A protection circuit for a semiconductor device, the protection circuit being connected an input terminal of the semiconductor device in parallel with an internal circuit proper of the semiconductor device, comprising a semiconductor substrate having one conductivity, a first diffusion layer having the other conductivity produced along the top surface of the semiconductor substrate, a second diffusion layer having the other conductivity produced along the top surface of the first diffusion layer, the impurity concentration of the second diffusion layer being larger than that of the first diffusion layer, at least one third diffusion layer having one conductivity produced along the top surface of the semiconductor substrate and the first diffusion layer across the junction of the first diffusion layer, the impurity concentration being larger than that of the semiconductor substrate, an insulator film produced to cover a portion of the second and third diffusion layers and the first diffusion layer, a pair of insulator films produced to cover a portion of the remaining area of the third diffusion layers, an electrode arranged to contact the second diffusion layer and to cover the insulator layer covering the first diffusion layer, and the electrode being connected the input terminal and the internal circuit proper of the semiconductor device, whereby the protection circuit allows positive surge voltages to escape, and becomes durable against negative surge voltages.

A semiconductor integrated circuit available in the prior art is generally provided with a protection circuit arranged between a terminal and an internal circuit proper thereof for preventing breakdown of the internal circuit proper caused by electrostatic electricity generated therein, from occurring. An example of such protection circuits comprises diodes and resistors employed in combination, including a first diode which is a junction produced in an N-type semiconductor layer (Hereinafter such a junction is referred to as a P-type diffusion layer.) and a junction produced in a P-type semiconductor layer (Hereinafter such a junction is referred to as an N-type diffusion layer.).
For example, the first diode is arranged to connect its P-type diffusion layer with both the internal circuit and the terminal of the semiconductor integrated circuit, so as to allow a positive surge voltage applied to the terminal to bypass the P-type diffusion layer and to flow into the semiconductor substrate, thereby protecting the internal circuit proper from the positive surge voltage.
As for the second diode, its N-type diffusion layer is connected the internal circuit and the terminal, while its P-type diffusion layer is connected a low potential side. Consequently, a negative surge voltage applied to the terminal is allowed to bypass the N-type diffusion layer and to flow into the P-type diffusion layer, thereby protecting the internal circuit proper from the negative surge voltage.
In addition, resistors are connected respectively to the first and second diodes to protect the diodes from the surge voltages which are respectively applied thereto from the opposite directions.
In recent years, in conjunction with a trend towards higher integration of semiconductor devices, semiconductor devices are inclined to become smaller in size and the wirings are becoming more minute. In such advanced semiconductor devices which are enhanced in integration, the breakdown voltage characteristics with respect to surges such as the ones caused by discharge of electrostatic electricity, are tending to decline. However, even if advance is made to create a new-generation of semiconductor devices, surges applied thereto from the terminal do not decrease, and protection circuits are required to be provided with the characteristics for absorbing a certain range of excess voltage. In the protection circuits having the above-described circuit configuration, in order to maintain satisfactory characteristics, the diodes and the resistors require some dimension. For this reason, the horizontal area of the protection circuits inevitably increases to some extent. This is one parameter which hampers integration of semiconductor devices from being enhanced.

Protection circuit for semiconductor device


A system and related method for reception and storage of a command and control (C2) data link between a control station and a Remotely Piloted Vehicle (RPV) for RPV operation. From the C2 data link, the system receives and stores command signals generated by the control station as well as telemetry data associated with and generated by the RPV. The system operates to compare the received telemetry data to 1) the command signal to assure RPV compliance, 2) stored information associated with the RPV to determine a RPV anomaly, and 3) stored information associated with a high value asset (HVA). Should the comparison reveal a threat to the RPV or HVA, the system alerts an authority to mitigate the threat. The system and method aggregates data associated with specific RPV type or operator to support several safety initiatives, methods used to perform predictive maintenance planning, and accident recreation and investigation.

State information may include a plurality of pieces of information relating to the status of an aerial vehicle. State information may include flight crew avionics input, flight control surface deflection, engine parameters (RPM, EGT), ambient cockpit voice communications, radio frequency communications and additional avionics parameters.
Traditional commercial air transport category aircraft may employ a flight data recorder mounted within the aerial vehicle to record such state information. These traditional data recorders inherently possess limitations in certain situations. Should an aerial vehicle be lost at sea, the traditional data recorders may remain unrecoverable at the bottom of the ocean for periods of time after immersion. Limited battery life in addition to salt water immersion may limit the effectiveness of traditional data recorders.
Flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorders mounted onboard air transport category aircraft may also record and store various parameters associated with the command and operation of the aircraft. However, there is no similar data recorder device available to a Remotely Piloted Vehicle (RPV) for storage of state and command information. Particularly due to the size and weight requirements of most RPVs, limited or no onboard space and weight is available to install a device capable of recording and storage of state information associated with the RPV.
Traditional Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) and Maintenance Operations Quality Assurance (MOQA) data may be extracted from traditional flight data recorders for follow on analysis and use to determine 1) operational trend data for training purposes and 2) maintenance trend data for pre-failure preventative maintenance. This cumbersome extraction requires a physical connection for maintenance personnel to board the aerial vehicle, download the FOQA/MOQA data to a portable drive and physically transfer the FOQA/MOQA data from the aerial vehicle for follow on analysis.
Further, in the event of a catastrophic loss of an aircraft, forces experienced during the loss events may cause the flight data recorder as well as the cockpit voice recorder to become damaged beyond repair and some or all of the recorded data may be lost. This damage may leave accident investigation teams without usable data from which they may reconstruct events prior to such a catastrophic loss.
The miniature size and complexity of the avionics systems for RPVs avionics systems may not allow traditional onboard recording of state data and command data usable for RPV safety assurance, accident investigation and health and maintenance architectures. A need exists for collection of state and command information necessary for safety analysis, pilot training, currency, etc. Further, a need remains for a solution to this critical gap in remote recordation and storage of command and control as well as aircraft state information related to manned and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Remotely piloted aircraft telemetry recording using the command and control data link system and related method


A smoke generator for smoke testing heat exchangers of gas furnaces for the presence or absence of leakage or fluid-tight integrity, the generator having: a smoke chamber housing having upper and lower portions; at least one heating element in the upper portion of the smoke chamber housing; a pump which supplies a gas to the smoke chamber housing; a liquid which fills the lower portion of the smoke chamber housing, wherein the at least one heating element is suspended above the liquid; an applicator of liquid to the at least one heating element; and a smoke vent in the upper portion of the smoke chamber housing. A method of smoke testing a heat exchanger of a gas furnace for the presence or absence of leakage or fluid-tight integrity, the method having the following steps: closing an intake and an outtake of the heat exchanger; fluidly communicating a smoke generator with the heat exchanger, wherein the smoke generator comprises: a smoke chamber housing having upper and lower portions, at least one heating element in the upper portion of the smoke chamber housing, a pump which supplies a gas to the smoke chamber housing, a liquid which fills the lower portion of the smoke chamber housing, wherein the at least one heating element is suspended above the liquid, an applicator of liquid to the at least one heating element, and a smoke vent in the upper portion of the smoke chamber housing; filling the heat exchanger with smoke from the smoke generator; and observing smoke exiting the heat exchanger.

