A Si sputtering target that in the measurement of crystal face orientation of sputtering surface according to X-ray diffractometry, exhibits a ratio of peak intensity of (111) face (I(111)) to peak intensity of (220) face (I(220)) of Si, (I(111)/I(220)), falling within the range of 1.8±0.3. The Si sputtering target comprises, for example, an Si sintered material of 70 to 95% relative density. With respect to sputtering films such as Si oxide film, the film thickness characteristics, film formation cost, etc. can be improved by the use of this Si sputtering target.

Conventionally, devices using a cathode ray tube (CRT) have been used extensively as display units. The CRT requires an installation space of a prescribed size or more, so that the liquid crystal display is rapidly wide spreading as a light and thin display unit. The liquid crystal display is being used for displays of mobile phones, PDAs and the like; monitors for personal computers; home televisions and other various types of home appliances. And, the plasma display panel (PDP) has been put to practical use as a self-luminous type display device. A display unit using an electron emission element such as a field emission type cold cathode, namely a field emission type display (FED), is also being put into practical use.
The above-described display devices are first required to be easily readable as a matter of course. Therefore, it is necessary to suppress surface reflection on the screen in order to prevent a background, which degrades a contrast, from reflecting on the screen. Accordingly, the surface of the display device is generally treated for antireflection. An antireflection film is formed by alternately stacking thin films having high and low different refractive indexes according to an optical design, thereby causing interference of the reflected lights to attenuate the reflectance. As a method of forming such an antireflection film, a vapor deposition method or a sol-gel method has been mainly adopted, but a sputtering method is began to be adopted in view of production capacity and controllability of film thickness lately.
For component materials of the antireflection film, an oxide film of Ta, Nb, Ti, Zr, Hf or the like is mainly used as a high refractive index film, and an oxide film of Si is mainly used as a low refractive index film (e.g., Patent Documents 1 through 3). Known methods of forming an Si oxide film include (1) a method of performing reactive sputter by using an Si target in a mixture gas atmosphere of Ar and O2, (2) a method of performing plasma oxidation of an Si film which is formed by using an Si target, and (3) a method of performing sputter film formation by using a SiOx target. It is general to use the film forming methods (1) and (2), and a monocrystalline or polycrystalline Si target which is produced by a melting method is used.
Incidentally, a refractive index is particularly important for an optical thin film such as a thin film for an antireflection film. In addition, the display devices adopting the antireflection film and also the fields of portable phones, automobiles, building materials and the like require mass production, so that thin films having the same levels of refractive index are required to be formed efficiently and stably. Here, the refractive index of the thin film highly depends on its thickness, so that the stability of the film thickness must be enhanced in a step of forming the thin film for an antireflection film by the sputtering method. Especially, it is important that the thickness of the thin film is prevented from varying until about the end of the life of the sputtering target.
In a step of forming an Si oxide film by using a conventional Si target, a film-forming speed is controlled in order to control the thickness of a thin film. But, when an Si target formed of a conventional melting material is used, there is a tendency that the film-forming speed decreases as the life end comes closer. The film thickness distribution in the surface is varied with a change in the film-forming speed. The refractive index of the thin film highly depends on its thickness, so that the uniformity of a reflection preventing effect is deteriorated if the in-plane distribution of the thickness is varied. Thus, the Si oxide film, which is formed by using the conventional Si target, causes degradation of the characteristics, nonuniformization or the like of the antireflection film.
Besides, the Si target formed of a conventional melting material has a problem that the Si oxide film has a low film forming speed. The film forming speed has a direct effect on the Si oxide film and on the production cost of the antireflection film. The Si target formed of the conventional melting material also has a problem that it is easily cracked in a stage of a low frequency of use, e.g., a stage in that an erosion depth has not reached 1/4 of the thickness of the Si target. Thus, the slow film forming speed and the early crack of the Si target are causes of increasing the film forming cost of the Si oxide film and a defect occurrence rate.
Patent Document 1: Pamphlet of (PCT) International Publication No. WO 97/08359
Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. HEI 11-171596 A1
Patent Document 3: Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 2002-338354 A1

Sputtering target and process for producing si oxide film therewith


A monomer having cationic groups and a monomer having anionic groups are introduced into polymeric substrates such as fibers, woven fabrics, nonwoven fabrics and membranous materials through radiation-initiated graft polymerization, thereby producing polymeric electrolyte complexes that have good physical properties and which can be formed into shapes that suit specific uses. Also disclosed is a process according to which hydrophilic groups and/or ion-exchange groups are introduced into polymeric substrates such as fibers, woven fabrics, nonwoven fabrics and membranous materials through radiation-initiated graft polymerization. To introduce hydrophilic groups and/or ion-exchange groups, two or more monomers are used as selected from among hydrophilic monomers, monomers having cation-exchange groups (e.g. acrylic acid, methacrylic acid and styrenesulfonic acid salt), and monomers having anion-exchange groups (e.g. vinylbenzyltrimethyl ammonium salt and diethylaminoethyl methacrylate).

According to its first aspect, this invention relates to a process for producing an industrially useful polymeric electrolyte complex by radiation-initiated graft copolymerization.
Polymeric electrolyte complexes, also known as "polyion complexes", have polycations and polyanions associated by ionic crosslinking so as to form a gel. Included within a class of polyion complexes that have been studied comprehensively for the possibility of practical applications are those which are formed from poly(styrenesulfonic acid) salts and poly(vinylbenzyltrimethyl ammonium) salts. These complexes are produced by mixing dilute solutions of the two components and they are then coated onto films by a casting method using a three-component solvent system composed of water, a polar solvent and a low-molecular weight salt, or onto other materials by a dip casting method. The complexes can also be produced by dipping sodium styrenesulfonate SSS in a particulate poly(vinylbenzyltrimethyl ammonium chloride) (VBTAC) resin and then polymerizing the mixture. The complexes produced by this method are used as snake cage resins.
The polyion complexes produced by these conventional methods have problems with physical properties as exemplified by low heat resistance, as well as by stiffness and brittleness in a dry state due to the lack of flexibility. Furthermore, when those complexes are coated onto substrates such as woven or nonwoven fabrics, their interstices are filled with the complexes and it often occurs that the substrates fail to exhibit their characteristics to the fullest extent. With a view to solving the afore-mentioned problems associated with physical properties and processability, one may attempt to attach styrene, chloromethylstyrene, vinylbenzyl dialkylamine or other monomers onto shaped substrates such as woven fabrics, nonwoven fabrics and nets by radiation-initiated graft polymerization and then introduce a quaternary ammonium group and a sulfone group into the polymer. However, this approach involves certain problems such as the occurrence of a side reaction due to the introduction of functional groups and the difficulty in controlling the amount of functional groups being introduced.

Process for producing polymeric electrolyte complex and ion-exchange resin


A VR system, a wearable apparatus and a method for controlling a VR apparatus are disclosed. The wearable apparatus comprises a communication circuit, a processor, and a touch screen which are connected to one another successively; the communication circuit establishes a connection to the processor, and is configured to acquire control request information; the processor displays a control interface on the touch screen based on the control request information, generates control information based on touch actions performed on the control interface, and further sends the control information to the VR apparatus to control the VR apparatus via the control information. In this way, the present application may improve the user experience.

At present, VR (Virtual Reality) apparatuses become more and more widely used. A VR apparatus is integrated with multiple techniques including computer graphics, simulation, multimedia, artificial intelligence, computer networks, parallel processing, multiple sensors, and the like. The VR apparatus may simulate sensory functions including vision, hearing, touching, and the like. In this way, a user may immerse into virtual environment generated by a computer, and further interact with it using natural ways such as languages, gestures and the like, and thus humanized multidimensional information space may be created.
For the VR apparatus of the prior art, such as a VR helmet, hands of the user need to be placed on the VR helmet all the time to operate the game when the user is playing game via the VR helmet. In this way, the hands of the user may be very tired after a game is finished, and thus the user experience is poor.

Wearable apparatus and method for controlling VR apparatus


The present disclosure relates to a method and system for determining potential energy savings for a multisite enterprise by an energy evaluation system. The energy evaluation system receives energy consumption data and plurality of variables associated with plurality of sites and identifies a category for the plurality of variables based on a relationship of the plurality of variables with the energy consumption data. The energy evaluation system further determines one or more significant variables based on an impact of the plurality of variables on the energy consumption data and category of the plurality of variables. The energy evaluation system identifies a plurality of clusters for the multisite enterprise based on the one or more significant variables, evaluates the plurality of clusters of variables and optimizes the plurality of clusters of the plurality of variables based on the evaluation. Based on the evaluation and optimization a potential energy savings is determined.

