditions are such that lithium carnalite (LiClMgCl.sub.2 6H.sub.2 O) is precipitated, which decreases the overall lithium recovery from the brine. However, it is possible to lixiviate the lithium carnalite with fresh brine to recover part of the lithium content. The brine with high lithium concentration contains between 35% to 40% of LiCl, apart from 1% to 4% magnesium, and 0.5% to 1.5% of boron, as magnesium, calcium, and lithium borates.
The three main uses for lithium are currently found in the aluminum electrowinning industry, where they are added as lithium chloride of high purity to the electrolyte of fused salts (cryolite); in the high quality ceramics industry, to which lithium carbonate of high purity is added; and in the production of metallic lithium, wherein lithium chloride of high purity is used as an electrolyte together with potassium chloride.
Even though it is possible to obtain purified lithium chloride directly from chlorine brines, this way is complex and costly, and it is usually preferred to purify the chlorine brines and to precipitate the lithium in the form of carbonate, which will then be transformed into lithium chloride by reaction with hydrochloric acid. For example, Brown, Jacobs, and Boryta (U.S. Pat. No. 4,271,131 of 1981) suggest to carry out an evaporation of the brines until about 3% lithium is obtained and afterward to treat them with calcium hydroxide and calcium chloride for precipitating the boron as hydrated sulfate. However, the latter step also precipitates a considerable part of the lithium from the brine. The rest of the boron must be eliminated later therefrom, since the process does not remove more than 50% of the same.
The presence of impurities in the lithium chloride must be kept to a minimum, normally lower than 0.5% as a whole, particularly some impurities such as magnesium and calcium which can be co-precipitated with the lithium. Another frequent impurity that appears in natural brines is boron. In the production of metallic lithium by the electrolysis of fused salts, the boron must be eliminated before the production of the purified lithium chloride since, otherwise the boron would accumulate in the electrolyte, thus lowering its conductivity with a subsequent decrease in production capability of the cells. The same occurs in the cells during the electrowinning of aluminum, where lithium chloride is added to the cryolite electrolyte for improving its electric conductivity in such a way that the lithium carbonate--from which the lithium chloride is generally obtained for electrochemical uses--must comply with a strict level of boron.
Therefore, the elimination of impurities from natural brines requires that the boron be removed first, before other impurities such as calcium or magnesium. Otherwise, the boron later precipitates along with the lithium carbonate in the form of lithium borate or lithium tetraborate, which is difficult to eliminate later from the carbonate.
The purification of natural brines only through fractionated crystallization has proven to be a costly process of low yield, so other options must be found that are more suitable, especially for eliminating boron, magnesium and calcium.

Production of lithium carbonate from brines


This invention relates to a non-destructive means to determine electrochemical characteristics in biosensor test strips, including first applying a cyclic oxidative and reductive electric potential onto the inspection pads connecting to the reference electrode and working electrode, on which lies a drop of enzyme reagent solution, to homogenize the electrochemical characteristics of the biosensor test strips, and then applying an inspection electric potential within a short period of time over the inspection pads connecting to the reference electrode and working electrode to measure its electrical resistance to identify any abnormal biosensor test strips if present. Afterwards, embodiments of the present invention applies a reverse electric potential, having the same time interval as the inspection electric potential, onto the inspection pads connecting to the reference electrode and working electrode to prevent degradation on mediators such as potassium ferricyanide.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an electrochemical biosensor and, more particularly, to a method for determining the electrochemical characteristics associated with a biosensor test strip.
2. Description of the Related Art
Diabetic patients routinely use over-the-counter blood glucose meters to measure their blood glucose levels. First, the patient inserts a blood glucose test strip into its associated blood glucose meter. Then, the patient places a drop of blood sample over the test strip, causing the blood sample to react with an enzyme reagent, which is placed on the reaction zone over the working electrode and the reference electrode. At this time, by applying a fixed or variable electric potential across the reaction zone, the blood glucose meter may calculate the blood glucose level based on the electrochemical characteristics generated from the measured voltage or current.
The accuracy of the blood glucose reading, however, depends on several factors, some of which are difficult to control. For example, the accuracy depends on the materials used in the test strips. In particular, the accuracy depends on the surface properties of the working and the reference electrodes, which tend to vary among individual test strips. Moreover, some electrochemical characteristics of the enzyme reagents are highly susceptible to manufacturing and environmental variables. These variables may negatively affect, for example, the number and sizes of the air bubbles present in the enzyme reagent and hence the homogeneous distribution of the enzyme and mediator, such as potassium ferricyanide. These variables may also negatively affect the coverage completeness of the enzyme reagent over the reaction zone. All of these may cause significant differences in the performance among test strips under the same testing conditions. Accounting for, but not limited to, the above problems, manufacturers often assign batch-specific codes to the test strips to account for the variability among each batch. This practice, however, increases the production cost and makes the glucose monitoring system less user-friendly.
Since physicians often refer to blood glucose readings as an aid to monitor the effectiveness of diabetes management and to give appropriate medical treatments, the accuracy of the readings is very critical. Accordingly, at the end of the manufacturing processes of the test strips, usually a number of test strips are randomly selected from a manufacturing batch to test for their conformity with the specification. This sampling method, however, cannot guarantee the quality of the entire batch of test strips, and cannot remove the defective test strips, if present, in the batch. Moreover, because the quality assurance test conducted on a selected test strip is usually destructive and non-reversible, the selected test strip loses its value after the test. This in turn increases the cost of sampling, and limits the number of test strips available for sale. Therefore, there is a need in the art to provide an accurate and non-destructive method to assure the quality of a biosensor test strip.