The present invention relates generally to gas furnaces for residential and commercial heating systems. Specifically, the invention relates to leak detection apparatuses and methods for inspecting heat exchangers of natural gas furnaces.
Gas furnaces comprise two circulating air systems: (1) the living space air circulating system which passes living space air over the exterior of the heat exchanger, and (2) the gas exhaust circulating system which passes hot combustion products through the interior of the heat exchanger. To ensure no harmful products of gas combustion escape from the interior of the heat exchanger into the living space air circulating system which passes over the exterior of the heat exchanger, it is important to determine whether holes or cracks have developed in the heat exchanger.
As shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the living space air circulating system 1 is described relative to a typical gas furnace 3. Air is circulated from the living space of the residential or commercial structure through the intake port 4. A turbine, not shown, pulls air into the intake port 4 and pushes it toward the heat exchanging section 5 of the living space air circulating system 1. During operation, the interior of the heat exchanger 7 is warmer than the air pulled from the living space. Thus, as the living space air passes over the exterior of the heat exchanger 7, heat is transferred from the heat exchanger 7 to the living space air. Finally, the warmed living space air passes from the heat exchanging section 5 through the plenum 6 for distribution back into the living space of the structure.
As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, a combustion products venting system 2 is shown relative to a gas furnace 3. Gas is supplied to a burner 8 through a gas line 9. The manifold pressure of the gas is regulated by a regulator 10. Air which is necessary for combustion is allowed to enter the heat exchanger 7 through an air intake 11. The burner 8 is inserted into a lower portion of the heat exchanger 7. As air within the heat exchanger is heated by the burner 8, the air begins to rise within the heat exchanger until it reaches the air outtake 12. This air, of course, comprises living space air drawn through the intake 11 and products of the combustion of the gas. In the furnace shown in the figure, three separate heat exchangers 7 are shown. The air exiting the air outtakes 12 from the heat exchangers 7 is collected by a collector 13 for venting through the flue 14.
Typically, the natural gas combusted in gas furnaces produces non-toxic combustion products including carbon dioxide, water vapor and nitrogen. However, in instances where the combustion of the natural gas is not complete, harmful products including carbon monoxide, aldahydes and soot are circulated through the interior of the heat exchanger. Thus, if cracks or holes develop in the heat exchanger, these harmful products of combustion may leak from the interior of the heat exchanger into the living space air circulating system 1 so that the harmful products are circulated to the living space of the structure. Thus, it is critically important to detect and locate cracks or holes in heat exchanger as they develop.
Typical heat exchangers are constructed of metals because of their durability and thermal conductivity characteristics. Cracks and holes, however, develop in heat exchangers because of stresses induced by thermal expansion. Corrosive materials which come in contact with the interior and exterior of heat exchangers also weaken the structural integrity of the heat exchanger. Finally, if the furnace experiences improper venting and inadequate supply of combustion air, dirty filters, an improper firing range which produces condensation, or flame impingement, cracks or holes are likely to develop in the heat exchanger. Therefore, regardless of the material from which the heat exchanger is manufactured, the development of cracks and holes in the heat exchanger during its lifetime of service is a real possibility.
Different furnaces are designed to produce different operation pressure levels within the heat exchangers relative to the living space air circulating system. These system fall into two basic categories: naturally draw systems and induced flow systems.
Naturally drawn systems use allow hot air, which rises through a cooler air mass, to draw the products of combustion at the burner through the heat exchanger and out through the flue. This is the same principle by which fireplace chimneys work. As the hot air rises in the flue, a slightly negative pressure is induced within the heat exchanger relative to the air in the heat exchanging section of the living space air circulating system. Thus, even if the holes or cracks exist in the heat exchanger, air will pass into the heat exchanger, rather than out of the heat exchanger, because of the relative low pressure within. The relative negative pressure in naturally drawn systems, however, is small and may be reversed depending on the operating condition of the furnace. For example, when the turban of the living space air circulating system is turned off and does not push air through the heat exchanging section 5, the pressure on the exterior of the heat exchanger 7 may fall below the pressure within the heat exchanger 7. This condition allows air to pass from within the heat exchanger into the living space air circulation system 1. Because harmful combustion products are typically generated during startup, when the turban of the living space air circulating system does not operate, holes and cracks in the heat exchanger must be identified.
Induced flow systems always have greater relative pressure within the heat exchanger. These systems do not have a burner inserted into the heat exchanger. Rather, the burner is located immediately outside the air intake and the flames are blown under pressure into the heat exchanger. Thus, regardless whether the turban of the living space air circulating system is operating, the pressure within the heat exchanger is always greater than the pressure without. It is particularly important to determine the location and size of cracks and holes in the heat exchangers of these systems.
Depending on the furnace system, smaller holes and cracks only allow insignificant amounts of air, well below acceptable safe limits, to pass from the heat exchanger. In fact, many heat exchangers are manufactured with pin point holes and cracks. These are predominantly found at seems between metal component parts. These heat exchangers are typically only used with naturally drawn furnace systems. In these systems, a heat exchanger need not be replaced unless additional holes and cracks develop. Thus, an optimum heat exchanger testing method is one which tests the exchanger under relative pressures similar to its operating pressures. This allows the technician to determine whether the heat exchanger has developed holes and cracks in excess of an acceptable limit for the particular furnace system.
Several heat exchanger testing methods have been use to detect cracks and holes. These include: visual examination, sulfur candles and other odorants, smoke bombs and smoke candles, CFC or HCFC refrigerants, salt sodium sprays, carbon monoxide, titanium tetrachloride, and fluorescent sprays.
The visual examination method simply entails using a mirror and a strong flashlight to inspect the exterior of the heat exchanger. Of course, this method is limited because not all exterior surfaces of the heat exchanger are accessible without removing the heat exchanger from the furnace. Further, it is difficult to determine exactly how much air escapes from the heat exchanger during operation.
Sulfur candles or other odorants are used by introducing the strong odor into the air intake of the heat exchanger. The technician then smells the air in the vicinities of the intake port and plenum of the living space air circulating system 1 to detect a leak. Notwithstanding the harmful effects of the chemical odorants on the heat exchanger, the method is highly unreliable because the location and size of the holes and cracks are not identifiable.
Smoke bombs and smoke candles are inserted into the heat exchanger to detect holes and cracks. The technician closes both the air intake and outtake of the heat exchanger and then ignites the smoke bomb or candle in the interior of the heat exchanger. Holes and cracks are detected by observing smoke escaping from the heat exchanger. This test, however, produces pressures within the heat exchanger significantly dissimilar from pressures observed during normal observation. Thus, smoke is typically forced from the heat exchanger through various small cracks, seams, and even gaskets which do not leak during normal operation. Nearly all heat exchangers are manufactured with very small holes at the seams or gaskets. These are so small that they do not impose a risk leakage under normal conditions. The technician may observe smoke exiting the heat exchanger and recommend replacement of the heat exchanger even where no holes or cracks in the heat exchanger are present.
CFC or HCFC refrigerants are used to detect holes and cracks by placing the refrigerant inside the heat exchanger. A halogen leak detector is then used by the technician to determine if the refrigerant has escaped into the living space air circulating system. Refrigerants, however, produce deadly poisonous gases if combusted. Refrigerants are typically heavier than air and therefore settle in the bottom of the heat exchanger where they reside until they are removed through normal operation of the furnace, i.e., combustion. Thus, the chance of harmful gases being produced is significant. Further, the refrigerant gas method does not allow the technician to determine the location and size of holes and cracks.
Salt sodium sprays are sprayed into the burner flames while the furnace is operated. A propane torch is used by the technician to check the living space air circulating around the exterior of the heat exchanger. Sodium ions are detected when the blue flame of the propane torch turns yellow. While this test may detect very small cracks and leaks, it is impractical because even dust in the air may produce the yellow flame. Thus, dust may be mistaken for the sodium ion. Further, not all exterior surfaces of the heat exchanger are easily accessible for testing with the torch without removing the heat exchanger from the furnace.
Carbon monoxide is used to test for holes and cracks by introducing carbon monoxide into the heat exchanger. Carbon monoxide levels are then observed at the intake port and plenum of the living space air circulating system. However, carbon monoxide is not preferred because dangerous levels of carbon monoxide may inadvertently escape into the living space during the test. Further, like previous methods, the carbon monoxide method does not allow the technician to pinpoint the size and location of cracks and holes in the heat exchanger.
Finally, titanium tetrachloride is used as a fuming or smoking material. The air intake and outtake of the heat exchanger are closed and titanium tetrachloride vapor is introduced into the heat exchanger. Holes and cracks are then identified by observing exiting titanium tetrachloride vapor. Unfortunately, titanium tetrachloride is highly corrosive and considered toxic.
Therefore, there is a need for a device and method for detecting cracks and holes in gas furnace heat exchangers which allows the technician to precisely locate and evaluate cracks or holes under conditions similar to the operating conditions of the heat exchanger.