With the tremendous increase in the number of enterprises and organizations across the world, management of the energy consumption and optimizing its usage has become one of the major concerns. The enterprises in the present scenario have various facilities which require energy across various locations. The ever increasing consumption of energy in the commercial front has stimulated for a keen focus on energy management and savings. Energy efficiency offers the largest and most cost-effective opportunity for both industrialized and developing nations to limit the enormous financial, health and environmental costs associated with energy consumption. Thus, this necessitates for an efficient and effective approach for evaluation of the energy savings.
The organizations with multiple sites across different locations have multiple facilities which consume energy. The multiple sites with various facilities posses different characteristics pertaining to size, geography, weather conditions, operating hours, type of equipment, operating conditions, instrumentation used etc. In addition to this, the adherence to policies across the different sites may not be uniform. These sites with different characteristics and inconsistent adherence to policies cause problem in identifying the energy inefficiencies.
Thus in the existing technique, the multiple sites containing different characteristics and inconsistent adherence to policies makes the identification and addressing of the energy inefficiencies a very difficult proposition. The identification and tracking of the inefficiencies at the individual sites also incurs huge cost. Thus, there is a need for an effective method for determining the potential energy savings for the organization with multiple sites.

Method and system for determining potential energy saving for a multisite enterprise


An inner tube includes a tubular body made of a first resin and a reinforcing member disposed on an inner side of the tubular body. The reinforcing member is configured of a linear body including a second resin. The inner tube has a first region including a distal portion provided with a distal opening portion and a second region that is disposed to be closer to a proximal side than the first region. The linear body projects inwardly from the inner surface of the tubular body in the first and second regions, and inwardly projects less in the first region than in the second region. In a balloon catheter, guide wire operability is improved and problems which can arise when using a metal reinforcing member are avoided. In a medical elongated body, sliding resistance of a medical device inserted in a lumen can be reduced.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2014-57793 discloses a balloon catheter as a medical device that widens a stenosed site formed in a living body.
It is desirable that a medical instrument having a relatively elongated shape like a balloon catheter has a desired physical property such that a kink, breaking, or the like does not occur when the device is used in a living body. For example, with a guiding catheter, a microcatheter, or the like, an attempt to improve kink resistance (prevention of occurrence of folding during bending) or a tensile strength by embedding a metal reinforcing member such as a coil in a resin tube has been made. Similarly, with the balloon catheter, it is considered that it is possible to improve the kink resistance or the tensile strength by adding a metal reinforcing member to a shaft.

Balloon catheter and medical elongated body


A new variety of Pelargonium named ‘KLEPZ09251’ particularly characterized by dark green foliage with strong leaf zonation, shiny salmon inflorescences with a lighter border, and a medium growth habit, is disclosed.

The present invention comprises a new and distinct variety of Pelargonium, botanically known as Pelargonium zonale, and hereinafter referred to by the variety name 'KLEPZ09251'. 'KLEPZ09251' was discovered as a seedling resulting from a controlled cross in September 2004 in Stuttgart, Germany between the proprietary female Pelargonium parent, 'Pisa kleaspia' (unpatented) and the proprietary male Pelargonium parent, 'SI 015' (unpatented). A single plant selection was subsequently chosen for further evaluation and for asexual propagation.
The new variety was first propagated via vegetative cuttings in June 2005 in Stuttgart, Germany and has been asexually reproduced repeatedly by vegetative cuttings in Stuttgart, Germany for approximately six to seven generations. 'KLEPZ09251' has been found to retain its distinctive characteristics through successive asexual propagations via vegetative cuttings.
Plant Breeder's Rights for this variety were applied for in Canada on Mar. 25, 2009. 'KLEPZ09251' has not been made publicly available or sold more than one year prior to the filing date of this application.


A device for localized bone manipulation in the pelvic area of the human body includes a base member. Structure is included within the base member for generating a laterally directed force on each ilium. The structure is disposed substantially parallel to the sacroiliac joints to direct a force generally perpendicular to the sacroiliac joints to thereby spread the pair of ilia apart.

Sacroiliac pain and dysfunction which limits the motion of the pelvis for sitting, standing, and walking results in lower back pain. A large percentage of lower back pain is caused by the sacroiliac joints causing pain down the legs or pain in the lower back. Sacroiliac joints also cause dysfunctions of the pelvis that result in problems in childbirth, bladder and other pelvic disorders, such as, uterine pain and colon pain.
It is important that treatment of the sacroiliac joint be localized to avoid straining adjacent ligaments or joints. The direction and pressure applied must be specific and must be maintained with sufficient force until a release occurs. A need has thus arisen for a device for the treatment of the pelvic area of the body, and particularly the sacroiliac joint which allows for sustained localized treatment, and for the generation of favorable vector forces applied to this joint.


A pillar assembly for a motor vehicle includes a frame portion, an interior trim panel attached to the frame portion and an energy absorbing member attached to one of the frame portion and the interior trim panel. The energy absorbing member is disposed between the frame portion and the interior trim panel. The energy absorbing member is inelastically deformable and includes an open side and a closed side. The open side is oriented to face the other of the frame portion and the interior trim panel.

1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to motor vehicles. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for absorbing impact energy during an impact collision of a motor vehicle.
2. Discussion
Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS 201) requirements scheduled for gradual introduction beginning with the 1999 model year specify maximum HIC (head injury criteria) for various points in the upper portions in the vehicle interior. In testing, the head of an anthropomorphic test device (ATD or test dummy) is impacted with the vehicle interior at a predetermined speed at each of the designated points. The HIC from the impact is derived with data obtained from a tri-axial accelerometer located on the ATD head.
Various arrangements have been proposed for absorbing energy at different impact points above the belt line. For example, commonly assigned U.S. Ser. No. 08/963,750, filed Nov. 4, 1997, discloses an apparatus for attaching a seat belt to a B-pillar which is capable of absorbing energy in the event the vehicle is involved in a side impact collision. The apparatus includes an anchorage assembly attached to a mounting plate. A D-ring is attached to the anchorage assembly and is operative for receiving a shoulder belt portion of the seat belt webbing. The anchorage assembly is preferably attached to the mounting plate at attachment points which are spaced apart on the mounting plate and are adapted to displace in an outboard direction when the anchorage assembly is subjected to a predetermined compression load. U.S. Ser. No. 08/963,750 is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
It is also known to absorb impact energy within a vehicle occupant compartment through the addition of foam, such as polystyrene or the like. One such example is shown in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,407, which is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. While often desirable for certain applications, foam energy absorbers are associated with disadvantages. For example, foam energy absorbers are relatively thick and necessarily intrude into the vehicle interior.
Thus, it is desirable to provide an improved apparatus for absorbing impact energy at interior points within a motor vehicle.