Method for determining the electrochemical characteristic of a test strip


A multiple-function clamping device includes a rotary base having an annular groove in the top thereof and scale marks are marked along in inclined surface of the rotary base. A positioning unit includes a first positioning member and a second positioning member. The positioning unit is located in the annular groove to form a linear slot. The first positioning member has a first alignment line and multiple linear marks. A vise has two side slots defined in two sides thereof so as to form an engaging portion which is engaged with the linear slot between the first and second positioning members. The vise further has a second alignment line located corresponding to the linear scale marks of the first positioning member. The vise can be moved linearly or rotatably so as to meet different requirements when machining an object.

1. Fields of the Invention
The present invention relates to a clamping device, and more particularly, to a vise capable of linear and rotational movement so as to meet different requirements when machining objects.
2. Descriptions of Related Art
The conventional clamping device is to position metal objects to be cut, drilled and milled on a machine. Taiwan Utility Model M461503 discloses a vise which is connected to a base and automatically centered. The vise is stationary or movable linearly relative to the base, however, the users cannot be acknowledged the distance that the vise is moved. Therefore, the users have to measure the distance by using a ruler and this takes time. Besides, the vise cannot be rotated 360 degrees to machine the object from different angles.
As shown in FIG. 7 which shows another Taiwan Utility Model M380194 and comprises a vise 91 which is connected to an annular groove 931 in a rotary base 93 by two bolts 92 so that the vise 91 is rotated 360 degrees in the annular groove 931. The two respective heads 920 of the two bolts 92 is installed from the top of the annular groove 931, the length w2 of the short side of the head 920 is smaller than the width w3 of the annular groove 931, and the bolt 92 is rotated 90 degrees to be connected with a nut 921, wherein the length w1 of the long side of the head 920 is larger than the width w3 of the annular groove 931. The bolts 92 are easily off from the annular groove 931 when the base 93 is rotated, such that the vise 91 is loosened and cannot position the object to be machined. Besides, the base 93 does not have scale marks so that the user cannot know the degrees that the vise 91 is rotated.
The present invention intends to provide a vise which can be linearly and rotational so as to improve the shortcomings mentioned above.

Vise capable of linear and rotational movement


This invention relates to drinks and foods having osteogenetic function, each of which comprises as an active ingredient an effective amount of a culture of a propionic acid bacterium and/or a lactic acid bacterium, said culture containing 2-amino-3-carboxy-1,4-naphthoquinone; and preventives and/or remedies for metabolic bone diseases, each of which comprises as an active ingredient a naphthoquinone compound selected from the group consisting of 2-amino-3-carboxy-1,4-naphthoquinone, 1,4-naphthoquinone, 2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone, 2,3-dichloro-1,4-naphthoquinone, 5-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone, 8-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone, 2-(α-hydroxy-δ-methylpentenyl)-5,8-dihydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone and salts thereof. These cultures and naphthoquinones promote bone metabolism and increase bone mass and bone strength.