Device and method for smoke testing of gas furnace heat exchangers


The present invention provides substituted 4-{3-[6-amino-9-(3,4-dihydroxy-tetrahydro-furan-2-yl)-9H-purin-2-yl]-prop-2-ynyl}-piperidine-1-carboxylic acid esters and pharmaceutical compositions containing the same that are selective agonists of A2A adenosine receptors (ARs). These compounds and compositions are useful as pharmaceutical agents.

There has been progressive development of compounds that are more and more potent and/or selective as agonists of A2A adenosine receptors (AR) based on radioligand binding assays and physiological responses. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,232,297 to Linden, et al. describes compounds having the general formula:
wherein each R can be H, X can be ethylaminocarbonyl and R1 can be 4-methoxycarbonylcyclohexylmethyl (DWH-146e). These compounds are reported to be A2A agonists.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,214,665 to Linden, et al. describes compounds having the general formula:
wherein R7 can be H, X can be an ether or an amide, CR1R2 can be CH2, and Z can be a heterocyclic ring. These compounds are reported to be A2A agonists.
U.S. Pat. Appl. No. 2006/004088 to Rieger, et al. describes compounds having the general formula:
wherein R7 can be H, X can be a cycloalkyl-substituted ether or amide, CR1R2 can be CH2, and Z can be a heterocyclic ring. These compounds are reported to be A2A agonists.
U.S. Pat. Appl. No. 2007/0270373 to Rieger, et al. describes compounds having the general formula:
wherein NR1R2 can be NH2, R4 can be an ether or an amide, R5 can be ethynyl, Y can be O or NR1, and Z can be an aryl or heteroaryl. These compounds are reported to be A2A agonists.
Even in view of the above, a continuing need exists for A2 adenosine receptor agonists useful for therapeutic applications.

Substituted 4-{3-[6-amino-9-(3,4-dihydroxy-tetrahydro-furan-2-yl)-9H-purin-2-yl]-prop-2-ynyl}-piperidine-1-carboxylic acid esters as A

University of Virginia Patent Foundation


A movable multi-directional light stand is revealed. The movable multi-directional light stand includes a retractable top support rod that can be received into and connected with a hollow middle support rod. The top support rod is disposed with a mounting slot on a wall, along an axial direction thereof. A sleeve with external threads is disposed around the top of the top support rod and is arranged with a guiding slot corresponding to the mounting slot of the top support rod. A retractable light rod is pivoted to the wall of the top support rod that is disposed with the mounting slot. The retractable light rod is formed by a hollow outer tube and an inner tube that slides in the outer tube and having a hook. The light stand further includes an adjustment nut with threads engaging corresponding external threads of the sleeve so that the adjustment nut can support the outer tube, locate the retractable light rod in the mounting slot and adjust the height of the light. Thereby the light stand is retractable and rotatable in a horizontal plane so as to illuminate in different directions.

1. Fields of the Invention
The present invention relates to a movable multi-directional light stand, especially to an adjustable and retractable light stand that can rotate in a horizontal plane so as to light in different directions.
2. Descriptions of Related Art
Generally, while camping or working outdoors at night, an illumination device is used for lighting. Thus there is a plurality of outdoor illumination device with different designs available now. For example, a fixed floor light is one of them. Such light is inconvenient because it is unable to adjust the height of the light. Thus insufficient light is available or users need to adjust surrounding elements in use. This is extremely inconvenient and annoying for users.
In order to overcome above shortcomings, a foldable light stand is provided. The light stand is composed of a support base, a top support rod, a hollow middle support rod and a light rod disposed on the top support rod. The support base includes three support feet, a connection seat, a central support rod and a movable fastening sleeve. The three support feet are pivoted to the connection seat and the central support rod is assembled with a central hole of the connection seat. The hollow middle support rod is inserted into the central support rod. The central support rod and the middle support rod are assembled and disassembled with each other by a fastening nut. The top support rod is connected with the middle support rod and is able to be received in the middle support rod. The light rod is connected with the top support rod. The disadvantage of above design is in that the light rod is unable to rotate an angle in a plane vertically so that the height of the light is unable to be adjusted. Moreover, the light rod is unable to fold and this is inconvenient for storage.
Thus there is a need to provide a light stand without disadvantages mentioned above while with better lighting effect and higher practice value.


