A light emitting device is provided that can restrain deterioration of a mount substrate made of resin, the light emitting device including: a support member that is made of resin; a pair of wirings that are arranged on the support member; a light emitting element that is arranged to cross the pair of wirings and that has a pair of electrodes on one side running in parallel to the pair of wirings so as to be electrically connected; and a vaporproof member in a film shape that seamlessly covers an upper face of the support member, at least, in a region where the light emitting element is arranged between the pair of wirings in a plan view, wherein the vaporproof member has a higher vaporproof property than that of the support member.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light emitting device.
Description of the Related Arts
A light emitting device has been proposed in which light emitting elements are arranged on a flexible mount substrate made of resin. For example, in light emitting devices disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. 2005-322937 and 2015-12206, light emitting elements are bonded with conducting regions formed on the mount substrate via bumps to be flip-chip mounted.
A light emitting device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-322937 uses polyimide as a base of the mount substrate. Light from light emitting elements is irradiated on the base to cause the base, especially near the light emitting elements, to be deteriorated, so as to give bad effects on dielectric strength voltage of the mount substrate.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2015-12206 discloses a light emitting device in which a bonding layer for bonding a base made of polyimide of the mount substrate with wiring portions contains a light shielding substance to restrain light irradiation on the base, preventing the base from being deteriorated.


A lanyard, tether or leash is secured to a PERSONAL DIGITAL ASSISTANT device (PDA) by a tether latch receiving and positively latching onto a "plug-in" or docking base of typical PDA. The body of the tether latch defines a socket with a mating curvilinear circumferential lip for snugly receiving the PDA docking base with a stationary catch nib being received in a latch notch on one side of the PDA docking base. A toggle coupled to the latch body manually translates carrying a catch nib into and out of the corresponding latch notch on the opposite side of the PDA docking base. A spring compressed between the latch housing and the toggle positively biases the latch `normally latched.` A tether, lanyard, leash strap or cord is fastened between a tether hole through a tab on the latch body and the neck, the wrist; belt or clothing of a user to prevent the PDA from striking ground when fumbled or inadvertently dropped by the user.

3COM Corporation manufactures and markets a line of shirt pocket (palm) sized personal digital assistants (PDAs), i.e., hand held digital electronic note taking and record keeping computers known as Palm Computing.RTM. Connected Organizers, i.e., the PalmPilot.RTM. and the Palm III.TM. Organizers. Details of PDAs manufactured for and sold by the 3COM Corporation are published on and can be accessed via the Internet IBM.RTM. has manufactured and sells an identical line of PDAs under license from 3COM Corporation known as the Workpad. Details of the IBM.RTM. WorkPad PDAs are published on and can be accessed via the Internet.
More than 2 million PalmPilot.RTM. Palm III.TM. and Workpad PDA Organizers have been sold in the past few years. Typically, such users carry such small PDAs in their shirt pocket. Frequently, protective carrying cases or shells are used to protect the PDAs from shock and scratches. Unfortunately, most PDAs include a flat panel glass (LCD) display screen which is quite fragile. Typically such screens shatter when the PDA is fumbled and dropped at typical working heights (3 to 5 feet) onto hard floor surfaces (concrete) and the like. Also the thin hard plastic body case of the PDA has a tendency to chip and fracture when dropped onto hard surfaces.
Fragility limits the utility of small PDAs such the PalmPilot.RTM., the PalmIII.TM. and the Workpad. For example, in a typical supermarket situation, fishing a PDA out of a pocket or a carrying case to consult a list is a two handed operation, something that is not really feasible for a user simultaneously shopping. Hands full, and attention distracted, shopping users invariably fumble and drop something, typically the PDA they are attempting to fish out of a pocket or case and consult. A PDA with a shattered LCD panel and/or fractured case is a broken PDA and useless. All recent data and information entered and stored is typically lost. PDA data backed-up (saved) in another computer data storage system is typically never current.
Similar confounding environments challenge PDA users wanting to consult their PDAs, while standing conversing (and gesticulating) with associates; while riding a bicycle; while doing aerobic exercises; while driving searching for an address; while riding a horse; while hiking.
One of the unique attributes of the 3Com Corporation line of Palm Computing.RTM. Connected Organizers and the Workpad PC IBM.RTM. is that the base of the PDA case is configured to "plug-in" or dock in female sockets of mounting cradles and circuitry modules each of which may contain external electronic processing elements. Typically, mounting cradles include a pedestal base which support the PDA in an inclined position on a horizontal support surface while simultaneously electrically coupling the PDA to external electronics, e.g., a battery charger and/or external computer system. The back face of the docking base of Palm Computing.RTM. Connected Organizers and clones feature a plurality (10) centrally positioned adjacent conductive strips positioned between a pair of raised lands aligned parallel the side edges of the casing for allowing `wiping` electrical contact between the PDA and the female/cradle electronics elements. Latch notches (recesses) are located proximate end of the docking base of the PDA casing which penetrate into its side edges for receiving complementary shaped male latching nibs of the enveloping female module/cradle socket.
A rather frustrating aspect of such modules/cradles docks is that mechanisms securing the module and cradles to the PDA are typically designed to secure the circuitry module/cradle to the PDA not visa versa. In fact, mounting cradles typically rely upon gravity (a force field) to maintain engagement of the PDA in the cradle mount. Accordingly, when handling a PDA coupled to a female circuitry module or a cradled PDA, users must exercise caution to avoid flipping the PDA free of the connecting module or cradle to crash on the floor.

Tether fastened to personal digital assistant by latch having spring biased manual toggle


A membrane electrode assembly consists of a polymer electrolyte membrane (100) with an electrode on each side. The polymer electrolyte membrane has an integral sensor (115) disposed on the surface. The sensor monitors the physical, thermal, chemical or electrical state of the membrane electrode assembly. Information obtained from the sensor is used to identify a defective membrane electrode assembly, and the operation of the fuel cell is altered based on the identified defective membrane electrode assembly.

In fuel cells, electrical energy is produced by reacting a fuel with an oxidant in the presence of a catalyst. A typical fuel cell consists of a fuel electrode (anode) and an oxidant electrode (cathode), separated by an ion-conducting electrolyte. The electrodes are connected to a load (such as an electronic circuit) by an external circuit conductor. In the circuit conductor, electric current is transported by the flow of electrons, whereas in the electrolyte it is transported by the flow of ions, such as the hydrogen ion (H.sup.+) in acid electrolytes, or the hydroxyl ion (OH.sup.-) in alkaline electrolytes. At the anode, incoming hydrogen gas ionizes to produce hydrogen ions and electrons. Since the electrolyte is not an electronic conductor, the electrons flow away from the anode via the external circuit. At the cathode, oxygen gas reacts with the hydrogen ions migrating through the electrolyte and the incoming electrons from the external circuit to produce water as a byproduct, which is then typically extracted as a vapor. One well-known type of fuel cell includes a "membrane-electrode-assembly" (MEA) which is typically a thin, proton-transmissive, solid polymer membrane electrolyte having an anode on one of its faces and a cathode on the opposite face. The MEA is sandwiched between a pair of electrically conductive elements which serve as current collectors for the anode and cathode, and contain appropriate channels and/or openings therein for distributing the fuel cell's gaseous reactants over the surfaces of the respective anode and cathode catalysts. One such MEA and fuel cell is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,272,017. In practice, a number of these unit fuel cells are normally stacked or `ganged` together to form a fuel cell stack or assembly. The individual cells are electrically connected in series by abutting the anode current collector of one cell with the cathode current collector of its nearest neighbor in the stack. Degradation or failure of only a single one of the unit cells in the stack lowers the overall performance of the fuel cell assembly, and may completely disable it. Fuel cells fail for a number of reasons including carbon monoxide poisoning of the catalyst, flooding of the cells with water, and leakage of gaseous hydrogen around or through the proton exchange membrane. Transport of gaseous hydrogen to the cathode side of the membrane can result in non-useful hydrogen consumption, loss of cell/stack efficiencies and a drop in cell voltage. Carbon monoxide poisoning and/or water flooding result in a drop in the unit cell and/or stack voltage. When any of these situations are indicated, corrective action is warranted to prevent irreversible cell/stack degradation. If one of the membranes in the stack degrades or malfunctions, the entire stack must be removed and disassembled in order to repair the cell. In the case of stack designs where welding and/or adhesive are used for assembly, the entire stack may need to be discarded. In addition, the inner cells of the stack do not operate at the same efficiency as the outer cells of the stack due to differences in temperature and humidity between the outside and inside layers.
It would be highly desirable if there were a way to monitor the performance of the individual cells during operation of the fuel cell assembly and then to adjust the operation of the fuel cell stack to either optimize it in response to various environmental conditions or to compensate for a degraded unit cell. Some in the prior art have attempted to solve this problem by electrically interrupting the cell from operation for a few milliseconds and measuring current and voltage of the cell at some fixed point. This method has the disadvantage of requiring a complicated switching scheme. The cell has to be switched to a test load, measured, then switched back. In addition, the information is limited to a single point or at most, a few points on the current-voltage (IV) curve, which tells little about the condition of the actual cell.