A bone is an important tissue, which serves as a structural frame to support the body and also supports a mineral control system for body fluid as a reservoir for various minerals such as calcium and phosphorus. In osseous tissue, osteogenesis or bone formation and resorption always remain active to replace old bone by new bone. Especially in a bone the growth of which has finished, osteoblasts in the bone formation system and osteoclasts in the bone resorption system are closely related to each other to repeat bone formation and bone resorption such that the osseous tissue is maintained and minerals in the body fluid are kept constant. This bone reconstitution is called "bone remodeling". This bone remodeling is precisely controlled by physical factors, hormones, cytokine and the like while maintaining a certain balance. Bone mass, however, decreases if this balance is disturbed and the bone resorption exceeds the bone formation. Of these pathologic decreases in bone mass, one normal in bone components is called "osteoporosis".
Osteoporosis is known to be one of health troubles from which more people suffer as aging advances, and especially to occur often on postmenopausal females. Osteoporosis tends to result in a fracture of the femoral neck, and like cerebrovascular accident, is a cause of many "bedridden aged persons", thereby adversely affecting on the society. There is, accordingly, a strong social demand for performing appropriate treatment for osteoporosis to avoid its aggravation and also for establishing an effective method for its prevention. As drugs for osteoporosis, vitamin D preparations, calcitonin preparations, bisphosphonate preparations and the like have been developed and clinically applied to date. It is, however, the current circumstance that these efforts have not led yet to the development of satisfactorily effective drug.
Under the current circumstance that no satisfactory method has been established yet for the treatment of osteoporosis as mentioned above, its prevention is most important. Theoretically, it is possible to keep the bone mass at a high level even when advanced in age, provided that the bone mass can be increased as much as possible in adolescence and maturity, the thus-increased bone mass can be maintained for an extended time and a postmenopausal reduction in bone mass can be suppressed even a little. For this purpose, it is essential to continuously ingest appropriate calcium throughout childhood, adolescence and maturity. Ingestion of calcium alone, however, is not sufficient. If food materials having function to prevent or ameliorate osteoporosis and the like are available, their addition to foods which are taken daily is expected to successfully prevent or ameliorate osteoporosis through the everyday dietary. Further, identification and separation of active ingredients in such food materials are expected to make it possible to use them as preventives or remedies for osteoporosis.
In the meantime, vitamin K which is widely known as a blood coagulation factor was found to also take part in bone metabolism and has been drawing interests, leading to the marketing of a vitamin K2 preparation in Japan as a drug for ameliorating bone mass and pains in osteoporosis. In addition, food materials with vitamin K1 or vitamin K2 contained therein are being increasingly put on the market.
With the foregoing in view, the present invention has as an object thereof the provision of a novel food material useful for the prevention and/or amelioration of a metabolic bone disease, especially osteoporosis. The present invention also has as another object thereof the provision of a pharmaceutical useful for the prevention and treatment of a metabolic bone disease.

Food materials useful in preventing and ameliorating metabolic bone diseases and preventives/remedies for metabolic bone diseases comprising these materials


A method of indicating the release of a plug, such as a cementing plug for an oil or gas well, includes releasing a plug from a retained position in a tube system, and in response to releasing the plug, opening an electrical circuit to which the plug was connected in the retained position. The method also includes generating, in response to opening the electrical circuit, a plug release indicator signal. The indicator signal can be generated in response to, for example, a low frequency electromagnetic signal.

