The present invention is directed to an apparatus and method for storing a language preference and providing the stored language preference automatically without any intervention of a user. The user may have an option to set a desired language preference on the calling apparatus such as a telephone device. A call center may send a query requesting language preference information of the user to the calling apparatus when the user makes a call connection to the call center. The desired language preference saved on the calling apparatus may be sent directly from the calling apparatus to the call center. In this manner, the user may not have to repeat a language selection process for every call made to the call center.

The world-wide proliferation of telephone communication has increased the desirability of making multi-language supported call centers. Modern call centers often provide a full range of high-volume, inbound or outbound call-handling services, including customer support, operator services, directory assistance, credit services, card services, interactive voice response, or the like. Most call centers ask users to set various parameters in order to provide proper services for each user. A language preference is a one of the parameters that each user may provide for the multi-language supported call center. For example, a conventional call center provides a series of announcements recorded in various languages. Thus, if the user desires to have a Spanish speaking operator, a Spanish Interactive Voice Recognition system or the like, the user may select the Spanish Language preference when an announcement in Spanish is prompted. Once the call center has recognized the language preference, for instance Spanish, the user may be able to communicate with the call center in Spanish.
Unfortunately, users often have to provide their language preferences at the beginning of every call made to the call center. Further, some users may select an undesired language preference due to a long and complicated process of the language preference selection.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide an apparatus and method capable of storing a user selected language preference and providing the saved language preference for a call center. It would be also desirable to allow the call center to receive the language preference information directly from the telephone device without requiring any intervention of a calling user.

Apparatus and method for providing automatic language preference

International Business Machines Corporation


A numerical control device is for machining a machining object by moving a tool and the machining object relative to each other along a movement path while applying vibration, by use of a drive axis provided for the tool or the machining object. The device includes a storage unit that holds an invalid frequency region, and a vibration condition determining unit to determine a frequency for the vibration, based on a rotational speed of a main shaft for rotating the machining object, a number of vibrations of the vibration in each one rotation of the main shaft, and the invalid frequency region.

Conventionally, in relation to turning, there is proposed a numerical control device that includes a cutting tool feeding mechanism for causing a cutting tool to perform a feeding operation with respect to a workpiece, and a control mechanism for controlling a cutting tool feed-drive motor while applying low frequency vibration to the cutting tool (see Patent Literatures 1 to 3). In this numerical control device, the control mechanism includes: an operation unit for performing various kinds of setting; a vibration cutting information storing unit that stores a table prepared in advance at least about the advancing amount, retreating amount, advancing speed, and retreating speed of the cutting tool feeding mechanism, in accordance with a mechanical characteristic, such as a feeding axis inertia or a motor characteristic, where the table is stored as data that enables the cutting tool to operate at a low frequency of 25 Hz or more to perform a feeding operation in a synchronizing state, in accordance with a revolution number of the workpiece or a feeding amount of the cutting tool per rotation of the cutting tool, which has been set by the operation unit; and a motor control unit for controlling the cutting tool feed-drive motor, based on the data stored in the vibration cutting information storing unit. With this arrangement, the low frequency vibration is generated by repeating the advancing and retreating operations along an interpolation path.

Method and apparatus for applying vibration and machining an object


Curve surface shapes Z.sub.X, Z.sub.Y on the long axis and short axis of at least the outer surface of a face plate are approximated by Z.sub.X =A.sub.1 X.sup.2 +A.sub.2 X.sup.4 +A.sub.3 X.sup.6 and Z.sub.Y =A.sub.4 Y.sup.2 +A.sub.5 Y.sup.4 +A.sub.6 Y.sup.6, and the curved surface shapes P.sub.X, P.sub.Y of at least the outer surface of the face plate panel at points (X=X.sub.1, Y=Y.sub.1) of effective screen boundary portions are given by P.sub.X =A.sub.1 X.sub.1.sup.2 /(A.sub.1 X.sub.1.sup.2 +A.sub.2 X.sub.1.sup.4 +A.sub.3 X.sub.1.sup.6) and P.sub.Y =A.sub.4 Y.sub.1.sup.2 /(A.sub.4 Y.sub.1.sup.2 +A.sub.5 Y.sub.1.sup.4 +A.sub.6 Y.sub.1.sup.6), wherein 0.6<P.sub.X .ltoreq.0.9 and 0.6.ltoreq.P.sub.Y .ltoreq.1.0 are satisfied. The curvature radii R (mm) of the effective screen boundary portion of the short side and long side satisfy the relationship: 2.0 (42.5 V+45.0)<R.ltoreq.4.0 (42.5 V+45.0), where the effective diagonal diameter of the face plate panel is V (inches). This enables a flatter periphery, less distorted panel surface and less doming effect.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color cathode ray tube of shadow mask type, and particularly to a color cathode ray tube of shadow mask type having a so-called flat face such that the shape of a face plate panel is substantially planar.
2. Prior Art
A cathode ray tube (hereinafter referred to as a color cathode ray tube) used for color image display is constituted by a panel portion which is an image screen, a neck portion for accommodating an electron gun, and a funnel portion coupling the panel portion (face plate panel) to the neck portion, and the funnel portion is equipped with a deflector which deflects the electron beam emitted from the electron gun to scan the fluorescent screen formed on the inner surface of the panel.
Against the inner surface of the face plate panel is installed a shadow mask which is a color selection electrode having a curvature that is similar to the curvature of the inner surface, in order to define the positions at which a plurality of electron beams emitted from the electron gun impinge upon the fluorescent screen.
The electron gun accommodated in the neck portion has various electrodes such as a cathode electrode, a control electrode, a converging electrode and an accelerating electrode, and modulates the electron beam from the cathode electrode with a signal applied to the control electrode, imparts a desired sectional shape and energy thereto through the converging electrode and accelerating electrode, and causes it to impinge upon the fluorescent screen. The electron beam is deflected in the horizontal direction and in the vertical direction by the deflector provided in the funnel portion in the way from the electron gun to the fluorescent screen, and forms an image on the fluorescent screen (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 215640/1984).
There has been a tendency for recent color cathode ray tubes to have a so-called flat face, namely the shape of the face plate panel on which an image is formed is substantially planar.
Flatness of the face plate panel of color cathode ray tubes is greatly affected by the curvature of the peripheral portion (periphery of the face plate panel). Therefore, the flatness of the face plate panel increases with a decrease in the curvature of the peripheral portion. However, the shadow mask has a flat shape, too, to meet the curvature of the face plate panel resulting in an increase in the landing error (doming phenomenon) due to the thermal expansion of the shadow mask, causing the poor image reproduction.
A color cathode ray tube which has realized both the flattening of the face plate panel and improvements in the doming phenomenon is disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 232247/1988.
According to the invention disclosed in the above publication, the shapes of the inner and outer surfaces of the face plate panel are expressed by three-dimensional spatial equations in which the X-axis is the long axis (horizontal axis), the Y-axis the short axis (vertical axis) and the Z-axis the axis of the tube. That is, curved surface shapes Z.sub.X, Z.sub.Y on the X-axis and Y-axis are approximated by Z.sub.X =A.sub.1 X.sup.2 +A.sub.2 X.sup.4 and Z.sub.Y =A.sub.3 Y.sup.2 +A.sub.4 Y.sup.4, and curved surface shapes P.sub.X, P.sub.Y at a point (X=X.sub.1, Y=Y.sub.1) of an effective screen boundary portion which is the boundary between the effective screen portion and the surrounding peripheral portion are approximated by P.sub.X =A.sub.1 X.sub.1.sup.2 /(A.sub.1 X.sub.1.sup.2 +A.sub.2 X.sub.1.sup.4) and P.sub.Y =A.sub.3 Y.sub.1.sup.2 /(A.sub.3 Y.sub.1.sup.2 +A.sub.4 Y.sub.1.sup.4), wherein the above constants A.sub.1, A.sub.2, A.sub.3 and A.sub.4 are set to satisfy 0.3.ltoreq.P.sub.X (X=X.sub.1).ltoreq.0.6 and 0.95.ltoreq.P.sub.Y (Y=Y.sub.1).ltoreq.1.0. Furthermore, the effective screen boundary portions on the outer surface of the face plate panel on the short side and on the long side are formed to have arcuate shapes with nearly an equal curvature and that a relationship 1.5(42.5 V+45.0).ltoreq.R.ltoreq.2.0(42.5 V+45.0) is satisfied when the radius of curvature R(mm) thereof has an effective diagonal diameter of V (inches), to thereby reduce the doming of the shadow mask and to improve the strength, image reflected on the surface and flatness of the face plate.
In conventional color cathode ray tubes having the above mentioned curved surface shapes, however, when it is attempted to further flatten the face plate panel causing the radius of curvature of the peripheral portion to lie outside the above mentioned R (mm) range, the image reflected on the outer surface is greatly distorted and, in particular, local distortion increases greatly. Moreover, a landing error increases due to doming of the shadow mask, seriously impairing the quality of the image that is displayed.

Color cathode ray tube of shadow mask type


In one embodiment, a method for interactive network session tracking from inbound source to net sale includes storing a unique session ID (identifier) in an entry in a session database, and associating the session ID with an inbound source (origin) of the user of an interactive network site. The user's actions, such as page views, product detail views, and shopping cart additions and deletions, can also be stored in the session database associated with the session ID. The unique session ID is embedded in a digital offer that is stored in a transaction database such that net sale data is associated with the session ID. Reporting and correlation of transaction data and the user activity data can be performed offline for analysis of purchase and traffic patterns.