Integral sensors for monitoring a fuel cell membrane and methods of monitoring


Disclosed is an absorbent composition comprising each of an acidic and a basic material, wherein the absorbent composition exhibits desirable absorbent properties. Specifically, the present invention relates to an absorbent composition comprising either an acidic water-swellable, water-insoluble polymer having a pKa between about 2 to about 12 or a basic water-swellable, water-insoluble polymer having a pKb between about 2 to about 12 and either a basic or an acidic second material. The absorbent composition has the ability to slowly absorb a large quantity of liquid, particularly while under an external pressure. The absorbent composition is useful in disposable absorbent products, such as those disposable absorbent products that are used to absorb bodily liquids.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an absorbent composition comprising each of an acidic and a basic material, wherein the absorbent composition exhibits desirable absorbent properties. Specifically, the present invention relates to an absorbent composition having the ability to slowly absorb a large quantity of liquid, particularly while under an external pressure. The absorbent composition is useful in disposable absorbent products, such as those disposable absorbent products that are used to absorb bodily liquids.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of water-swellable, generally water-insoluble absorbent materials, commonly known as superabsorbents, in disposable absorbent personal care products is known. Such absorbent materials are generally employed in absorbent products such as diapers, training pants, adult incontinence products, and feminine care products in order to increase the absorbent capacity of such products while reducing their overall bulk. Such absorbent materials are generally present in absorbent products in a fibrous matrix, such as a matrix of wood pulp fluff. A matrix of wood pulp fluff generally has an absorbent capacity of about 6 grams of liquid per gram of fluff. The superabsorbent materials generally have an absorbent capacity of at least about 10, preferably of about 20, and often of up to 100 times their weight in water. Clearly, incorporation of such absorbent materials in personal care products can reduce the overall bulk while increasing the absorbent capacity of such products.
A wide variety of materials has been described for use as absorbent materials in personal care products. Such materials include natural-based materials such as agar, pectin, gums, carboxyalkyl starch, and carboxyalkyl cellulose, as well as synthetic materials such as polyacrylates, polyacrylamides, and hydrolyzed polyacrylonitrile. While such natural-based absorbent materials are known for use in personal care products, they have not gained wide usage in such products. The natural-based absorbent materials have not gained wide usage in personal care products, at least in part, because their absorbent properties are generally inferior compared to the synthetic absorbent materials, such as the sodium polyacrylates. Specifically, many of the natural-based materials tend to form soft, gelatinous masses when swollen with a liquid. When employed in absorbent products, the presence of such soft gelatinous masses tends to prevent the transport of liquid within the fibrous matrix in which the absorbent materials are incorporated. This phenomenon is known as gel-blocking. Once gel-blocking occurs, subsequent insults of liquid cannot be efficiently absorbed by the product, and the product tends to leak. Further, many of the natural-based materials exhibit poor absorption properties, particularly when subjected to external pressures.
In contrast, the synthetic absorbent materials are often capable of absorbing large quantities of liquid while maintaining a generally stiff, non-mucilaginous character. Accordingly, the synthetic absorbent materials can be incorporated in absorbent products while minimizing the likelihood of gel-blocking.
One property of currently available superabsorbent materials is that such materials typically very rapidly absorb the liquid that comes into contact with the superabsorbent material. While such quick absorbency of the liquid may be desirable in many applications, there are certain applications in which it is not desirable. For example, in an absorbent structure that is insulted with a liquid at only a very localized location, it would generally be desirable to have the liquid distributed throughout the entire volume of the absorbent structure so that the absorbent capacity of the entire absorbent structure is utilized. However, if the superabsorbent material located near the localized insult location absorbs the liquid very quickly, such superabsorbent material may swell and block the flow of the liquid throughout the rest of the absorbent structure, possibly resulting in the liquid leaking out of the absorbent structure in the area of the localized insult location. As such, it may be desirable to employ a superabsorbent material in the localized insult location that actually absorbs the liquid at a slow rate. This would allow the liquid to be distributed throughout the absorbent structure first and then be subsequently absorbed by the slowly-absorbing superabsorbent material.
Several methods are known to slow down the liquid absorbing rate of a relatively fast-rate-absorbing superabsorbent material. For example, it is possible to coat the fast-rate-absorbing superabsorbent material with a material that is nonabsorbent and/or hydrophobic. Such coating materials tend to temporarily shield the underlying superabsorbent material from any liquid and, thus, delay the absorption of the liquid by the superabsorbent material. However, such coating materials often reduce the overall liquid capacity of the superabsorbent material, add to the expense and complexity of preparing the superabsorbent material, and may negatively affect other liquid handling properties of the superabsorbent material.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an absorbent composition that absorbs a liquid at a relatively slower rate but with about the same final capacity as compared to commercially available synthetic, superabsorbent materials.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an absorbent composition that may be prepared from natural-based materials since such may reduce the overall cost of preparing the absorbent composition as well as providing for additional beneficial properties of the absorbent composition such as biodegradability or compostability.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an absorbent composition that may be prepared simply and with a minimum of materials and additives so as to reduce the overall cost of preparing the absorbent composition as well as reduce the potential deleterious effect that such additives might have on the overall absorbent properties of the absorbent composition.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide an absorbent composition that exhibits unique properties so that such absorbent composition may be used in novel applications.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A system for reusing paint cans comprising a paint can with a circular groove lip seal, a flexible plastic film bag liner to cover the interior surfaces of the can and with the opening of the bag folded back and draped downwardly over the upper outside portion of the can; and a semi-flexible plastic lid for said can having two downwardly depending concentric rings as shoulders bearing respectively against the outer and inner edges of said lip seal in a liquid-tight sealing relationship.

It is common knowledge that paint cans of sizes up to at least one gallon are made with a circular groove lip seal that mates with a disc-shaped lid having a circular tongue that press fits into the groove to produce a tight seal. In custom paint blending shops any shade of color is available by mixing, according to a formula, two or more standard tints sold by the paint manufacturer. This normally requires the use of a new paint can which is thrown away after the consumer uses the paint. Since paint cans represent a substantial expense, it would be desirable to find a way to use such cans more than once, and it is an object of this invention to provide a system whereby such can be accomplished.


An apparatus, system and method for providing an indication or notification to a fishermen when a fish strikes an ice fishing tip-up is disclosed. The apparatus provides a wireless signal indicative of a fish strike. The system and method include and utilize an application operatively running on a mobile device and configured to receive the fish strike indicating signal.

Ice fishing is a very popular sport. Typically, ice fishing involves venturing out onto the frozen surface of a lake or river. A hole is typically drilled through the ice to access the water beneath the ice. A fishing line with a baited hook or lure attached to one end is then dropped through the hole in the ice in an attempt to catch fish that are living and swimming below the frozen surface.
Many different types of devices are used to catch fish during the ice fishing season. These devices include fishing poles or jigs and tip-up devices. Shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is a typical prior art ice fishing tip-up device 100. Tip-up device 100 includes a base member 102, a flag pole assembly 104 and a swinging arm and spool assembly 106. Base member 102 is designed to sit on the ice over the opening or hole in the ice and includes a pair of longitudinal leg members 108, 110 and a pair of end cross members 112, 114 connecting the ends of leg members 108, 110 to each other. A central opening 116 is disposed in the center of base member 102 between leg members 108, 110 and end cross members 112, 114. Protruding upward from cross member 112 at one end of base member 102 is a flag pole assembly mounting member 118 which in this case is a cylindrical shaped stud or spindle member.
Flag pole assembly 104 includes a cylindrical flagpole 120, a colored flag 122 mounted on one end of flagpole 120, and a resilient mounting member such as, for example, a spring 124, mounted on the opposite end of flag pole 120. Spring 124 is disposed to slidably engage with flag pole assembly mounting member 118 to movably secure flag pole assembly 104 to base member 102 in the prior art tip-up shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.
Arm and spool assembly 106 includes a swinging arm or rod 126, a cylindrical swivel mounting member 128, a reel or spool 130 and a t-shaped flagpole engaging finger or member 132. Swinging rod 126 is perpendicularly disposed through an opening 134 in swivel mounting member 128 and is secured to swivel mounting member 128 at a desired position using, for example, a set screw 144 (see FIGS. 20 and 21). The ends of swivel mounting member 128 are in turn rotatably secured to base member 102 by being disposed in complementary cylindrical openings 136, 138 in each of leg members 108, 110 respectively. In this way, arm and spool assembly 106 can swing from a horizontal position, the desired position during storage of tip-up 100, downward through central opening 116 to a vertical position, the desired position when tip-up device 100 is in use.
Mounted on the lower end (when swinging rod 126 is in the vertical position) of swinging arm 126 is spool 130. A length of fishing line 140 is wound around spool 130 with one end of the line attached to spool 130. A fish hook 142 is attached to the other end of fishing line 140 for use in catching fish. Mounted to the opposite end of swinging rod 126 is flagpole engaging member 132. Flagpole engaging member 132 is disposed on this end of rod 126 to engage with flagpole 120 when flagpole assembly 104 is in the horizontal or substantially horizontal "non-strike" indicating position (see FIG. 1). The "non-strike" indicating position is the position of flag pole assembly 104 prior to the occurrence of a fish strike.
The operation of prior art tip-up device 100 will now be described. During normal set-up, tip-up device 100 is disposed over the opening or hole in the ice with arm and spool assembly 106 disposed in a vertical position. In this position, rod 126 extends downward through central opening 116 in base member 102 and downward through the hole in the ice. In this position, spool 130, which is fixedly mounted to the lower end of rod 126, is disposed in the water below the ice surface with fishing line 140 and baited hook 142 attached thereto and in a position to receive a fish strike.
Flag pole assembly 104, meanwhile, is disposed in the horizontal or substantially horizontal "non-strike" indicating position above central opening 116 and is held in this position against the tension of spring 124 by engagement of flagpole 120 with flagpole engaging member 132 as is shown in FIG. 1. Tip-up device 100 is now set-up and ready to receive a fish strike.
In use, a fish, striking baited hook 142, causes fishing line 140 to unwind from spool 130. The unwinding of fishing line 140 from spool 130 causes spool 130 and attached swinging rod 126 to rotate. The rotation of rod 126 causes flagpole engaging member 132 to also rotate which in turn causes flagpole engaging member 132 to disengage from flagpole 120. Flagpole 120, which is under tension from spring 124, is now free to swing from its horizontal or substantially horizontal non-strike indicating position to a vertical "strike" indicating position (see FIG. 2).
It should be noted that because of the spring tension being applied to flagpole 120 by spring 124 when flagpole engaging member 132 first disengages from flagpole 120, flagpole assembly 104 actually "wiggles" back and forth on either side of the vertical strike indicating position before eventually settling down into its final steady-state vertical strike indicating position. In the vertical strike indicating position, colored flag 122 is visible to the fisherman and provides a manual indication and notification to a fisherman viewing the tip-up that a fish strike has occurred.
Prior art tip-ups of the type described above and shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 suffer from a major drawback however. In order for a fisherman to be notified that a fish strike has occurred, the tip-up must be within visible sight of the fisherman. This can be difficult if the fisherman is located at a great distance from the tip-up, or if the weather is bad such as in snowy conditions when it may be difficult to view the tip-up flag through the snow. The problem becomes even worse if the fisherman can not view the tip-up, for example when the fisherman is inside of a warming structure such as an ice shack or shanty, or when the fisherman is fishing at night in the dark.
It is desirable, therefore, to have an ice fishing tip-up that provides a notification or alert of a fish strike that can be more easily seen by a fisherman. Preferably, the ice fishing tip-up will also provide a notification or alert of a fish strike without having to be visually seen by the fisherman.