Method and apparatus for absorbing impact energy


An electrophotographic photoconductor includes an electroconductive substrate, and a photoconductive layer formed thereon containing at least one tertiary amine compound of formula (I) as an effective component: ##STR1## wherein Ar.sup.1 and Ar.sup.3 each is an aryl group which may have a substituent; Ar.sup.2 is a bivalent group of a carbocyclic aromatic compound or a bivalent group of a heterocyclic compound; R.sup.1 is a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group which may have a substituent or an alkoxyl group which may have a substituent; and R.sup.2 is a hydrogen atom, an alkyl group which may have a substituent or an aryl group which may have a substituent. A novel triphenylamine compound for use in the electrophotographic photoconductor is provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrophotographic photoconductor comprising an electroconductive substrate and a photoconductive layer formed thereon comprising at least one tertiary amine compound as an effective component. In addition, the present invention also relates to a triphenylamine compound serving as a photoconductive material in the above-mentioned electrophotographic photoconductor.
2. Discussion of Background
Conventionally, inorganic materials such as selenium, cadmium sulfide and zinc oxide are used as photoconductive materials in an electrophotographic photoconductor for use with the electrophotographic process. The above-mentioned electrophotographic process is one of the image forming processes, through which the surface of the photoconductor is charged uniformly in the dark to a predetermined polarity, for instance, by corona charge. The uniformly charged photoconductor is exposed to a light image to selectively dissipate the electric charge of the exposed areas, so that a latent electrostatic image is formed on the photoconductor. The thus formed latent electrostatic image is developed into a visible image by toner particles comprising a coloring agent such as a dye and a pigment, and a binder agent such as a polymeric material.
Fundamental characteristics required for the photoconductor for use in such an electrophotographic process are: (1) chargeability to an appropriate potential in the dark, (2) minimum dissipation of electric charge in the dark, and (3) rapid dissipation of electric charge when exposed to light.
However, while the above-mentioned inorganic materials have many advantages, they have several shortcomings from the viewpoint of practical use.
For instance, a selenium photoconductor, which is widely used at present, satisfies the above-mentioned requirements (1) to (3) completely, but it has the shortcomings that its manufacturing conditions are difficult and, accordingly, its production cost is high. In addition, it is difficult to work It into the form of a belt due to its poor flexibility, and in is so vulnerable to heat and mechanical shocks that it must be handled with the utmost care.
A cadmium sulfide photoconductor and a zinc oxide photoconductor can be obtained by coating a dispersion prepared by dispersing in a binder resin cadmium sulfide particles and zinc oxide particles, respectively. However, they ore poor in mechanical properties, such as surface smoothness, hardness, tensile strength and wear resistance. Therefore, they cannot be used in the repeated operation.
To solve the problems of the aforementioned inorganic materials, various electrophotographic photoconductors employing organic materials have been proposed recently and some ore put to practical use. For example, there are known a photoconductor comprising poly-N-vinylcarbazole and 2,4,7-trinitrofluorene-9-one, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,484,237; a photoconductor prepared by sensitizing poly-N-vinylcarbazole with a pigment of pyrylium salt, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication 48-25658; a photoconductor comprising as the main component an organic pigment, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 47-37543; a photoconductor comprising as the main component a eutectic crystal complex of a dye and a resin, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 47-10735; a photoconductor prepared by sensitizing a triphenylamine compound with a sensitizer pigment, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,180,730; a photoconductor comprising an amine derivative as a charge transporting material, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 57-195254; a photoconductor comprising poly-N-vinylcarbazole and an amine derivative as charge transporting materials, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open patent Application 58-1155; and a photoconductor comprising as a photoconductive material a polyfunctional tertiary amine compound, in particular, a benzidine compound, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,265,496, Japanese Patent Publication 39-11546 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application 53-27033.
Furthermore, there is known a photoconductor comprising as a photoconductive material a triphenylamine compound, as disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications 3-136057, 4-57056 and 4-282349. However, the triphenylamine compound for use in the above-mentioned photoconductor has no pyrenyl group.
These electrophotographic photoconductors have their own excellent characteristics and considered to be valuable for practical use with various requirements of the electrophotographic photoconductor in electrophotography taken into consideration, however, the above-mentioned conventional electrophotographic photoconductors cannot meet all the requirements for use in electrophotography.

Electrophotographic photoconductor and triphenylamine compound for use therein


A code reading device, which converts a bar code displayed on a medium into electric signals by means of a photo-electric converter and outputs them after having decoded them into data, which can be dealt with by an information processing device, wherein there are disposed two memories for storing data decoded, respectively, at the present time and data decoded at the last time and a comparator for comparing the data stored in these memories, and decoded data are transmitted to the information processing device, only when the two data differ from each other so that the amount of outputted data is reduced.

As means for inputting data in an information processing device such as an electronic computer, etc., there is known a bar code input system. The bar code input system has been widely used for sales management using separate data, data input for function check or operation/management of various devices for industrial or home use, etc.
The standard of such a bar code is explained in detail e.g. in Japanese Industrial Standard JIS 89550-1978; "Transistor" Technical Separate Volume, published by CQ Publishing Co., Jul. 1, 1984; Sensor Interfacing, No. 4, pp. 179-199 "Fabrication of Bar Codes"; etc.
FIGS. 3a and 3b show a scheme for decoding a bar code and the read-out waveform thereof. FIG. 3a shows symbols of a displayed bar code and FIG. 3b indicates a read-out waveform obtained by scanning the bar code indicated in FIG. 3a in the direction indicated by the arrow with a photo-electric converter. S in FIG. 3a shows a start code which is used for setting the initial state of the code reading device or as a reference for judging bar/space. C indicates a message code which indicates information (message) represented by this bar code. FIG. 3a shows that the code can also be read in the direction opposite to that indicated by the arrow.
The code reading device counts the number of clock signals corresponding to the interval between adjacent edges in the waveform in FIG. 3b which has two levels "H" and "L", obtained by transforming the bar code into electric signals using e.g. a self scanning type photo-electric converter. The information C is decoded from the count value thus obtained, and output to an information processing device in the form of binary data.
Further, since the bar code input system not only shortens considerably the time for data input by means of a keyboard, etc., it simplifies the input operation, and reduces the number of input mistakes. Because the photo-electric converter serving as an input device has no mechanically moving parts, the field of application becomes greater day by day.
This bar code input system is widely used e.g. for sales management whose principal data are the kind, the price, the number of sales, the sales territory, etc. for particular merchandises; presetting programs for VTR; control of microwave oven, room cooler, etc.; various information management by using various sorts of data; and operation and function check of various devices for industrial and home use.
As discussed above, the code reading device reading out a code such as shown in FIG. 3a counts the number of clock signals corresponding to the interval between adjacent edges in the waveform indicated in FIG. 3b. In the code reading device using the scanning type photo-electric converter, a bar code is scanned and decoded several tens to several hundreds of times to obtain a high reading out probability.


A cutting board with removable drip pan system includes at least one drip pan and a cutting board. The cutting board includes a top surface, a bottom surface, a front edge, a back edge, and a pair of opposing sides, and is constructed from materials suitable for direct contact with food. A pair of guides is positioned along the bottom surface of the cutting board to receive the edges of the drip pan. A plurality of channels each having at least one aperture are positioned along the top surface to direct liquids from the top surface into the drip pan.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Cutting boards are well known devices which provide a surface upon which items are to be placed while being cut with a knife or other such cutting instruments. In this manner, cutting boards function to protect a table or counter surface from being damaged by the cutting instrument, and allow users a centralized location to prepare the food items.
During the cutting procedure, it is not uncommon for the food item(s) to expel various liquids. For this reason, many cutting boards include one or more collection channels along the outer edges. As such, when the channels are full, the user must stop cutting the food, and must carefully transfer the entire cutting board to a sink or other location to remove the accumulated liquids. Unfortunately, when cutting items such as fruit, for example, it may become necessary to perform this task many times, as the narrow groves are unable to contain large amounts of liquids, and attempting to move the board often results in the liquids spilling off of the board itself.
In addition to the above, there are many occasions where the user does not wish to discard the liquids at all. For example, when cutting a roast many users attempt to collect the liquids for use in gravy. Unfortunately, and owing to the various sizes of cooking pans, it is extremely difficult to transfer the liquids from the cutting board channels into a cooking pan without spilling a majority of the collected liquids.
Accordingly, it would be beneficial to provide a cutting board with a removable drip pan that can automatically collect liquids from any type of food items for a mess free removal and/or reuse of the same.

Cutting board with removable drip pan system


Disclosed herein is a blank for making model airplanes and the article thus formed characterized in that the empennage and forward wing structure reflect a greater degree of authenticity and fidelity to true airplanes in that positive and negative dihedral are capable of being reflected therein, and further camber is possible for these plane sections as well.

Model and toy airplanes have been known to exist for some time in the prior art, and those prior art patents which appear to be most relevant to the instant application comprise the following list:
U.S. Pat. No. 2,005,842, Marcus PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,397,364, Myers PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,303,632, Grant PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,637,139, Harris PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,396,886, Rossiter PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 3,858,349, McClendon
It is to be noted by perusing these above reference patents, that they all share at least one or more of the following defects when contrasted with the instant application; lack of realism, lack of dihedral for the front wings and empennage and the means for adjusting this dihedral, the provision of the provision of camber and a resulting structure sufficiently light that it may be suspended from a ceiling by means of a thread, or alternatively may be placed on a base member formed from a blank integral with the model and displayed thereon.


An improved fuel injector nozzle employs a hydraulic spring which controls displacement of a needle check to provide a desired rate of fuel flow through an injector orifice.