The World Wide Web (WWW) has become an increasingly popular entertainment and information medium for consumers. The popularity of the WWW has led to the commercialization of this new medium. As a result, the WWW has become a significant new medium for commerce, which is referred to as electronic commerce or E-commerce. Vendors offer goods and services for sale via various WWW sites. For example, a vendor may sell computers, entertainment media, or computer software over the WWW via an online store. Security mechanisms, such as the well-known Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol standard have been developed to provide secure electronic transactions of sensitive data (e.g., encryption of financial data) over the Internet.
Advertising on the WWW represents another strategy for generating revenue through the popularity of the WWW. For example, a WWW site can sell advertising space on its frequently visited home page (e.g., www.yahoo.com). Statistics on the number of hits on any given static HTML page of the WWW site can be maintained to determine the popularity of the WWW page.

Tracking a user's purchases on the internet by associating the user with an inbound source and a session identifier


An organic light emitting device including a substrate, a first electrode formed on the substrate and including a recess portion, a partition formed on the first electrode and including an opening exposing the recess portion of the first electrode, an organic light emitting member formed in the recess portion of the first electrode and the opening of the partition, and a second electrode formed on the partition and the organic light emitting member. A gap is formed between a lower portion of the partition and the recess portion of the first electrode and at least a portion of the organic light emitting member is disposed in the gap.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic light emitting device and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an active-type of flat panel display, a plurality of pixels are arranged in a matrix form, and images are displayed by controlling the luminance of each pixel according to predetermined display information. Among such active matrix flat panel display devices, an organic light emitting display is a self-emissive display device having low power consumption, a wide viewing angle, and a high response speed, so that the organic light emitting display is being spotlighted as a next-generation display device to surpass the liquid crystal display ("LCD").
The organic light emitting device includes an organic light emitting element i.e., two electrodes with an emission layer disposed therebetween. Electrons injected from one of the electrodes and holes injected from the other electrode are combined in the light emitting layer to form excitons, and the excitons release energy thereby causing light to be emitted.
The organic light emitting device also includes a driving transistor which drives the organic light emitting element and a switching transistor which applies data voltages to the driving transistor, and the transistors are of a thin film transistor ("TFT") type.
In the organic light emitting device, to realize the excellent emitting characteristics, the emission layer disposed between two electrodes should be uniformly formed, and a leakage current should not be generated.
However, it is difficult to uniformly form the emission layer due to the surface tension of the emission layer, and furthermore the emission layer does not cover the electrodes such that the leakage current may be generated. When the emission layer is not uniform or the leakage current is generated, a luminance deviation occurs, or the luminance is deteriorated.

Organic light emitting device and manufacturing method thereof


A motor driving assembly includes a motor. The motor includes an outer housing, and a rotor and a brush holder received in the outer housing. The rotor includes a rotary shaft extending out of the outer housing. A commutator is fixed on a shaft portion of the rotary shaft within the outer housing. Brushes for contacting the commutator are disposed on the brush holder. A visible identification mark fixed relative to the rotary shaft is disposed outside the outer housing of the motor, such that a relative position between the brushes and the commutator in a rotational direction of the rotary shaft is identifiable by reference to a position of the visible identification mark relative to the outer housing in the rotational direction of the rotary shaft. As such, the commutator can be prevented from stalling at a position where arcing noise may be easily generated.

In a stalling condition of a motor, if brushes and a commutator of the motor are in a relative position where the brush is close to both of two adjacent segments of the commutator, the two segments may be short-circuited to generate an electric arc between the brush and the commutator, and a large arcing noise may be caused by the electric arc, which is very annoying to end users of the motor. This problem is especially easy to occur in low number of the commutator segments (such as in a 3-bar armature). To avoid such arcing noise, it is necessary to control the relative position between the brushes and the commutator when the motor is in a stalling condition. However, when an operator assembles the motor to a transmission mechanism such as a gear transmission mechanism, the operator cannot observe the commutator and the brushes because they are all mounted within the outer housing. As a result, the operator cannot know the relative position between the brushes and the commutator after the motor driving mechanism is assembled and, therefore, short-circuit of the commutator segments cannot be surely avoided.


This alloying element-saving hot rolled duplex stainless steel material contains, by mass %, C: 0.03% or less, Si: 0.05% to 1.0%, Mn: 0.5% to 7.0%, P: 0.05% or less, S: 0.010% or less, Ni: 0.1% to 5.0%, Cr: 18.0% to 25.0%, N: 0.05% to 0.30% and Al: 0.001% to 0.05%, with a remainder being Fe and inevitable impurities, wherein the alloying element-saving hot rolled duplex stainless steel material is produced by hot rolling, a chromium nitride precipitation temperature TN is in a range of 960° C. or lower, a yield strength is 50 MPa or more higher than that of a hot rolled steel material which is subjected to a solution heat treatment, and the alloying element-saving hot rolled duplex stainless steel material is as hot rolled state, and is not subjected to a solution heat treatment. This clad steel plate includes a duplex stainless steel as a cladding material, the duplex stainless steel has the above composition, and the chromium nitride precipitation temperature TN is in a range of 800° C. to 970° C.

A duplex stainless steel contains a large amount of Cr, Mo, Ni and N, and intermetallic compounds and nitrides are easily precipitated.
Therefore, a solution heat treatment was carried out at a temperature of 1000° C. or higher so as to solid-solubilize the precipitates; and thereby, the duplex stainless steel was produced as a hot rolled steel material. In addition, when manufacturing a clad steel plate including the duplex stainless steel as a cladding material, the following techniques were applied.
A technique in which a chemical composition of a carbon steel is designed so as to maintain mechanical characteristics through a heat treatment at a high temperature of 1000° C. or higher, and this carbon steel is used as a base metal (Patent Document 1 and the like).
A technique in which hot rolling conditions are controlled; and thereby, a duplex stainless clad steel plate is produced without a heat treatment (Patent Document 2 and the like).
A technique in which reheating is carried out during hot rolling; and thereby, precipitation in a cladding material is suppressed (Patent Document 3 and the like).
By the way, in recent years, alloying element-saving duplex stainless steel has been developed in which contents of Ni, Mo and the like are saved, and a steel having a greatly decreased precipitation sensitivity of intermetallic compounds has been put into practical use.
Chromium nitrides are precipitates having a major influence on the material quality of the alloying element-saving duplex stainless steel. The chromium nitrides are precipitates generated by the combination of Cr and N, and, in the duplex stainless steel, cubic CrN or hexagonal Cr2N is frequently precipitated in ferrite grains or ferrite grain boundaries. In the case where these chromium nitrides are generated, impact property degrades, and corrosion resistance degrades due to a chromium-depleted layer generated by the precipitation.
The present inventors clarified the relationship between the precipitation of the chromium nitrides and component composition, and designed material qualities based on an idea of suppressing the precipitation of the chromium nitrides by controlling the component composition. As a result, the inventors invented and disclosed an alloying element-saving duplex stainless steel having favorable corrosion resistance and favorable impact property (Patent Document 4). Particularly, the content of Mn is increased; and thereby, the precipitation of the chromium nitrides is suppressed, and this technique is reflected in the component design of new alloying element-saving duplex stainless steel. And, due to its low cost and excellent characteristics such as corrosion resistance, the alloying element-saving duplex stainless steel has already been in use in a variety of fields.
The alloying element-saving duplex stainless steel is also expected to be used as a hot rolled steel plate. Generally, the hot rolled steel plate has a large thickness, since the hot rolled steel plate is not subjected to cold rolling, and the hot rolled steel plate is used particularly in a field where strength or toughness is required. Examples thereof include seawater desalination instruments, tanks in a shipping vessel and the like, and in the past, austenitic stainless steel was used in the majority of the above-described uses.
However, the duplex stainless steel generally has a higher strength than austenitic stainless steel; and therefore, the duplex stainless steel is advantageous in that the duplex stainless steel can be thinned while maintaining a necessary strength. In addition, since the used amount of expensive elements is small, the cost is low. For the above-described reasons, the duplex hot rolled stainless steel material has already been in use in some of the above-described uses.
On the other hand, toughness is a problem when the duplex hot rolled stainless steel material is used. That is, the duplex stainless steel includes a ferrite phase together with an austenite phase which is generally considered not to cause brittle fracture. Therefore, the duplex stainless steel exhibits the same ductile-brittle transition as that of a ferritic stainless steel in terms of impact toughness, and the duplex stainless steel has poor toughness compared to an austenitic stainless steel.
A number of studies have thus far been made regarding the above-described problem. The inventors clarifies the relationship between a steel structure and the toughness of the duplex hot rolled stainless steel plate in Patent Document 5, and the inventors discloses that the toughness can be improved by controlling a chemical composition and a heat treatment method.
In addition, the inventors newly paid attention to the application of the above-described alloying element-saving duplex stainless steel to a cladding material of a clad steel plate, and research and development were carried out. In the clad steel plate, corrosion resistance is given to the stainless steel used as the cladding material, and strength, toughness, and weldability are given to the base metal. Therefore, the clad steel plate is a hot rolled steel in which multiple characteristics can be obtained economically.
The clad steel plate is used at a portion at which the stainless steel and the base metal are structurally joined, and the clad steel plate generally has a large thickness, and is used particularly in a filed where strength or toughness is required. Examples thereof include seawater desalination instruments, tanks in a shipping vessel and the like, and, in the past, an austenitic stainless steel was used as a cladding material in the majority of the above-described uses.
However, there is an ongoing trend for the stainless steel in the above-described uses to be changed to a cheap duplex stainless steel, and there is an increasing demand for a cheaper clad steel plate including a duplex stainless steel as the cladding material.
By the way, in a production process of a duplex hot rolled stainless steel plate described in Patent Document 5 and in a production process of a clad steel plate of the related art, a solution heat treatment is indispensable. In order to solve the problem caused by the inter metallic compound or the chromium nitrides that degrade the corrosion resistance and the problem of toughness in the duplex stainless steel as described above, a solution heat treatment is required. Particularly, the alloying element-saving duplex stainless steel, which is the subject of the invention, has a property that easily allows the precipitation of nitrides in a temperature range of hot working, and the chromium nitrides are dispersed in the steel material when hot rolling is completed. Thereby, the impact property and the corrosion resistance degrade.
In the production process of the alloying element-saving duplex stainless steel, the chromium nitrides can be removed by carrying out the solution heat treatment. However, since the solution heat treatment decreases the strength, it can be also said that the solution heat treatment is not preferable in consideration of the uses of the hot rolled steel plate. Similarly, in the production process of the clad steel plate, the chromium nitrides in the cladding material can be removed by carrying out the solution heat treatment. However, in the case where the solution heat treatment is carried out at a temperature of 1000° C. or higher, the toughness of the base metal degrades; and therefore, the solution heat treatment is not preferable in consideration of the uses of the clad steel plate.
In addition, from the demand for the additional saving of costs or the recent demand for the saving of energy used, there is a demand for the saving of production costs or energy necessary for production through the removal of the solution heat treatment.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Alloying element-saving hot rolled duplex stainless steel material, clad steel plate having duplex stainless steel as cladding material therefor, and production method for same