Fish strike indicating apparatus, system and method for use with an ice fishing tip-up


A method for fabricating air media layer within the semiconductor optical device is provided. The step of method includes a substrate is provided, a GaN thin film is formed on the substrate, a sacrificial layer is formed on the GaN thin film, and a nitride-containing semiconductor layer is formed on the sacrificial layer. The semiconductor optical device is immersed with an acidic solution to remove the portion of sacrificial layer to form an air media layer around the residual sacrificial layer.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for fabricating a nitride semiconductor optical device, particularly the method for forming the air media layer within the nitride semiconductor optical device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As for the structure of nitride semiconductor embedded with the air media layer, the light field can be confined in the nitride semiconductor material with high refractive index through the air media with low refractive index. Furthermore, the E-beam lithography is used to define the micro-structure on the nitride surface to form the micro resonance cavity in the nitride material. Its optical characteristics are studied through the different structural design of nitride. Due to the chemical property of nitride semiconductor is stable, it is difficult to remove the bottom semiconductor material to form nitride semiconductor thin film by the wet etching method. In the conventional art, different nitride material is used as the material of sacrificial layer. The optical chemical oxidization etching reaction is used to remove the nitride in the sacrificial layer. However, the etching rate and homogeneity of optical chemical oxidization etching reaction are not good, it is apt to cause uneven surface and even cause the structural defect or the drop of device characteristics.
Though the match between the nitride and the nitride semiconductor is well known, the lattice constant between them is very close, thus they are perfect match basically. However, it is still necessary to pay attention to the crystal quality of heterogeneous epitaxy. Therefore the invention discloses how to grow high-quality nitride and improve the heterogeneous structure of oxide.

Semiconductor optical device having an air media layer and the method for forming the air media layer thereof


A reusable vacuum bag for processing parts is made by encapsulating a generally rigid frame within a flexible diaphragm.

1. Field
The present disclosure generally relates to equipment used to fabricate composite parts, and deal more particularly with a vacuum bag used to compress composite part layups.
2. Background
Flexible vacuum bags may be used to process parts in a wide variety of applications. In the composites industry, vacuum bags are used to consolidate, laminate, mold or bond composite parts using a vacuum drawn within the bag to apply atmospheric pressure to the parts. The bag comprises a flexible membrane or diaphragm that may be an extruded polymer film such as nylon.
Polymer film type vacuum bags are typically not re-usable and must be discarded after each use, thus representing a recurring production cost. Reusable type vacuum bags are known which employ a rubber coated fabric or film, however these types of bags, which typically employ stiffening structures, are relatively complex, heavy and relatively expensive to fabricate. For example, reusable elastomeric type vacuum bags are fabricated using metallic stiffening frames. Separate bonding operations are required to attach the bag diaphragm, seal and frame to each other. Each component is fabricated separately, and the tooling used to produce the bags must be oversized in order to allow for shrinkage of the bag diaphragm during fabrication.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved, reusable, integrally stiffened vacuum bag that reduces the number of steps required for its fabrication, while reducing weight and complexity of the bag.

Integrally stiffened, reusable vacuum bag and method of making the same


Water equivalent of accumulated snow determination by measurement of secondary background cosmic radiation attenuation by the snowpack. By measuring the attentuation of 3-10 MeV secondary gamma radiation it is possible to determine the water equivalent of snowpack. The apparatus is designed to operate remotely to determine the water equivalent of snow in areas which are difficult or hazardous to access during winter, accumulate the data as a function of time and transmit, by means of an associated telemetry system, the accumulated data back to a central data collection point for analysis. The electronic circuitry is designed so that a battery pack can be used to supply power.

The present invention relates generally to the use of cosmic radiation as a measurement tool, and more particularly, the ability to use the attenuation of cosmic gamma radiation passing through a given accumulation of snow to determine its water equivalent.
In geographic areas where the water supply is derived mainly from snow runoff, the ability to forecast accurately the snowpack water equivalent is a critical factor in the prudent allocation of water resources. Consequently, there has been a long felt need for an inexpensive, reliable and practical method for determining these data. In the United States, the annual snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, Cascade and Rocky Mountain ranges provide the bulk of the water supply for most of the western states. Also, significant parts of New England are serviced by snow runoff from the Appalachians. For these same reasons, many foreign countries are also interested in snow hydrology, including Canada, several European countries, Russia, and Japan.
In a geographic area such as California, on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada alone, there are currently four hundred snow survey sites that are monitored for snow water content to assist in annual water allocation forecasts. One hundred twenty of the sites are automated. These sites use snow pillows (a grid of four 3 foot square hydraulically suspended steel pads that weigh the snow deposited on them) connected to a weather station. The snow pillows are physically imposing and incur high installation as well as high annual maintenance costs; their size makes them very difficult to install in remote locations. The remainder of the snow survey sites require "core samples" that are taken at 2 week intervals during the snow season. As the demand on water resources increases there is a corresponding need to automate more snow survey sites in order to forecast more accurately snow runoff and allocate resources appropriately; in particular, to have more sampling sites, to automate data collection and to have the capability of recovering data as it is being generated. However, to automate these sites with current technology (e.g. snowpillows) would be expensive because of the physical size of the equipment, along with the difficulty in placing such equipment in remote locations. Because of the mountainous terrain generally encountered in establishing or maintaining current automated snow survey sites, support personnel and equipment must often be transported to remote sites by helicopter, an expensive and often hazardous activity. In spite of these dificulties, the need for these data is urgent enough to justify the expense of installation and maintenance. It is estimated that there are approximately 1300 automated snowpack sites in the United States having a total annual estimated maintenance cost in excess of one million dollars. The California State Department of Water Resources alone spends in excess of one hundred thousand dollars annually in maintenance costs for its 120 snow pillows.
In addition to the techniques described above, radioactive techniques for measuring the snow water equivalent have been reported in the literature. Smith et al. in Canadian Patent No. 861635 describes a technique that uses active sources of gamma radiation which are biologically dangerous and pose obvious environmental and safety concerns. A second technique has been described by Wada et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,047,042 which utilizes ground based detectors for monitoring cosmic neutron radiation. This technique suffers from accuracy limitations due to very low counting rates and interference due to soil moisture. A third technique, described by Abelentsev et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,992,667, utilizes fixed gamma ray detectors located above the snowpack to monitor the variation in the natural emissions of gamma radiation from the earth (as opposed to secondary background cosmic gamma radiation) versus snow depth. Terrestrial gamma rays are low energy radiation, typically having energies less than 200 keV. As a consequence, they are rapidly attenuated by water. One measure of the attenuation of gamma rays is the e-folding depth, i.e., the depth at which the gamma ray intensity falls to 1/e. In water, terrestrial gamma rays have an e-folding depth of approximately 9 cm and thus cannot be used to monitor snowpack with a water equivalent of more than 30-40 cm. Consequently, this technique is limited to snow depths less than is typical in most mountain areas. Furthermore, because of the significant atmospheric attenuation of terrestrial gamma radiation monitoring by aircraft must be carried out at low altitudes. It cannot be used in deep mountainous terrain because of safety factors. For reasons discussed above, deep mountainous snowpacks also drastically attenuate the terrestrial gamma radiation, leading to often unreliable and inaccurate data. Because of the urgent need for these data and despite the drawbacks set forth above, water equivalent data generated from measurements of terrestrial gamma ray attenuation are used to calculate snowmelt and update forecasting models. The present invention discloses method and apparatus for determining the water equivalent of snowpack which, by measuring the attenuation of secondary cosmic gamma radiation, has significant advantages over existing techniques.

