In the car navigation system including a vehicle communication apparatus mounted on a vehicle, different diffusion codes are assigned to each road such as a single lane road and a road with double lanes. In data transmission to other vehicles, each vehicle switches to and uses the diffusion codes assigned to the road on which own vehicle currently travels. Even if many on-coming vehicles travel in line, radio wave interference between the vehicles does not occurs and the lacking of communication channels also does not occurs because each vehicle uses the diffusion codes assigned to the road on which own vehicle travels.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle communication apparatus for performing radio communication between vehicles on roads and a system for supporting vehicles, namely, drivers on the vehicles which pass through a narrow road, and in particular, relates to the vehicle communication apparatus and the system that are incorporated in a car navigation system mounted on each vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, there have been reported many techniques using a vehicle communication apparatus. For example, there are three prior art documents that have disclosed following techniques, in Japanese patent laid open publications (a) JP2000-276696, (b) JP-H11-83508, and (c) JP2004-245610. Such a conventional vehicle communication apparatus assists the vehicle to communicate with other vehicles.
The prior art document (a) JP2000-276696 has disclosed a vehicle collision evading control apparatus. The apparatus is capable of receiving position data of an on-coming vehicle and possibility data of the presence of the on-coming vehicle. The apparatus then calculates a possibility of collision and time and a position of the predicted collision between the driver's vehicle and the on-coming vehicle based on the received data. Further, the apparatus informs those predicted data items to the driver of the vehicle in order to avoid the vehicle collision.
The prior art document (b) JP-H11-83508 has disclosed a car navigation system. The apparatus is equipped with a radio communication means or a radar detection means capable of detecting an on-coming vehicle on a narrow road such as a mountain path. Those means then calculate a predicted point on the narrow road on which own vehicle and the on-coming vehicles are passing through each other. The radio communication means then informs the predicted point to both the drivers of its own vehicle and the on-coming vehicle.
The prior art document (c) JP2004-245610 has disclosed a car navigation system capable of detecting a presence of an on-coming vehicle using a vehicle communication apparatus for communicating with vehicles. The apparatus detects the presence of an on-coming vehicle traveling in a narrow area on a road where both vehicles cannot pass through each other when one vehicle approaches within a given distance measured from the narrow area on the road or when one vehicle is traveling on the narrow area. The apparatus calculates and then informs an optimum predicted point where the vehicle and the on-coming vehicle would be passing through each other.
FIG. 9A shows a road map where there are a wide road 2A having double traffic lanes, a narrow road 1a of a single traffic lane, and a wide road 2B having double traffic lanes. The narrow road 1a is a road where it is difficult for opposing vehicles to pass through each other and only a single vehicle can pass through it. Each of the wide roads 2A and 2B is a road where it is easy for opposing vehicles to pass through each other.
When a vehicle A that stops on the wide road 2A near the narrow road 1a and travels to the wide road 2B through the narrow load 1a, the vehicle A must be wait for a long time period until the tail vehicle E in the on-coming vehicles B to E passes through the narrow road 1a. In this case, even if using the conventional communication apparatus described above, although the vehicle A can recognize the position and running state of the vehicles B to E, it is impossible to solve the problem in which the vehicle A must be wait at the point on the wide road 2A near the narrow road 1a until the tail vehicle E passes through the narrow road 1a completely.
For example, the stop vehicle A transmits a request to stop the on-coming vehicles D and E on the wide road 2B near the narrow road 1a. Even if the vehicle A on the wide road 2A receives information regarding the stop of the vehicles D and E on the wide road 2B according to the request transferred from the vehicle A and thereby recognizes that the vehicles D and E stop on the wide road 2B, the vehicle A can not approach to and pass through the narrow 1a and the wide road 2B until the vehicles B and C have passed through the narrow road 1a. The vehicle can thereby pass through the narrow road 1a without waiting until the tail vehicle E passes through the narrow road 1a.
However, in the case shown in FIG. 9B where plural on-coming vehicles B to H travel in train on the narrow road 1a and the wide road 2B, there causes various problems such as a communication channel shortage or radio interference. The communication channel shortage means the lacking of the number of channels in radio communication. When those problems occur, the vehicle A can communicate with only some of the on-coming vehicles, for example, with the vehicle B and the vehicle E, but cannot communicate to all of the on-coming vehicles B to H. In this case, the vehicle A can not communicate with the on-coming vehicles G and E in order to send the request to stop the on-coming vehicles G and H. Further, a display device incorporated in the vehicle A cannot display the presence of the vehicles G and H traveling on the wide road 2B. That is, the display device on the vehicle A displays only the positions of the on-coming vehicles B to E and own vehicle A, but cannot display the presence of the vehicles g and H, as shown in FIG. 8C.

Vehicle communication apparatus and system for supporting vehicles passing through narrow road


A method and related apparatus for reproducing a periodic signal received over a communication channel, or signal window of a desired profile, wherein the resolution of the reproduced signal or window is not limited by a digital sampling interval. The profile can be selected to match and compensate for known or estimated characteristics of a communication channel. A frequency difference, due to a Doppler frequency shift or other errors between received signals and locally generated signals, is determined in a receiver and utilized to derive a fine code phase measurement that is then usable to generate a succession of magnitudes that reproduce the desired signal or window profile.

This invention relates generally to techniques for reproducing a signal or event by using discrete digital samples and, more particularly, to techniques for reproducing periodic signals or events in the processing of global positioning system (GPS) signals. Although the present invention has application in areas other than GPS signal processing, the GPS environment provides a useful context for describing the invention and its background.
As is well known, a GPS receiver can accurately determine its position in three dimensional space, based on radio-frequency (RF) signals received simultaneously from multiple earth-orbiting satellites. There is a sufficient number of satellites in orbit to allow more than one (and preferably at least four) to be visible to a receiver at any point on or above the earth. The signals transmitted from each satellite uniquely identify the satellite and also include ephemeris data that define the satellite orbit. From a measurement of the time for transmission of a code signal from each satellite to the receiver, an apparent distance or range to each satellite is calculated in the receiver. If these range values were accurate, the receiver could compute its three-dimensional position from three satellite positions and ranges. Because a receiver clock cannot be exactly synchronized with clocks on the satellites, there is, however, an inherent time error in the distance measurements, which are referred to as pseudoranges. Thus there are four unknown quantities: the three location dimensions and the unknown time error between satellites and the receiver. (The satellites themselves are maintained in precise synchronism by control from ground stations.) Therefore, so long as there are at least four satellites in view the time error can be eliminated and the receiver position accurately determined.
The satellite signals include a pseudorandom digital code sequence, which varies in an apparently random pattern that repeats itself over time. Each satellite is uniquely identifiable from its code sequence. One function of the receiver is to generate a replica of this pseudorandom code and to synchronize the locally generated code signals with the incoming code signals, in a process usually referred to as code tracking. GPS code signals may be viewed as a sequence of periodic events in the form of state changes of a digital signal level. For purposes of discussion, it will be helpful to consider just one state change in the code as being a periodic event of interest. It is usually desired, as in a GPS receiver, to reproduce this signal state change event as accurately as possible, in terms of the time of the change. Both the satellite generating the signal event to be reproduced and the receiver attempting to effect the reproduction generate the event to coincide with the timing of a digital clock period. Although, both the satellite and the receiver may use digital clocks that are nominally synchronous in terms of frequency, they will not be perfectly synchronous, for two reasons. First, the receiver clock will in general not be as accurate as the satellite clock and there will inevitably be a slight frequency difference between the two clocks. Second, because the satellite is in motion relative to the receiver, signals received from the satellite will be shifted in frequency by the Doppler effect as the satellite approaches and then recedes from the position of the receiver.
Because of this unavoidable asynchronous relationship between sample clocks on a satellite and on the receiver, the event under consideration cannot be faithfully reproduced in the receiver. More specifically, the reproduced event may occur as much as almost a full sample interval earlier or later than the actual event. Depending on the difference between the local receiver clock and the satellite clock, the reproduced event will gradually "drift" in time with respect to the actual event, at a rate depending on the clock frequency difference and on the Doppler effect, which, of course, varies relatively slowly as the satellite passes over the receiver.
A similar problem arises if one wishes to reproduce a non-digital event, such as a periodic analog signal, using a signal generator that is limited by the use of a digital sampling technique. A signal transition not occurring at a sample point will be reproduced as occurring at the nearest preceding sample point. In effect, the reproduced signal will not only be skewed in time with respect to the original signal, but will also not be a faithful representation of the signal magnitude, even at the sample points.
In processing GPS and other types of signals, it is sometimes desired to sample a signal waveform within a predetermined time window. For example, in GPS receivers, performance in a multipath signal environment is enhanced by sampling within a prescribed multipath mitigation window. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,023,489 issued to Ronald R. Hatch, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,963,582 issued to Thomas A. Stansell, Jr. There is, however, an inherent difficulty in sampling across a desired window if the starting and ending points of the window do not coincide with available digital sample points. The desired window and the reproduced window may be the same integral number of sample intervals in width, but the reproduced window may be offset in time from the desired position because of the necessarily asynchronous relationship between receiver and satellite clocks. Because the reproduced window will "slide" in time with respect to the desired window, integration over time may still produce close to the desired windowing effect, but better performance would be obtained if the reproduced window more accurately matched the desired window at each occurrence.
The multipath mitigation windows described in the patents referenced above are limited in shape. The window width is limited to the sampling interval, or multiples the sampling interval, and the window height is limited to a fixed height or some simple multiples or sub-multiples of the fixed height. One underlying assumption of prior techniques for reproducing digital signal events is that digital signals change instantaneously from one level to another, such as from +1 to 0 or −1. Although a digital signal event may be close to this ideal when transmitted, the same signal event as received will be necessarily distorted in profile because any practical transmission channel is limited in bandwidth and cannot, therefore, faithfully transmit instantaneous changes in signal level. Ideally, detection of signal event received through a limited-bandwidth channel should make use of a signal window that has a profile designed with the effect of the channel taken into account. GPS receivers prior to the present invention have not had this capability.
It would be extremely advantageous in GPS receiver design, as well as in other signal processing systems, to be able to reproduce a desired digital or analog signal event, or a signal sampling window, with a higher temporal resolution than digital sampling usually allows. Ideally, the reproduced signal event or window should have a desired waveform or profile without being constrained to particular fixed magnitudes and without being constrained by the digital sampling interval. The present invention is directed to this end.