In a baseball, softball tennis practice ball throwing machine having a spring actuated pivot arm having a ball impact element at a free end thereof and biasing spring elements at its pivot end. A hand crank is attached to a pivot shaft for rotating the arm against the bias of the spring elements. A ball support station is provided to support a ball in the path of the ball impact element to be impacted and projected a distance by the arm as it rapidly rotate about the pivot shaft when under the influence of the biasing spring elements.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to sports training devices and in particular to ball pitching machines for practicing baseball and softball batting and fielding skills as well as other sports play involving interaction with pitched balls.
2. Prior Art
The present invention was conceived and developed after the inventor searched to locate and purchase a ball pitching machine suitable for training his 12 year old son for Little League Baseball play. A manually operated pitching device for plastic "polyballs" was located and purchased. This device pitches low weight hollow plastic balls by a spring powered slinging mechanism and proved to be less than desirable for the purpose required because the machine could not effectively pitch the balls over the Little League regulation distance from the pitching mound to home plate, 46 feet, and because the low weight hollow plastic balls de-accelerate in velocity during flight through air much more rapidly than do actual baseballs. The "polyball" pitching machine simply did not produce the desired training for the inventor's son because it did not duplicate the pitching and flight of baseballs as encountered in actual Little League play. Rotating wheel pitching machines were considered, but rejected because of cost and safety considerations along with concerns over the need for an electrical power source at the practice field. The inventor desired and could not locate a manually actuated pitching machine which would deliver soft safety balls of the weight and size of an official Little League Baseball over the fill official distance from the pitching mound across home plate at the velocities and trajectories expected in actual play. An impact pitching mechanism was developed and reduced to practice for this purpose. The device proved to be very fictional and effective as a training aid and has been refined into the invention described here. No other device is known which provides similar service as cost effectively, safely, or conveniently as the present invention.
A number of the presently available ball pitching machines for baseball and softball batting practice employ motorized spinning wheels to throw baseballs and softballs. These spinning wheel machines are very effective, but are quite bulky and expensive compared to the present invention and all require electrical power at the location of operation. The base model of the present invention is manually operated. An optional electric motor powered actuator may be employed with the present invention to allow an athlete to work independently. This feature of the present invention does not require an onsite electrical power outlet because high energy efficiency allows utilization of a battery powered motor for actuation.
Spinning wheel pitching machines transfer kinetic energy to the ball being thrown by griping the ball between two rotating wheels or between a single rotating wheel and a stationary plate. The ball is slung from the spinning wheel apparatus with velocity and spin. The spinning wheel type pitching machines very effectively throw any type of ball including actual hard game balls. The present invention employs impact to transfer kinetic energy into balls being pitched. Only soft resilient practice balls are effectively pitched by the present invention. The inventor considers this limitation to be a positive feature in that user safety is enhanced by the present invention's inability to pitch hard balls which are more likely to cause injury to anyone who might be accidentally struck than are soft resilient practice balls. The present invention is substantially different from all spinning wheel type ball pitching machines by virtue of employing an impact means to pitch a ball instead of the "grab and sling" means employed by rotating wheel ball pitching machines.
Another mechanical ball pitching machine type employs a rotatable pitching lever. The ball being pitched receives kinetic energy from the pitching lever by being pushed around a circular track or griped in a holding device at the outer end of the lever as the lever rotation is rapidly accelerated by force from some type of mechanism, typically a spring device. The ball being pitched is slung from the device when either the slinging lever strikes a mechanical stop or the ball holding device mechanically releases the ball.
The "Spring Type Ball Throwing Machine" of Glover et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,220,130; the "Mechanical Baseball Pitching Machine" of Ponza U.S. Pat. No. 2,792,822; the "Toy Cannon" of Nichols U.S. Pat. No. 1,352,681; the "Mechanical Base Ball Pitcher" of Long U.S. Pat. No. 1,190,565; and the "Catapult For Throwing Projectiles" of McGlashan U.S. Pat. No. 629,044 are all rotating lever slinging type pitching machines. Rotating lever ball slinging pitching machines accelerate both the ball being pitched and the pitching lever simultaneously to pitch the ball. Once the ball is pitched the lever and attached rotating apparatus retain all the kinetic energy that they had before the ball was pitched or lose their energy into the surrounding apparatus and environment by striking a stop. The energy required to pitch a ball by a slinging type pitching machine thus equals the sum of the energy required to accelerate the lever and associated rotating apparatus plus the energy required to accelerate the ball. In an impact type ball pitching machine a striker lever is first accelerated alone. The accelerated lever then strikes a stationary ball and transfers a portion of its kinetic energy into the ball to produce the pitch. The striker lever and associated pitching apparatus of an impact pitching machine can be significantly de-energized upon pitching the ball. If the energy transfer from the striker apparatus into the ball is carried out with high efficiency, as is the case when soft resilient balls are utilized with the present invention, the total amount of energy required to effect a pitch is just slightly greater than the actual kinetic energy carried by the pitched ball. An impact pitching machine can thus be much more energy efficient than a slinging type pitching machine and require significantly less actuation energy and smaller machine components to produce a given pitch.
The present invention differs substantially from all lever slinging type ball pitching machines. Though bearing some resemblance in appearance to these devices, the present invention employs a totally different means to impart kinetic energy into a ball to effect the pitching of that ball. The present invention is more specialized than are the lever slinging type ball pitching machines and by design only works effectively with soft resilient balls. Slinging type pitching machines may be utilized with hard game balls, hollow low weight "polyballs", or the same soft resilient balls employed by the present invention. Slinging type pitching machines do not pitch with the high energy efficiency that the present invention achieves with soft resilient balls and thus require greater actuation energy and a larger apparatus to pitch balls of similar weight with speeds equivalent to that achieved by the present invention.