Method for detecting water equivalent of snow using secondary cosmic gamma radiation


Poinsettia `Peterstar Marble` is a new cultivar, distinguished by bicolored pink and creamy white bracts, large flowers, strong stems and self-branching characteristics. `Peterstar Marble` is a sport of the red bracted `Peterstar` (U.S. Pat. No. P.P. 8,259) with the same flowering response and cultural requirements. The new plant produces a very desirable branched flowering pot plant. The new plant is resistant to epinasty after being confined to shipping containers. The post-production foliage and bract retention is good.

This new poinsettia cultivar originated as a bicolored pink on white bracted sport of `Peterstar` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,259) in my greenhouse in Skibby, Denmark in 1991. It was induced through irradiation of vegetative plants with 2500 rads of gamma radiation, and was selected from about 200 mutants so produced, because of it bicolored pink on white bracts, large flowers, strong stems, self-branching, and dark green leaves, traits which help distinguish it from other poinsettia cultivars, and seemed to make it a desirable plant for commercial greenhouse production. `Peterstar Marble` differed from its parent `Peterstar` in having bicolored pink on white bracts as compared to the bright red bracts of `Peterstar`. `Peterstar Marble` resembles poinsettia `13-86`. (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,249) but differs in color, growth habit and flowering response. The pink color of the flower bracts is brighter and the relative area of pink color on each bract is larger for `Peterstar Marble` than for `13-86 `.
The foliage and bract colors and the flowering response of `Peterstar Marble` are distinctly different from known poinsettias of similar derivation. The leaf color of `Peterstar Marble` is darker than `Fispue` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,315) and more yellow green in color than `Fispla` (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,316). The pink bract color of `Peterstar Marble` is brighter and the flower response time is shorter than either `Fispue` or `Fispla`.
After selection, `Peterstar Marble` was vegetatively reproduced from stem cuttings for test purposes in Encinitas, Calif. By subjecting clones of this plant to successive generations of vegetative propagations, it was demonstrated that the distinctive characteristics of `Peterstar Marble` held true from generation to generation. Grown under the same greenhouse environment, `Peterstar Marble` had the same growth habit and flowering response time as the parent plant `Peterstar`.


The invention provides a compact multistage furnace of which the installation area in a factory is decreased. A multistage furnace is configured by piling up a plurality of furnace units in the vertical direction. Each of the furnace units includes an upper heater and a lower heater layered in the vertical direction and holding a heat insulator therebetween, a support pipe disposed on one end of the upper heater and extending in the horizontal direction, a support pipe disposed on other end of the upper heater and extending in the horizontal direction, and a plurality of work support bars mounted over the support pipes. The back surface of a work supported by the work support bars is opposed to the upper heater and the front surface of the work is opposed to the lower heater of the adjacent furnace unit disposed above.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a multistage furnace in which a plurality of furnace units are piled up in the vertical direction.
2. Description of the Related Art
For vehicle components, a thinned and high-strength member is used so as to enhance both the safety and economy. For this purpose, so-called hot press is known in which a steel plate heated to high temperature is quenched by cooling the plate with low-temperature press dies. In this method, a steel plate is heated to transformation temperature or higher at which the metal structure of the steel member is transformed into austenite, and the steel plate is formed and rapidly cooled with press dies simultaneously, completing quenching.
As a furnace for hot press, as shown in FIG. 11, one is known in which a multiple number of lower heaters 1 and upper heaters 2 are arrayed in the horizontal direction and a steel plate W is carried and heated between the lower heaters 1 and the upper heaters 2 from the inlet to the outlet. Steel plates W are sequentially inserted into the furnace from the inlet thereof, and heated between the lower heaters 1 and the upper heaters 2 until these are discharged from the outlet. A relevant technique is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2010-44875.
The conventional furnace heats a plurality of steel plates W sequentially, but the multiple number of lower heaters 1 and upper heaters 2 arrayed in the horizontal direction make the installation area of the furnace large in a factory. Furthermore, even when only one of the multiple number of lower heaters 1 and upper heaters 2 is broken due to burnout or the like, all the steel plates W inserted in the furnace become defective products due to underheating.


The exhaust coupling of the invention comprises a first length of tubing having a first assembly flange fixed thereon, a second length of tubing associated with a second assembly flange, clamping means disposed to urge the assembly flanges towards each other via first resilient members, and second resilient members disposed between the assembly flanges in order to be compressed therebetween and to exert a force on the flange which is less than the opposing force exerted thereon by the first resilient members.

When assembling a car, and in particular a car having a transversely-mounted engine, a flexible coupling needs to be provided between the exhaust manifold which is fixed to the engine and the exhaust pipe which is fixed to the bodywork which supports the silencer or muffler.
In order to take up relative movement between the manifold and the exhaust pipe, and in order to provide sealing, one of the lengths of tubing is terminated by a convex spherical bearing surface made at the end of the tubing itself or formed by an annular gasket, and co-operating with a complementary surface on the other length of exhaust tubing. In order to hold the parts together, the exhaust manifold and the exhaust pipe are both provided in this case with assembly flanges, each associated with a length of tubing and connected to each other by bolts having thrust springs mounted therearound in order to ensure sealing and coupling.
During relative movement of the two lengths of exhaust tubing, the two spherical surfaces rub against each other and generate vibrations which are extremely disagreeable. The level of such vibrations has already been reduced by providing a special structure for a gasket between the facing ends of the lengths of exhaust tubing. However, the vibrations generated by friction between the various parts of the coupling when in use has not yet been completely eliminated.
Since the generation of vibrations cannot be completely eliminated, an object of the invention is to minimize such vibrations.

Flexible exhaust coupling with gasket crush reducing resilient members


A system for controlling object movement on a machine. The system controls a speed of a working point of the machine according to a dynamic decay speed determined through an exponential function after the working point passes by a buffer distance. A related method and storage medium with instructions for performance of the method also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The disclosure relates to machined objects, and particularly to a system and method for controlling movement of an object on a machine.
2. Description of Related Art
Linear movement of an object is often required in both testing and manufacturing process. Usually, a working point of an object is moved from an initial position to a target position along a linear track as depicted in FIG. 3. The object may be moved by a roller-type guideway, ball screws, or other means. Position of the working point may be determined by an optical sensor, and speed of the linear movement determined by comparing distance travelled with travel time. The speed of the linear movement may further be determined dynamically by a processor and controlled by a driver servo.
FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a method for controlling movement of an object on a machine. The object X is movable along a track on the machine. As shown, point A is an initial position of the object X on the track, and point D is a target position for the object X. A point C is a current position of the object X when the object X is moving on the machine. A point B is an exemplary point at which the object X starts decreasing speed. A point W is a working point on the object moving on the machine, usually the point of the object X closest to the point D. A speed V is a current speed of the object X, varying during movement of object X on the machine. A buffer distance parameter P is used for establishing point B, and also determining where the object X will start decreasing speed V. Additionally, L is a distance between the point C and the point D.
The object may, however, experience displacement during movement from the initial position to the target position, when speed is not decreased sufficiently or in a timely manner, resulting in the object passing the target position due to inertia. In some cases, displacement may not be a problem since the object may be returned to the target position. However, in other cases, particularly in precision machinery, displacement results in a severe problem, impacting accuracy and timing-based efficiency of production. Moreover, if the working point is within a proximity or a limited range of the target position, the displacement may cause object collision, machine damage, and affect process due to over-damping by the machine.
What is needed, therefore, is a system and method for controlling object movement on a machine.