Method and apparatus for processing digitally sampled signals at a resolution finer than that of a sampling clock


The present invention discloses a releasable and reusable tie strap for bundling a group of wires together. A plastic tie strap has a clip head attached to the strap. The clip head has a hinged cover which can be releasably closed over the strap. The clip head has a ratchet tooth which engages ribs on the strap. The hinged cover is closed over the strap to cause the ratchet tooth to engage the ribs. The strap may then be drawn through the clip head to achieve the desired tightness around the object it is tying. The ratchet tooth prevents withdrawal of the strap from the clip head until the hinged cover is opened. Thus, the device may be opened and reused. Alternate embodiments utilize pins in lieu of the hinged cover.

Tie straps are widely known and used in industry. They are used for many purposes to combine or bundle objects together such as a bundle of wires.
Representative of the art is U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,510 (1995) to Smith which discloses a tie strap having a free end and a lock end. The lock end has a ratchet with a set of engagable teeth which engage teeth in the tie strap. The free end of the tie strap is threaded through the lock end to a desired tightness around the bundle to be tied. Security use for handcuffs is disclosed. For opening, a separate key is inserted in the lock end to release the ratchet thereby enabling the free end to be pulled out of the lock end.
Also representative is the releasable tab cable tie, U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,280, which discloses a cable tie having a tab for releasing the tie strap. A lock end has a tab with a ratchet tooth. The ratchet tooth engages ribs on the tie strap when in use. To release, the tab is rotated back on a hinge attached to the lock end causing the ratchet tooth to disengage from the ribs allowing the tie to be released and removed. This device requires both hands of the operator to release it when locked and it may slip when loaded in the operating position.
Other representative art is:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,391 (1996) to Hoffman discloses a tie head for use with elongated plastic strap.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,288 (1996) to McAndrews et al. discloses an adjustable loop clamp for improved retention of electrical cables, tubes, or hoses.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,127 (1993) to Christensen discloses a tie down device for securing a load.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,669 (1991) to Dyer discloses an improved cable or bundle tie arrangement including a plastic tip strap and a tie head.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,572,466 (1986) to Yamaguchi et al. discloses an anchor leg with an elongated projection and a resilient harness clip for engagement with a projection.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,303 (1986) to Richmond et al. discloses a clip for releasable attachment to a stud having a screw thread or annular ribs comprising a mount, which is elliptical in cross-section and has transverse flanges on its long sides to engage the thread or ribs of the stud.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,047,268 (1977) to Buttriss discloses a worm gear clamping apparatus including a molded, one-piece worm-gear drive head and strap assembly, the end of the strap oppositely disposed from the worm-gear drive head defining partial internal thread on its outward surface.
Generally, tie straps cannot be released and reused once they have been fastened. The prior art tie straps generally require the operator to use both hands to release the tie strap. They also tend to slip when under load. Further, tie straps which are releasable are generally complex and require a plurality of parts to function such as Smith's device noted above. Consequently, they are relatively expensive and are uneconomical for most repetitive use applications. The present invention addresses these shortcomings by supplying a finger-operated release head as an integral part of the lock end of a tie strap. It also provides a releasable tie strap which does not slip under pressure.


This invention relates to a heat insulator and a structure using the heat insulator and aims to provide a heat insulator which can be subject to a dry application using the heat insulator in the molded board or a wet application, having characteristics similar to those of a conventional inorganic heat insulator and a high strength which has not been provided before and to provide a structure using the above heat insulator. The heat insulator of this invention is prepared by mixing 3 to 50 parts by weight of synthetic resin emulsion in solid content equivalency, 1 to 20 parts by weight of organic microballoon, 0.3 to 5 parts by weight of carbon fiber and 10 to 200 parts by weight of inorganic microballoon with 100 parts by weight of cement. And the heat insulator of this invention is prepared by mixing 3 to 50 parts by weight of synthetic resin emulsion in solid content equivalency, 1 to 20 parts by weight of organic microballoon and 0.3 to 5 parts by weight of carbon fiber with 100 parts by weight of cement.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a heat insulator and a structure using the heat insulator.
2. Prior Art
A heat insulator for buildings which heretofore has been known includes a heat insulator molded board such as Styrofoam (a registered trademark) to be integrally applied by being driven in the form to serve for a fill-up concrete block, too and an expanded urethane to be applied by being sprayed onto a concrete surface on a job site.
An organic heat insulator such as the above expanded urethane and Styrofoam to be applied on a job site has a very low thermal conductivity of 0.02 to 0.03 (kcal/mhr.degree.C.), exhibiting a remarkable heat-insulating property. But it has a disadvantage that it is easily flammable because it is organic.
In view of legal fire preventing regulations and to provide strength, a flame retardant material such as a plaster board is put on the organic heat insulator to form a base on which facing is required to be applied. This requires many construction steps to make a building fireproofed, resulting in a disadvantage requiring much labor.
As a heat insulator free from the above disadvantage, an expanded mortar, pearlite mortar and other lightweight mortar are used as an inorganic heat insulator.
Such an inorganic heat insulator is hard to burn. But it has a thermal conductivity of 0.2 to 0.3 (kcal/mhr.degree.C.) which is very large as compared with that (0.02 to 0.03 kcal/mhr.degree.C.) of an organic heat insulator. Therefore, it has a disadvantage that its heat-insulating performance is inferior to that of the organic heat insulator.
Thus, it is difficult to obtain a desired heat-insulating performance. And to obtain the desired performance, a very thick insulator is required
Heretofore, as the inorganic heat insulator for a building, there has been used a heat-insulating material such as an expanded mortar and pearlite mortar in which cement is mainly used in the form of matrix.
Such an expanded mortar and pearlite mortar are applied by a wet process such as spraying and troweling or a dry process in the form of a heat insulator molded board.
The above expanded mortar, pearlite mortar and other heat insulators are inorganic and are hard to burn because they use cement in the form of matrix. And they have properties which are expected to provide strength to some extent. But their thermal conductivity is 0.2 to 0.3 (kcal/mhr.degree.C.) which are very large as compared with 0.02 to 0.03 (kcal/mhr.degree.C.) of Styrofoam, expanded urethane and other organic heat insulators, being inferior in a heat-insulating performance.
Therefore, it is difficult to obtain a desired heat-insulating performance. To obtain the desired performance, it is required to use a very thick insulator.
On the other hand, the organic heat insulators such as an expanded urethane and Styrofoam which are applied on a job site have a thermal conductivity of 0.02 to 0.03 (kcal/mhr.degree.C.) which is very small, exhibiting a remarkable heat-insulating performance. But they have a disadvantage that they are easily flammable because they are organic.
In view of legal fire preventing regulations and strength, a flame retardant material such as a plaster board is put on the organic heat insulator to form a base on which facing is required to be applied. This requires many construction steps to make a building fireproofed, resulting in a disadvantage requiring much labor.