NIPPON STEEL & SUMIKIN STAINLESS STEEL CORPORATION


A method and system for determining currency of data in a data processing system. The processing steps along a dependency chain used to populate a data reporting program are back tracked recursively through each processing step until a first originating set of processing steps are reached. The currency of each data source for the programs is identified and it is determined whether the program has run since that time. If any one of the sources for the program of the processing step is more recent than a last run time of the program associated with the processing step, the program is re-run and outputs updated. The same process is executed moving forward along the dependency chain, to each other processing step.

1. Field
The disclosed embodiments generally relate to data processing systems, and in particular to data processing in data repository systems or data warehouse applications that receive and process data sources that are periodically updated and reported on.
2. Brief Description of Related Developments
Many reports and other data processing outputs are the result of a series of programmatic transformations acting on data that comes from many sources. The sources of data can be updated or can change over time. The state of the data at a particular point in time is referred to as its "currency" and the data is "current" if it is the most recent state of that data. In order to document the content of data on which the outputs are based, it is necessary to document both the processing steps and the currency of the sources of the data that were used to produce the output. In addition, in many cases it is necessary to ensure that the output reflects the most data available from each of the ultimate sources of data, from the beginning of the transformation processes. In other cases, it can be advantageous to be able to access the data in the currency that existed at a previous point in order to produce additional outputs that reflect that previous state of the data. Currently, companies manually determine and document the ultimate sources of the data and rerun or execute all of the intermediate processing steps, to ensure that the output reflects the currency of those sources. Generally, the only available alternative to re-executing all of the processing steps is to manually determine the state of the data in each of the processing steps that precede the output and selectively run or re-run those that need to be run due to more recent or current data (i.e. since the last time the program ran).
These manual processes are error prone and time consuming and this can result in a large use of computer resources and unnecessary delays in the availability of the end reports. It would be advantageous to allow the customers to automatically document the exact data currency used to produce reports and other outputs without needing to maintain time consuming and error-prone manual records. Further, it would be advantageous to reduce the need to re-execute the data processing steps by using this currency information. It would also be advantageous to use this information to provide existing reports and outputs if the source data for them has not changed instead of re-executing the reporting program each time the report is requested. These features allow for much more productive and efficient use of data repositories at lower cost than traditional warehousing solutions. Improved efficiency, reduced program execution, and reduced manual recordkeeping allows for more timely information delivery and decision support.

Data source currency tracking and currency based execution


A condensation trap comprising an inlet chamber configured to receive condensate liquid through a receiving opening therein. The trap also comprises an internal chamber in fluid communication with the inlet chamber via a first internal opening defined by a sidewall shared by the inlet chamber and the internal chamber, the first internal opening located at an opposite end of the inlet chamber from the receiving opening. The trap also comprises an outlet chamber in fluid communication with the internal chamber via a second internal opening located at an opposite end of the internal chamber from the first internal opening. The trap also comprises a bleed orifice located in a sidewall shared by the internal chamber and the outlet chamber, wherein at least a portion of the bleed orifice is lateral to first internal opening.

Heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, such as gas-fired HVAC systems, can generate condensate liquid (water) as a byproduct of the combustion process during heating operations. Typically, a condensate trap is included in the drain system of the HVAC system to prohibit flue gases from entering the drain system or the installed environment while allowing the condensate liquid to drain.
HVAC systems installed in an unconditioned environment can be subject to ambient temperature below freezing and therefore have the risk of the condensate liquid freezing within the condensate trap. Frozen condensate in the condensate trap can block the flow passageway of the condensate trap, which in turn, can prevent condensate being removed from the system. Under such conditions, further condensate liquid generated during the HVAC system's operation may back-up into in the drain system and other components of the system distill to the trap and potentially prevent the proper operation and/or cause damage to the system.
Often, to prevent condensate liquid from freezing in the condensate trap, electrical heating tape is applied to the condensate trap. Some disadvantages of using electric heat tape can include: the requirement for, and consumption of, electrical power to produce resistive heating by the electrical heating tape; the loss in ability to prevent condensate freezing if electrical power to the heating tape is lost; reliance on field personnel to properly install the heating tape; and the degradation and failure of the electrical heating tape over time. Similar limitation can exist for other heating devices that rely on heating generated via resistive heating (also referred to as Joule or Ohmic heating).
Therefore there is a need for a freeze tolerant condensate trap that does not suffer from the drawbacks of previous condensate traps or previous solutions to prevent condensate freezing in such traps.


A combined roller and push switch assembly includes a substantially hollow wheel-like roller member being displaceable from an initial position to a displaced position. The combined roller and push switch assembly further includes a member for returning the roller member from the displaced position to the initial position, the returning member is a resilient member being at least partly encircled by the roller member, and a coding member for detecting rotation of the roller member in relation to an associated frame. In particular, the combined roller and push switch assembly further including a switch for indicating when the roller member is in the displaced position, the switch being at least partly encircled by the roller member.

EP 0 874 382 discloses a rotary-operation type electronic component incorporating a push switch—see e.g. FIGS. 1 and 2. A revolving contact-points board 2, which functions as movable contact-points for the rotary encoder and the push switch, is attached on a fitting substrate 1—the fitting substrate 1 constituting fixed contact-points. The revolving contact-points board 2 is provided with a round operation knob 3 fixed on it for driving, and is held revolvable by a pillar shaft 4 inserted through a center hole 2A. The revolving contact-points board 2 is slidable in a horizontal direction too on the fitting substrate 1 in the front-rear direction, and is being pushed to the front by a push back spring 5. A pulse signal is generated in accordance with the revolution of the operation knob 3.
It is a drawback that the push back spring 5 is positioned external to the rotary member since it thereby occupies extra space in the front-rear direction. Thus the push back spring 5 affects the total size of the device in the front-rear direction.
In FIGS. 6 and 8 of EP 0 874 382 the function of the switch is described. FIG. 8 shows the "ON" state of the switch. The elastic contact-point 11 for switch slides on the bottom surface of revolving contact points board 2 to make contact with the ring contact-point 8. As a result, the common contact-point 12 and the contact-point 11 for switch are electrically coupled via ring contact-point 8 to make up a state of switch ON.
It is a further general drawback with the device described in EP 0 874 382 that the contact-points 11,12,13,14 slide on the bottom surface of revolving contact points board 2, see for example FIGS. 4, 6 and 8. The sliding contacts are used both for detecting a rotation of the operation knob 3 and for providing the switch function. This will generally involve rebound. Therefore, the switch function can not be considered a high quality switch since it will suffer from rebound in its "ON" state. If such switch is an active part of the signal path in audio equipment, such as hearing aids, it will cause audible noise and clicks.
In addition, the sliding contacts will suffer from poor long term stability and a poor reliability.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,711,415 discloses a rotary electronic component with a push switch, wherein a single control knob can individually operate a rotary component portion and a push switch. The rotary electronic component comprises a rotary component portion with a rotary body rotatable in a fixed position, a knob shaft, a control knob fitted concentrically around the outer periphery of the knob shaft, a resilient portion disposed between the knob shaft and the inner periphery of the control knob, and a push switch portion. The rotary component portion is actuated by rotation of the control knob while the push switch portion is actuated by the radial displacement of the control knob. In particular, the push switch is located outside the control knob, which complicates assembly of the rotary electronic component as the push switch has to be firmly fixed to an underlying support, e.g. a printed circuit board (PCB). This also limits the possibilities for miniaturisation of the component described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,711,415.
It may be seen as an object of the present invention to provide a combined roller and switch suited for applications with very limited space available. In addition, contact elements of the switch should not rotate together with the roller member in order to make the switch function free from rebounds thus reducing noise.

Combined roller and push switch assembly


An ocular optical characteristic measuring apparatus measures light intensity distribution in a target image projected on the fundus of an eye and determines the ocular optical characteristic of the eye on the basis of the light intensity distribution. A light-projecting optical system projects light emitted by a light source on the eye to form a target image on the fundus of the eye, a light-receiving optical system focuses reflected light reflected by the fundus to form a target image on a photoelectric device. An arithmetic unit determines a light intensity distribution in the target image formed on the photoelectric device on the basis of an image signal provided by the photoelectric device and estimates the optical characteristic of the eye from the light intensity distribution in the target image. Substantially all scatter-reflected light is removed from the reflected light reflected by the fundus of the eye and substantially only regularly reflected light regularly reflected by the fundus of the eye is transmitted to the photoelectric device.