An image sensor comprises conversion cells (41ij) arranged into a matrix for generating conversion voltage in response to incident light, and a processing section for performing a processing of deriving the conversion voltage. The conversion cells comprise a transistor and a photodiode for changing, after predetermined voltage is set with the initial setting of the processing section, the predetermined voltage in response to incident light and outputting it as the conversion voltage, a transistor for amplifying the conversion voltage, a transistor for outputting the amplified conversion voltage to the processing section, and a transistor for applying voltage corresponding to the threshold of the transistor to predetermined voltage set to the photodiode upon the initial setting.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image sensor being a photographing apparatus, and more specifically to a semiconductor image sensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are conventionally known as photographing devices CCD (Charge Coupled Device) image sensors and MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) image sensors. The CCD image sensors are prevailing at present. Compared with the CCD image sensors, however, the MOS image sensors have the following advantages: the MOS image sensors require less power consumption, and includes an optical detection section and its peripheral circuit which can be integrated on the same chip.
As illustrated in FIG. 6, the aforesaid MOS image sensor includes a vertical scanning section 101, a horizontal scanning section 102, and a cell array 103. The vertical scanning section 101 outputs DC voltage V1 and a readout signal S2 to a cell array 103, and the horizontal scanning section 102 outputs a readout signal S2 to the cell array 103.
The cell array 103 converts incident light to an electric signal, and outputs a signal representing a picture image (hereinafter, referred to as a picture image signal ),and includes m.times.n conversion cells 111.sub.ij (i=1 to m, j=1 to n), and regulated power supplies 112.sub.1 to 112.sub.m, as illustrated in FIG. 6.
The regulated current supplies 112.sub.1 to 112.sub.m, supply a regulated current to signal lines 113.sub.1 to 113.sub.m, respectively. The conversion cells 111.sub.ij arranged in a matrix include transistors each of which is an enhancement N channel MOSFET (Field Effect Transistor) and a photodiode 124 for converting incident light to an electric signal, as illustrated in FIG. 7.
The vertical scanning section 101 vertically scans the cell array 103. The vertical scanning section 101 outputs DC voltage V1 and a high level reset signal S1 to the conversion cells 111.sub.ij to 111.sub.mj that are an object of vertical scanning. Hereby, a photodiode 124 of the conversion cell 111.sub.ij is initialized. More specifically, the transistor 121 is switched on with the high level reset signal S1, and the DC voltage V1 is applied to the photodiode 124.
Consequently, the photodiode 124 stores electric charges thereon, and a voltage at a connection point (hereinafter, referred to a node M) between the photodiode 124 and the transistor 122 becomes the DC voltage V1. The photodiode 124 is therefore initialized.
After completion of initialization of the photodiode 124, when a light is incident on the photodiode 124, electric charges stored in the photodiode 124 are reduced in response to the intensity of the incident light to a lower voltage at the node M. The voltage at the node M is a conversion signal that is a result of the conversion of the incident light.
Thereafter, the horizontal scanning section 102 horizontally scans the cell array 103. At this time, a high level readout signal S2 is inputted in order into the conversion cells 111.sub.ij to 111.sub.jm that are the object of the horizontal scanning. Hereby, the conversion signal amplified by the transistor 122 is outputted to the signal line 113.sub.i after passage through the source follower transistor 123.
When the vertical/horizontal scanning for the conversion cells 111.sub.11 to 111.sub.m1 and the conversion cells 111.sub.1n to 111.sub.mn is finished, the horizontal scanning section 102 outputs a picture image signal.
The prior art technique suffers from the following difficulty. Each conversion cell 111.sub.ij of the cell array 103 outputs the amplified conversion signal to the signal line 113.sub.i. The amplification is achieved with the transistor 122 of the conversion cell 111.sub.ij.
In contrast, the transistor 122 has a threshold, and further has an amplifying function for input voltage above the threshold. The threshold is however varied depending upon fine differences among dozes of doped impurities, and slight differences of gate configurations produced upon manufacturing. In other words, the transistors 122 have different thresholds which provide variations of the threshold of the transistor 122. Thus, noise of a fixed pattern due to the transistor 122 is generated on the aforesaid picture image signal.

Image sensor having means for changing predetermined voltage


An antifuse particularly suitable for submicron geometries is presented. The antifuse is formed between a silicon layer, which could be a doped region of the semiconductor substrate, an epitaxial layer or a polysilicon layer, and an upper metal interconnection layer. In contact holes in a silicon dioxide layer insulating the silicon and metal interconnection layers from each other, the antifuses have a thick refractory metal layer having a top surface approximately at the same level as the top surface of the insulating layer. Depending upon the process used to deposit the refractory metal layer, a thin adhesion layer may be located immediately below the refractory metal layer. Between the underlying silicon layer and upper interconnection layer, a thin semiconductor material layer of amorphous silicon may be located either below the refractory metal layer or above it. At its bottom, the interconnection layer also has a barrier layer to prevent any intermixing between the amorphous silicon layer and the metal interconnection layer.

The present invention is related to semiconductor devices and, more particularly, to highly compact antifuses in integrated circuits.
An antifuse is a device which operates, as the name implies, in the opposite manner of a fuse. The antifuse lies between two conducting lines. If it is unprogrammed, or open, the antifuse forms a high-resistance electrical path. If the antifuse is programmed, or closed, it forms a low resistance electrical path between the conducting lines.
In integrated circuits, multiple layers of interconnecting conducting lines are stacked over each other. With insulating layers between the conducting lines, multilayer interconnect structures are formed. To make the interconnection between the two lowest conducting layers, the first conducting layer, which is typically a doped region in the integrated circuit substrate or a doped region of an epitaxial layer on the substrate, or a doped polysilicon layer over the substrate, is covered with an insulating layer. Then contact holes are formed through the insulating layer where the interconnection are desired. A second layer of conducting material is deposited over the insulating layer and the contact holes to make the electrical interconnection. By standard semiconductor processing techniques, the second conducting layer is masked, etched and defined into a conducting line. The second conducting line is typically formed from an aluminum alloy deposited by a sputtering process.
It is in these contact holes that certain types of antifuse structures with near-ideal electrical characteristics may be created. Examples of such antifuse structures are described in a U.S. patent application, filed on Mar. 20, 1991 by the present applicants and assigned to the present assignee, entitled "IMPROVED METHOD OF FABRICATING ANTIFUSES IN AN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT DEVICE AND RESULTING STRUCTURE."
However, as contact hole dimensions have become smaller and smaller, and the desire for greater packing densities has increased, the sidewall angles of the contact holes have become more vertical. Thus the sidewall step coverage of the aluminum layer becomes less and less reliable to the point that a complete discontinuity in the layer becomes possible. This is a major problem limiting yield on sub-micron integrated circuits.
Since the antifuses noted above lie in the contact holes, they must also shrink with contact holes. The antifuse in their current form cannot be manufactured reliably with critical dimensions of smaller than one micron. The present invention makes it possible to manufacture antifuses beyond that limit. The present invention offers highly compact antifuses having integrity in step coverage and highly desirable electrical characteristics.


A pump-off control system for use with an electric motor driven pump jack assembly for operation of a down hole pump in which a circuit interrupter device is attached to the top of the polished rod of the pump jack and upon occurrence of fluid pound, the polished rod imparts sufficient force on the circuit interrupter device to open the electrical contacts of the device momentarily interrupting power to the electric motor shutting down the pump for a period of time determined by a time delay relay that controls the shut down time for the well.

1. Field
The device for pump-off control pertains to control systems for pumping units generally referred to as sucker rod pumps. More particularly the pump-off control interrupter for the pump jack that interrupts the production cycle for a pre-determined time.
2. State of the Art
In the production of oil from the sub-service reservoir, frequently beam type pumping units are common artificial lift devices for producing oil. These, so called, sucker rod pumps reciprocate a down-hole pump mechanism that lifts oil on each upward stroke of the sucker rods and on the down stroke, oil flows into the pump and the process is repeated. Often in producing fluid by artificial means with sucker rod pumps, the oil flowing reservoir surrounding the well does not flow to the pump as fast as the pump can lift the oil and when this happens, the fluid level in the reservoir falls below the top of the pump plunger. A limited amount of oil, if any, flows into the barrel of the pump. At this point, the amount of oil being pumped is decreased and on the down stroke the pump plunger impacts the fluid with a hammer type pounding effect joining the sucker rods. Over long periods of time, this pounding causes fatigue and failure of the sucker rod pumping mechanism.
Various techniques have been developed to control the operation of the sucker rod pumps to minimize the fluid pound effect by disrupting the pumping operation for a sufficient period of time to permit oil from the reservoir to again increase the volume surrounding the well bore so that the plunger of the pump is below the fluid level and permits fluid pumping again.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,262 issued to Dutton discusses in some detail the problem in detecting the pump-off condition and providing adequate means to minimize the problem. Dutton proposes a flow meter arrangement for determining the volume of fluid being pumped and the pumping is shut down when measurement from the flow meter indicates a decline in pump efficiency, which indicates that the production fluid level in the tubing has fallen below the upper most travel of the plunger.
Another attempt to provide a pump-off control device utilizes the measurement of the length of time required for the pump to down stroke with a full barrel of oil and the time interval for the down stroke with less than a full barrel of oil. By these two measurements, pump-off is determined and the well shut down to prevent excessive fluid pound. The pump is allowed to pump a pre-determined number of cycles and if fluid pound is reached again, the time is reset on the new information.
Another system for pump-off control utilizes wave-form signals proportional to the load on the motor drawing the pump to determine the change in load wave-form when the pump is at pump-off.
The present invention provides a pump-off control system for sucker rod or beam pumping units, in which the pump motor is shut-off when the sucker rod unit undergoes fluid pound, which jolts the sucker rods. This action interrupts the electrical circuit supplying power to the pump motor. To accomplish this, Applicant mounts the pump-off interrupter on top of the polished rod on the balance beam pumping unit. The interrupter has a fixed electrical contact that moves with the movement of the polished rod and a floating electrical contact that rests on the fixed contact. When fluid pound occurs, there is sufficient jolt to the polished rod to cause the fixed and floating contacts of the interrupter to part, thus interrupting an electric circuit, which holds a normally open contact of a time delay relay closed as long as voltage is applied across the relay. In this fashion, when the relay opens by interruption of the electric circuit, power to the motor is interrupted until the electrical circuit is completed through the time delay relay. The time delay may be set to retain the well shut in for a sufficient amount of time to permit the fluid in the well bore of the reservoir to rise above the plunger to again efficiently pump oil from the reservoir.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a circuit interrupter attached to the polished rod, which opens a relay when the polished rod undergoes fluid pound shutting down the sucker rod pump.
It is another object of the invention to provide a pump-off interrupter mounted on the polished rod, which includes an insulated cylinder with one end attached to a metallic cylinder filled with Babbitt metal with a metallic disc attached to the Babbitt metal to provide one side of an electrical contact. The metallic cylinder is secured to the polished rod. A second metallic cylinder, with Babbitt metal to provide sufficient weight, secures a metallic disc to form the other side of an electrical contact, such that the contact is maintained during normal pumping operation of the balance beam pump and upon incurring fluid pound, the two contacts will separate from the impact shutting down the pump.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide a pump-off control mounted on the polished rod, which includes a plastic cylinder with one end securely attached by metallic material to the polished rod to provide one side of an electrical contact within the plastic cylinder. A metallic cylinder with metallic material secured in one end to form the other side of an electrical contact, including a series of removeable metal disc to provide sufficient weight to maintain the contact closed during normal operation and responding to fluid pound to break the electrical connection.