Cement based heat insulator, method of making same and structure having same


The present invention provides a vibratory mill having a grinding chamber, preferably coated with an abrasion resistant polymer, the grinding chamber being charged with glass beads having a diameter in the range of about 0.1 mm to about 10.00 mm. There is further provided a method of using this mill to provide substantially pure ground dental filler particles having an average particle size less than the average wavelength of visible light.

In dentistry, practitioners use a variety of restorative materials in order to create crowns, veneers, direct fillings, inlays, onlays and splints. Composite resins are a type of restorative material which are suspensions of strengthening agents, such as mineral filler particles, in a polymerizable resin matrix. These materials may be dispersion reinforced or particulate reinforced, depending on the type of filler, or may be hybrid composites or flowable composites, depending on the filler loading. A full discussion of these materials is included in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/181,507, entitled "Optimum Particle Sized Hybrid Composite," C. Angeletakis, et al., filed on Oct. 28, 1998 now pending (incorporated herein by reference in its entirety). Highly pure submicron particles are useful in these composite resin materials because they impart the desirable optical properties of high gloss and high translucency.
While agitator ball mills are known for producing submicron particles, they have previously not been used to produce particles for filler in dental composites because of the impurities which result. The inclusion of impurities in dental composites can decrease translucency and negatively affect color. Prior art mills are set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,335,867; 4,129,261; and 4,117,981, all assigned to Draiswerke GmbH and each incorporated herein by reference in its entirety; and 5,065,946, assigned to Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. These prior art mills typically include ceramic or metallic agitators and grinding chambers. During milling, the ceramic or metallic material of the agitator and grinding chamber spalls and abrades, and the abraded particles become intimately mixed with the material being ground. In the case of fillers for dental restoratives, these abraded particles are unacceptable due to their impact on the optical properties of the restorative. The abraded particles may cause decreased translucency due to light scattering and may impart an unnatural color. Draiswerke, Inc., Mahwah, N.J., has applied a polyurethane coating on the agitator and grinding chamber for their PML-H/V machine. The pigment from this coating, however, also contaminates the composites, making them unacceptable for dental use.
The predominant types of milling methods are dry milling and wet milling. In dry milling, air or an inert gas is used to keep particles in suspension. However, fine particles tend to agglomerate in response to van der Waals forces which limits the capabilities of dry milling. Wet milling uses a liquid such as water or alcohol to control reagglomeration of fine particles. Therefore, wet milling is typically used for comminution of submicron-sized particles.
A wet mill typically includes spherical media that apply sufficient force to break particles that are suspended in a liquid medium. Milling devices are categorized by the method used to impart motion to the media. The motion imparted to wet ball mills includes tumbling, vibratory, planetary and agitation. While it is possible to form submicron particles with each of these types of mills, the agitation or agitator ball mill is typically most efficient.
The agitator ball mill, also known as an attrition or stirred mill, has several advantages including high energy efficiency, high solids handling, narrow size distribution of the product output, and the ability to produce homogeneous slurries. The major variables in using an agitator ball mill are agitator speed, suspension flow rate, residence time, slurry viscosity, solid size of the in-feed, milling media size and desired product size. As a general rule, agitator mills typically grind particles to a mean particle size approximately 1/1000 of the size of the milling media in the most efficient operation. In order to obtain mean particle sizes on the order of 0.05 .mu.m to 0.5 .mu.m, milling media having a size of less than 0.45 mm can be used. Milling media having diameters of about 0.2 mm and about 0.6 mm are available from Tosoh Ceramics, Bound Brook, N.J. Thus, to optimize milling, it is desirable to use a milling media approximately 1000 times the size of the desired particle. This minimizes the time required for milling.
Previously, the use of a milling process to achieve such fine particle sizes was difficult due to contamination of the slurry by the milling media. By using yttria stabilized zirconia (YTZ or Y-TZP, where TZP is tetragonal zirconia polycrystal) the contamination by spalling from the milling media and abrasion from the mill is minimized. Y-TZP has a fine grain, high strength and a high fracture toughness. High strength Y-TZP is formed by sintering at temperatures of about 1550.degree. C. to form tetragonal grains having 1-2 .mu.m tetragonal grains mixed with 4-8 .mu.m cubic grains and high strength (1000 MPa), high fracture toughness (8.5 MPa m.sup.1/2) and excellent wear resistance. The use of Y-TZP provides a suitable milling media for providing relatively pure structural fillers having mean particle sizes less than 0.5 .mu.m. The YTZ milling media, however, is very expensive. So although agitator milling with YTZ milling media is time efficient, it is costly due to the expense of the milling media as well as the cost of the machine.
Furthermore, despite some reduction in contamination of the ground filler particulate by the use of YTZ milling media, agitator ball mills still introduce an unacceptably high level of contamination into dental composites containing the ground filler. The high intensity of the grinding action produced by the agitator, and the high momentum of the media, result in abrasion and spalling of the grinding chamber wall.
Vibratory ball mills are often used for submicron particle grinding because they provide a high production rate at low capital cost, fine and uniform product size distribution, low power consumption, and low contamination. The rate of milling is a function of the shape and size of the media. Cylindrical media are generally preferred, according to Engineered Materials Handbook.RTM., Desk Edition, ASM International, p 742 (1995), because they spin on an axis and therefore produce small shear forces. The major variables in using a vibratory mill are the amplitude of vibration, energy developed in the mill, slurry viscosity, solid size of the in-feed, milling media size and desired product size. Because vibratory milling involves low intensity grinding, abrasion and spalling of the grinding chamber wall and the milling media are less of a concern, as compared to agitator mills.
The vibratory mill has not previously been found useful for low contamination grinding of particles having a size less than the wavelength of light. U.S. Pat. No. 4,544,359 describes a dental restorative material with a borosilicate glass/barium silicate filler having an average particle size diameter of from about 0.5 .mu.m to 5.0 .mu.m. The filler is ground by a conventional wet milling process, such as vibratory milling, using a grinding or milling media such as low alumina, porcelain balls, stainless steel balls, borosilicate glass rods, or any other low alumina, non-contaminating grinding medium. Thus, there is a need for a low contamination, vibratory grinding mill and method to produce particles having a mean particle size of less than 0.5 .mu.m.