The present invention relates to an ocular characteristic measuring apparatus capable of measuring a light-intensity distribution characteristic of a target image formed on a fundus of an eye and of determining the ocular optical characteristic of the eye on the basis of the measured light-intensity distribution characteristic.
When measuring the ocular optical characteristic of an eye by a conventional ocular optical characteristic measuring apparatus, a target image is formed on the fundus of the eye, a reflected target image is formed on a photoelectric device by reflected light, light-intensity distribution on the reflected target image is measured, and the point spread on the eyeball indicating the optical characteristic of the eye is determined on the basis of the measured data.
The light-intensity distribution on the target image measured by this conventional ocular optical characteristic measuring apparatus indicates the point spread on the ocular optical system of the eye. The reflected light from the image travels through the ocular optical system again and fall on the photoelectric device. Therefore, it has been thought that the light-intensity distribution in the target image formed on the photoelectric device can be expressed by the superposition integration of the point spread.
When measuring the ocular optical characteristic of the eye by the conventional ocular optical characteristic measuring apparatus, target light projected on the fundus reach not only the surface of the fundus but also a part of the fundus slightly below the surface of the fundus and the light is scattered and reflected to cause the so-called xe2x80x9cblurred reflectionxe2x80x9d.
The light reflected in a blurred reflection mode by the fundus affect the light-intensity distribution in the target image formed on the photoelectric device. Consequently, the light-intensity distribution in the target image formed on the photoelectric device does not represent accurately the superposition integration of the point spread in the ocular optical system and hence the point spread in the ocular optical system cannot be calculated exactly on the basis of only the measured light-intensity distribution.
Therefore, the development of an ocular optical characteristic measuring apparatus capable of preventing scatter-reflected light reflected by the fundus in a blur reflection mode from falling on a photoelectric device, of forming a target image on the photoelectric device only by light regularly reflected by the fundus surface and preventing the effect of unmeasurable blur reflection particular to the eye on the measurement was strongly desired.
According to the present invention, a projection optical system projects light emitted by a light source on the fundus of an eye to form a target image on the fundus. A light receiving optical system guides reflected light reflected from the fundus to a photoelectric device to form a target image on the photoelectric device and measures a light-intensity distribution in the target image formed on the photoelectric device according to a signal from the photoelectric device to determine the ocular optical characteristic of the eye. Substantially all scatter-reflected light is removed from the reflected light reflected by the fundus of the eye.

Ocular optical characteristic measuring apparatus


Apparatus, particularly adapted to covering and protecting the ankles of off-road bicycle riders from injury, has an ankle-length sock made of elastic knitted fabric covering each of the rider""s feet and a pair of bicycling shoes having low-cut uppers. A thin guard of a hard, flexible material passing around the rider""s ankle is retained at the outside of each sock, extending from the top of the sock to a line proximate the top of the shoe upper so as to protect the inside and outside of the ankle joint.

The present invention relates to the field of bicycling and more particularly, to apparatus for protecting the ankles of a bicycle rider from injury.
Bicycle riding has become a favorite sport for a significant segment of the active, health conscious population. Many cycling devotees prefer variants of the sport known as off-road and mountain biking. Such riding takes place in unimproved areas where rough terrain, rocky outcroppings and underbrush may impede passage. Also, in close quarters, the inside of the rider""s ankles may be forced into contact with the pedal crankshaft arms. Seasoned riders become quick to recognize hazards and skillful in avoiding them, but even the best cannot always prevent hard contact. In this manner, thinly fleshed ankles are directly exposed to point impact, and are particularly vulnerable to bruising and laceration.
There is no doubt that bicycle riders would be much safer if they wore protective boots, but there is no place in the sport for such weighty, obtrusive measures. In addition, because of the ankle joint""s constant movement and flexing, chafing can make any hard protective ankle cover impractical. The chafing problem is exacerbated by heat and sweating. Although long pants might help to a limited extent, few hot weather riders would accept them as regular wear. In bicycling the legs pump constantly at a high level of effort and generate excess heat, which must be dissipated by the rider""s body. Airflow over the rider""s legs takes away a portion of this excess heat at the source, while the skin and lungs account for the rest. It is therefore obvious that heavy leg wear would work against the rider""s needs, particularly during periods of extreme exertion.
Protective leg wear has been disclosed for certain sports activities. Giesick, U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,110 teaches use of a full-length sock, woven from aramid and metallic fibers, to protect the back of hockey player""s legs against cuts and puncture wounds. Giesick also teaches that the reinforced area of the sock may be made to extend upwardly from the foot, to shield the Achilles tendon. While an aramid/metallic fiber sock would protect a bicycle rider from cuts, it would be ineffective against point impact injuries. While wearing such a sock might be comfortable on ice, it would be much less so for a bicycle rider and would impede body cooling as discussed above.
Thomeburg, et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,307,522 discloses a cushioned sock for snowboarding. Thorneburg teaches the use of extra-heavy, fabric thickness at the medial portion of the rear of the leg, to prevent chafing against the snowboarding boot, and above the heel, to force the foot forwardly in the boot, so as to provide a firm fit and prevent shifting of the foot in the boot. Thomeburg, et al, also teach similar fabric thicknesses for cushioning the ball and heel of the foot against the impact of landing, much as seen in athletic socks for basketball and the like. None of these attributes are significant, or even helpful to a bicycle rider. As with the above aramid/metallic sock, the padded snowboarding sock of Thorneburg, et al would be ineffective against point impact injuries. A snowboarder wearing such a sock might be comfortable, but not a bicycle rider at much higher temperatures and again, body cooling would be impeded.
A first object of the present inventions is therefore, to provide effective apparatus for protecting the inside and outside of an off-road bicycle rider""s ankles from bruises and cuts arising from point impact with underbrush, rocks and the like by distributing the shock over a significantly increased area. A second object is that the apparatus of the present inventions be light in weight and unobtrusive, so as to not interfere with pedaling movements. A third object is that that the apparatus of the present inventions be of a form that does not interfere significantly with cooling air flow about the legs of the user. Yet a fourth object is that the apparatus of the present inventions can be produced inexpensively so as to encourage its wide usage.
The present inventions address the foregoing objects in direct manner by providing an ankle-length sock made of elastic knitted fabric for covering each of the rider""s feet and ankles and retaining a guard made of a thin, hard, flexible material, approximately one-eighth of an inch thick, at the outer surface of each sock, so as to extend from the top of the sock down to a line proximate the top of the rider""s shoe uppers. The guard passes around the rider""s ankle to protect the inside as well as the outside of the ankle joint.


A self-contained portable personal breathing apparatus that has a casing housing a canister containing an oxygen evolving chemical. The casing is disposed inside a cover which is disposed inside a bag. The cover and the casing form a thermal insulating pocket between them, and with the cover material and the casing material, also made of thermally insulating material, a triple layer of thermal insulation is formed around the canister to protect oxygen produced therein from the heat of reaction of the chemical in the canister. A heat exchanger is situated atop the canister to further cool oxygen before inhalation, and breathing tube extends from the bag to the user for channeling exhaled breath and oxygen.

Respirators of the type indicated above are housed in stand-by containers which can be closed airtight and are used, for example, by miners who carry them constantly on their bodies. The device is removed from the stand-by container for use in an emergency. It is obvious that, in terms of weight and size, a respirator of this type must be light and small if it is to be carried about continuously by a miner.
In a known respirator of the general type involved here, the respirator bag is located above the chemical cartridge, and the chemical cartridge is placed int he lower part of the housing; the respirator bag with its breathing hose and mouthpiece are located in the housing cover. In this way, a relatively tall housing cover is required, which therefore plays an important role in determining the overall height of the stand-by container, and as a result the respirator, together with its stand-by container must be worn on the body by means of a shoulder strap. Under the extremely harsh conditions which prevail in mines, this method of carrying the device is burdensome to the miner who must carry the device constantly.
In other patents, such as East German Patent 60930 to Schwanike, there is an attempt to reduce the tallness of the housing by placing a cartridge inside a respirator bag. Thermo-insulting material in the form of protective shields is placed between the respirator bag and the side of the cartridge that rests against the bad to protect the oxygen-filled respirator bag from the intense heat produced by the cartridge during operation. The cartridge is connected for gas flow through an exit portion to the respirator bag and to a valve cage at an entrance portion. The respirator bag is also connected to the valve cage at a different location than the cartridge. Besides the bulkiness of this design, two additional problems exist. The front of the cartridge is exposed to impacts, such as bumps, during the user's work which can compromise the integrity of the cartridge. Also, the structure with its insulating protective shields is heavy to carry over extended periods of time.
The present invention is therefore based on the task of creating an especially lightweight, durable and compact design for an oxygen self-rescuer used as an escape device, and to design it to be so lightweight, durable and compact that the device can be housed in a stand-by container to be worn comfortably on the belt of the person carrying the device during the rigors of the mining work day.