Examples of high pressure fuel injection systems are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,844 issued to Grgurich et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,191,867 issued to Glassey et al. on Mar. 9, 1993. Engines equipped with high pressure fuel injection systems have an optimal volumetric injection rate. For diesel-cycle engines, this optimal injection rate has a gradual rise, a period of stabilization, followed by a sharp drop. Means of producing this characteristic profile are commonly referred to as rate shaping means or devices because they are used to shape the volumetric rate of fuel injection into an engine combustion chamber. The gradual rise followed by a sharp drop in fuel injection has the specific benefit of minimizing particulate emissions from combustion. It also minimizes combustion noise.
Fuel injector nozzles typically include a housing with an elongated cavity or void along a first axis. The cavity has a first end portion or injection chamber and a second end portion or spring chamber with a connecting guide passage disposed therebetween. An injection orifice fluidly connects the injection chamber of the cavity with an atmosphere (e.g., engine combustion chamber) external to the fuel injector. A needle check is slidably disposed within the cavity for translation between a first position in which a seat portion of the needle check seats against a first end or bottom of the cavity, the injection orifice and a second position wherein the needle is spaced from the first end and does not block the injection orifice.
In the fuel injector nozzle of Glassey et al., a spring is disposed against the needle check which tends to bias the needle toward the first end. The spring chamber of the cavity has an opening providing fluid communication with a low pressure fuel supply. Pressurized fuel directed to the injection chamber of the cavity overcomes the spring to move the check away from the first end. Any fluid in the spring chamber of the cavity displaced by movement of the check theretoward is exhausted through the opening connecting to the low pressure fuel supply.
The fuel injector nozzle disclosed by Grgurich does not have a fluid communication opening in the spring chamber. During an injection cycle, fluid seeps past the guide portion of the needle check from the high pressure injection chamber to the spring chamber, increasing the pressure within the spring chamber. The increase in pressure in the spring chamber of the cavity increases the valve opening pressure (VOP) of fluid in the injection chamber needed to lift the check from the first end of the cavity. Too high of a VOP produces a very steep initial rate of fuel injection which has the undesirable effect of increasing engine combustion noise and increasing nitrogen oxides (NO.sub.x).
It is desired to provide a fuel injector nozzle having a relatively low VOP and providing a gradually rising volumetric rate of injection with a crisp end of injection to provide a low valve opening pressure, and to minimize engine combustion noise and NO.sub.x.

Fuel injector having trapped fluid volume means for assisting check valve closure


A fiber reinforced composite wood flooring is designed particularly for use in van-type truck trailers which experience adverse operating conditions due to heavy lift truck traffic on the top side and water spray during rainy periods on the bottom side. The composite wood flooring comprises edge-glued laminated wood which is underlaid with a thin layer of fiber reinforced plastic. The top surface of the composite wood floor is the same as that of a conventional laminated wood floor. The fiber reinforced plastic underlay is composed of glass and/or carbon fibers embedded in a polymeric resin such as epoxy, phenolic, vinyl ester, polypropylene or polyamide resin. The fiber reinforcement is designed to enhance the mechanical properties of the flooring in the longitudinal and transverse directions of the floor. The fiber reinforced plastic improves the fatigue resistance of the composite wood flooring and prevents water leakage into the trailer through the floor boards.

This invention relates to an improved laminated wood flooring for van-type truck trailers. Fiber reinforced polymeric composite materials are used in conjunction with edge-glued laminated wood flooring to provide improved mechanical properties, moisture protection, fatigue resistance and light weight.
Conventional wood flooring for over-the-road truck trailers is normally manufactured with hardwoods such as oak, maple, birch, beech, etc. The green lumber used as a starting material in such manufacture is suitably dried in special drying chambers under controlled conditions. The dried lumber is then sawed into strips of rectangular cross-section and defective portions are eliminated by cross cutting the strips. During the cross-cutting process, "hooks" are formed at the ends of the lumber strips. The relatively defect-free lumber strips are smeared on their vertical sides or edges with an adhesive such as urea-melamine formaldehyde or polyvinyl acetate. The uncured edge-glued lumber strips are then assembled on a conveyor by placing them side to side and behind other strips which were previously assembled. The adhesive is cured by applying heat and edge pressure to large sections of the assembled lumber strips thus forming a unitary panel. During the assembly of the lumber strips, "hook joints" are formed at each end of every strip. These joints are simple mechanical couplings with no significant adhesive bonding. Often times, due to imperfect assembly, a readily visible gap is formed at the hook joints which can be seen from the top and bottom surfaces of the completed laminated wood floor.
The cured laminated wood is cut to a desired length (up to about 60 feet) and width (about 6 to 18 inches) to form boards. The boards are then planed to a desired thickness and shiplaps and crusher beads are machined on its sides. A shiplap is a rectangular projecting lip running along the length on each side of a floor board. The crusher bead is a small semi-circular projection running along the length on each side of a board and placed over or below a lip. When the floor boards are assembled in a trailer such that the side edges of corresponding boards are squeezed together, the shiplaps of adjacent boards overlap to form a seam. The crusher beads provide spacing between adjacent boards and help in preventing buckling of the boards due to expansion on wetting. A wood putty is applied at the hook joints on the top and bottom surfaces of the boards to fill any resident gaps. Finally, the underside of the floor boards are coated with a polymeric substance termed as "undercoating" to provide moisture protection. The finished floor boards are assembled into a kit of about eight boards for installation in trailers. Normally, a kit consists of two boards with special shiplaps so that they will fit along the road and curb sides of a trailer. The other boards may be identical in design and they are placed between the road and curb side boards. All the boards are supported by thin-walled cross-members of I, C or hat sections, each having an upper flange, which span the width of the trailer and are regularly spaced along the length of the trailer. Each floor board is secured to the cross-members by screws extending through the thicknesses of the board and the upper flanges of the cross-members.
Hardwood-based laminated wood flooring is popularly used in truck trailers since it offers many advantages. The surface characteristics of hardwoods such as high wear resistance and slip resistance are most desirable. The strength and stiffness of the flooring is important for efficient and safe transfer of the applied loads to the cross-members of the trailer. The shock resistance of wood is useful to withstand any sudden dropping of heavy cargo on the floor. Nail holding capability and ability to absorb small amounts of water, oil or grease without significantly affecting slip resistance are yet additional favorable properties of hardwood flooring.
Although the conventional hardwood flooring has many desirable features, it also suffers from certain disadvantages. For example, water from the roads is known to leak into trailers through the gaps of the hook joints that exist in the flooring. The reasons for the water leaks are believed to be the capillary action of the gaps and the tendency of the end grain of wood to absorb and store water. Although the undercoating is supposed to provide a barrier to the path of water, it may not properly cover larger gaps thus exposing them to moisture. Wetting and drying cycles can degrade the undercoating leading to its cracking and peeling away from the wood. Bending of the floor between two adjacent cross-members due to any applied load on the top of the floor also has a tendency to open the hook joints and enlarge the gaps.
A lift truck is often used on the trailer floor to load and unload cargo. The dynamic action of a moving lift truck placing heavy cargo on the trailer floor creates severe stress concentration in the flooring and some of the cross-members. A very large proportion of the weight of the lift truck and that of the cargo is transferred to the flooring through the wheels of the front axle of the lift truck due to the momentary raising of the rear axle when the lift truck is dynamically placing a heavy cargo on the floor. The effect of repeated lift truck operation on the conventional wood floor causes considerable fatigue damage including: delamination of the edge glue lines near the hook joints leading to the "pop-out" of the lumber strips; crack initiation and propagation in wood on the underside of the floor due to longitudinal tensile stresses; and edge glue line delamination due to shearing, transverse bending and twisting of the floor. The combination of moisture attack and fatigue damage to the wood floor shortens its life thus necessitating its replacement. In some cases, catastrophic structural failure of the trailer flooring system may occur leading to the unacceptable injury of working personnel and damage to machinery.
To alleviate the above-mentioned problems, a novel fiber reinforced composite wood flooring was designed, tested and refined to be an improvement over conventional wood flooring. This new composite wood flooring consists of conventional laminated wood with an underlay of fiber reinforced plastic (FRP). The top surface of the composite wood flooring is essentially the same as that of the conventional wood flooring. Since the FRP is impervious to the passage of water, it completely seals the bottom of the wood floor and solves the problem of leaky hook joints. The fiber reinforcement improves the mechanical properties of the flooring and therefore the thickness of the laminated wood can be reduced. Thus, a thinner and lighter composite wood flooring can be produced with equivalent strength when compared to a thicker conventional wood flooring. Since the reinforcement provides an excellent barrier to the "pop-out" of lumber strips, the fatigue resistance of the composite wood flooring can be improved over that of the conventional wood flooring.
Technologists are constantly trying to find ways to improve the mechanical properties, reduce weight and improve moisture resistance of wood flooring. Fouquet, U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,418 describes the use of composite plywood panels as flooring in truck trailers. The plywood was composed of veneers of wood with a majority of the veneers oriented with the wood grain along the longitudinal direction while the remaining veneers were oriented with the wood grain along the perpendicular direction. The top and bottom surfaces of the plywood panels were overlaid with resin impregnated cellulose sheets for providing moisture and slip resistance. Clearly, Fouquet has not considered a floor design involving the FRP to provide higher strength and moisture protection.
Another area of related art is the use of FRP to improve the mechanical properties of structural wood members, such as beams, columns and trusses. Theakston (Canadian Agricultural Engineering, January 1965, Pages 17-19) has discussed the use of glass fibers and epoxy resin to reinforce laminated timber beams and arches. Triantafillou and Deskovic (Journal of Structural Engineering, Vol. 118, No. 5, May 1992, Pages 1270-1284) have published test results on the reinforcement of structural wood beams by adhesively bonding prestressed carbon fiber based FRP panels using epoxy adhesive. Thus the concept of reinforcing structural wood members (especially beams) with FRP has been known for over two decades. Tingley, U.S. Pat. No. 5,362,545 describes the use of a resorcinol adhesive to bond certain special composite panels to glue-laminated wood beams (Glulams). The special composite panels containing an aramid (Kevlar.RTM.) fiber reinforcement are abraded by sanding prior to bonding. The sanding process makes the panel "hair up" due to Kevlar and helps to obtain improved bonding with wood. The Tingley patent teaches the utility of Kevlar in FRP panels to improve the bond strength of the FRP to wood while using a resorcinol adhesive.
The above-referenced patents and publications have not addressed the construction and related benefits of reinforced laminated wood flooring for use in truck trailers. The advantages of reinforcing the bottom side and disadvantages of reinforcing the top side of the laminated wood boards are not disclosed in these references. The publications do not discuss the remedies for the problems associated with the conventional wood flooring such as water leakage through the hook joints and fatigue damage due to lift truck traffic on the floor. There is no discussion in the publications regarding the type of reinforcements and resins that are suited for the fabrication of reinforced composite wood flooring. For example, the question of whether fiber reinforcement along the width (transverse) direction of the floor is advantageous is not addressed in these publications. A reinforced composite wood flooring construction such as that provided by the present invention which is suitable for lift truck movement and also for carrying cargo in a trailer has never before been invented. Methods of manufacturing the reinforced composite wood flooring of the invention have never been considered.