Vibratory mill and method of use for low contamination grinding


A bearing alloy for high-temperature application essentially consisting of, by weight, 2 to 8% Cr, 2 to 10% Fe, 0.1 to 1.5% Si, 2 to 22% Co, 1.4 to 11% Mo, and the balance of Ni and unavoidable impurities, and having a structure in which hard particles of a Co--Mo--Cr--Si-system intermetallic compound are dispersed the matrix in the proportion of 5 to 35 weight percent to the matrix. The respective component of the intermetallic compound is also counted in the above alloy composition.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bearing alloy for high-temperature application which is used in an oxidizing atmosphere at high temperature.
2. Technical Background
Conventional bearings for high-temperature application, especially bearings in exhaust gas control valves of gasoline or diesel engines, variable valves of gas turbines, and so forth, are used in an oxidizing atmosphere at a temperature exceeding 700.degree. C. There has been an increasing demand for a bearing alloy which can be suitably used in an oxidizing atmosphere at such a high temperature. In order to satisfy the demand, the inventors of the present application suggested a bearing alloy which can be used even at 900.degree. C., as disclosed in JP-A-5-17839.
The known bearing alloy consists of, by weight, 9 to 30% Cr, 5 to 19% Fe, 0.1 to 1.5% Si, 2 to 22% Co, 1.4 to 11% Mo, and the balance of Ni and unavoidable impurities, and has a structure in which hard particles of a Co--Mo--Cr--Si-system intermetallic compound are dispersed in the alloy matrix. Further, according to JP-A-5-17839, in order to improve oxidation resistance of the known bearing alloy, it is essential to sinter a green compact of a powder thereof and subsequently hot-compress it to increase the density thereof. When the mating material is an Ni-base heat resisting alloy of the precipitation hardening type, the bearing alloy exhibits excellent sliding properties because of the hardness as high as Hv 300 to 500. However, for example, when a soft mating material such as austenitic stainless steel of Hv 100 to 300 is used, wear loss of the mating material increases in spite of the fact that the friction coefficient is low, which results in a problem of deterioration in durability owing to wear of the mating material. Moreover, in the manufacturing process of the known bearing alloy, the density must be increased by hot-compressing so as to improve oxidation resistance, which makes the process complicated.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a bearing alloy for high-temperature application which scarcely wears a mating material even if the mating material is soft and has a hardness not higher than Hv 300, which bearing alloy has excellent oxidation resistance without increasing the density by hot-compressing and can be easily manufactured.

Bearing alloy for high-temperature application


Provided is a planar antenna based system for use as a radar level meter, microwave barrier or other suitable system. The system includes a planar radiator element arranged on a substrate, and a cover plate element made from a dielectric to cover the planar radiator element. In one alternative embodiment, the cover plate includes a cavity proximate the planar radiator element, into which the microwaves generated by the planar radiator element can be coupled. In another alternative, the cover plate is provided in a surface-flush position against the substrate in the edge region of the cavity. These arrangements may be provided in a plurality so as to support an overall system containing multiple radiator elements.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a planar antenna with a cover. More specifically, the present invention relates to a planar antenna for a radar level meter or a microwave barrier system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A planar antenna for a radar level meter is known from DE 198 00 306 A1, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, in which an axial HF input is achieved by means of planar radiator elements (patch antennas) arranged on a substrate at the end face of a waveguide.
There are applications in level measurement where detrimental high temperature or high pressure can occur and the planar antenna can also be exposed to a chemically corrosive atmosphere.
Therefore, in the related art, the planar radiator elements arranged on a substrate are covered with a sheet of ceramics or PTFE (polytetrafluorethylene, such as Teflon), in order to achieve in particular an adequate chemical resistance. Such a planar antenna is shown schematically in FIG. 12. Here, a planar radiator element 102 is arranged on a circuit board 101 as the substrate and covered flush with the surface by a PTFE cover 201. But this has highly negative influence on the HF properties of the individual planar radiator elements, in particular, only a slight bandwidth is available. Moreover, the cover also has great influence on the patch geometry. Unfortunately, detriments remained.
In order to improve the HF properties of the antenna and the chemical resistance, WO 2007/124860 A1, which is incorporated herein by reference, proposes placing a planar radiator element directly on the back side of such a cover, separating the region outside the planar antenna from the region inside it in the way of a process separation, such a cover being made from ceramics or glass. Thanks to this arrangement of the radiator element inside the antenna, a good seal against the surroundings, i.e., the process surroundings, can be achieved. Unfortunately, the drawback, is the use of ceramics or glass, since this leads to very high costs in production, especially in regard to the mounting and the necessary sealing work.
Finally, it is also known how to arrange the cover with a distance of half a wavelength of the microwaves or a multiple thereof in front of the planar radiator element. But, again unfortunately, this has the effect of greatly reducing the pressure bearing ability and therefore one must again resort in disadvantageous manner to harder and more pressure-stable materials like glass or ceramics, so that as already mentioned above the manufacturing costs of such a planar antenna rise considerably.
Thus, the inventors have recognized the problem and have proposed a solution so as to indicate a planar antenna of the kind mentioned at the outset, having an improved construction and thus being easy to produce, without having the above-mentioned disadvantages. In particular, such a planar antenna should be able to withstand a high process pressure.
Accordingly, there is a need solved by a planar antenna with a cover with the features of proposed invention including an adaptive radar level meter or microwave barrier, as well as other systems.


An electrical connector comprising one or more housings and a carrier adapted to receive the housing(s). The housing comprises a flexible lance adapted to flex to maintain an electrical contact in the receptacle. The carrier comprises a protrusion. When the lance is in its unlock condition, the lance cooperates with the protrusion to prevent the housing from reaching the assembled position with respect to the carrier. When the lance is in its lock condition, the lance does not cooperate with the protrusion.

In particular, the present invention is related to an electrical connector having an outside or encompassing enclosure with an interior space which receives a module which can be inserted, and which can receive electrical contacts.
Such a module comprises at least one housing with a plurality of receptacles each adapted to receive a respective electrical contact.
Published European application EP0220394 already describes such an electrical connector with an inner housing and a surrounding housing, the square inner housing having chambers for contact elements and also at least one longitudinal separating wall. The surrounding housing is surrounding the inner housing in a positively locking manner, and a cable channel is arranged above the inner housing in the surrounding housing. The locking of the contact in the inner housing is provided by a flexible lance of the contact on one side of the receptacle, which cooperates with a shoulder of a receptacle. An additional blocking device for the contact elements is provided, which can be pushed into the inner housing and projects into the chambers. The additional blocking device is designed as one piece with respect the surrounding housing. The blocking function is provided on the side of the receptacle opposite to the locking side. However, when bigger contacts come into play, the above locking system has proved inefficient.

Delphi International Operations Luxembourg S.A.R.L.


A method for manufacturing a device may include providing an ultra-high voltage (UHV) component that includes a source region and a drain region, and forming an oxide layer on a top surface of the UHV component. The method may include connecting a low voltage terminal to the source region of the UHV component, and connecting a high voltage terminal to the drain region of the UHV component. The method may include forming a shielding structure on a surface of the oxide layer provided above the drain region of the UHV component, forming a high voltage interconnection that connects to the shielding structure and to the high voltage terminal, and forming a metal routing that connects the shielding structure and the low voltage terminal.

Technological advances in semiconductor materials and designs have produced generations of semiconductor devices where each generation has smaller and more complex components than the previous generation. However, these advances have increased the complexity of processing and manufacturing semiconductor devices. Thus, a quantity of interconnected components per semiconductor device area has increased, while a geometry size of a smallest component that can be created using a fabrication process has decreased.