A disk apparatus includes a slide member provided on a chassis such that the slide member is movable relative to the chassis in an inserting direction when a disk cartridge having a shutter is inserted. A shutter arm is provided on the slide member to open the shutter in the cartridge when inserted. The shutter arm has a connecting part, the connecting part being movable between a first position and a second position. The connecting part is connected at the first position to the shutter by the insertion of the cartridge. The connecting part is moved from the first position to the second position in response to the movement of the slide member, so that the shutter in the cartridge is opened by the connecting part.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a disk apparatus wherein one of a CD-ROM and a disk cartridge is held on a disk tray at a loaded position and reproduction or recording for a related disk is carried out by using a pickup unit.
(2) Description of the Related Art
An optical disk is inserted into an optical disk drive, and the optical disk drive reads information from or writes information to the optical disk by using an optical pickup unit. The optical pickup unit emits a light beam to the disk and receives reflection beams from the disk to which the emission beam is applied. When the optical disk drive is operating in a reading mode, the optical pickup unit detects pits in a track of the disk from the reflection beams in order to read data from the disk.
Currently, there are two major types of optical disk drive: a read-only type and a rewritable type. The read-only optical disk drives read information from an optical disk, such as a CD (compact disk) or CD-ROM (compact disk-read-only memory). The rewritable optical disk drives can read information from and write information to an optical disk. Among the rewritable optical disk drives are a write-once disk system and an erasable disk system. The write-once disk system accesses an optical disk such as a CD-R (compact disk-recordable), and can write data to the disk once only. The erasable disk system accesses an optical disk, such as a PD (phase-change material disk) or CD-RW (compact disk-rewritable), and can write data to the disk many times.
Existing optical disk drives are provided for accessing only one of the above-mentioned optical disk types. In order to allow both the read-only disk (CD, CD-ROM) and the rewritable disk (CD-R, PD, CD-RW) to be accessed, it has been necessary to use two or more of the existing optical disk drives in combination. Recently, in order to eliminate such inconvenience, development has started on an optical disk apparatus in which either one of the read-only disk and the rewritable disk can be held on a disk tray at a loaded position and reproduction or recording with respect to a related disk can be carried out. A conventional disk apparatus of this type is known. In the conventional disk apparatus, one of a CD-ROM and a PD disk cartridge can be held on a disk tray at a loaded position and reproduction or recording with respect to a related disk can be carried out.
FIG. 25 shows the conventional disk apparatus of the above-mentioned type, wherein one of the CD-ROM and the disk cartridge is capable of being held on a disk tray at a loaded position.
As shown in FIG. 25, in the conventional disk apparatus, a turntable 2 and an optical pickup unit 3 are provided on a chassis 1. An optical disk (not shown) is clamped with and rotated by the turntable 2. A disk tray 4 is movably supported on the chassis 1, and one of the CD-ROM (not shown) and the disk cartridge (not shown) is inserted in the disk tray 4. The disk tray 4 is arranged such that the tray 4 is movable relative to the chassis 1 between a disk-loaded position and a disk-change position.
The disk tray 4 has a double-tray structure including an inner tray 4a on which the CD-ROM is placed and an outer tray 4b on which the disk cartridge is placed. The inner tray 4a is provided within the outer tray 4b such that the inner tray 4a is vertically movable between a lowered position and a raised position.
In the conventional disk apparatus, when the disk cartridge is inserted in the tray 4, the disk cartridge is placed on the inner tray 4a. The inner tray 4a serves as a holding surface on which the disk cartridge is held. Since the cartridge is snugly fitted in the outer tray 4b, the inner tray 4a has a cut-out portion 4c provided at a front end portion of the inner tray 4a, in order to allow an operator to easily take the cartridge out of the tray 4.
When taking the cartridge out of the tray 4 at the disk-change position, the operator has to manually raise a front edge of the cartridge from the outer tray 4b by pushing upward the front edge of the cartridge from the cut-out portion 4c of the inner tray 4a. For the conventional disk apparatus, the operator takes the cartridge out of the tray 4 in this manner.
In the conventional disk apparatus, the inner tray 4a includes a first circular recess 4a1 in which an optical disk having a 8-cm diameter is fitted, and a second circular recess 4a2 in which another optical disk having a 12-cm diameter is fitted.
In the disk tray 4 of the conventional disk apparatus, the inner tray 4a is set at the raised position within the outer tray 4b due to a actuating force of a spring (not shown). When the CD-ROM is inserted in the tray 4, the CD-ROM is supported on the inner tray 4a at the raised position. On the other hand, when the disk cartridge is inserted in the tray 4, the inner tray 4a is vertically moved to the lowered position by the cartridge. The disk cartridge is supported on the outer tray 4b, and the inner tray 4a at the lowered position is placed beneath the bottom of the cartridge within the outer tray 4b.
In the conventional disk apparatus, a support plate 5 is provided on the disk tray 4, and an upper area located above the chassis 1 is enclosed by the support plate 5. A shutter lever 6 is rotatably supported on a bottom surface of the support plate 5. The shutter lever 6 serves to open a shutter in the disk cartridge after the cartridge is inserted in the tray 4 and the tray 4 is moved from the disk-change position to the disk-loaded position.
In the above-described conventional disk apparatus, the shutter lever 6 on the bottom surface of the support plate 5 is rotated by the cartridge to open the shutter in the cartridge in response to a rearward movement of the tray 4. After the shutter lever 6 passes over the turntable 2 during the rearward movement of the tray 4, the shutter in the cartridge is fully opened by the shutter lever 6. It is required that in the conventional disk apparatus a height of the tray 4 at which the shutter in the cartridge is opened by the shutter lever 6 be higher than the turntable so as to avoid interference of the shutter lever 6 with the turntable 2 during the rearward movement of the tray.
Further, in the conventional disk apparatus, the support plate 5 on which the shutter lever 6 is rotatably supported is required. It is necessary that in the conventional disk apparatus an additional space above the chassis 1 is provided for installing the support plate 5 therein. This makes it difficult for the conventional disk apparatus to provide a thin structure for an optical disk drive housed in a notebook-size personal computer.
Recently, notebook-size personal computers having a built-in optical disk drive as standard equipment have been widespread, and there is a demand for reducing the entire thickness of the built-in optical disk drive for use in the notebook-size personal computers.

Disk apparatus having a shutter arm for providing a thin structure for a disk drive


This relative-pressure sensors has virtually no zero offset at relative humidities up to near the saturation limit. The sensor has a diaphragm (11) having a surface on which a electrode (13) is deposited and a substrate (12) having a bore (23) for guiding reference air from af first surface to an opposite surface. The first surface is polished and provided with at least an addional electrode (15). The substrate and the diaphragm are soldered or brazed together along the periphery by means of a spacer (20) to form a chamber which is covered from inside with a thin layer (24) of hydrophobic material that is introduced through the bore after the soldering or brazing.

This invention relates to capacitive relative-pressure sensors. With such sensors, pressures of media, such as liquids, gases, or vapors, can be measured, the measurement being made in relation to the current atmospheric or ambient pressure, which thus serves as a reference pressure.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,079,953 discloses, as one of three variants, a capacitive ceramic relative-pressure sensor comprising
a diaphragm
having a surface on which a first electrode is deposited, and
a substrate
having a bore for guiding reference air from a first surface to an opposite, second surface,
on which at least a second electrode is deposited,
said substrate and said diaphragm being soldered or brazed together around the periphery by means of a spacer to form a chamber.
In such relative-pressure sensors, referred to herein as xe2x80x9cpressure sensorsxe2x80x9d for simplicity, the so-called reference air from the atmospheric air, referred to herein as xe2x80x9cambient airxe2x80x9d, which, of course, is always more or less humid, flows through the bore in the substrate into the chamber.
By a suitable design of the housing for the pressure sensor, if the ambient air is saturated with humidity, the ambient air, before entering the chamber, can be caused to flow through or over a point having the temperature of its dew point, so that thereafter the temperature of the reference air will not pass below the dew point; this is accomplished by forcing the ambient air to pass a point of the housing whose temperature is equal to or less than that of the chamber in the sensor, so that the dew point of the ambient air is reached, i.e., condensation occurs, already at that point, and only reference air not saturated or oversaturated with humidity will reach the chamber. The relative humidity of the reference air may therefore be high, e.g., up to 95%.
Such a high relative humidity in the chamber of the pressure sensor causes the following problems, which are associated with the way in which capacitive ceramic pressure sensors are commonly manufactured.
Blanks for the diaphragm and substrate are so-called green compacts, which are preformed from a powdered ceramic starting material and a binder and subsequently sin-tered.
The starting ceramic material may be alumina, for example. The sintered alumina compacts of pressure sensors, i.e., the respective substrates and diaphragms of the sensors, generally have a purity of 96 wt. %. For special applications, however, the purity may be up to 99.9 wt. %. The sintered compacts have not only rough surfaces but also microcracks extending from these surfaces into the sintered compacts.
To produce a pressure sensor from a sintered diaphragm compact and a sintered substrate compact, the substrate and the diaphragm are soldered or brazed together along the periphery with the interposition of a spacer, so that the aforementioned chamber is formed. The solder or active brazing solder used represents the spacer. The solder is, for example, a glass frit, and the active brazing solder is, for example, an NiTiZr alloy in which the NiZr content is approximately equal to the NiZr eutectic, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,334,344. The soldering or brazing is also referred to as xe2x80x9cjoiningxe2x80x9d.
Prior to the joining of the diaphragm and the substrate, electrodes are deposited on the surfaces that will face each other in the chamber after the joining. These electrodes are made of tantalum, for example, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,034, and are commonly deposited by sputtering. If the diaphragm and the substrate are joined using active brazing solder, the electrode or electrodes on the substrate must be located at a distance, i.e., be electrically isolated, from the joining material, since in the finished pressure sensor, the electrode of the diaphragm is electrically connected to the joining material.
The electrode or electrodes of the substrate must therefore be sputtered through a mask that is fixed directly on the surface of the substrate and covers that portion of the surface which has to be kept free of electrode material.
During the sputtering it is unavoidable, however, that due to so-called undersputtering, minute islands of electrode material, which are not in electrical contact with each other, are formed on the surface to be kept free of electrode material. Furthermore, as a result of the undersputtering, electrode material can penetrate into the above-mentioned microcracks.
Since water molecules of the reference air can both be adsorbed by the rough surface and penetrate into the microcracks, electrical connections are formed between the individual islands of electrode material, so that the area of the substrate electrode increases. This, however, results in a zero offset of the pressure sensor. This effect increases with increasing relative humidity of the reference air.
The problems described so far have hitherto been controlled relatively well by applying to the finished electrodes a spin-on glass layer of silicon dioxide, which actually serves to eliminate another problem, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,489. In this way, however, only relative humidities up to about 80% are controllable. Thus, at a relative humidity of 80%, related to 400xc2x0 C., such pressure sensors have a zero offset of up to 1%. For high-accuracy measurements, this is not acceptable.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide relative-pressure sensors that have virtually no zero offset at relative humidities up to near the saturation limit.
To attain this object, the invention provides a capacitive ceramic relative-pressure sensor comprising:
a diaphragm
having a surface on which a first electrode is deposited; and
a substrate
having a bore for guiding reference air from a first surface to an opposite, second surface,
the first surface of the substrate being polished and provided with at least a second electrode,
which substrate and which diaphragm are soldered or brazed together along the periphery by means of a spacer to form a chamber,
which chamber is covered from inside with a thin layer of hydrophobic material that is introduced through the bore after the soldering or brazing.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the hydrophobic material is a silicone oil, a paraffin oil, or a silicone resin based on fluorinated siloxanes or on methyl polysiloxanes.
In another preferred embodiment of the invention, the substrate and the diaphragm are made of alumina ceramic.
One advantage of the relative-pressure sensors according to the invention is that they have a zero offset less than 0.2% even at a relative humidity of 95%, related to 400xc2x0 C.