A thread-cutting mechanism for a sewing machine (2), especially an eyelet-buttonhole sewing machine with a moving blade (12 or 12") and a stationary blade (16). The moving blade travels back and forth in a groove (19) in a plate (1) with an aperture for the needle to pass through while it is producing a stitch. The needle-aperture plate comprises at least a top (11 or 11") and a bottom (10 or 10"). The moving blade is entirely accommodated between the top and the bottom of the plate. The stationary blade is part of the top.

The present invention concerns a thread-cutting mechanism for a sewing machine, especially an eyelet-buttonhole sewing machine with a moving blade and a stationary blade. The moving blade travels back and forth in a groove in a plate with an aperture for the needle to pass through while it is producing a stitch.
German B 1 104 805 discloses a thread-cutting mechanism of this genus in a double saddle-stitch sewing machine. A blade is positioned above a slot below the groove in such a plate and secured to a web thereon. The edge of the blade extends into the path traveled by a cutting edge on the bottom of a slide that travels back and forth in the groove. An extension on the side of the blade is bent down and rests on a web that is part of the plate. The slide itself is attached to an actuating slide. To cut the threads, the actuating slide is extracted manually, whereupon the cutting edge on the bottom of the first slide intercepts the threads and draws them tight over the upper blade, severing them. Springs attached to the actuating slide return it to its original position when released. The underthread and the needle-thread loop are severed while the two last stitching points on the material being sewn are equidistant from the needle aperture. The tails that remain with the material are accordingly approximately equal in length, which depends on the particular stitch length.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,752,871 discloses a thread-cutting mechanism on an eyelet-buttonhole sewing machine with a moving blade accommodated below the needle-aperture plate but with no stationary blade. The moving blade is bent into an L and secured to an aligning bracket. The aligning bracket itself is accommodated in a holder. The blade's alignment point is accordingly far from its cutting point. Blades of this type cannot be made of already tempered sheet steel. Such bent blades again cannot be ground to ensure dimensional stability. These thread-cutting mechanisms are accordingly not entirely reliable. Since the mechanism operates without a stationary blade to sever the underthread, it is difficult to cut thicker threads, threads with a count higher than approximately 50/3 for example. Since the needle-aperture plate and the thread-cutting mechanism are screwed tight independently, the rest of the underthread dictates the precise adjustment of the needle aperture in relation to the cutting mechanism.
The thread tails are left free subsequent to its being severed in the aforesaid thread-cutting mechanisms. The uncontrolled situation is detrimental to reliable re-initiation of the seaming procedure (stitch forming).
The buttonhole is opened at one point and sewn at another in the eyelet-buttonhole sewing machine distributed under the designation Durkopp Adler Kl. 558 by the present applicant. Once the buttonhole has been sewn, the material is advanced to a blade mounted stationary on the machine for cutting. Subsequent to cutting, the looper base is returned to its initial position, whereby the motion that actuates the looper-thread blade rotation derives from the rotation of the looper base. Since the blade is stationary, the buttonhole can be opened only at a specific point. The eyelet is accordingly always the same distance from the sewing point (needle) no matter how long the buttonhole is, whereas the position of the corner of the buttonhole varies with that length. The trimmed looper-thread tails remaining in the material accordingly depend on the length of the buttonhole. The end of a short buttonhole will be farther from the sewing point than the end of a long buttonhole. The length of the trimmed tails will consequently vary inversely with the length of the buttonhole. The needle thread is severed from the looper thread with no additional blade.

Thread-cutting mechanism for eyelet-button hole sewing machine


A connecting mechanism has a reversely tapered fit portion, an elastically expandable collet chuck fitted on the fit portion, a locking sleeve surrounding the outer peripheral surface of the fit portion and axially slidably mounted on the outer peripheral surface of the collet chuck, and a spring for biasing the locking sleeve in its advancing direction. The locking sleeve advances with the collet chuck being fitted on the fit portion and locks the collet chuck such that the collet chuck cannot be expanded in the fit portion.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a connecting mechanism for connecting two member together, and more particularly to a connecting mechanism for detachably connecting together the respective ends of two rod members of a space craft structure, a space station structure, and the structures of any other mechanisms, apparatuses, tools or the like.
2Description of the Related Art
There have been developed various kinds of foldable and extendible truss structures of space crafts, space stations and the like. They have hinge mechanisms connecting together the respective ends of a plurality of rod members of the truss structure which is folded or extended at the hinge mechanisms so as to take their predetermined folded or extended shapes.
Such a truss structure occupies a small volume when it is folded. It is launched by a rocket or the like into the space in a folded state and is extended into a required developed shape in the space.
Although the truss structure has a complicated structure in an extended state in general, it is designed so as to occupy a minimum volume in a folded state. In this regard, rod members around the hinge mechanisms draw complicated loci when the truss structure is folded and extended. Since five or six rod members are connected to a hinge mechanism in general, the hinge mechanism has a very complicated structure. This results in a heavy weight, a poor reliability and a high manufacturing cost of the hinge mechanism. Many kinds of truss structures must be manufactured in order to obtain many different extended states. Thus, many different kinds of complicated hinge mechanisms must be made according to the different truss structures, leading to a high manufacturing cost.
An attempt has been made to develop an extending type truss structure which uses, instead of hinge mechanisms, detachable connecting mechanisms for connecting the respective ends of rod members together. The detachable connecting mechanism comprises a main body to which the respective ends of rod members are removably connected, flexible wires extending through the main body and the rode members, and springs housed in the rod members for giving a tension to the wires.
When the rod members are pulled out from the main body, they have come to be connected to the main body only by the wires so as to be rotated to be directed in any directions, whereby the truss structure can be folded or extended. In the extended state, on the other hand, the respective ends of the rod members are fixedly fitted to the main bodies, whereby the required truss structure is formed.
It is preferred that each connecting mechanism used in such an extendible truss structure is constructed such that the respective ends of the rods are securely and fixedly fitted to the main body only by the tension of the wires when the ends of the rod members are pulled toward the main body only by the tension of the wires.

Connecting mechanism for detachably connecting two members together


A deployable structure is described including a first and a second robotic system (4, 6; 604, 606), each of which includes: a respective distal element (12;22); at least one respective shape-locking element (14;24); and a respective coupling structure (16;26) operable in a first and a second operating mode. When the coupling structure of the first robotic system operates in the first operating mode, it is elastically deformable and operable so as to move the first robotic system; when the coupling structure of the first robotic system operates in the second operating mode, it forms a guide for the movement of the second robotic system. When the coupling structure of the second robotic system operates in the first operating mode, it is elastically deformable and is operable so as to move the second robotic system; when the coupling structure of the second robotic system operates in the second operating mode, it forms a guide for the movement of the shape-locking element of the first robotic system.