Shielding structure for ultra-high voltage semiconductor devices

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


A first shutter covers a first supply port formed in an outer peripheral surface of a main body, and can move in an outer peripheral direction along the outer peripheral surface of the main body. A pair of guiding members respectively formed on both ends of the first shutter guide the first shutter in the outer peripheral direction. A lock mechanism fixes the first shutter to achieve a closed state of the first supply port. The lock mechanism includes a protrusion provided to the first shutter, the protrusion being capable of engaging with a recess formed in the outer peripheral surface. Fixing by the lock mechanism is released when the protrusion elastically deforms and is disengaged from the recess. The protrusion, the recess, and the first supply port are disposed along a virtual curve between the pair of guiding members.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a toner bottle, a supply unit, and an image forming apparatus.
2. Discussion of the Background
A technique of sealing toner in a toner supply container by covering an opening with a container shutter has conventionally been known (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-323082 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-102133).
Furthermore, a technique of locking the container shutter with engaging portions attached to guiding members also has conventionally been known (for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-323082). Still furthermore, a shutter member that moves along a rotational axis of a toner bottle also has conventionally been known (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-102133).
In the toner supply container of Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-323082, the guiding members are provided on both ends of the container shutter, which moves in an outer peripheral direction of the toner supply container. As described above, the engaging portion that locks the container shutter is attached to each of the guiding members. Thus, both ends of the container shutter are locked by the engaging portions.
As a result, depending on variation of sizes of the guiding members, the engaging portions, and the container shutter at the time of formation, opening and closing operation of the container shutter might not be able to be carried out stably.

Toner bottle, supply unit, and image forming apparatus


When no photographing is carried out, a control unit applies no voltage to a dimming film of a lens concealing plate, sets a light blocking state to scatter incident light, and prevents a camera lens from becoming visible. When an operator depresses a photographing mode selection key, the control unit applies a predetermined voltage to the dimming film to set a transparent state, thereby enabling photographing to be carried out. In this state, when photographing a landscape, the operator directs the camera lens to an object, sets a cellular phone ready, decides a composition by watching an image of the object displayed on a main display unit, and correcting a position of the cellular phone, and depresses the photographing mode key again.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable electronic equipment having a photographing function, and more particularly, it relates to a portable electronic equipment such as a cellular phone comprising an electronic camera that is used for photographing landscapes or people.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a portable electronic equipment such as a cellular phone has been provided with not only calling functions but also a data communication functions. Browsers and mailer programs have been loaded to enable access to be made to home pages through Internet, and electronic mail to be transferred. Thus, Internet connection services and electronic mail services can be easily enjoyed irrespective of time and place.
Recently, for example as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-245267, a portable electronic equipment loaded with an electronic camera has been popularized. In transfer of electronic mail, an operator attaches a surrounding landscape or his own face as image data, and sends the data to a receiver. The receiver can check a condition or the like of the opposite party on a display.
As shown in FIG. 1, a folded cellular phone 101 having such a photographing function is provided with a photograph window 103 of an electronic camera on a backside (side which becomes an outer surface side when the phone is folded) of a casing 102. A camera lens 104 is arranged in the vicinity of the photograph window 103.
A display unit and an operation unit are provided on a front side (side which becomes an inner surface side when the phone is folded) of the casing 102, and an image before the camera lens 104 is displayed on the display unit. An operator (i.e., a photographer) checks a range of an object or decides a composition while watching the image on the display unit.
Just beside the photograph window 103, a small mirror surface unit 105 is provided for deciding a composition, which is used when the operator (photographer) himself or an object after the operator (photographer) is photographed. When photographing himself, the operator (photographer) set the cellular phone 101 ready so as to display his own image on the mirror surface unit 105, and checks non-deviation from a photographing range by watching the image on the mirror surface unit 105.
However, visibility of the camera lens 104 causes a problem that when the operator performs an operation in a place of many people (in a train, a store or the like), the people around him may feel uneasy or uncomfortable because of possible impingement on rights of portrait by being photographed without notice or awareness. In addition, the camera lens 104 and the mirror surface unit 105 have an uncomfortable design feeling, and easily stand out. For reasons of design, the mirror surface unit 104 is provided only in a small region so as not to stand out, making it difficult to accurately check the photographing range. Consequently, impossibility of assuring photographing of a desired image has been a problem.

Portable electronic equipment having a photographic function and a concealable lens


According to an apparatus and method for determining degradation of a reforming catalyst degradation which reforms a mixture of air and fuel, in a reformer that supplies a reformate gas to an engine of a vehicle, a temperature sensor detects a temperature of a reforming reaction portion in which is provided a reforming catalyst. An ECU then determines the extent of degradation of the reforming catalyst based on the temperature detected by the temperature sensor.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus and method for determining whether a reforming catalyst, which reforms a mixture of air and fuel, is degraded.
2. Description of the Related Art
As technology for improving fuel consumption in an engine for a vehicle, an apparatus is known which adds a reformate gas that includes CO and H2 both to fuel to be supplied to the combustion chamber of the engine, as well as to the exhaust gas discharged from the combustion chamber (e.g., JP(A) 2002-54427). This apparatus includes a CO shift catalyst that carries a noble metal on a carrier which has the ability to store oxygen. This CO shift catalyst produces a reformate gas that includes CO and H2 by reforming CO and H2O into H2 and CO2 through a water gas shift reaction.
The CO shift catalyst degrades over time, and as the CO shift catalyst degrades, the concentration ratio of CO to H2 (i.e., the CO/H2 concentration ratio) in the reformate gas produced by the CO shift catalyst changes. The related art therefore calculates the ability of the CO shift catalyst to store oxygen from the oxygen concentration at the fluid inlet and the fluid outlet of the CO shift catalyst. A numerical value indicative of this oxygen storage ability is then used to estimate the CO/H2 concentration ratio of the reformate gas. This CO/H2 concentration ratio of the reformate gas is related to the extent of degradation of the CO shift catalyst. The amount of reformate gas to be added to the fuel injected in the engine and to the exhaust gas discharged from the engine is then set based on this estimated CO/H2 concentration ratio.
In actuality, however, it is not easy to accurately calculate the oxygen storage ability of the catalyst. Moreover, in the example of the related art given above, it is necessary to use a plurality of expensive oxygen sensors in order to calculate the oxygen storage ability of the catalyst. Accordingly, with the related art, it is in effect difficult to easily and accurately determine degradation of the catalyst.

Apparatus and method for determining reforming catalyst degradation


A method of manufacturing an industrial fabric comprising the steps of knitting a first fabric strip portion having two widthwise edges and a width that is narrower than the industrial fabric to the desired length of the industrial fabric, forming the first fabric strip portion into an endless loop by joining the widthwise edges with a CD seam, placing the first fabric strip portion around two rotatably mounted rolls and knitting a second fabric portion to the desired length of the industrial fabric, where knitting of the second fabric portion proceeds along the first edge of the first fabric portion and is a knitted continuation thereof. Alternatively, knitted fabric strips can be joined together in a spiral fashion to create a full width industrial fabric.