Capacitive ceramic relative-pressure sensor


Apparatus for producing needled fibrous bodies of a predetermined geometrical shape and height or strength of fiber material, particularly as padding elements for the clothing industry.

The invention relates to a device for the production of needled fibrous bodies of a determined geometric form and height or strength of fibrous material, which are particularly used for padding elements in the clothing industry.
Fibrous bodies of the type in question have hitherto been produced with relatively high expenditure using a lot of hand work.

Apparatus for the production of needled, shaped fibrous bodies


A technique for preventing the user of a wireless terminal from carrying a wireless terminal into the umbra of a fade is disclosed. In particular, some embodiments of the present invention notify the user that the user is in danger of entering the umbra and assist the user in navigating from the fade. An illustrative embodiment of the present invention comprises: creating a first measurement of signal quality, SQ(n), of a signal received from a wireless terminal; and, when the first measurement of signal quality, SQ(n), is unsatisfactory, transmitting a first message to the wireless terminal to direct a user of the wireless terminal to move the wireless terminal in one direction.

FIG. 1 depicts a schematic diagram of a portion of a typical wireless telecommunications system, which provides wireless telecommunications service to a number of wireless terminals (e.g., wireless terminals 101-1 through 101-3) that are situated within a geographic region. The heart of a typical wireless telecommunications system is Wireless Switching Center ("MWSC") 120, which may be also known as a Mobile Switching Center ("MSC") or Mobile Telephone Switching Office ("MTSO"). Typically, Wireless Switching Center 120 is connected to a plurality of base stations (e.g., base stations 103-1 through 103-5) that are dispersed throughout the geographic area serviced by the system and to the local- and long-distance telephone offices (e.g., local-office 130, local-office 138 and toll-office 140). Wireless Switching Center 120 is responsible for, among other things, establishing and maintaining calls between wireless terminals and between a wireless terminal and a wireline terminal, which wireline terminal is connected to Wireless Switching Center 120 via the local and/or long-distance networks.
The geographic area serviced by a wireless telecommunications system is divided into spatially distinct areas called "cells." As depicted in FIG. 1, each cell is schematically represented by a hexagon; in practice, however, each cell has an irregular shape that depends on the topography of the terrain surrounding the cell. Typically, each cell contains a base station, which comprises the radios and antennas that the base station uses to communicate with the wireless terminals in that cell and also comprises the transmission equipment that the base station uses to communicate with Wireless Switching Center 120.
For example, when wireless terminal 101-1 desires to communicate with wireless terminal 101-2, wireless terminal 101-1 transmits the desired information to base station 103-1, which relays the information to Wireless Switching Center 120. Upon receipt of the information, and with the knowledge that it is intended for wireless terminal 101-2, Wireless Switching Center 120 then returns the information back to base station 103-1, which relays the information, via radio, to wireless terminal 101-2.
When wireless telecommunications system 100 is a terrestrial system, in contrast to a satellite-based system, the quality and availability of service is subject to the idiosyncrasies of the terrain surrounding the system. For example, when the topography of the terrain is hilly or mountainous, or when objects such as buildings or trees are present, a signal transmitted by a base station can be absorbed or reflected such that the signal quality is not uniform throughout the cell. The result is that some areas of the cell might receive little or no signal from the base station because they are in the shadow of a mountain or a building. Alternatively, some areas can receive a direct path signal and one or more reflected signals from the base station such that the signals destructively interfere in accordance with the well-known multipath problem. In either case, for the purposes of this specification, a region of poor signal quality is called a "fade."
FIG. 2 depicts a schematic diagram of cell 102-1 of FIG. 1, which contains base station 1031, wireless terminal 101-1, fade 201-1 and fade 201-2. In general, the shape, intensity and area of a fade is based on terrestrial features.
At the perimeter or "penumbra" of a fade, the signal quality is typically diminished a little such that a call between the wireless terminal and the base station can continue, although generally with either noise or lapses in the conversation. At the interior or "umbra" of the fade, the signal quality is typically so attenuated that the base station and the wireless terminal cannot communicate at all.
When the user of a wireless terminal carries the wireless terminal into the umbra of a fade while engaged in a call, the call is invariably dropped, which annoys the parties to the call and deprives the operator of the wireless telecommunications system of revenue. Therefore, the need exists for a technique for eliminating or ameliorating the effect of a fade, or of preventing the user of a wireless terminal from carrying the wireless terminal into the umbra of a fade while engaged in a call.

Preventing wireless telecommunications calls from being disconnected due to low signal quality


An improved method of preparing optical fiber preforms and optical fibers by so called rod-in-tube method, wherein before collapsing a tube to heat-adhere to a rod, a specific glass surface treating agent and oxygen gas are flowed through the clearance between the rod and the tube maintained at a high temperature, whereby an optical fiber preform free from imperfections at the interface between the rod and the tube can be produced so as to give optical fibers of low-loss. As the above glass surface treating agent, those materials are employed which satisfy the following criteria: (i) the hydrogen content thereof being not more than about 1% by weight, and (ii) the substances, produced therefrom in the presence of oxygen gas at a high temperature, having a boiling point or sublimation point of not more than the temperature required for collapsing the tube.

The present invention relates to improvements in the rod-in-tube method (hereinafter referred to as "RT method") of fabricating the preforms of optical fibers from silicate glass.
Optical fibers are produced usually by preparing a preform, and heating and drawing the preform. The characteristics of optical fibers are almost dependent on the characteristics of the preform unless the preform is drawn by an improper technique.
Generally known as methods of fabricating optical fiber preforms are the chemical vapor deposition method (CVD method) and the RT method. As disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication (Tokkyo Kokoku) No. 29953/1976, the CVD method comprises the steps of depositing a thin cladding layer on the inner surface of a silicate glass tube, depositing on the cladding layer a thin core layer having a higher index of refraction than that of the cladding layer, and collapsing the resulting tube by heating to a solid preform free from any interior space. Presently this method is most widely used for the preparation of optical fiber preforms and has the advantage of being capable of fabricating low-loss optical fibers. The CVD method, however, requires repetition of the vapor deposition step a large number of times, for example, 50 to 100 times, and is therefore low in production speed. Especially if it is desired to obtain preforms for giving optical fibers with outstanding transmission characteristics and high stability, it is difficult to provide an increased amount of deposition at a time for forming the core layer. Thus the method involves limitations on the size of preforms and on the length of fibers available. Since increased optical losses will result from connection of optical fibers if they are low in dimensional accuracy, for example, the core is eccentric relative to the cladding or has low circularity, the CVD method must be practiced under strictly controlled conditions to overcome the difficulties encountered in producing preforms with increased dimensional accuracy, namely with sufficiently high core circularity and reduce core eccentricity. For these reasons, the CVD method still remains to be improved in its amenability to the quantity production of preforms, yield and accordingly manufacturing cost.
According to the RT method which is known for a long time, a glass rod serving as a core is inserted into a glass tube useful as a cladding, and the assembly is heated to a high temperature so that the tube is collapsed to heat-adhere to the rod, yielding an optical fiber preform. Since the rod having accurate dimensions and the tube are merely thus heat-adhered into a preform, it is easy with the RT method to obtain preforms in large sizes, with high dimensional accuracy and relatively free of the problems, such as core eccentricity and low core circularity, which are inherent in the CVD method. With respect to the dimensional accuracy, therefore, the method affords products in increased yields with reduced product-to-product or lot-to-lot dimensional variations even when performed for mass production. However, the RT method has a serious drawback. It is difficult to prepare preforms in which the interface between the rod and the tube is free from irregularities such as voids and foreign matters. Those irregularities, especially voids, would cause light scattering losses in the resulting optical fiber. This leads to difficulty in producing low-loss optical fibers which are comparable to those obtained by the CVD method.
Whereas research has been directed also to the RT method in an attempt to provide preforms free from imperfections at the interface between the rod and the tube, none of the proposals heretofore made have proved fully satisfactory in the reduction of losses as will be described below.
For example, it has been proposed to clean the surfaces of the rod and the tube with hydrofluoric acid, hot hydrogen fluoride gas or a mixture of hydrogen chloride and helium before the rod and the tube are heat-adhered together, but this method is unable to remove extraneous matter such as carbon particles and is ineffective for diminishing scattering losses due to the presence of irregularities at the interface between the core and the tube. Additionally when hydrogen fluoride gas or like hydrogen-containing gas is used at a high temperature, OH group derived from the hydrogen contained in the gas will be incorporated in various forms into the rod and the tube, entailing an increased absorption loss.
It has also been proposed to pass oxygen gas through the clearance between a rod and a tube maintained at a high temperature of about 1,500.degree. C. to remove foreign matter from the opposed surfaces of the rod and the tube by decomposing and/or oxidizing the foreign matter and thereafter heat-adhering the rod and the tube. With this method, the foreign matter or the resulting oxide, when having a boiling point higher than the above high temperature, will not be thoroughly removed but remain between the rod and the tube. The method is also ineffective for sufficiently reducing the scattering loss attributable to interface irregularities such as voids.
Thus it has been thought that despite various attempts, the RT method has difficulties in producing low-loss optical fibers such as those prepared by the CVD method although having the advantage of affording optical fiber preforms in large sizes with high dimensional accuracy.