A number of impact pitching machines have been invented in the past. The "Ball Projectile Machine" of Ridley et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,091; the "Spring Type Ball Projecting Device" of Young et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,185,608; the "Portable Ball Throwing Machine With One-Way Clutch" of Haller U.S. Pat. No. 4,237,851; the "Spring Type Apparatus For Projecting Balls" of Andersson U.S. Pat. No. 4,345,577; the "Spring Type Ball Projecting Device" of McGill U.S. Pat. No. 3,841,294; the "Spring Type Projecting Device" of Scott U.S. Pat. No. 3,779,227; the "Projecting Device" of Binks U.S. Pat. No. 2,660,158; the "Ball Projector" of Binks U.S. Pat. No. 2,660,157; the "Toy Machine Gun" of Miller U.S. Pat. No. 1,916,680; the "Ball Throwing Device" of LACOSTE U.S. Pat. No. 1,916,680; the "Missile Projection Device" of Kahler et al U.S. Pat. No. 1,809,708; the "Ball Throwing Device" of LACOSTE U.S. Pat. No. 1,777,976; and the "Toy Machine Gun" of Brown U.S. Pat. No. 1,480,499 all utilize impact by a spring driven striker as the means by which kinetic energy is transferred into projectiles which are then ejected singularly from the device. The present invention utilizes a rotating crankshaft mechanism to store energy by stretching linear tension springs attached to the cranks then rapidly releases that energy into a striker lever and hammer rigidly attached to the crankshaft as the crankshaft rotates over-center allowing the springs to contract and accelerate the rate of rotation. Of the prior art impact ball pitching machines only the "Ball Projectile Machine" of Ridley et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,091; the "Spring Type Ball Projecting Device" of Young et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,185,608; and the "Portable Ball Throwing Machine With One-Way Clutch" of Haller U.S. Pat. No. 4,237,851 utilize a rotating crankshaft type mechanism to store energy by stretching a spring then rapidly release that energy into a striker as the crankshaft rotates over-center. The other prior art impact ball pitching machines employ a striker cocking and release action. In some of these devices the striker is pulled or pushed in one direction against a spring then released to recoil in the opposite direction and strike the ball being pitched. In other of these devices the springs are stretched while the striker is held fast then released allowing the spring to rapidly force the striker in the direction required to impact the ball. The present invention is substantially different from all of these non-crankshaft actuated impact pitching devices by virtue of employing a rotating crankshaft mechanism which rotates in one direction carrying the rigidly attached striker lever and hammer.
In the case of the "Spring Type Projecting Device" of Scott U.S. Pat. No. 3,779,227 the striker is a leaf spring which rotates in one direction about an axis and is cocked by engaging a stop at the outer perimeter. The leaf spring of Scott's device flexes as the shaft rotation continues with the outer perimeter of the striker stopped. When the stop is released the flexed leaf spring of Scott's device rapidly straightens and strikes a ball positioned in a holder. The present invention differs substantially from the "Spring Type Projecting Device" of Scott by virtue of the present invention utilizing a crankshaft mechanism and linear coil tension springs instead of a rotating flexing leaf spring striker as employed with Scott's invention.
In each of the three prior art impact type pitching machines which employ a crankshaft mechanism a single friction reducing bushing supports a rotation shaft rigidly attached to one side of a striker. Additionally, in each a single linear tension spring is attached to a pin extending from the side of the striker opposite the side to which the rotation shaft is attached and off-set from the center of the rotation shaft to form a crank. In the case of the "Ball Projectile Machine" of Ridley et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,091 the spring attachment pin is located on the striker toward the end of the striker which actually strikes the ball to effect a pitch. In the case of the "Spring Type Ball Projecting Device" of Young et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,185,608 the spring is attached at a location 90 degrees behind the center line of the ball striker. In the case of the "Portable Ball Throwing Machine With One-Way Clutch" of Haller U.S. Pat. No. 4,237,851 the spring is attached on the opposite side of the rotation shaft 180 degrees from the direction in which the striker extends. These differences in spring attachment location relative to the direction in which the striker extends from the rotation shaft are the fundamental differences between these three prior art crankshaft actuated impact ball pitching machines. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention the striker lever extends from the crankshaft in the direction 180 degrees from the direction in which the cranks extend, similar to the arrangement employed in Haller's invention. The present invention is substantially different from the impact type ball pitching inventions of Ridley et al and Young et al on this basis as well as others discussed below.
There are sound reasons for attaching the linear springs to the opposite side of the rotation shaft from the direction in which the striker extends. In the case of the present invention this arrangement allows the ball feeding and holding mechanism to be situated on the opposite side of the striker rotation shaft from the side to which the springs are attached to the enclosure. Components of the pitching mechanism of the present invention are more evenly distributed about the enclosure by this arrangement allowing ease of fabrication and access as well as generally better functionality than would be enjoyed by another arrangement. Additionally and more significantly, by attaching the springs to the crankshaft on the side 180 degrees from the direction in which the striker extends from the crankshaft results in enhanced mass and force balance about the crankshaft axis of rotation which results in improved performance of the pitching mechanism and enhanced durability of the friction reducing support bearings of the crankshaft of the present invention.
Though the present invention attaches the linear springs to the crankshaft of the ball pitching mechanism in the direction 180 degrees from the direction in which the striker extends as does Haller, the present invention differs fundamentally and substantially from Haller's invention as well as Ridley's et al and Young's et al in other areas. To avoid bending and twisting effects on the crankshaft of the present invention, structural symmetry is employed. The striker of the present invention is rigidly attached to the center of the crankshaft directly between two friction reducing bearings which support the crankshaft. Additionally, two linear tension springs are attached to the crankshaft of the present invention at locations evenly spaced and on either side of the striker. For balance, these two linear tension springs are of similar size and characteristic. For improved efficiency and durability the present invention employs friction reducing bearings to attach the linear tension springs to the crankshaft cranks. Additionally, the one-way clutch mechanism of the present invention is an integral part of the striker lever and thus is also situated symmetrically in the mechanism. A clutch pad composed of a resilient material strip is attached to a portion of the inside surface of the enclosure of the present invention along and slightly outside the arc scribed by the outer edge of the striker hammer. A pawl attached to the outer edge of the striker hammer allows the striker lever and hammer to move freely past the resilient clutch pad strip in the direction required to effect a ball pitch. When external actuation force is removed from the crankshaft before the crankshaft rotates over-center the pawl engages the resilient clutch pad strip and stops the crankshaft and attached mechanism from rotating in the opposite direction due to the pull of the springs. The present invention differs substantially and beneficially from all prior art rotating crankshaft linear spring driven impact ball pitching devices by virtue of employing a unique and improved striker lever and hammer mechanism, symmetrically located balanced twin springs, and twin support friction reducing bearing as well as a unique and improved one-way clutch mechanism. All loads and supports other than the actuation lever are symmetrically located with respect to the ball striking mechanism of the present invention. Additionally, the strikers on the three prior art ball pitching machines which employ rotating crankshaft mechanisms are short, blunt, and stiff compared to the present invention. These strikers do not flex and recoil upon impact with the balls being pitched as does the striker of the present invention. The present invention utilizes a relatively long and slender striker lever which by design does flex and recoil slightly during the impact with the ball being pitched. The flex and recoil action of the striker lever of the present invention contributes to the efficiency with which energy is transferred from the pitching mechanism into the ball being pitched by allowing longer contact time between the striker and ball during impact. The time of contact between the striker and ball during impact coupled with the force applied during that period of contact contribute to the energy transfer efficiency from the striker into the ball. The longer the time of contact and the greater the force exerted during that contact then the greater the amount of energy that is transferred. The present invention additionally differs substantially from the three prior art impact ball pitching devices which employ a rotating crankshaft on the basis of utilizing a relatively long slender striker lever which by design flexes and recoils during impact with a ball to enhance the efficiency with which energy is transferred from the striker into the ball.