1. Field of the Invention
The instant invention relates generally to industrial fabrics. More particularly, the invention relates to a replacement for conventional weaving of substrates and fabrics for endless or seamed industrial fabrics, such as those used in the forming, pressing and dryer sections of a papermaking machine. The invention, however, can also be applied to industrial fabrics used in applications other than papermaking.
2. Background of the Invention
During the papermaking process, a cellulosic fibrous web is formed by depositing a fibrous slurry, that is, an aqueous dispersion of cellulose fibers, onto a moving forming fabric in the forming section of a papermaking machine. A large amount of water is drained from the slurry through the forming fabric, leaving the cellulosic fibrous web on the surface of the forming fabric.
The newly formed cellulosic fibrous web proceeds from the forming section to a press section that includes a series of press nips. The cellulosic fibrous web passes through the press nips supported by a press fabric, or, as is often the case, between two such press fabrics. In the press nips, the cellulosic fibrous web is subjected to compressive forces which squeeze water therefrom, and which adhere the cellulosic fibers in the web to one another to turn the cellulosic fibrous web into a paper sheet. The water is accepted by the press fabric or fabrics and, ideally, does not return to the paper sheet.
The paper sheet finally proceeds to a dryer section, which includes at least one series of rotatable dryer drums or cylinders, which are internally heated by steam. The newly formed paper sheet is sequentially directed in a serpentine path around each in the series of drums by a dryer fabric, which holds the paper sheet closely against the surfaces of the drums. The heated drums reduce the water content of the paper sheet to a desirable level through evaporation.
It should be appreciated that forming, press and dryer fabrics all take the form of endless loops on the papermaking machine and function in the manner of conveyors. It should further be appreciated that paper manufacture is a continuous process which proceeds at considerable speeds. That is to say, the fibrous slurry is continuously deposited onto the forming fabric in the forming section, while a newly manufactured paper sheet is continuously wound onto rolls after it exits from the dryer section.
The instant invention relates primarily to the press fabrics used in the press section of a papermaking, tissue or through-air drying (TAD) machine, but it may also find application in the forming and dryer sections of a papermaking, tissue or TAD machine, in which the fabrics are generally known as forming fabrics, dryer fabrics, and TAD fabrics as well as in those fabrics used as bases for polymer-coated paper industry process belts, such as, for example, long nip press belts.
Forming fabrics play a critical role during the papermaking process. One of their functions is to form and convey the product being manufactured from the forming section to the press section or next papermaking operation. Dryer fabrics play a critical role as well, transporting the paper product through the dryer section of the papermaking machine.
In addition, the instant invention may be used to construct corrugator belts used to manufacture corrugated paper board and engineered fabrics used in the production of wetlaid and drylaid pulp, in processes related to papermaking such as those using sludge filters and chemiwashers, and in the production of nonwovens produced by hydroentangling (wet process), meltblowing, spunbonding airlaid, or needle punching. Such fabrics and belts include, but are not limited to embossing, conveying, and support fabrics and belts used in processes for producing nonwoven products.
Contemporary fabrics are used in a wide variety of styles designed to meet the requirements of the papermaking machines on which they are installed for the paper grades being manufactured. Generally, they comprise a woven base fabric, which, depending on the application may include a needled batting of fine, nonwoven fibrous material. The base fabrics may be woven from monofilament, plied monofilament, multifilament or plied multifilament yarns, and may be single-layered, multi-layered or laminated. The yarns are typically extruded from any one of several synthetic polymeric resins, such as polyamide and polyester resins, used for this purpose by those of ordinary skill in the papermaking machine clothing arts.
Woven fabrics take many different forms. For example, they may be woven endless, or flat woven and subsequently rendered into endless form with a seam. Alternatively, they may be produced by a process commonly known as modified endless weaving, wherein the widthwise edges of the base fabric are provided with seaming loops using the machine direction (MD) yarns thereof. In this process, the MD yarns weave continuously back and forth between the widthwise edges of the fabric, at each edge turning back and forming a seaming loop. A base fabric produced in this fashion is placed into endless form during installation on a papermaking machine, and for this reason is referred to as an on-machine-seamable fabric. To place such a fabric into endless form, the two widthwise edges are seamed together by interdigitating the seaming loops at the two ends of the fabric, and by directing a so-called pin, or pintle, through the passage defined by the interdigitated seaming loops in order to lock the two ends of the fabric together.
Further, the woven base fabrics may be laminated by placing one base fabric within the endless loop formed by another, and in the case of press fabrics, by needling a staple fiber batt through both base fabrics to join them to each other. One or both woven base fabrics may be of the on-machine-seamable type.
In addition to woven fabrics, knitted fabrics have been used for paper machine clothing, such as for press fabric substrates that enables advantage to be taken of the inherent characteristics of a knitted fabric. Knitted fabrics are advantageous over woven fabrics for many reasons. In the production of a woven structure, the cost of production increases as the cloth width increases due to the reduction in weaving speed. For example, a loom on which a woven structure is produced can operate at and above 60 weft insertions per minute on cloths of 100 inches wide, whereas for cloths of 380 inches wide, the speed of weft insertions can be as low as 30 insertions per minute. In knitting, however, the production speed is largely independent of width, and production speeds are approximately eight times higher at 60 inches. Since a knitting machine results in a much higher production rate when compared to that of a weaving loom, knitted fabrics have a substantial cost advantage as compared with equivalent woven fabrics
For forming fabrics, which are flat woven and require a complex woven seam to create an endless fabric loop, use of knitted fabrics joined together as defined herein eliminate the need for costly seaming. Furthermore, the weave patterns for forming fabrics are limited to those which can be seamed to make the fabric endless. Also, for all fabrics, the flow passage of fluids, whether air, water or a combination thereof, are limited by the size of the yarns and weave patterns incorporated. Knits on the other hand introduce a greater degree of freedom in designing the fluid flow path geometry. Additionally, certain materials such as polyethylene naphthalene (PEN) have been desired as a high modulus yarn material to be used as the MD or load bearing yarns in a forming fabric. PEN, however, is easily abraded during the weaving process. PEN is also brittle and the resulting seam strength is usually low. Incorporating PEN as a MD member in a warp knit structure will allow use of this material and similar materials by overcoming the previously discussed inherent shortcomings of such materials.
In addition, in many cases in which a conventional woven structure is used, knuckles are formed on the yarn crossover points. These knuckles are susceptible to abrasive wear and can result in marking of the product being manufactured, and in the case of papermaking dryer fabrics and certain fabrics for the production of nonwoven products, can cause an excessive amount of entrained boundary layer air resulting in distortion of the product being produced. A knitted structure, however, can be designed to have a smoother sheet contact surface using the same material component yarns, while also having a higher flexural resistance and hence a longer service life.
In any event, fabrics and substrates can be in the form of endless loops, or can be seamable into such forms, having a specific length, measured longitudinally therearound, and a specific width, measured transversely thereacross. Because papermaking machine configurations vary widely, papermaking machine clothing manufacturers are required to produce forming, press and dryer fabrics, as well as other papermaking machine clothing, to the dimensions required to fit particular positions in the papermaking machines of their customers. Needless to say, this requirement makes it difficult to streamline the manufacturing process, as each fabric must typically be made to order.
Fabrics in modern papermaking machines may have a width of from 5 to over 33 feet, a length of from 40 to over 400 feet and weigh from approximately 100 to over 3,000 pounds. As would be expected, these fabrics wear out and require replacement. Replacement of fabrics often involves taking the machine out of service, removing the worn fabric, setting up to install a fabric and installing the new fabric.
In response to this need to produce fabrics in a variety of lengths and widths more quickly and more efficiently, subassembly of narrow width woven or nonwoven substrates into full width fabrics has become an established method of manufacturing for press fabrics. There are benefits in both the performance of the fabric due to its structure and in the efficiencies of manufacturing the fabric. A key requirement for subassembly of narrow width material strips into full size fabrics is to devise a joining method along the length of the substrate strips. Numerous methods have been employed including sewing, ultrasonic bonding and thermal bonding. In all cases, however, the resulting bond has two potential limitations: (1) the bond strength, measured as cross-machine direction (CD) breaking strength, is usually lower than that of the body of the strip itself; and (2) the joined area does not have exactly the same uniformity as the body of the strip, especially with respect to fluid flow, whether air or water, which results in the potential for objectionable marking of the paper product.
In press fabrics, a needled fiber batt structure compensates to a degree for these limitations. The key bond strength requirement in the subassembly of the press fabric is to enable handling of the substrate through the needling process. The MD strength in the final fabric comes from the yarns/monofilaments of the substrate, while the CD strength comes from the bond and the needled fiber batt. The batt also helps to mask the structural discontinuity at the MD oriented seam points in the subassembled narrow width strips, which would otherwise cause marking of or non-uniform water removal from the paper product being manufactured.
In response to the need to produce fabrics in a variety of lengths and widths more quickly and efficiently, fabrics and substrates have been produced using a spiral winding technique disclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,656 to Rexfelt et al., the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,656 discloses a press fabric comprising a base fabric having one or more layers of staple fiber material needled thereinto. The base fabric comprises at least one layer composed of a spirally wound strip of woven fabric having a width which is smaller than the width of the base fabric. The base fabric is endless in the longitudinal, or machine direction. Lengthwise threads of the spirally wound strip make an angle with the longitudinal direction of the press fabric. The strip of woven fabric may be flat-woven on a loom that is narrower than those typically used in the production of papermaking machine clothing. A loom as narrow as 20 inches (0.5 meters) could be used to produce a woven fabric strip, but, for reasons of practicality, a conventional textile loom having a width of from 40 to 60 inches (1.0 to 1.5 meters) may be preferred.