Method of fabricating optical fiber preforms


A cup member is arranged for scraping accumulated ice from a vehicular windshield, including a cylindrical body formed with a conical lower skirt projecting exteriorly of the cylindrical body and formed with a planar top wall, including securement apparatus mounted thereto. The securement apparatus may include an apertured flanged securement plate or alternatively, a handle member mounted thereto. The handle member may be further configured to include illumination means to provide illumination during conditions of limited available light for use by individuals in predawn hours.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of invention relates to ice scraping apparatus, and more particularly pertains to a new and improved ice scraper apparatus wherein the same is configured as a hand tool to remove accumulated ice relative to a vehicular windshield.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various manually manipulatable ice scraper tool structure has been set forth in the prior art and is exemplified in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,922,569 to Brinker, et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,747,175 to Durgin; U.S. Pat. No. 4,870,712 to Markus; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,719,660 to Hopkins. The various ice scraping tool structure of the prior art typically incorporates a rigid linear blade mounted to project across a windshield surface in contrast to the circularly configured blade structure of the instant invention arranged for grasping at its upper end for projecting across a vehicular windshield.
Accordingly, it may be appreciated that there continues to be a need for a new and improved ice scraper apparatus as set forth by the instant invention which addresses both the problems of ease of use as well as effectiveness in construction and in this respect, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


An antifouling coating composition can inhibit or prevent fouling of hulls of ships and other underwater structures. The coating composition includes (A) an antifouling agent, (B) a film-forming copolymer having a number average molecular weight of 1,000 to 50,000, and structural units derived from a trialkylsilyl ester of polymerizable unsaturated carboxylic acid in an amount of 20 to 65% by weight, based on the copolymer, and (C) chlorinated paraffin having 8 to 30 carbon atoms, number average molecular weight of 200 to 1200 and a chlorination ratio of from 35 to 75% by weight. Zinc flower may also be included in the antifouling coating composition in place of or in addition to the antifouling agent (A).

Ship bottoms, underwater structures, fishing nets and the like are likely to have their appearance and function damaged by the adhesion to surface and propagation of various aquatic organisms including animals such as shellfishes and barnacles, seaweeds such as layer and bacteria caused when they are exposed to the water for a prolonged period of time.
In particular, when the above aquatic organism adheres to a ship's bottom and propagates, the danger is highly probable that the roughness of the entire surface of the ship is increased to thereby lower the speed of the ship and increase the fuel consumed by the ship. Removing the aquatic organism from the ship bottom necessitates spending of much labor and working time at a dock. Further, when bacteria adhere to, for example, an underwater structure and propagates to thereby cause adhesion of slime (sludgy matter), there is the danger that the slime putrefies to thereby cause damages such as deterioration of the properties of the underwater structure and thus marked shortening of the life thereof.
For example, a composition comprising a copolymer of tributyltin methacrylate and methyl methacrylate and cuprous oxide (Cu.sub.2 O) has been used as an antifouling paint effectively applicable to ship bottoms for enabling the prevention of the above damages. This copolymer of the antifouling paint is hydrolyzed in the seawater to thereby liberate organotin compounds such as bistributyltin oxide (tributyltin ether of the formula Bu.sub.3 Sn--O--SnBu.sub.3 wherein Bu is a butyl group) and tributyltin halides (Bu.sub.3 SnX wherein X is a halogen atom), so that antifouling effect is exerted. Moreover, the copolymer hydrolyzate per se is a hydrolyzable self-polishing paint which is water-soluble and thus is dissolved in the seawater, so that no resin residue is left on the surface of the ship bottom coating to thereby enable continually maintaining active surface.
However, the above organotin compounds are so highly toxic that apprehensions are being entertained with respect to marine pollution, occurrence of anomalous fish and adverse effects on ecosystem through food chain. Therefore, the development of an antifouling paint not containing tin is desired as a substitute therefor.
For example, antifouling paints based on silyl esters as described in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication Nos. 4(1992)-264170, 4(l992)-264169 and 4(1992)-264168 can be mentioned as the above antifouling paint not containing tin. However, these antifouling paints have problems that not only are their antifouling capabilities poor but also cracking and peeling are likely to occur as pointed out in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication Nos. 6(1994)-157941 and 6(1994)-157940.
Further, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2(1990)-196869 teaches an antifouling paint comprising a copolymer with blocked acid functionality (A) which is obtained by copolymerizing trimethylsilyl methacrylate, ethyl methacrylate and methoxyethyl acrylate in the presence of an azo initiator and which contains carboxyl groups blocked with trimethylsilyl groups and a polyvalent cation compound (B). Also, an antifouling paint comprising a chlorinated paraffin plasticizer in addition to the above acid-functional copolymer (A) and polyvalent cation compound (B) is disclosed in the Example portion of the publication. However, the coating film obtained from the antifouling paint disclosed in the above Example portion has a drawback in that the cracking resistance thereof is not fully satisfactory. That is, in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2(1990)-196869, there is no description teaching what antifouling paint is excellent in cracking resistance and storage stability, especially, cracking resistance.
Published Japanese Translation of PCT Patent Applications from Other States, No. 60(1985)-500452 and Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 63(1988)-215780 describe a resin for antifouling paint which is obtained by copolymerizing a vinyl monomer having an organosilyl group, such as a trialkylsilyl ester of (meth)acrylic acid, with another vinyl monomer and which has a number average molecular weight of 3000 to 40,000 and further describe that the resin can be blended with an organic water binder such as trimethyl orthoformate, an antifouling agent such as cuprous oxide and a pigment such as red iron oxide. However, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 6(1994)-157940, this resin for antifouling paint has drawbacks in that it is likely to gel during the storage thereof and that the coating film formed from the antifouling paint is poor in cracking and peeling resistances.
Japanese Patent Publication No. 5(1993)-32433 corresponding to the above Published Japanese Translation of PCT Patent Applications from Other States, No. 60(1985)-500452 discloses an antifouling paint comprising a poison (a) and a polymer binder (b) having a repeating unit of the formula (--CH.sub.2 --CXCOOR)--(B)-- wherein X is H or CH.sub.3, R is SiR'.sub.3 or Si(OR').sub.3 in which R' is an alkyl group, etc. and B is an ethylenically unsaturated monomer residue, which polymer binder has a specified hydrolysis rate, and describes that the paint can contain a solvent, a water-sensitive pigment component, an inert pigment, a filler and a retarder. However, the coating film obtained from the antifouling paint described in the publication has a drawback in that its cracking resistance is poor.
Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 7(1995)-18216 discloses a coating composition comprising as principal components an organosilicon-containing polymer (A) having in its molecule a triorganosilicon ester group represented by the formula --COO--SiR.sup.1 R.sup.2 R.sup.3 wherein each of R.sup.1, R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 is, for example, an alkyl group having 1 to 18 carbon atoms and copper or a copper compound (B), which coating composition contains as an essential component other than the components A and B a silicon compound having an alkoxy group (C) represented by the formula: ##STR1##
wherein each of R.sup.4, R.sup.5 and R.sup.6 represents, for example, a hydrogen atom, an alkoxy group or a cycloalkoxy group having 1 to 18 carbon atoms; R.sup.7 represents, for example, an alkyl group having 1 to 18 carbon atoms; and n is an integer of 1 to 3. In the columns describing constitution and function of invention of the publication, it is described that a plasticizer such as a chlorinated paraffin and a resin such as an acrylic resin may be incorporated in the coating composition according to necessity. However, the coating film obtained from the coating composition described in the publication has a drawback in that its cracking resistance is poor. PA1 wherein each of R.sup.1, R.sup.2 and R.sup.3 independently represents a group selected from among alkyl and aryl groups and X represents an acryloyloxy, a methacryloyloxy, a maleoyloxy or a fumaroyloxy group, PA1 and monomer B represented by the formula: PA1 Y--(CH.sub.2 CH.sub.2 O).sub.n --R.sup.4, PA1 wherein R.sup.4 represents an alkyl or an aryl group, Y represents an acryloyloxy or a methacryloyloxy group and n is an integer of 1 to 25.
Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 7(1995)-102193 discloses a coating composition comprising as essential components a copolymer obtained by polymerizing a monomer mixture containing monomer A represented by the formula: ##STR2##
Also, in the antifouling coating film for ships or underwater structures, there is a demand for the development of a self-polishing antifouling coating composition capable of forming a coating film being excellent in cracking and peeling resistances at a zone under alternate dry and wet, for example, a water line zone of ships brought in an environment in which immersion in the seawater and exposure to the air alternate with each other, which coating film can inhibit damages even where high pressure applies, for example, at block parts during ship building.
The present invention has been made with a view toward solving the above problems of the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide an antifouling coating composition which not only enables forming an antifouling coating film being excellent in cracking resistance, peeling resistances, antifouling properties and self-polishing (consumability) properties but also is excellent in storage stability.
Other objects of the present invention are to provide a coating film formed from this antifouling coating composition, an antifouling method using the antifouling coating composition and a hull or an underwater structure coated with the above coating film.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an antifouling coating composition capable of forming a coating film being excellent in properties such as cracking and peeling resistances not only in dry atmosphere, for example, above drafts of hulls and underwater structures but also in atmosphere in which immersion in the seawater and exposure to dryness alternate with each other because of draft changes, which coating film has such a high strength that, even if a pressure is applied to the coating film by blocks or the like, the damage by the pressure can be inhibited to a level of practically no significance.