Portable spring type impact ball pitching device


A replaceable locking and securing device for securing a first member to a second member includes a replaceable bracket, a lock and a fastener. The bracket defines one opening when the bracket is operatively connected to the first member.

Scaffolds are used in many situations to provide an elevated platform for workers. Most scaffolding is made of tubular metal which is welded together to have vertical legs with horizontal rungs extending between the legs to form a ladder-like vertically extending supporting structure. Horizontally positioned platforms are held on side rails which are mounted to the vertically extending support structures.
Since scaffolding is often moved between work stations or is added to as work is completed, it is desired to design and construct scaffolding that is easy to assemble and disassemble and which also is very secure. It is also desired to have scaffolding which is economical to manufacture and is easily collapsed, stored and moved from one work location to another.
These assembled scaffolding structures need to have secure locking mechanisms so that the horizontal structures and the vertical structures do not move relative to each other during use.
Many types of latch mechanisms have been used to secure the horizontal platform to the vertical supporting structure. Examples of several of these efforts are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 409,167; 4,793,438; 5,028,164; 5,390,761; 5,931,260; 6,202,788 B1 and 6,273,831 B1.
One problem with the current latch mechanisms for scaffolding is that if the latch or lock becomes damaged, the lock is difficult to replace. Currently the locks are welded onto the frame of the scaffolding. If the lock becomes damaged due to use or rust, for example, it is difficult and dangerous to replace the lock.
Another problem with current locks is that after welding of the lock to the frame, the entire lock and frame is protected from rust or damage by galvanizing the lock and frame. The zinc galvanizing compounds tend to "pool" or fill up the holes in the locks. The manufacturer must then clean the excess galvanizing material from the lock openings. This extra step is expensive and time consuming. Further, possible damage or inadvertent removal of too much galvanizing material can occur to the lock and/or frame.
Yet another problem is that many current scaffolding is that various popular styles of locks, often referred to as T-locks, cannot be used on a galvanized frame. Further, many different types of locks are requested by end users such as T-locks, J-locks and F-locks. The manufacturer must prepare different batches of parts and have each part welded to the locks frame. This causes additional time, expense and inventory for the manufacturer.
Further, since locks need to be extremely strong and durable, it is often desirable to sometimes make the lock out of a different type of material than the scaffolding frame itself. However, welding different types of material is often difficult and, sometimes, impossible.
Yet another problem with currently available locks is the need for increasing the safe use and operation of the scaffold. Failure of the lock causes catastrophic damages both to the scaffolding and workers. Therefore, there is a need to have a lock which has built-in safety features which would fail prior to any catastrophic failure.
Additional problems occur, as described above, with respect to the need for multiple types of parts in order to assemble and use a lock on a scaffold. The many types of designs alternatives and the locking pins or latches used therewith are often lock specific. That is, only one type of lock or latching pin can be used. If the manufacturer or end use customer does not have the correct part for the lock, valuable time, money and other resources are lost while waiting for such specific replacement part.
Yet another problem occurs during end use of the scaffold. Often the scaffolds are assembled in awkward or dangerous locations. The worker must be extreme agile to both support and assemble a lock using multiple parts. Often the lock is difficult to assembly due to clearance constraints both for maneuvering the scaffold frame itself and for having access to the lock mechanism in order to fully secure the frame sections together.
Still other problems with the currently used latches occur since the scaffoldings are often used in construction and other work environments where material such as work equipment, debris or supplies are constantly being moved onto and off of the scaffolding. It is important to have a locking and securing mechanism which cannot be accidentally disengaged and further which does not interfere with the movement of the worker, worker's tools or supplies, or any debris or materials being moved by the worker.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a locking and securing mechanism that is easily secured and, further, is held in a secured locking position.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a locking and securing mechanism that can be used with currently available horizontal support structures and vertical support structures of a scaffolding system.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a locking and securing mechanism which is easily replaceable on the scaffold if damage should happen to occur to the locking and securing mechanism.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a locking and securing mechanism which is inexpensive to manufacture and, further, readily allows the locking and securing mechanism to be fully coated with a galvanizing or other suitable material after installation of the locking and securing mechanism on a scaffold.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a locking and securing mechanism which is strong and resistant to breakage or shearing.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a scaffolding which is easy to be assembled and disassembled while also providing a strong and secure work surface for a worker.
Additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment as described herein.

Scaffold having a replaceable locking and securing device


Disclosed herein is a touch sensor, including: a window; a transparent substrate having a first electrode part formed on one surface thereof; and a first adhesive layer allowing the window and one surface of the transparent substrate to adhere to each other, wherein a first protrusion part is formed on an edge of one surface of the transparent substrate.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a touch sensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, with the development of computers using a digital technology, devices assisting computers have also been developed, and personal computers, portable transmitters and other personal information processors execute text and graphic processing using a variety of input devices such as a keyboard and a mouse.
While the rapid advancement of an information-oriented society has been widening the use of computers more and more, it is difficult to efficiently operate products using only a keyboard and mouse currently serving as an input device. Therefore, the need for a device that is simple, has minimum malfunction, and is capable of easily inputting information has increased.
In addition, current techniques for input devices have progressed toward techniques related to high reliability, durability, innovation, designing and processing beyond the level of satisfying general functions. To attain these objects, a touch panel has been developed as an input device capable of inputting information such as text, graphics, or the like.
The touch panel is mounted on the display surface of an image display device such as an electronic organizer, a flat panel display including a liquid crystal display device (LCD), a plasma display panel (PDP), an electroluminescence (El) element or the like, or a cathode ray tube (CRT), so that a user selects the desired information while viewing the image display device.
The touch panel is classified into a resistive type touch panel, a capacitive type touch panel, an electromagnetic type touch panel, a surface acoustic wave (SAW) type touch panel, and an infrared type touch panel. These various types of touch panels are adapted for electronic products in consideration of signal amplification problems, resolution difference, level of difficulty of designing and processing technologies, optical characteristics, electrical characteristics, mechanical characteristics, environment-resistant characteristics, input characteristics, durability, and economic efficiency. Currently, a capacitive type touch panel and a resistive type touch panel have been used in a wide range of fields.
Moisture has an important effect on reliability in electronic materials of polymer devices, and affects characteristics of materials, such as, changing electric characteristics of devices due to the change in mechanical physical properties, or the like. However, as a touch screen module according to the prior art is exposed to a high-temperature and high-humidity environment, defects or faults in electric connection may occur.
In particular, temperature and moisture environments may deteriorate conductive properties of materials in conductive polymer devices such as a touch screen panel and the like. However, nevertheless the effects of this moisture on material characteristics is currently important, countermeasures therefor are insufficient.


A method and device can alternately deliver high concentration of nitric oxide and oxygen-enriched air. A method of providing a therapeutic amount of nitric oxide to a mammal can include delivering one or more breaths of a therapeutic amount of nitric oxide to the mammal and delivering one or more breaths of an amount of oxygen-enriched air to the mammal immediately after the one or more breaths of the therapeutic amount of nitric oxide.

Nitric oxide (NO), also known as nitrosyl radical, is a free radical that is an important signaling molecule in pulmonary vessels. Nitric oxide (NO) can moderate pulmonary hypertension caused by elevation of the pulmonary arterial pressure. Inhaling low concentrations of nitric oxide (NO), for example, in the range of 2-100 ppm can rapidly and safely decrease pulmonary hypertension in a mammal by vasodilation of pulmonary vessels.
Some disorders or physiological conditions can be mediated by inhalation of nitric oxide (NO). The use of low concentrations of inhaled nitric oxide (NO) can prevent, reverse, or limit the progression of disorders which can include, but are not limited to, acute pulmonary vasoconstriction, traumatic injury, aspiration or inhalation injury, fat embolism in the lung, acidosis, inflammation of the lung, adult respiratory distress syndrome, acute pulmonary edema, acute mountain sickness, post cardiac surgery acute pulmonary hypertension, persistent pulmonary hypertension of a newborn, perinatal aspiration syndrome, haline membrane disease, acute pulmonary thromboembolism, heparin-protamine reactions, sepsis, asthma and status asthmaticus or hypoxia. Nitric oxide (NO) can also be used to treat chronic pulmonary hypertension, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, chronic pulmonary thromboembolism and idiopathic or primary pulmonary hypertension or chronic hypoxia.