A balloon holder includes a bracket plate, a shank and a hollow casing made of an insulative material and connected between the bracket plate and the shank. The casing has an electronic music producing device, a spring member and a swinging plate mounted in the casing. The swinging plate is connected between the bracket plate and the spring member. The spring member is connected between the bottom of the casing and the swinging plate so that the swinging plate can swing within the casing. An annular flange extends inwardly from the internal wall of the casing between the swing plate and the electronic music producing device. A first and a second electrically conductive ring are respectively provided on the swinging plate and the annular flange and are respectively and electrically connected to the electronic music producing device. Therefore, the electronic music producing device can be actuated to produce music when the swinging plate is swung to allow the first and second electrically conductive rings to contact.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a balloon holder, more particularly to a balloon holder which can produce music when the balloon attached to the balloon holder is swung by a user.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional balloon holder includes a bracket plate 2 and a shank 3 connected to the bracket plate 2. The bracket plate 2 has two opposed positioning notches 21, 22 formed thereon whereupon the mouth 11 of a balloon 1 is twisted and tied, as best illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3. Therefore, a balloon 1 can be held by the balloon holder. Children can hold the shank 3 of the balloon holder for playing purposes. However, such a balloon holder cannot provide additional amusing effects.


A manufacturing method and a manufacturing apparatus of a fiber reinforced composite material are provided, in which the whole fiber-based material is impregnated with a resin and a molding can be performed with high dimensional accuracy. A manufacturing method of a fiber reinforced composite material according to the present invention includes fixing a fiber-based material having a first surface to a first mold to provide an opening for the first surface; setting a second mold having a second surface such that the first surface faces the second surface through a space; filling resin into the space; and relatively moving the second mold and the first mold to bring the second surface closer to the first surface, such that the fiber-based material is impregnated with the resin.

A fiber reinforced composite material is known as a kind of composite material of fiber-based material and resin. The fiber reinforced composite material has high strength as well as light weight, and is used as a material for apparatuses such as an automobile and an aircraft.
A RTM (Resin Transfer Molding) method is known as a manufacturing method of the fiber reinforced composite material. FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically showing a molding method using the RTM method. In the RTM method, a molding die (a pair of female and male molds in FIG. 1) is prepared. A fiber-based material is placed between the female mold and the male mold. The female and male molds are so arranged as to come in close contact with both surfaces of the fiber-based material. The female and male molds are provided with a resin supply line and a resin ejection line. After the female and male molds are clamped, the resin is supplied to the fiber-based material through the resin supply line. The fiber-based material is impregnated with the supplied resin. An excess portion of the resin is ejected through the resin ejection line. After the fiber-based material is impregnated with the resin, the resin is cured. Thus, the fiber reinforced composite material is manufactured.
Patent Literature 1 (JP 2004-130598A) and Patent Literature 2 (JP Showa 56-135025A) are known as techniques relating to the RTM method.
As another manufacturing method of the fiber reinforced composite material, a RFI (Resin Film Infusion) method is known. FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing the RFI method. In the RFI method, the fiber-based material is placed on a molding die and a resin film is placed on one surface of the fiber-based material. The fiber-based material provided with the resin film is covered with a bag member. Then, a pressure of a space covered by the bag member is reduced and the resin film is cured by heating and pressurizing. Thus, the fiber reinforced composite material is obtained. At this time, the resin film infiltrates in a thickness direction of the fiber-based material.

Manufacturing method and manufacturing apparatus of fiber reinforced composite material


A livestock waterer for use in frigid climates includes a lid which floats on the surface of the water in each basin of the waterer. The lid is hollow with a convex upper surface and with baffle walls depending from the underside of the lid. The baffle walls interrupt wave action on the surface of the water created by depression of the lid into the water when an animal presses down on the lid to gain access to the water. The floor of each basin is provided with an integrally formed mounting post to support a heater within the basin. The baffles walls prevent exhaustion of water within the basin thereby preserving submersion of the heater at all times.

The present invention relates to livestock watering devices and in particular to those devices which are equipped with heating devices.
Previous generations of livestock waterers consisted of open tubs in barnyards or pens. There livestock could access the water as needed. Improvements were then made to the cattle waterers which allowed the tubs to be filled automatically. Although the automatic fillers solved a number of problems with the waterers, problems relating to freezing persisted. Specifically, in sub-freezing climates, the water in the waterer is susceptible to freezing. In order to abate this problem, farmers began to use heaters to warm the water to above freezing. Although heaters aided in keeping most of the water in a liquid state, freezing still occurred at the air-water interface. Additionally, the costs of heating the waterers became more expensive. Improvements to better insulate the waterers led to insulation material utilized in the outer shell of the waterer and inventions directed at insulating the upper surface of the water itself. U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,687 discloses a waterer with a circular cover or lid which floats upon the water's surface. The lid could be manipulated by the animal in such a way to allow access to the water beneath. Other patents sized the lid to avoid its freezing to the surrounding opening. U.S. Pat. No. 4,883,022 implemented guide rails anchoring the cover to the waterer while still allowing the animals access to the water below. The guide rails assisted in preventing the animals from being able to physically remove the lids from the waterer.
With conventional lids, movement of the lids by animals seeking to drink creates turbulence and splashing of water from the waterer. This wastes water and also creates a muddy ground surface around the waterer or leads to ice build up on the outside of the waterer. The shape of previous lids made them prone to generating wave action within the waterer. Wave action causes water to be lost which in turn add extra costs in the replacing of the water as well as heating of the replacement water.
One other shortcoming is the placement of the heater within the waterer. Traditionally, the heater is placed in a protected central location away from the basins accessible by the animals so that the animals will not damage the heating element. The heat created by the heating element must travel from the central location of the waterers to the basins and may be sufficiently dissipated before water in the basins is sufficiently warmed to prevent freezing in frigid weather conditions.


A pressurized aerosol sprayer and method of making a pressurized aerosol sprayer are disclosed. In one embodiment the aerosol sprayer includes an aerosol sprayer actuator attached to an aerosol container, wherein the sprayer actuator includes an actuator housing, a trigger piece having a trigger and operatively associated with the actuator housing to activate the release of fluid from the container, a nozzle in fluid communication with the container, and a trigger loop encircling the trigger.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present invention relates to a pressurized sprayer, a pressurized sprayer actuator, and a method of making the same.
2. Description of Related Art
Pressurized containers of the aerosol type have been traditionally equipped with an actuating button or cap, which button or cap defines a product duct through which the product passes to the discharge orifice situated within the button or cap. To discharge product from the container, the user grasps the container and with one finger of the grasping hand depresses the button or a portion of the cap to release the contents of the container.
While achieving substantial commercial success, finger actuated buttons or caps have the disadvantage of inducing finger fatigue for some users. Moreover, with the prior systems of actuation, the aiming of the discharged product to the desired surface area suffers somewhat due to the relatively awkward gripping and finger placement. A more natural grasping and actuation of the container is achieved through the use of a trigger mechanism. Examples of prior trigger actuated aerosol containers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,189,232, 3,580,432; 3,987,942; 5,862,960; and 6,494,349. U.S. Pat. App. 2007/0062980 to Bates et al. discloses an aerosol sprayer actuator having a housing fitting on a container with a narrowed waist portion between and upper portion and a lower portion, and the upper portion is configured so that it rests on a portion of a user's thumb and forefinger to at least partially support the weight of the sprayer during use. U.S. Pat. App. 2007/0023457 to O'Toole et al. discloses an aerosol trigger that locks against removal from the aerosol container and has a spring that biases the trigger toward release of the trigger.
In addition, some prior spray containers are only held by a few of the user's fingers. These may result in a less than adequately secure grip, and supporting the weight of the sprayer may place an undue strain on the user's fingers. Therefore, the improved ergonomic pressurized sprayers of the current invention solve problems of carrying the weight of the sprayer, ease of trigger activation and several other problems of prior art sprayers.