The base fabric comprises a plurality of spirally wound and joined turns of the relatively narrow woven fabric strip. The fabric strip is woven from lengthwise (warp) and crosswise (filling) yarns. Adjacent turns of the spirally wound fabric strip may be abutted against one another, and the spirally continuous seam so produced may be closed by sewing, stitching, melting, welding (e.g. ultrasonic) or gluing. Alternatively, adjacent longitudinal edge portions of adjoining spiral turns may be arranged overlappingly, so long as the edges have a reduced thickness, so as not to give rise to an increased thickness in the area of the overlap. Alternatively still, the spacing between lengthwise yarns may be increased at the edges of the strip, so that, when adjoining spiral turns are arranged overlappingly, there may be an unchanged spacing between lengthwise threads in the area of the overlap.
In any case, a base fabric, taking the form of an endless loop and having an inner surface, a longitudinal (machine) direction and a transverse (cross-machine) direction, is the result. The lateral edges of the base fabric are then trimmed to render them parallel to its longitudinal (machine) direction. The angle between the machine direction of the base fabric and the spirally continuous seam may be relatively small, that is, typically less than 10-degrees. By the same token, the lengthwise (warp) yarns of the fabric strip make the same relatively small angle with the longitudinal (machine) direction of the base fabric. Similarly, the crosswise (filling) yarns of the fabric strip, being substantially perpendicular to the lengthwise (warp) yarns, make the same relatively small angle with the transverse (cross-machine) direction of the base fabric.
Commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/364,145 filed Feb. 11, 2003 entitled "Unique Fabric Structure for Industrial Fabrics," the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, discloses an industrial process fabric that is endless or made endless with a seam in a machine direction. The industrial process fabric comprises at least one layer of spiral turns formed by a spirally-wound strip of material, where the strip of material has a width that is narrower than the width of the industrial process fabric. The material strip can either be woven, nonwoven, knitted or an array of MD or CD yarns. Each spiral turn abuts against or overlaps with those adjacent thereto and are attached to each other using a bonding technique such as ultrasonic bonding, adhesive bonding, bonding through a low melt material and bonding through the use of bondable yarns. In addition, the spirally-wound material strips may be joined by sewing the longitudinal edges to one another. When an industrial process fabric comprising at least two layers is required, with each layer having a plurality of spiral turns formed by the spirally-wound strip of material, the layers are joined to each other using one of the previously described bonding techniques.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,162,518 discloses a length of textile that is used as a papermaking machine cover. To form the machine cover, a textile strip is drawn from a transversely moving supply roll onto two spaced rollers. Since the supply roll is moving in a direction transverse to the rollers, the textile strip is helically wound onto the rollers. The helical winding results in a plurality of textile strips having longitudinal edges that abut up against each adjacent edge. The helical winding of the textile strip continues until a desired width fabric is achieved.
Each textile strip consists of transverse threads (structural threads), which when taken together form a transverse thread bundle, and longitudinal threads (structural threads), which when taken together form a longitudinal thread bunch. The transverse and longitudinal threads (structural threads) are joined to one another at their intersection points, for example by bonding, cementing or the like. The structural threads are preferably part of a fabric, knit, thread bunch or an insert within a film or the like. To join the adjacent textile strips, the transverse threads from each edge of the adjacent textile strips are interdigitated with one another. Once interdigitated, a connecting thread, parallel to the longitudinal direction, is then placed over the interdigitated transverse threads and bonded to the transverse threads using an ultrasonic bonding means. Adjacent textile strips are joined in a like manner until a desired width paper machine cover is achieved.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,268,076 discloses a spirally-wound papermaking machine belt especially for use as a press belt. The belt comprises a plurality of fiber-belt strips and support belt strips. The fiber-belt strips consist of a fiber web which may evince different fiber orientations, finenesses and fiber densities, whereas the support belt strips may evince different structures such as woven, knit, spun fiber web, foil and or strips of composite sheets of nonwoven filaments. In addition to supply rolls that include the fiber-belt strips and the support belt strips, the belt manufacturing device comprises a needling machine and two advance rollers rotating on horizontal shafts, positioned horizontally apart.
At the beginning of the manufacturing process, a first strip of belt-material ("forming strip") is pulled onto the two advance rollers. This forming strip acts as support or a forming platform for the belt during the belt construction process. Mounted thereupon are the individual fiber-belt strips and support belt strips from the supply rolls. Once the fiber-belt strips and support belt strips are mounted, the two advance rollers and the forming strip are displaced in the direction of advance whereby the fiber-belt and support belt strips are withdrawn from the supply rolls onto the forming strip in a spirally wound manner. Simultaneously with the addition of the fiber-belt and support belt strips to the forming strip, the needling machine is actuated so that the individual belt strips are needled together such that the fibers of the fiber-belt strips penetrate the support belt strips.
The process continues until the belt has attained its desired width. Once the finished belt is removed from the advance rollers, the forming strip that was used to support the belt during the forming process is removed, resulting in a belt that is either finished or one in which further processing may be performed. The support belt strips into which fibers from the fiber-belt strips are needled may have various configurations, such as having longitudinal edges that partly overlap or longitudinal edges that do not overlap and instead abut up against one another. In all configurations, however, the fiber-belt strips and the support belt strips are attached to one another by needling.
Commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,713,399, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference, shows an approach to forming and closing the spirally continuous seam in a fabric of this type. According to the disclosed method, the fabric strip has a lateral fringe along at least one lateral edge thereof, the lateral fringe being unbound ends of its crosswise yarns extending beyond the lateral edge. During the spiral winding of the fringed strip, the lateral fringe of a turn overlies or underlies an adjacent turn of the strip, the lateral edges of the adjacent turns abutting against one another. The spirally continuous seam so obtained is closed by ultrasonically welding or bonding the overlying or underlying lateral fringe to the fabric strip in an adjacent turn.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,124,015, a multi-layer industrial fabric is assembled from at least one segment comprising at least one woven or nonwoven ply, in which the joints utilize jointing yarns or structures. The jointing structures, which may be continuous or discontinuous, engage with and interlock with each other to provide a secure mating engagement at selected locations on the segment(s), making up the fabric. The planar surfaces forming the joints are in the plane of the finished fabric and are thus not edge-to-edge joints. The fabric structure is assembled by interlocking together as many segments as are needed, to provide the required finished industrial fabric. For some applications it is desirable to make the interlocked joint between the jointing structures more secure. Examples of how to make the interlocked joint more secure include adhesives, chemically reactive systems such as polyurethane, or in the alternative, an inert layer of nonwoven material may be inserted between the plies, such as a thin layer of fibrous batt. A web of hot melt adhesive may also be used. This process, however, still results in a joint between the lateral edges of the segments that were joined together, which as aforementioned is a weak point of the fabric.
In addition to the previously discussed joining methods used to join adjacent fabric strips along the length of a substrate, is a butt seam that can be found in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,360,656. This seam is between adjacent strips of fabric and includes stitching. The seams, however, are not load bearing and are merely there to hold the strips together so that the "base" structures formed by these joined together strips can be handled through subsequent manufacturing processes such as needling.
In any structure that comprises spirally wound strips of material, the connecting seam between two adjacent strips is a critical part of the fabric since uniform paper quality, low marking and excellent runnability of the fabric require a seam which is as similar as possible to the rest of the fabric with respect to properties such as thickness, structure, strength, permeability, etc. It is therefore important that the seam connecting region between adjoining spirally wound strips of material of any workable fabric in operation, have the same permeability to water and air as the rest of the fabric, thereby preventing marking by the seam region on the product being manufactured. Despite the considerable technical obstacles presented by these requirements, it is highly desirable to develop spirally wound fabrics because of the types of structures that can be incorporated, such as knits.
As previously discussed, the connecting seam region strength in press fabrics formed by spirally winding strips of material may be increased with the addition of a needled fiber batt material; this, however, is not an option with forming and dryer fabrics, or any other "fabric" that does not employ a layer of needled batt fibers. In forming and dryer fabrics, the structure has no batting to mask the discontinuities which may result from joining narrow width substrates to make a full width product and the bond strengths of current joining methods would not be sufficient in and of themselves for the fabrics to maintain their structural integrity and run on current machines.
Therefore, a need exists to provide an alternative to current methods used to create full size industrial fabrics and substrates base structures for fabrics, where the fabrics and substrates are created in portions from narrow width knitted structures, resulting in an assembled fabric having a strong, virtually undetectable connecting means between adjacent spirally wound knitted strips of material.