Delivery of high concentration nitric oxide


The present disclosure provides a method and an apparatus of resource sharing for D2D and cellular communications. The method may comprise: determining a cellular user set containing potential cellular users that may share resources with a D2D pair; and determining transmit power of the D2D pair on a frequency band of at least one cellular user in the cellular user set and transmit power of the at least one cellular user through maximizing throughput of the D2D pair with a quality of service (QoS) constraint and a power budget constraint of each of the potential cellular users and a transmit power constraint of the D2D pair. With embodiments of the present disclosure, it may provide a non-orthogonal resource sharing solution in which a D2D pair can reuse resources of the cellular users as more as possible while the QoS of all the cellular users are guaranteed, whereby the performance of the D2D user may be improved greatly.

Nowadays, the demand of high-speed data services on wireless bandwidth grows constantly, which has promoted various new technologies to be developed. For example, Device-to-Device (D2D) communication has been proposed to be an underlay to a cellular network so as to improve spectrum efficiency and system sum rate. The D2D communication is a new type of technology that allows user equipments (UEs) to communicate with each other through a direct connection instead of being relayed by a base station, and it is expected to become a key feature to be supported by next generation cellular networks. In the D2D communication, the D2D UEs could share same subcarrier resources with the conventional cellular UEs while the setup process will be still controlled by the network. In such way, it may provide a higher date rate, may cost less power consumption, and may lead to efficient resource (such as spectrum) utilization.
As an underlay to cellular systems, the D2D communication may share resources with cellular users in an either orthogonal or in a non-orthogonal manner. In an orthogonal sharing scheme, dedicated resources are allocated to D2D users. This scheme is easy to implement but can not fully exploit the potential of D2D communication to improve spectral efficiency of cellular systems. Just for this reason, the non-orthogonal sharing scheme has been also received much attention. In the non-orthogonal sharing scheme, the same resources are shared by the cellular users and the D2D users. However, due to resource sharing, it may cause undesirable interference to the cellular network users. Particularly, during the downlink (DL) transmission, conventional cellular users may suffer from interference by a D2D transmitter, and on the other hand, during the uplink (UL) transmission, a base station (BS) may be a victim of interference by the D2D transmitter. Therefore, in order to ensure that D2D communication is utilized efficiently, it usually requires employing appropriate resource sharing schemes with effective interference management.
Amongst others, optimizing resource sharing of the D2D communication underlaying cellular systems is an intensively scrutinized subject. For example, in paper "Resource sharing optimization for device-to-device communication underlaying cellular networks," (C.-H. Yu, K. Doppler, C. B. Ribeiro, and O. Tirkkonen, IEEE Trans. Wireless Commun., vol. 10, no. 8, pp. 2752-2763, August 2011), there is disclosed a resource sharing optimization scheme. According to the scheme proposed in this paper, there are three resource allocation modes, i.e., a non-orthogonal sharing mode, an orthogonal sharing mode and a cellular mode. In the non-orthogonal sharing mode, D2D users and cellular users reuse the same resources, which may cause interferences to each other; in the orthogonal sharing mode, the D2D users are allocated part of the resources and the remaining part of resources is left to the cellular user for signal transmission; and in the cellular mode, the D2D users conventionally communicate with each other through the BS that acts as a relay node. In the proposed scheme, the transmission in all of these modes is optimized and resource sharing may be applied in either UL transmission or DL transmission, and the resource sharing scheme between one D2D pair and single cellular UE is proposed to optimize sum rate, while different constraints are taken into account.
However, the solution as disclosed in the paper only addresses an elementary problem in principle and it can not be used in real applications. In practice, there are still a lot of problems to be addressed. Therefore, in the art, there is a need for a new technical solution for resource sharing for D2D and cellular communications.

Method and apparatus of resource sharing for device-to-device and cellular communications


A ceramic heater is provided including a ceramic sintered body and a heat resistor embedded in the substrate, wherein a change in the temperature uniformity on the heating face is reduced. The heat resistor contains a metal comprising one or more metal elements selected from the group consisting of Group IVa, Group Va and Group VIa elements of the Periodic Table and a carbide of the metal. A ratio (Ic/Im) of a total strength (Ic) of main peak of the metal carbide to a total strength (Im) of main peak strength of the metal is not larger than 0.2. Alternatively, the ratio (Rb−Ra)/Ra is not larger than 30 percent, where “Ra” is the resistance of the heat resistor before sintering and “Rb” is the resistance of the heat resistor after sintering.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a ceramic heater, a method of producing the same and an article having a metal member.
2. Related Art Statement
In a semiconductor producing system, ceramic heaters have been applied to heat a wafer so as to deposit a semiconductor thin film on the wafer from gaseous raw materials such as silane gas by means of thermal CVD or the like. For example, Japanese Patent publication P2000-68, 038A disclosed this kind of ceramic heater. The heater has a substrate made of a nitride ceramics and a heat resistor made of, for example, tungsten. A tungsten silicide and tungsten carbide layers are formed in the heat resistor during the sintering process of the ceramic substrate.
Japanese Patent publication 11-251, 039A discloses a heater having a substrate made of aluminum nitride ceramics and a heat resistor embedded therein. In the heater, the resistor is composed of, for example, tungsten and tungsten carbide. Further in the heater, a ratio (I2/I1) of a main peak strength of tungsten (I1) to that of tungsten carbide (I2) is adjusted to a value between 0.9 to 6.0. It is thus made possible to reduce the resistance-temperature system.

Ceramic heaters, a method for producing the same and articles having metal members


A bullet for cleaning/scouring the interior surface of a gun barrel including a jacket section on a rear end and joined to a projectile section on the other end forming a chamber containing a cleaning liquid. An array of brushes is positioned on the outside surface of the forward wall of the projectile section. An explosive cake is positioned against the rear end of the jacket section. A piston disk is positioned against the cake. When the cake is detonated, the disk first expels fluid from the chamber and against the interior wall of the barrel. Then the disk forces the forward wall to spread out so that the brushes on the forward wall come into contact with the interior surface of the gun barrel.

Gun barrels are subject to collection of dirt and rust that cling tenaciously to the interior surface of the gun barrel and interfere with the intended function of the gun.
Such devices have been disclosed in the literature.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,233,128 to Lai discloses a "cleaning" bullet having a chamber containing a cleaning fluid within a case whose outer surface is lined with bristles. Upon firing the bullet, a piston slidably positioned in the chamber forces the fluid through discharge ports in the head of the bullet. thereby distributing the fluid on the interior wall of the gun barrel. As the projectile accelerates down the barrel, the brushes scour the interior surface of the barrel.
A problem with this device is that clearance between the outside surface of the projectile must be provided in order to load the projectile into the barrel and still maintain stiff contact between the projectile and the surface of the barrel
The bristles must be sufficiently stiff to overcome the adhesion of the particle to the surface yet not score the surface,
The problem is compounded by the requirement that the bristles maintain a constant force against the wall with a force that does not result in scratching the surface of the tube wall.