A wall form structure comprises modular components, wherein individual components are fitted together to construct residential or commercial wall structures. The wall form structure has prefabricated inner and outer walls, a connecting member which is positioned between the walls, and column members to hold the walls against the connecting member. The column member is equipped with perpendicular connectors which are inserted into openings of the prefabricated walls. The connectors are sufficiently longer than the thickness of the wall and engage onto the connecting member. The connecting member includes a mesh area to restrict the flow of concrete poured into cavities defined by two walls and a plurality of connecting members. Concrete may be poured into all or selective cavities depending on the use and purpose of the wall structure. The prefabricated wall may comprise a base wall, a mesh, a screen, a brace, an insulation, or any combination thereof. The wall form structure may be used as outer walls for a structure or used as inner partition walls.

1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a wall form structure and methods for their manufacture.
2. RELATED ART
There are many different ways to fabricate wall structures using such items as bricks, concrete blocks, or wooden frame construction. For example, cement blocks with hollow passages are often used to build walls. For many commercial applications, once the blocks are built up to a certain height, such as four feet, concrete is poured into the hollow passages in the blocks to strengthen the wall. Another four foot section is built on top of the first section, and so forth until the wall is completed. Reinforcing steel bars are usually placed within the open passages to reinforce the structure. Depending on the strength requirements for the wall, the poured concrete and steel rod reinforcement may not be needed. For example, the strength requirements for building a private house are generally less than those for commercial structures.
Constructing a wall from cement blocks as described above has several disadvantages. The process is time consuming because the many blocks used are each placed in proper alignment with those around it. In addition, it may be difficult to place wiring, plumbing, or insulation within the wall itself due to the structure of the blocks, which does not allow for easy access between the inner wall surface and the outer wall surface. Furthermore, the concrete region in a block wall may not be continuous, because it may be limited to the hollow passages within each block and the concrete regions in each passage may not contact the other concrete regions. The strengthening effect of the concrete is not as great as if one continuous concrete region existed within the wall.
A typical non-commercial structure wall may include a wooden frame, together with an inner wall surface of drywall board and an outer wall surface such as stucco. To build this type of wall, wooden studs such as 2".times.4".times.8" studs are placed every 16" or so along the desired wall area. To construct the outer wall surface, paper or wire mesh is tacked to the wooden studs and an outer wall surface material such as stucco is placed onto the paper or wire mesh. Drywall boards attached to the inside portion of the wooden beams form the inner wall surface.
This type of wooden frame wall has the advantage of allowing for relatively easy access to the region between the inner and outer wall surfaces for wiring, plumbing and insulation purposes. This type of wall construction has disadvantages. One major drawback is the time and labor necessary to fabricate the wall. Each wooden beam must be nailed into place, then the paper or wire mesh tacked on, the outer surface stucco applied, and the inner surface drywall attached to the studs. In addition, such a wall is not particularly strong, and cannot easily be reinforced with poured concrete and reinforcing rods.
One form of building wall using form construction is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,641 of Gibbar, Jr. Gibbar describes a composite wall fabricated of a combination of polymer forms which provide a latticework of voids into which concrete can be poured, providing a monolithic wall structure. One disadvantage of this structure is that wall boards, such as drywall or plywood, have to be secured to the finished composite wall structure to provide a finished interior or exterior wall. In addition, large interconnected voids are always formed between the walls, always requiring a large amount of concrete to be poured into the wall cavity.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,698,947 to McKay shows a wall structure including two foamed plastic sheets interconnected using a tie system. One disadvantage of this structure is a lack of compartmentalized cavities for containing the poured concrete. The McKay structure requires concrete to be poured within the whole wall structure to obtain any rigidity. Such construction techniques may require unnecessary amounts of concrete and may be less adaptable to different wiring, plumbing and insulation configurations.

Wall form structure and methods for their manufacture


A digital input device for entering data into a digital system, comprises at least two remote sensors and a control unit. A working area is set up in proximity to the sensors and the position of an object within the working area is detected by the input device based on data provided by each sensor and transmitted, by said control unit, to said digital system. The position of an object outside said working area, if detected by said input device, is rejected by said control unit and is not transmitted to said digital system. The sensors can be ultrasonic sensors and the object can be a part of the body of a user. Use of a third sensor allows three-dimensional detection of the object.

Computer input devices such as the keyboard, touchscreen and mouse are well known. However these comprise moving parts and are thus subject to wear. Wired input devices which are at least in part worn or held by the user, are known from U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,682,159 and 4,988,981.
In some cases wires are found to be inconvenient or otherwise undesirable, and there are thus known wireless cursor manipulation devices which are worn or held by a user and examples are known from U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,444,462, 5,453,759, 5,754,126, 5,736,976, 5,638,092, 5,790,100, 5,489,922 and 5,729,475.
Systems in which no device is either worn or held by the user and which use electromagnetic radiation to monitor the location of a body part are known from U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,717,413 and 5,686,942. In the latter case it is also disclosed to use ultrasonic waves.


The displacement of a valve stem (16) is measured during diagnostic testing by temporarily mounting a laser head (112) on the valve body (18) or yoke (20), for generating a source laser beam (118) that reflects from a target (120) that moves with the stem. The timing of the reflected beam (132) returning to the head (112) relative to the projection of the source beam, gives an indication of the displacement of the stem.

The present invention relates to valve diagnostics, and more particularly, to the non-intrusive measurement of valve stem displacement during valve actuation.
Diagnostic techniques for determining the operating characteristics of valves in the field have been in general use for a number of years. These techniques usually involve connecting sensors of various types to portions of the valve system whereby upon actuation of the valve, a record of the relationship between the independent actuating variable and the dependent response variable can be obtained and analyzed. The response variable can be force-related or displacement-related, depending on the type of valve and the accessibility of the components in the transmission mechanisms in the valve. Desirably, the response variable is sensed as close as possible to the valve seat, thereby obtaining a more reliable indication of the actual thrust of the valve member against the seat for a given degree of actuation.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 610,450 filed Nov. 8, 1990 (now U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,046) as a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 368,604 filed Jun. 20, 1989 (now abandoned) discloses a non-intrusive technique for measuring the stem displacement of a valve of the type in which a portion of the stem is visible. The preferred embodiment of the sensor is sensitive to light, especially in the visible spectrum whereby discrete signals generated in a video camera due to movement of the stem, are converted to distance units for measuring the stem displacement. This technique is easy to implement in the harsh environment of a nuclear power plant, and provides sufficient resolution for achieving improved diagnostics relative to previously available techniques.
The need for even more easily implemented, more precise techniques continues to grow, however, and the present invention represents such improvement.


A shoe including an upper, a mid sole permanently attached thereto, and an outer sole releasably engaged with the mid sole. The outer sole and mid sole are secured together by a fastener and by a retaining lip. The fastener can be disposed in a capture position wherein the spaced apart lip precludes separation of the mid sole and outer sole. Upon disposing the fastener in a release position, the mid sole can be separated from the outer sole.

The invention pertains to an article of footwear, and in particular to a user-replaceable sole therefor.
It was at one time much more commonplace than at the present time for an article of footwear to be repaired. At a time when labor was comparatively inexpensive, a pair of shoes could be re-soled and re-heeled at a small fraction of the cost of purchasing a new pair. Typically, a pair of shoes would be repaired several times.
Traditional shoes are still made, and repaired, in large numbers. However, the cost of repair relative to that of a new pair of shoes is much higher than previously.
Although xe2x80x9ctraditionalxe2x80x9d shoes vary to some degree, they are constructed in a fairly standard manner which facilitates repair. Typically, a shoe includes an upper, a platform, a sole and a heel; other features such as a lining and an inner sole may also be present. The platform provides the main support for the bottom of the foot, and the sole and heel simply function to protect the under side of the platform from wear.
On a new shoe, the sole usually extends beneath the platform for the entire length of the shoe. Sometimes, the rear potion of the sole functions as the heel although, a separate heel is usually present beneath the rear of the sole. The heel consists of at least one layer or lift of material. The lowermost layer which contacts the ground when a wearer is upright is, unexpectedly, known as the top lift.
Traditionally, the repair of a shoe can involve adding a new layer of material such as leather or rubber to that portion of the sole which normally contacts the ground and is most subject to wear; a worn top lift can be removed and replaced by a new one. Alternatively, a new through sole can be provided, replacing the previous sole over the entire length of the shoe. In this case, all the lifts making up the heel are removed to be replaced by new ones once the new through sole has been installed.
Stylistic aspects of footwear were traditionally determined at the point of manufacture, the user""s only option when selecting a different style or appearance being to select one pair of shoes in preference to another.
Present day shoes are configured with much more variation and manufactured by a greater variety of techniques than was formerly the case; frequently, they do not lend themselves to being easily repaired, and are treated as disposable.
While fashion and style has always been important in footwear, the appearance of the soles and heels is now often considered to be as important as the upper portion, both from an aesthetic point of view and for displaying a manufacturer""s mark or logo. Since the soles and heels are usually the first portions of a shoe to wear out, it would be advantageous for a manufacturer to provide a convenient and inexpensive means for a user to replace them. If a manufacturer could offer replacement soles in a variety of colors or designs, the user could choose a preferred replacement. The user might even consider rotating between different replacements for fashion purposes even when little or no significant wear has taken place.
Furthermore, the user may desire to change the style or appearance of the upper part of the shoe without the expense of purchasing an entirely new pair of shoes. It would be advantageous for such a user to provide for replacing the upper while retaining the sole.
The present invention pertains to a shoe having an easily releasable and replaceable outer sole. The outer sole removably engages a mid sole or platform, which is permanently attached to the upper of the shoe.
The user can separate the outer sole from the mid sole and substitute either one by a replacement. The substituted mid sole or outer sole can be identical to or different from the original, so long as it is compatible with the remaining portion of the shoe.
It is an object of the present invention to provide for a user a readily installable replacement outer sole for an article of footwear, the original outer sole being readily removable by the user.
It is another object of the invention to provide the user with the option of substituting for the original outer sole a replacement outer sole identical to or different from the original outer sole, the particularly with a view to changing the color or aesthetic design.
It is yet another object of the invention to provide the user with the option of substituting for the original mid sole a replacement mid sole conforming with the outer sole, the replacement mid sole for example having an upper different from the original upper with respect to color and aesthetic design.
It is in particular an object of the invention to provide an article of footwear having an appearance which can be changed selectably by the user.