As is known, today the need for deployable structures, able to follow curvilinear trajectories, is particularly felt. Said need is particularly felt, for example, in the biomedical field, where probes are required able to follow curved trajectories inside the human body, or in the field of contactless inspections.
In greater detail, the need is felt for deployable structures which can be operated in such a way that the desired trajectory is followed not only by a distal end of the structure, but also by the body of the structure, as it is deployed. In other words, it is desirable for the proximal sections of a deployable structure to follow the same trajectory as the one followed previously by the distal portions; generally, this capacity is referred to as follow-the-leader, i.e. the distal end, or also as shape-keeping, i.e. the trajectory followed by the distal end. Furthermore, it is desirable for the follow-the-leader capacity to be intrinsic to the deployable structure, i.e. not exploit the characteristics of the environment in which the structure operates.
For example, the patent application EP2446803 describes an articulated robotic probe, which includes a first and a second mechanism arranged concentrically, each of which can be directed in desired directions; furthermore, each mechanism comprises a plurality of rigid cylindrical arms, interconnected by means of spherical joints, and is controlled alternatively in a first mode, in which it is rigid as a whole, and in a second mode, in which the arms are mobile with respect to one other.
The robotic probe according to the patent application EP2446803 is intrinsically of the follow-the-leader type, however its capacity for faithfully following a predetermined trajectory is limited, since it is of the articulated type. Furthermore, when one of the two mechanisms runs in the area of the joints of the other mechanism, undesired vibrations are generated.
The patent application US2001/0053874 describes an endoscope comprising a distal terminal portion, of movable type, and an operating device, which is operatively connected to the distal terminal portion, to operate the latter. The patent application US 2011/0295065 describes a segmented instrument having an elongated body, which includes a plurality of connections and a hinge which connects a pair of adjacent connections of said plurality of connections. Lastly, the U.S. Pat. No. 6,036,636 describes an endoscope including an elastic member, which connects a distal terminal portion of an insertion portion to a proximal terminal portion of a tip portion, so as to form a space portion. A wire extends from the tip portion to a proximal side of the insertion portion and is curved in the space portion.

Shape-keeping deployable structure including a pair of robotic systems of the continuum type

FONDAZIONE ISTITUTO ITALIANO DI TECNOLOGIA


An inflator for the inflation of inflatable articles such as life vests and the like, such inflator being operated automatically upon being subjected to water as upon the ditching or parachuting of an aviator wearing a life vest provided with such inflator. In the preferred embodiment of the inflator disclosed, the automatically operating portion of it is embodied as an attachment to a known manually operated inflator, the resulting inflator being capable of operation both manually and automatically. The automatically operating portion of the inflator incorporates a releasable blocking device which holds an actuator pin operated by a coil compression spring in cocked condition until the releasable blocking device releases the actuator pin, which thereafter thrusts a piercing pin against and through the sealing diaphragm of a gas-containing capsule. The releasable blocking device is provided with a water destructible element which retains the releasable blocking device in actuator pin cocking position until the water destructible element is subjected to water and sufficiently weakened so that the releasable blocking device releases the actuator pin. The actuator body having specially designed apertures so that inadvertent water splashes and moisture will not prematurely activate the inflator. The apertures promote an activation of the inflator only during emergency situations in which the inflator is submerged under water.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an automatic inflator for inflatable articles such as life rafts, life vests, and the like. In the disclosed preferred embodiment thereof, the inflator is capable of operation both manually and automatically, the inflator in the latter mode of operation being operated automatically upon its subjection to water.
2. Description of the Background Art
Presently, there exists many types of inflators designed to inflate inflatable articles such as personal floatation devices (life vests, rings and horseshoes), life rafts, buoys and emergency signalling equipment. Inflators typically comprise a body for receiving the neck of a cartridge of compressed gas such as carbon dioxide. A reciprocating piercing pin is disposed within the body of the inflator for piercing the frangible seal of the cartridge to permit compressed gas therein to flow into a manifold assembly of the inflator and then into the article to be inflated. Typically, a manually movable firing lever is operatively connected to the piercing pin such that the piercing pin pierces the frangible seal of the cartridge upon jerking of a ball lanyard. U.S. Pat. No. 3,809,288, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein, illustrates one particular embodiment of a manual inflator.
While manual inflators work suitably well, it was quickly learned that in an emergency situation, the person needing the assistance of the inflatable device, such as a downed aviator, injured person, or a man overboard, would fail or be unable to manually activate the inflator. Accordingly, it was realized that a means should be provided for automatically activating the inflator in such an emergency situation.
In response to this realized inadequacy of the prior art manual inflators, water activated automatic inflators were developed which, when exposed to a fluid such as water, automatically activated the piercing pin of the inflator when immersed in water thereby causing inflation of the inflatable device. Typical water activated automatic inflators comprise a water activated trigger assembly including a water destructible or dissolvable element which retains a spring-loaded actuator pin in a cocked position in alignment with a piercing pin. Upon exposure to water, causing the element to destruct or dissolve, the spring loaded actuator pin is released to forcibly move from the cocked position to an actuated position to strike the piercing pin, either directly or indirectly by means of an intermediate transfer pin. Upon striking the piercing pin, the pin fractures the seal of the cartridge thereby allowing the gas contained therein to flow into the inflatable device to inflate the same. Representative automatic actuators for inflators are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,059,814, 3,091,782, 3,426,942, 3,579,964, 3,702,014, 3,757,371, 3,910,457, 3,997,079, 4,223,805, 4,267,944, 4,260,075, 4,382,231, 4,436,159, 4,513,248, 4,627,823, and 5,076,468, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
While the above referenced automatic inflators operate quite well in inflating inflatable devices in the event of an emergency situation, one major disadvantage to these automatic inflators is their tendency to be prematurely activated in non-emergency situations by errant moisture and water splashes coming into contact with the water destructible or dissolvable element contained in the actuator body. This unwanted water contact was due to the design of the apertures on the actuator bodies utilized in the prior art. The apertures are to facilitate the entering of water into the actuator body during emergency situations, like when an aviator is downed in the ocean, so that the water will contact the destructible or dissolvable element and thereby automatically activate the inflator.
The problem of prematurely and unintentionally activated automatic inflators is so acute that it is not uncommon to be readily replacing the water destructible elements and resetting the automatic inflators on a regular basis when the inflators are constantly stored around water. It is noted that each of the prior art water activated automatic inflators disclosed in the above referenced patents teach a structure which may easily be disassembled to facilitate the replacement of the water destructible element and gas-containing capsule so that the inflator may be reused.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide an improvement which overcomes the aforementioned inadequacies of the prior art devices and provides an improvement which is a significant contribution to the advancement of the inflation art.
Another object of this invention is to provide an automatic inflator that has an actuator body having specially designed apertures so as to preclude errant moisture and water splashes from prematurely activating the automatic inflator in non-emergency situations.
Another object of this invention is to provide an automatic inflator having an actuator body with apertures designed such that the bottom internal side of the apertures are sloped from inward to outward thereby preventing water splashes from entering the actuator body and contacting the water destructible element therein and activating the inflator.
Another object of this invention is to provide an automatic inflator that has an actuator body having an internal means for preventing the water destructible element and actuator pin from twisting relative to each other while resetting and assembling the inflator thereby preserving the pre-release structure of the water destructible element which was being deformed upon initial engagement with the actuator pin upon assembly.
Another object of this invention is to provide an automatic inflator that will only automatically inflate when it is submerged in water.
Another object of this invention is to provide an automatic inflator having an intermediate pin that more securely engages the piercing pin upon the activation of the inflator.
Another object of this invention is to provide an automatic inflator having an intermediate pin that requires less tooling and thereby is more economical to manufacture.
Another object of this invention is to provide an automatic inflator having an actuator pin that is made of a single one piece injection molded structure thereby lessening the cost of manufacturing the automatic inflator.
Another object of this invention is to provide an automatic inflator having a single one piece cylindrical cap that internally movably secures the actuator pin thereby reducing the number of required parts to assemble the inflator.
Another object of this invention is to provide an automatic inflator for inflating an inflatable article with gas from a gas-containing capsule, comprising in combination: an inflator body including a bore; a means at an upper end of the bore for receiving the gas-containing capsule; a piercing pin assembly which is reciprocatably positioned within the bore; an actuator assembly positioned at a lower end of the bore for actuating the piercing pin assembly to allow gas from the gas-containing capsule to flow into the bore; means for fluidly connecting the bore to the inflatable article; and the actuator assembly comprising an actuator body having apertures positioned thereon, the apertures being in fluid communication with air passages facilitating access to the actuator assembly, the apertures further having bottom internal surfaces that slope downward, whereby when the inflator is in proper vertical position with the gas-containing capsule facing upwards the bottom internal surfaces of the apertures promote the flow of water splashes away from the air passages so as to allow the entering of water therein when submerged in water, and when not submerged in water, concurrently thereby preventing the entering of inadvertent water therein.
These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended invention. Many other beneficial results can be obtained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or by modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a more comprehensive understanding of the invention may be obtained by referring to the summary of the invention, and the detailed description of the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


A method and apparatus for synchronous communication of frames of serial data is provided. A framing pattern and data payloads are communicated over a first communication path. A clock signal is communicated over a second communication path. The clock signal is synchronous to the data to allow easy data recovery at the receiver. The framing pattern is communicated between each data payload. The framing pattern has a length greater than the length of each data payload. The framing pattern includes one or more bits of a first logic level followed contiguously by one or more bits of a second logic level. Since the framing pattern is longer than each data payload, a data payload can never contain sufficient information to mimic a framing pattern. A transmitter and a receiver are provided that avoid the need for complex circuitry while readily identifying any communication path failures so as to prevent propagation of erroneous data.