This invention relates to methods of indicating the release of one or more plugs in a pipe or tube system of an oil or gas well. Such a system includes a drill, completion or production string (any such system is referred to in this specification and the claims simply as "tube system" or specifically "plug release tube system"). Particular utility is with regard to plugs used in a cementing operation in an oil or gas well, especially a subsea well.
Cement is used in oil or gas wells for various purposes. One purpose is to secure a tubular string (e.g., a casing or a liner) in the well bore. This is typically done by pumping cement down the tubular string and forcing it back up an annular space between the outside of the string and the inside of the well bore or of a larger diameter string in which the first-mentioned string is disposed.
To separate the cement slurry from drilling mud typically in the well when the cementing operation begins, a bottom cementing plug is placed in line and pumped down the string by the force of the following cement slurry. This bottom plug serves to minimize contamination of the cement as it is pumped down the tubular string. The bottom plug also wipes any accumulated mud film from the inner diameter of the string and pushes it ahead.
To separate a following displacing fluid used to push the cement slurry out the tubular string and up the annular space, a top cementing plug is placed in line and pushed down the string by the displacing fluid. This top plug follows the cement and wipes any accumulated cement film from the inner diameter of the tubular string. It also prevents or reduces any contamination of the cement by the displacing fluid.
In wells drilled on land, surface-mounted plug containers are used in many cementing jobs to release the cementing plugs at the proper time. Normal job operations will have the bottom cementing plug loaded into the plug container prior to pumping cement. The top cementing plug will typically be loaded after the bottom plug is released. If well conditions dictate, two plug containers or a double plug container may be used to release both cementing plugs when desired without opening the plug container.
Subsea (ocean floor) completions are different from the aforementioned land-based cementing operations in that the cementing plugs used for separating the fluids are preferably located in the tubular string below the ocean floor. This is preferred because these plugs have a diameter large enough to wipe the inner diameter of the tubular string extending below the ocean floor, and this tubular string (and thus each plug) typically has a larger diameter than need be used for connecting this string with the equipment on the rig at the ocean's surface. Thus, the cement slurry is preferably pumped from the surface through a string of drill pipe smaller than the string being cemented, which smaller string extends between the surface rig and the downhole string to be cemented. This creates the need for a second type of plug container that houses elements, which may broadly be called "plugs" also, which are of smaller diameter to permit these plugs to pass through the narrower connecting string and into the downhole cementing plugs. A system using this technique is the Halliburton Energy Services'sub-surface release system ("SSR Cementing Plug Method"). This system provides a means of wiping different pipe sizes; therefore, smaller diameter drill pipe can be used as described instead of the larger diameter casing that otherwise would be run between the rig floor and the ocean floor.
This prior art subsea release system will be briefly explained with reference to FIGS. 1-3. These drawings schematically illustrate the sequence of operation.
FIG. 1 shows bottom and top cementing plugs 2, 4, respectively, installed at the top of casing 6 (i.e., the tubular string in the subsea well bore) prior to beginning the actual cementing operation. A set of releasing pins attaches the bottom cementing plug 2 to the top cementing plug 4.
A weighted plastic or bronze ball 8 housed in a surface plug container 10 is dropped through connecting drill pipe 12 ahead of the cement slurry. The drill pipe 12 connects the casing 6 in the subsea well bore and the plug container 10 at the surface. The ball 8 passes through a wider axial channel of the top plug 4 and lands on a seat of the bottom plug 2. A differential pressure applied through the drill pipe 12 from the surface separates the thus sealed bottom plug 2 from the top plug 4.
FIG. 2 illustrates how the bottom plug 2 has been discharged from the top plug 4 and seated on a float collar 14 (or float shoe). At this point, a small increase in pressure exposes port holes in the plug 2 so that the cement slurry can be pumped around the bottom plug releasing ball 8.
A collet releasing mechanism holds the top plug 4 in place and permits circulation through the top cementing plug 4 at normal displacement rates prior to release of the top plug 4. To release the top cementing plug 4, a top releasing plug 16 from the surface plug container 10 is pumped down the drill pipe 12 behind the slurry and into the top cementing plug 4 where it latches and seals therewith. An applied pressure shears releasing pins to enable the top plug 4 to move down the casing 6.
As shown in FIG. 3, the top cementing plug 4 lands on the bottom cementing plug 2 to shut off flow in conventional manner.
It is desirable to know that a plug used in the operation described above has properly released. If the ball 8 for the bottom plug 2 is released and allowed to free fall, a pressure change sensed at the surface can be used to indicate seating of the ball and then to indicate release upon pumping the cement or other fluid into the well after the free fall has ended. With offshore drilling moving into deeper waters, however, it is undesirable to allow the weighted ball for the bottom plug release to free fall to the ball seat. Wells drilled in waters over 6,000 feet deep, for example, would require approximately thirty minutes for the weighted ball to reach the ball seat. To avoid this delay, the cement slurry is pumped immediately after the weighted ball is released, but this practice usually does not show a pressure indication that the bottom plug has released. Thus, to allow for the expedited delivery of the cement by pumping it immediately behind the ball 8 and yet obtain an indication of plug release in the well, there is the need for a method to indicate plug release without relying on a pressure indication. This need also exists with regard to surface mounted plugs. There is also the need for the indication produced by any such method to be readily communicated.


A sound suppressor is disclosed. The suppressor includes a housing that contains at least one stepped baffle. Each stepped baffle contains multiple stepped diameters and slots located at the base of each step to allow flow from one side of the baffle to the other. The baffle also includes a central passageway through which the projectile/bullet passes.

The present disclosure relates to devices for noise and flash suppression for firearms.
Reducing noise and flash from military and security personnel firearms (e.g., long guns and pistols) provides a significant tactical advantage in the field. For military personnel, reduced sound levels will also reduce associated hearing loss. Additionally, application of sound suppression to civilian firearms reduces the objectionable noise to area residents and when used for hunting, to other hunters. Suppressors do not "silence" the gunshot. Instead, they reduce the level of sound associated with the detonation of the propellant.
The blast characteristics include three core elements. The first two core elements are: the precursor blast and a main blast set up by the expanding gases. The precursor blast consists of mostly air with a small amount of propellant and the main blast is made up of spherical pressure waves that quickly overtake the fired projectile. Both of these blasts are sources of low frequency noise that carry for very long distances. The third core element is the highly visible gas flash which follows the blast.
In general, the flash phenomena occur in two ways. Ammunition propellant is typically fuel rich, leaving unburned powder in the exhaust gases. As these high pressure exhaust gases leave the muzzle, the flow immediately expands and a shock wave is formed. Typically the expansion forms a small glowing cone immediately following the muzzle, then several diameters away a large disk like shock wave forms, known as the mach disk. In these two regions, temperature and pressure levels change almost instantly. These sudden energy changes cause the exhaust gases to radiate light, known as the primary and intermediate flash, respectively.
As the unburned powder travels through this mach disk, the sudden temperature spike, along with the presence of oxygen in the ambient air allow these gases to reignite, generating a significant amount of visual signature. This is known as secondary flash.
To minimize the flash and the percussive level, it is necessary to slow the gases exiting the muzzle. This needs to be accomplished without altering the accuracy of the firearm.