A document scanning apparatus which is capable of scanning an oversized document. In one embodiment the document scanning apparatus includes a base unit, an optical scanning device located within the base unit, and a cover freely removable from the base unit. The apparatus further includes a document positioning device configured to move a document with respect to the optical scanning device when the document is positioned between the base unit and the cover.

The present invention is directed towards document scanning apparatus. Such apparatus are configured to optically scan an essentially flat document using an optical scanning device. The optical scanning device generates a stream of signals as the document is scanned. The signals, typically in an analog form, can then be converted into a digital form using known analog-to-digital conversion techniques. The resulting digital signals collectively comprise a representation of the scanned portion of the original document, and can be stored as a digital file or processed to generate a copy or a displayed image of the original document. Further, the digital document file can be further processed to modify the digital representation of the original document. For example, the document file can be modified to resize or re-orient the document with respect to the format in which it originally appeared. Most document scanning apparatus are in the form of a flat-bed scanner. That is, the scanning apparatus includes a transparent (usually glass) platen on which a document can be placed. A cover, which is hingedly attached to the main body of the scanning apparatus, can be closed over a document placed on the platen in order to reduce ambient light intrusion which can adversely affect the quality of the scanned image. Once a document is placed on the platen, the optical scanning device is then moved past the platen in order to scan the document. In another configuration, a document scanning apparatus can include a document sheet feeder which is configured to feed one or more sheets of a document into position for optical scanning. Two common configurations are used. In the first configuration, the optical scanning device remains static while the document is moved past the scanning device. In the other configuration, a transfer device, such as a belt, is used to move the document onto the platen. The scanning device is then moved past the document to thereby scan the document, and the document is then subsequently removed from the platen by the transfer device. A hybrid configuration allows the scanning device to remain static when a sheet feeder is used to transfer the document to the scanning device, but when a document is manually placed on the platen, the scanning devices moves past the document. Although most document scanning apparatus have a platen over which a document can be placed for scanning, in a less common configuration no platen is provided, and the document is moved past a static optical scanning device by a sheet feeder. This latter configuration is commonly found in facsimile machines, which can also function as a scanning apparatus.
The advantage of the flat-bed scanning arrangement is that documents (as well as other objects) of various sizes and shapes, which cannot be easily accommodated by a sheet feeder, can be scanned. However, when a document to be scanned exceeds the size of the platen, certain problems result. Turning to FIG. 1, a prior art scanning apparatus 10 is depicted in a plan view. The scanning apparatus 10 is also depicted in a sectional side elevation view in FIG. 2. With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the prior art scanning apparatus includes a scanner base 30 and a scanner cover 12. The scanner base supports a platen 25 and an optical scanning device 28. The cover 12 is attached to the base 30 by hinges 14, allowing the cover to be moved in direction "Q" (FIG. 2) so that a document can be placed on the platen 25. In the embodiment shown, the cover 12 includes a sheet feeder. A sheet of media (such as paper) can be placed in the input tray 16 (FIG. 1). A pick-roller 24 (FIG. 2) can then engage the sheet of media and move it in feed direction "F" (FIG. 1) past the optical scanning device 28 (FIG. 2) using the feed rollers 26. The scanned sheet is then discharged at output area 27. Alternately, a sheet of media can be placed directly on the platen 25 and the optical scanning device 28 can be moved past the sheet using a scanner drive mechanism (not shown). As can be seen in FIG. 1, the sheet feeding section of the cover 12 can induced a fixed upper-edge document guide 18 and a moveable lower edge document guide 22 which is configured to move on track 22 in directions "A". A document sheet having a maximum width "W" can thus be accommodated by the sheet feeder. Typically, the width "W" is the maximum width of the scannable area of the platen 25 (i.e., the area which can be scanned by the scanning device 28). When a document is placed directly on the platen, then the scanning device 28 is limited to scanning an area of length "L" (FIG. 2).
Turning to FIG. 3, the prior art scanning apparatus 10 of FIGS. 1 and 2 is depicted in a plan view, but with the scanner cover 12 in an open position. Also depicted is an outline of an oversized document "D" which is positioned with the upper left corner "UL" of the document oriented in the upper left corner of the platen 25. The document "D", being of width "WD" and length "LD", is considered "oversized" since at least one of (and in this case, both) the length (LD) and width (WD) of the document "D" exceeds the respective length "L" and width "W" of the scannable area of the platen 25. As is evident, the optical scanning device 28 will not be able to scan the entire document "D" in a single scan.
When a sheet feeding device is used, such as is depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2, then a document with a document length "LD" greater than the scannable area length "L" can be scanned in a single pass, since the document can be moved past the optical scanning device 28 while the device 28 remains static. However, if the width "WD" of the document "D" exceeds the width "W" of the scannable area of the platen 25, then the sheet feeding device is of no help. Further, if the scanning apparatus 10 is not provided with a sheet feeder (typically at extra cost), then the optical scanner 28 will not be able to scan a document in a single pass where the length "LD" of the document "D" is greater than the length "L" of the scannable area. In the situation depicted in FIG. 3, a user is presented with essentially only one solution if the user desires to scan the entire area of the document "D". That is, the user must manually move the document "D" over the platen 25 a number of times in order to scan the entire area of the document. In the example depicted, the user will need to make a first scan in the position shown. The user will then need to shift the document to the left to encompass the upper right corner "UR" of the document, then shift the document up to encompass the lower right corner "LR" of the document, and then to the right to encompass the lower left corner "LL" (or some combination of these various movements).
The above-described movements of the document "D" of FIG. 3 by a user in order to completely scan the area of the document present a number of problems. First of all, the cover 12 presents an impediment to the document and to movement of the document. If the document "D" is of a relatively stiff media (such as cardstock), then the cover 12 can require bending of the document in order to place the document on the platen 25. This can result in damage to the document. While the document can conceivably be rotated to various positions to avoid interference by the scanner cover 12, and thus avoid bending the document, this is only feasible when the document length "LD" and the document width "WD" are each shorter than the platen length "L" and width "W". Removing the cover from the scanner base may be of some help in allowing the document to be moved around on the platen. However, this can require a significant amount of work and may result in damage to the scanning apparatus since the covers are typically not intended to be removed by a user. In addition, removing the cover will allow more light to intrude into the scanner during the scanning process, resulting in a low quality final image.
Further, while it is possible to scan the entire document by manually repositioning the document and making a plurality of scans, the result is a plurality of scanned images, rather than a single scanned image. In most instances, the user will desire a single scanned image. Accordingly, in order to acquire a single scanned image of an oversized document, a user will need to assemble a plurality of single scanned images to obtain a single scanned image. This can be done using known image processing software, but the process is difficult to do at best since matching the edges of the various scanned images requires significant image manipulation. Also, in many cases the user is merely guessing where to place the oversized document on the platen to scan the next segment, and the result can be overlapping portions between scanned images, or missing portions which require the user to re-scan the segment.
What is needed then is a document scanning apparatus which achieves the benefits to be derived from similar prior art apparatus, but which avoids the shortcomings and detriments individually associated therewith.

Document scanning apparatus with oversize document handling capability

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, LP.