It is often desirable to communicate digital information in frames of fixed length. To avoid the need for large numbers of parallel communication paths, information is often transmitted in a serial form, with the several bits of data of a frame communicated in a temporally sequential manner.
It is possible to communicate frames of data over a single communication path, such as a single wire, optical path, or other medium. However, such a one-wire solution requires a complex analog clock recovery circuit. Also, large, complicated state machines are required for framing pattern detection. Additionally, complicated state machines are required to reduce the possibility of false "frame lock" due to a data frame that happens to mimic a framing pattern. Consequently, the complexity and associated expense of a one-wire technique makes it a less than ideal solution.
Another approach involves three parallel communication paths, which one path dedicated to communicating the data, a second path dedicated to communicating a frame pulse, and a third path dedicated to communicating a clock signal. While the separation of the data, frame pulse, and clock signal avoid the need for complex circuits required for the one-wire technique, this separation results in three times as many communication paths needed to communicate the information. Thus, for any given likelihood that a communication path will fail, a three-wire solution has a much greater likelihood of system failure. Proper handling of a communication path failure is also much more complex. For example, if only one or two of the three communication paths were to fail, it could be difficult to detect the exact nature of the communication path failure, and erroneous data may be propagated at the receiver output. Thus, the design of the receiver necessarily becomes complicated if the receiver is required to handle three possible failure modes in a manner such that erroneous data is not propagated. Therefore, a three-wire technique can result in reduced reliability, availability, and serviceability, where availability is defined as the ability to detect a failure quickly and serviceability is defined as the ability to detect which communication path has failed. Consequently, the three-wire technique provides a less than ideal solution.
Thus, a solution is needed that avoids the complex circuitry of the one-wire technique and the reduced reliability, availability, and serviceability of the three-wire technique.

Method and apparatus for synchronous communication of frames of digital information


A method for electrically connecting a surface conductor to an edge conductor on an intersecting side of a non-conductive substrate, includes the steps of forming a through-hole in the substrate, and metallizing the through-hole to form a conductive via. Then, the substrate through the via is cut to form an intersecting side. An electrical connection may be made between a surface conductor through the via to an edge conductor on the intersecting side of the substrate. A preferred embodiment further includes forming an insulating sealing plug in the via, prior to cutting the intersecting side. The above method provides an edge connection without the need to wrap a conductive conduit around the corner of the substrate. Such wrap-around conduits are vulnerable to damage during subsequent handling of the substrate.

Space-based surveillance systems use infrared detectors coupled to computerized data processors for monitoring heated objects and their movements in the atmosphere below and on the ground. The infrared spectrum covers a wide range of wavelengths, from about 0.75 micrometers to 1 millimeter. The function of infrared detectors is to respond to energy of a wavelength within some particular portion of the infrared region. Heated objects dissipate thermal energy having characteristic wavelengths within the infrared spectrum. Different levels of thermal energy, corresponding to different sources of heat, are characterized by the emission of signals within different portions of the infrared frequency spectrum. Detectors are selected in accordance with their sensitivity in the range of interest to the designer. Similarly, electronic circuitry that receives and processes the signals from the infrared detectors is also selected in view of the intended detection function.
Current infrared detection systems incorporate arrays of large numbers of discrete, highly sensitive detector elements the outputs of which are connected to sophisticated processing circuitry. By rapidly analyzing the pattern and sequence of detector element excitations, the processing circuitry can identify and monitor sources of infrared radiation. Though the theoretical performance of such systems is satisfactory for many applications, it is difficult to actually construct structures that mate a million or more detector elements and associated circuitry within a small area of about a square inch in a reliable and practical manner. Considerable difficulties are presented in aligning the detector elements with conductors on the connecting module and in isolating adjacent conductors in such a dense environment. Consequently, practical applications for contemporary infrared detection systems have necessitated that further advances be made in areas such as miniaturization of the detector array and accompanying circuitry, minimization of noise intermixed with the electrical signal generated by the detector elements, and improvements in the reliability and economical production of the detector array and accompanying circuitry.
Various constructions have been proposed to support the necessary connectivity and processing functions of the module. Those constructions have heretofore included the formation of a multi-layer passive substrate having metallized patterns formed thereon. Electronic devices such as integrated circuits are mounted on one or more of the substrate layers and connected to the metallized patterns to communicate signals between the electronic devices and the detector elements or external electronics. Conductive conduits formed upon opposite sides of each layer of such a multi-layer substrate are typically electrically interconnected by the use of conductive vias wherein a thin conductive film is sputter-coated into a through-hole interconnecting each side of the layer or substrate. Via interconnects with glass sealing plugs improve conductivity and enhance reliability of the conductive path. Glass sealing plugs also facilitate subsequent processing of the substrate wherein it is desirable to prevent fluid leakage from one side of the substrate to the other side thereof.
Some multi-layer module designs require a conduit to continue onto the edge of a substrate layer, for connection to adjacent modules or other external circuitry. Although "wrap around" connections have proven generally suitable for this purpose, they possess inherent deficiencies which detract from their overall effectiveness and desirability. The corner between the sides of the substrate is most susceptible to physical damage in subsequent processing and handling. In view of the shortcomings of wrap around connection, it is desirable to provide a more reliable electrical connection to conducting pads on the edges of substrate layers, using conventional integrated circuit manufacturing techniques.


This invention relates to collapsible display members in general and more specifically to a personalized calendar suitable for mailing to current or prospective clients having a plurality of recesses, slots and pivotable members which allow various items to be displayed upon the calendar, and which provide support surfaces for maintaining the display surfaces in an upright position.

This invention relates to the area of promotional display items wherein a business entity mails printed material bearing its company logo or name, to either established or potential customers. The item normally perform some functional duty and are intended to be utilized and displayed by the customer, whereby the business entities name or logo are constantly visible. The purpose for such display items is to keep the customer, constantly if only on a subconscious level, exposed to the business entities trade name or trademark, to promote product or service identification, and presumably result in future sales activity.
Some of the problems associated with the prior art devices are the lack of a "personal touch," the failure to utilize the full advertising potential of the display item, the use of cheap or inexpensive materials which cause the customer to immediately discard the item, thereby thwarting any potential benefit to the sender, and the lack of ingenuity in the design and configuration of the item to disguise its commercial aspect and insure that the envelope in which the item is mailed is indistinguishable from personal or business correspondance.


A dust collector includes a pneumatic duct chamber and a bag house interconnected by a valve assembly to provide incremental and varying air pressure within the bag house to prevent damage to the filter bags disposed within the bag house due to sudden changes in air pressure.

This invention is in the field of bag house-type dust collectors and associated air delivery systems. The invention specifically pertains to the control and regulation of the volume of air supplied to a bag house during a cycle of a filtering operation. The cycle comprises the flow of dirty particle bearing air through porous filter medium bags with the resulting deposit of particulate on the outside (entrance) surface of the bags. Periodically air flow through the system is interrupted for the cleaning of particulate from the surface of the bags by means of air blast or shaking for removal of collected particulate from collector compartments. Air flow is then reestablished through system to resume the dust collecting process.
The invention is specifically involved with periodic re-establishment of air flow through the system. During pauses in air flow, the collector bag chamber is brought to near atmospheric pressure. After the bag cleaning process by a secondary system of air blast or shaking, air flow is resumed. In order to protect the bags from air impact damage, air flow and pressure in the system must be reestablished at a steady, incremental and controlled rate.


A switch for coupling a row of three input/output optical fibers. The switch is based on a spatial light modulator device, having a tiltable mirror element, with a grazing mirror layer, a lens layer, and a fiber holder layer assembled on top. The grazing mirror layer directs light to or from the outer fibers to or from the tiltable mirror and permits the fiber holder layer to hold the axes of the ends of the fibers parallel to each other. The lens layer is interposed between the fiber holder layer and the grazing mirror layer for coupling light into and out of the fibers.