Antifouling coating composition, coating film formed from said antifoulding coating composition, antifouling method using said antifouling coating composition and hull or underwater structure coated with said coating film


An optical band-pass filter adapted for enabling mutually independent fine adjustments of two pass bands. The optical band-pass filter comprises a first filter having a first pass band, first and second reflective films for respectively reflecting the transmitted light and the reflected light obtained from the first filter film, and a second filter film having a second pass band different from the first pass band and serving to combine the light out of the first and second reflective films with each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical bandpass filter having two pass bands.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of optical communication for example, an optical filter is used to separate signal light of a specific wavelength from light of any other wavelengths (e.g., noise light). Regarding the conventional optical band-pass filters of this type, there is known an exemplary one where a dielectric multilayer film is laminated on a transparent glass plate. In this case, normally the laminated structure of the film is so set as to have a single pass band.
In wavelength division multiplex communications where a plurality of signal light outputs of mutually different wavelengths are transmitted through multiplexing, there may arise the necessity of employing an optical band-pass filter having two pass bands. Some attempts have been made heretofore to obtain two pass bands by optimizing the laminated structure of a dielectric multilayer film. In this case, however, there exists a problem that it is impossible to set two pass bands independently of each other when setting the pass bands in compliance with variations of the signal light wavelengths. More specifically, since a plurality of multiplexed signal light outputs are incident upon an optical band-pass filter via the same optical path, the other pass band also changes depending on any change of one pass band at the time of fine adjustment of either pass band performed by changing the angle of incidence upon the dielectric multilayer film.

Optical band-pass filter having two pass bands


A flexible printed circuit used for being disposed between a frame and a conductive casing of a liquid crystal module is provided. The frame includes a main plate and a side plate which is connected to a side of the main plate. The flexible printed circuit includes a body and a grounding portion. The body is used for being disposed on the main plate of the frame. The grounding portion extends from the body. The grounding portion is bent to a predetermined angle with respect to the body, so that the grounding portion is disposed on the side plate of the frame. The grounding portion has a metal layer contacting an inner wall of a side plate of the conductive casing. The flexible printed circuit has a hole located at the position where the grounding portion is connected the body.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to a flexible printed circuit and a liquid crystal module using the same, and more particularly to a flexible printed circuit having an electrostatic shielding mechanism and a liquid crystal module using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, electrostatic discharge (ESD) would damage components inside electronic devices or make the electronic devices malfunction. Therefore, a shielding mechanism is provided in the electronic devices so as to reduce ESD events. A shielding mechanism of a liquid crystal module is disclosed below for exemplification.
Referring to FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B respectively, an iron frame of a conventional liquid crystal module is shown in FIG. 1A, and a side view of the iron frame in FIG. 1A being grounded by contacting a flexible printed circuit is shown in FIG. 1B. The iron frame 10 has a body 11 and an elastic piece 13. A part of the body 11 is removed, so that the elastic piece 13 is bent and protrudes from the body 11. As indicated in FIG. 1 B, an end of the elastic piece 13 is bent once again and grounded by surface contacting a flexible printed circuit 20 in the liquid crystal module 50. Thus, electrostatic charges are discharged from the liquid crystal module 50.
However, as the part of the iron frame 10 is removed (as indicated in FIG. 1A) to form the elastic piece 13, the structural strength of the iron frame 10 is reduced. Referring to FIG. 1C, particles located between the elastic piece and the flexible printed circuit in FIG. 1B are shown. When particles 30, such as dust, are located between the elastic piece 13 and the flexible printed circuit 20, the elastic piece 13 can not exactly contact the flexible printed circuit 20 so as to affect the grounding effect. Furthermore, as the elastic piece 13 is a bent structure and has elasticity, the elastic piece 13 would easily be moved due to the vibration of the liquid crystal module 50. Consequently, the elastic piece 13 can not exactly contact the flexible printed circuit 20 so as to reduce the grounding effect.
In addition, conventionally, the flexible printed circuit and the iron frame are connected by way of soldering to be grounded to discharge electrostatic charges; or a conductive foam is disposed in the liquid crystal module to discharge electrostatic charges. However, soldering not only increases working hours but is normally hard to re-process. The disposition of the conductive foam in the liquid crystal module not only increases the thickness of the liquid crystal module, but also increases working hours and cost. Thus, how to effectively avoid ESD events occurring to the liquid crystal module so as to correspondingly increase the lifespan of the liquid crystal module has become an imminent issue to manufacturers.

Flexible printed circuit and liquid crystal module using the same


An improved plating media incorporates TERGITOL.RTM.4, an alkyl sodium sulfate biological detergent, in a Xylose-lysine agar base. The plating media may also include peptone and sulfapyridine to further inhibit Citrobacter growth. The media is highly preferential for Salmonella, giving a greater number of Salmonella positives, and reduced competitive organisms. When incorporated with drag swab methodology employing skim milk or evaporated milk as a holding media, which may advantageously include novobiocin to suppress unwanted bacterial growth, coupled with a tetrathionate-culturing broth or other selective enrichment broth, the plating media completes a highly sensitive assay for the detection of Salmonella, particularly keyed for poultry and livestock handling structures, and for veterinary and human clinical laboratory applications.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to a Salmonella-preferential or selective plating medium, to be used in conjunction with assays conducted to determine the presence of Salmonella microorganisms in poultry facilities, other livestock species and man. More specifically, a plating medium derived from a Xylose-lysine agar base incorporates TERGITOL.RTM.4 to selectively culture Salmonella organisms.
2. Background of the Patent Application
U.S. application Ser. No. 330,479 discloses an inventive assay for the detection of Salmonella in poultry facilities. The assay is characterized by the use of moistened drag swabs, which can be dragged or rubbed along the bedding, litter, floor or work surfaces of a poultry or livestock house during routine activities, and which are subsequently held in a holding media comprised of double-strength skim milk (2XSM). The holding medium, if maintained at reduced temperature, has demonstrated good maintenance of the bacterial colonies obtained, without loss of Salmonella populations, or over-representation. Upon collection of sufficient samples, the stored samples are transferred to a culture broth preferential for the growth of Salmonella organisms. Culture broths incorporating tetrathionate are preferred, in preferentially promoting the growth of Salmonella cultures. A representative culture broth is Hajna TT broth.
The culture broth may be assayed, directly, for the presence of Salmonella cultures by, e.g., DNA probes, an ELISA assay, or related immuno assay. In the alternative, and preferentially, a plating medium is used to further grow the cultures, to allow identification of the same by visual inspection.
This method, although slightly longer, taking up to 48 hours, is substantially less expensive, and permits the mass inspection of a large number of samples. The culture broth is plated onto traditional preferential growth media, disclosed in the parent application as including Xylose-lysine-deoxycholate, and in the alternative, plain brilliant green (BG) agar growth media. Both these media, as well as other suitable media, are supplemented with novobiocin, in ranges sufficient to ensure preferential Salmonella growth. The novobiocin may also be incorporated in the culture broth, to improve results, in a range of 1-50 micrograms/ml, preferably 15-30 micrograms/ml.
While the above test that is the subject of the parent application presents many advantages over conventional tests, the preferred plating assay is sensitive to the use of plating media that are not sufficiently preferential for Salmonella to ensure detection of virtually all the Salmonella organisms present in poultry and livestock production and processing facilities, food processing facilities and human populations.
3. Background of the Prior Art
There are a wide variety of commercially available plating media on the market, suggested as being preferential for Salmonella. Yet, these media are not sufficiently reliable to ensure detection of in excess of 90% of Salmonella positive samples. Six samples having been previously determined, by another laboratory as negative for Salmonella were in fact positive for a variety of Salmonella serotypes using the improved plating medium of the invention described below. The particularly dangerous serotype Salmonella enteritidis was isolated from 1 of the 6 samples. This potential for complete misses leaves poultry and livestock manufacturers and veterinary and medical laboratories with a false sense of security, posing potentially disastrous consequences.
Accordingly, a need continues to exist for a highly Salmonella-preferential plating media that can be used in conjunction with assays of the prior art, and the assay described above, incorporating the holding media 2XSM. Due to the limited availability of double strength skim milk, it would additionally be desirable to find alternative, readily available holding media providing the same advantages.

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Agriculture