A band body is covered at a distal end thereof with a cap resulting in safety of a hose fastening band being enhanced. The cap is either molded or mechanically attached to the distal end of the band so the sharp edges are not exposed.

This invention relates to a hose fastening band, and more particularly to a hose fastening band for securely connecting or fastening a hose to a faucet or the like.
A hose fastening band which has been conventionally used for this purpose in the art is typically constructed in such a manner as shown in FIG. 13. More particularly, the conventional hose fastening band includes a band body 1 having one end 1a fixed on a housing 2 and the other end 1b wound once and then inserted into the housing 2. The band body 1 is formed with a plurality of threaded grooves 3. In the housing 2 is incorporated a screw member 4 formed thereon with threads 5, which are engaged with the threaded grooves 3 of the band body 1. Thus, turning of the screw member 4 in a band fastening direction permits the other end 1b of the band body 1 to be fed in a direction indicated at an arrow in FIG. 13, resulting in the band body 1 being contracted or reduced in diameter.
The conventional hose fastening band constructed as described above causes the other end 1b of the band body 1 which is exposed from the housing 2 to be bared, resulting in an operator or user being often damaged, because the other end 1b is generally formed into a keen or sharp configuration. For example, operation of the hose fastening band by an operator often causes a screwdriver to slip from the screw member 4 when turning it while forcing it against the screw member 4, so that the other end 1b of the band body 1 unexpectedly sticks in a band of the operator, leading to damage to the operator.


Provided is an automatic reduction apparatus for pre-treating a sample for radiocarbon dating, and more particularly, an automatic reduction apparatus for pre-treating a sample for radiocarbon dating capable of preventing peripheral devices of a liquid nitrogen container from being cooled due to scattering of liquid nitrogen supplied to the liquid nitrogen container of a carbon dioxide collector and preventing the peripheral devices from being heated by heat of a reaction furnace at the time of heating the reaction furnace of a reduction reactor.

A radiocarbon dating method which has been used to measure the age of remains having an archeological value means a radiocarbon dating method using a principle of collapsing in-vivo radiocarbon after the death of an organism at a constant ratio.
Three kinds of carbon isotopes such as 12C, 13C, and 14C are mainly present in nature. Here, 12C occupies 98.89% of nature, 13C occupies 1.11% of nature, and a trace of 14C is present in nature. Meanwhile, even though carbon is absorbed into a body of an organism by photosynthesis or breathing, the ratio of 12C, 13C, and 14C keeps unchanged.
However, after the organism is dead, 14C which is instable radiocarbon collapses at a constant rate and thus is changed to 14N. In this case, the organism suffers from a half-life in which an amount of 14 C is reduced half. The age of the organism may be estimated by the fact that the half-life is about 5,730 years.
To measure the age of a sample such as remains by an accelerator mass spectrometry which is one of the radiocarbon dating methods, there is a need to first extract carbon from the sample. This is referred to as a sample pre-treatment process, which generally includes a chemical pre-treatment process, a vacuum combustion process, and a reduction process.
The chemical pre-treatment process is a process of removing impurities from a sample to be analyzed to prevent errors due to pollutants during an analysis process and removes impurities contained in the sample by known cleaning process, chemical treatment process, drying process, and the like to increases analysis reliability.
The vacuum combustion process means a process of combusting a pre-treated sample under the vacuum to obtain carbon dioxide. High-purity oxygen is emitted from a copper oxide (CuO) powder by putting the pre-treated sample, the copper oxide powder, and an Ag wire in a quartz pipe, sealing the quartz pipe using a torch in a vacuum state, putting the sealed quartz pipe in a muffle furnace, and then combusting the quartz pipe at about 850° C. for 2 hours. In this case, the oxygen oxidizes carbon of an original sample at high temperature to generate carbon dioxide. Further, the Ag wire suppresses and precipitates a generation of sulfur which is a by-product of the combustion.
The carbon dioxide which is generated during the foregoing processes passes through a cooling drier in which dry ice and alcohol are mixed several times and then only the carbon dioxide is solidified, separated, and extracted using the liquid nitrogen.
The reduction process means a process of putting mixed gas of carbon dioxide and hydrogen and an iron powder catalyst in a sealed container and then heating them to extract graphite, which is a carbon powder, by a reaction of CO2+2H2→C+2H2O.
The related art manually performs the foregoing graphitization process on each sample. That is, the vacuum combustion process puts the sample, the copper oxide, and the Ag wire in a vacuum pipe, seals the vacuum pipe using the torch in the vacuum state, and then combusts the vacuum pipe and the graphitization process puts the combusted quartz pipe in a flexible bellows of a dry line and breaks the combusted quartz pipe and then sequentially passes the quartz pipe through a liquid nitrogen (LN2)/alcohol trap and an LN2 trap to solidify only pure carbon dioxide (CO2) and collect the solidified carbon dioxide in a carbon dioxide storage tank.
However, the existing method individually performs two steps of the vacuum combustion process and the reduction process on each sample, and as a result, is complicated, has pollution possibility during the processes, and requires much time to perform an operation. Further, when gas in addition to carbon dioxide is mixed due to foreign materials mixed in the sample, it is difficult to confirm and remove the gas. In particular, when gas sulfide is mixed, the reduction reaction itself rarely happens.
To solve the above problem, Patent entitled "Graphitization Apparatus And Graphitization Method Using The Same" (Korean Patent No. 10-0998227) registered on Nov. 29, 2010 is issued to the present applicant.
According to the above Patent, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the graphitization apparatus includes an elemental analyzer 10 configured to include a sample combustor 11 which combusts a sample and a combustion gas separator 12 which primarily removes impurities included in combustion gas generated from the sample combustor 11 using a gas chromatographic method, a carbon dioxide collector 30 configured to choose and collect only carbon dioxide from the combustion gas passing through the elemental analyzer 10, a reduction reactor 40 configured to reduce the carbon dioxide collected through the carbon dioxide collector 30 to graphite, and a controller 50 configured to control operations of the elemental analyzer 10, the carbon dioxide collector 30, and the reduction reactor 40.
By the above configuration, it is possible to maximally suppress mixing possibility of impurity by primarily removing impurities included in combustion gas of an organic matter using the gas chromatographic function of the elemental analyzer (EA) and then collecting carbon dioxide, to suppress an isotope fractionation effect by remarkably promoting a ratio at which the carbon dioxide is graphitized by optimizing a reaction condition of the graphitization process, to remarkably reduce time required for reaction by optimizing a ration of a reaction container, and to obtain sufficient graphite required for carbon dating only by using a minimum amount of sample.

Automatic reduction apparatus for pre-treating sample for radiocarbon dating

KOREA INSTITUTE OF GEOSCIENCE AND MINERAL RESOURCES


A clamping device includes a supporting bracket, a lifting assembly, a first adjusting assembly and a holding assembly. The supporting bracket includes a supporting member. The lifting assembly includes a first lifting member, a second lifting member, a fixed pulley, a connecting member and a clump weight. The first lifting member and the second lifting member are both slidably sleeved on the supporting member. The fixed pulley is mounted on the supporting member. The connecting member is arranged on the fixed pulley and couples the first lifting member to the second lifting member. The clump weight is detachably fixed to the first lifting member. The first adjusting assembly includes a first fixed member rotatably sleeved on the second lifting member and a first adjusting member rotatably sleeved to the first fixed member. The holding assembly is rotationally mounted on the first adjusting member.

When the product is assembled or disassembled, an electric screwdriver is usually required to tighten or loosen the screws. To hold the electric screwdriver, the general method is holding the electric screwdriver by using a ring. However, when the need to assemble or disassemble the screws, the operator needs to overcome the elastic force generated by the ring, which causes inconvenience.

Clamping apparatus and screw locking device using same