With the increasing use of fiber optics for communications, a need has arisen for improved means for routing signals carried by optical fibers. Switching for these fibers has previously been achieved with optoelectronic devices. Optical fibers are coupled with circuitry that permits the switching to be done electrically, and then the electrical signals are converted back to optical signals for further transmission. The conversion processes introduce loss and distortion into the signals, and the data rate that can be handled by such switches is limited by the speed of the electronic circuitry.
Purely optical methods for fiber optic switching show promise of supporting higher data rates. One such optical method involves the use of devices based on spatial light modulator (SLM) designs, especially those having reflective elements. An SLM is an array of electronically addressable elements, each of which is capable of separate mechanical movement in response to an electrical input. In the case of reflective SLM's, incident light illuminates the surface of the SLM and is redirected in a predetermined direction by those reflective elements that are positioned to reflect the light in that direction.
Many SLM's are binary in the sense that each pixel element may have either of two states. The element may be off, which means that it delivers no light. Or, the element may be on, which means that it delivers light at a maximum intensity. Other SLM's have three states, in which light may be redirected to either of two positions. The action the SLM performs upon light is in large part dependent upon the optical system into which the SLM is incorporated.
Various SLM architectures have been developed, which include variations with respect to the type of reflective elements and the addressing circuit. Reflective element types include elastomer, membrane, and cantilever or torsion beam types. Addressing may be by e-beam input, optically, or by means of an integrated circuit. Cantilever and torsion beam architectures, in combination with integrated circuit addressing, are described in an article entitled "Deformable-Mirror Spatial Light Modulators", by Larry J. Hornbeck, published in Proc. SPIE 1150, pp. 86-102 (1990).
In switching applications, the SLM is used to selectively couple an input fiber to one or more output fibers. For example, in an "on/off" type switch, light from an incoming fiber may be focussed onto a mirror element, which is positioned so that it either does or does not reflect the light into an output fiber. Or, in a "one to n" routing switch, incoming light may be focussed on an array of mirror elements, which are positioned to selectively redirect the light along further paths.
A problem with using SLM's as optical fiber switches is that many existing designs are not easily and cheaply manufactured. An important consideration in many designs is how to couple light in one fiber of the switch to a mirror element of the SLM without interfering with light in the other fibers of the switch. To achieve this isolated coupling, some designs require the fibers to meet the mirror element at an angle. The designs call for a precise positioning and securing of the fibers, as well as individual alignment of corresponding lenses, during manufacture. It is also difficult to devise sufficiently compact and rigid structures to support all of these various components at an angle, particularly for routing-type switches. A need exists for an SLM-based optical switch that is more easily manufactured and that possesses good rigidity in order to withstand vibration and shock.

Fiber optic switch with spatial light modulator device


The invention relates to a stator (1) for an electric drive motor having a number of stator teeth separated by grooves, wherein the stator teeth are wound by a multi-strand winding, and wherein one strand comprises several coils (5, 6), and wherein individual coils (5) each comprise multiple stator teeth, and preferably multiple stator teeth are combined at the height of their tooth necks into a collective stator tooth (4) having a tooth base (3) and multiple tooth heads (2), characterized in that two stator teeth each are combined into a collective stator tooth (4).

The invention relates to a stator for an electric drive motor having a number of stator teeth which are separated by slots and having a multiple-section winding, with one section comprising a plurality of coils and with individual coils each surrounding a plurality or teeth. Slotted stators for electric drive motors having a number of symmetrical stator teeth and a multiple-section three-phase winding are known.
One example of a known stator is described in German patent application DE 198 38 335 A1. The stator described in the cited document has a number of stator teeth, which are separated by slots, and a multiple-section winding, which in particular may be in the form of a three-phase winding. In this case, one section comprises a plurality of coils and individual coils each surround a plurality of teeth, with a plurality of stator teeth in each case being combined to form one stator tooth with a plurality of tooth heads.
As is known, the efficiency of a stator is governed essentially by its slot filling, that is to say the total conductor cross section with respect to the total area of the stator.
The stator according to the invention for an electric drive motor has a number of stator teeth separated by slots; in this case, the stator teeth have a multiple-section winding wound around them. A section comprises a plurality of coils, and individual coils each surround a plurality of teeth. In this case, two teeth are in each case combined at the level of their tooth neck to form a combined stator tooth. The advantage of this measure according to the invention is better utilization of the physical volume by a novel arrangement of the winding area created by the described configuration of the stator teeth, while ensuring that the stator according to the invention can be wound using the existing winding technologies (flyer, pull-in, bar and needle-winding techniques). This measure leads to an improvement in performance and to a reduction in the size of the electric motor equipped with the stator according to the invention, thus making it possible to save material and to achieve a better power-density/cost ratio.
One advantageous variant of the invention consists in that each stator tooth is wound around, and/or both the tooth feet and the tooth heads are wound around.
Furthermore, it is advantageous if a coil in each case surrounds two tooth heads of adjacent teeth, and in each case one tooth foot is surrounded by a further coil. In this case, it has been found to be expedient if the stator teeth are designed in such a manner that the coils around the tooth feet and the coils around the tooth heads have similar parameters to, for example, a similar flux chain.
In a further advantageous embodiment of the invention, only combined teeth are located on the stator circumference.
A further variant of the invention consists in that coils, through which current flows for one phase at the same time, of adjacent teeth are wound in opposite senses.
The capability to wind the stator according to the invention can be enhanced in that stator teeth with a first and a second geometric shape are arranged alternately on the stator circumference, such that asymmetric slots are formed between the stator teeth. In this case, it has also been proven advantageous for the tooth feet on one of the two geometric shapes not to have coils wound around them.
A further advantageous embodiment of the invention consists in that all the sections of the winding are wound and are symmetrical both on the tooth feet and on the tooth heads; in this case, all the coils are wound in the same sense on the stator heads and the stator feet.
Exemplary embodiments of the invention will be described in principle in the following text, with reference to the drawings.


In an example of the invention, network devices are classified into areas. Each of the areas includes edge nodes. A network management apparatus retains fault information including values each indicating whether or not a fault has occurred in each of the areas, retains detour path information including values indicating edge nodes, values indicating alternative areas to the areas and priorities assigned to the alternative areas, identifies, when determined that a fault has occurred in a first area based on the fault information, an alternative area to the first area based on the detour path information, determines, when determined that the fault has not occurred in the identified alternative area, the identified alternative area as a second area through which the active path passes, determines two edge nodes included in the second area, and detect network devices through which the active path passes between the two edge nodes.

An amount of information distributed in an intranet has been increasing year by year, and importance of communication services for companies have been growing increasingly. In view of the above-mentioned situation, carriers provide companies as users with a bandwidth guarantee service for laying a communication network for coupling intra-company local area networks (LANs) arranged in a plurality of locations to one another and reserving a bandwidth for each company.
Examples thereof that are being introduced include a communication system to which a multi protocol label switching-transport profile (MPLS-TP) is applied. The MPLS-TP realizes a bandwidth guarantee by establishing an end-to-end path for which a bandwidth is reserved in advance.
With the growth in demand for communication services aimed at companies and the growth in necessity for reliable communications of important data, the bandwidth guarantee service is required to meet a demand for reliability of continuing important communications by switching a communication path even at an occurrence of a large-scale wide-area disaster. In addition, a large number of communications often break simultaneously on an occasion of the wide-area disaster, and there is a demand to reduce system load due to communication path switching processing in order to quickly recover the communications.
Therefore, there is proposed a technology in which, if a fault is detected within a network on an occasion of a disaster, it is examined whether or not communications are enabled (a ping is carried out) across a suspected peripheral segment (segment in which the fault is expected to have occurred but from which a notification such as an alarm has not been detected yet) based on network topology information, to thereby identify a fault segment, and the communications are recovered in order from the communication given a highest priority, to thereby continue the communication service (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-061196).
In addition, there is proposed a technology in which a control device groups and manages femtocell base stations, and only if a ratio of the number of failed base stations to the number of base stations deployed in the group exceeds a threshold value defined in advance, notifies a network management apparatus, to thereby reduce notification processing load on the control device (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2009-231861).
Further, as a search method for a detour path, there are proposed technologies in which a path calculating device manages intermediate areas and boundary nodes thereof from a transmitting end and a receiving end and calculates the path within each area (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2009-060673). The path calculating devices disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2009-060673 calculate only the path within each area, to thereby enable a path search without collecting topology information on a whole network.
Further, the path calculating devices disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2009-060673 select an inter mediate area in the path search and search for the path satisfying a condition within the intermediate area. When the path satisfying the condition is not found, another intermediate area is selected to search for the path satisfying the condition again. The path calculating devices repeat the above-mentioned processing until the path satisfying the condition is found.
In addition, there is proposed a technology in which a network device manages an area in which a redundant path formed by combining an active path and a standby path is set (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2006-340058). The standby path is in an opened and communicable state in advance, and the network device switches the communication path to the standby path when a communication fault occurs in the active path. When detecting a fault both in the active path and in the standby path, the network device sets a detour path in an area different from the area for the redundant path.

Communication system, communication method and network management apparatus