An integrated servo system for a disk drive employing sector servo positioning information on concentric tracks of a recording medium utilizes a servo burst pattern with three sequentially occurring servo bursts. One burst is positioned to have a maximum amplitude plateau on a track centerline of alternate tracks, and the other two bursts have maximum plateau values at locations between the centerlines of adjacent tracks. The amplitudes of the bursts are sequentially detected by a peak detector and supplied to sample and hold circuitry for measuring their relative amplitudes. Discriminator circuitry utilizes a window to provide two samples of each transition in the servo pattern and compares the samples to detect different fields and events in the pattern.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to servo systems for controlling the position of one or more read/write heads relative to the different concentric tracks on a disk drive employing a sector servo system.
2. Prior Art
In disk drives employing sector servo information, in which sectors of servo information are interspersed with blocks of data circumferentially in concentric tracks around the surfaces of the disk or disks, a servo format pattern is usually employed which contains information such as a track number identifying field, a synchronizing field which synchronizes the data reading devices with the data rate on the disk drive, and a servo burst field for providing information to control the positioning of the heads which read and write information from and to the disk surfaces.
One operation phase of a disk drive servo system is known as track seeking, in which the read/write head is driven across the disk from one track to another. By controlling the head motion velocity profile between tracks, such track seeking can be performed quite rapidly compared to other systems such as those with a stepper motor actuator, where the head has to step through (i.e., start and stop) at essentially a constant velocity. This track seeking operation in a sector servo system can be conducted most efficiently when the recorded servo block information includes such lateral positional information as track ID code, and the blocks are placed in a phase coherent fashion.
The operation phase of a disk drive servo system in which the read/write head is maintained over the centerline of the desired track is known as track following. During operation, the head position can be shifted from its desired position by a number of factors, such as the application of external force to the head. The servo system senses this drift in position by reading the servo bursts and comparing their amplitudes, and then corrects for the drift by moving the head back to the desired track centerline.
One prior art servo burst field pattern for use in disk drives, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,669,004, contains four bursts of servo information labeled A, B, C, and D. All like bursts are separated from each other by four/thirds of one data track pitch. Each burst type is offset radially from the next adjacent other burst types by either one third or two thirds of the pitch of each data track. Since the actual width of a head is approximately two thirds of a track pitch, approximately one third track pitch nominally separates each data track from adjacent tracks. The servo burst pattern repeats itself every fourth track.
For each data track in this prior art servo pattern, two of the four bursts are equally offset from a track centerline by one third track pitch. For that track, one of the other bursts is entirely within the head width at that particular track, and the other is entirely outside the head width. This arrangement provides a quadrature pattern, so that the relative amplitudes of bursts read by the head at a known position will provide direction feedback information during track seeking operations. The position of the head is determined using the four servo bursts and conventional quadrature mathematical analysis techniques.
One disadvantage of this prior art four burst servo pattern is that it requires additional area on the disk to store the servo pattern in comparison to that required for a pattern having two or three servo bursts per sector. This additional area required for the servo pattern subtracts from the disk surface available for storing user data, thereby reducing the overall data capacity of the disk file.
Another prior art patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,297,787 shows a sector servo pattern having two servo bursts in the servo field and utilizing a SYNC field following the servo bursts, the SYNC field being encoded to indicate whether the preceding servo burst information was valid or invalid.
Servo information is generally written in a form of a number of separate bursts of sine wave signals, each of which is physically written a half track away from adjacent bursts. For example, in the system of the present invention, three servo bursts, A, B and C are written, with the C burst written exactly on a track centerline, the A burst written a half track inside of the centerline, and the B burst written a half track outside the centerline. When these bursts are read with the head exactly on the track centerline, the system reads a normalized amplitude of 1.0 for the C burst and 0.5 for each of the A and B bursts. By comparing the amplitude differences of the A, B and C burst signals, the servo system can determine exactly where the head is with respect to the track centerline, and the head location may be adjusted by control of the head positioning actuator.
The servo system which this invention implements has servo bursts between each sector on the disk. Therefore, servo information must be written in such a manner that is readily distinguishable from the user data. The function of detecting such specially written information is called discrimination. In such a system, because the servo information also identifies the location of the user data area immediately following it, the discriminator must accurately detect the servo field in order for the system to be able to read/write in the data portion of the sector. Therefore, any false detection or mis-detection can not only affect the system throughput rate, but could also result in a loss of data.
Traditionally, such discrimination function is implemented in analog circuitry whose performance can be affected by environmental factors (temperature, humidity, power supply voltage, etc.) and by component variations. Additionally the discriminating criteria of such analog circuitry tends to be non-exact, which usually requires high precision components and costly factory adjustment.
A desirable alternative is to perform such discriminating function in digital logic circuitry which is more stable against environmental variations and in which detection criteria can be controlled in a more exact fashion.


A step combining system of an escalator which includes a step for transferring passengers, an attaching/detaching unit, fixedly provided under each end of the step, forming a C-shaped attaching/detaching groove thereon, and a connecting shaft having an attaching/detaching bar at each end thereof, of which a diameter is smaller than that of an entrance of the groove in order to easily be attached/detached to/from the attaching/detaching groove.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an escalator, and in particular to an improved step combining system for an escalator, capable of easily attaching/detaching a step to/from a connecting shaft connected to a step chain.
2. Description of Conventional Art
Generally, a conventional elevator, as shown in FIG. 1, mainly includes a step unit 20 for transferring passengers, a handrail unit 10, provided at both sides of the step unit 20, for rotatively moving along a predetermined track, and an upper mechanical unit 30 for driving the handrail unit 30 and step unit 20.
As shown in FIG. 2, the step unit 20 is provided with steps 21 for transferring passengers, a step rear roller 22 formed at both ends below one side of the step 21 as a single body, a connecting shaft 23 having first joints 23a provided at each end thereof as a single body, and a pair of step front rollers 25 formed at both ends of the connecting shaft 23 and connected with each step chain 24. In addition, second joints 21a are formed at each end under the other side of step 21 as a single body, and bolt 26 and nut 27 are provided at each end of the connecting shaft 23 to connect the second joints 21a with the first joints 23a.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the upper mechanical unit 30 includes a motor 31 providing driving force, a speed reducer 32, directly connected with the motor 31, for reducing the rotary speed of the motor 31, thus increasing torque, a driving sprocket 34 connected with a rotary shaft of the speed reducer 32, and a driving shaft 37 which a driving sprocket 34', connected with the driving sprocket 34 by a driving chain 33, is provided at one side thereof and which a driving terminal gear 35 is provided at both sides thereof.
With reference to FIG. 3, the operation of the thusly constructed conventional escalator will be described.
The driving force of the motor 31 of the mechanical unit 30 is reduced by the speed reducer 32, down to a certain speed, and is conveyed to the driving sprocket 34 connected with the speed reducer 32.
Rotary power of the driving sprocket 34 is conveyed to the driving sprocket 34' by the driving chain 33, thus causing the driving sprocket 34' to rotate the driving shaft 37.
When the driving shaft 37 rotates, a step 21, which is connected with the driving terminal gears 35 provided at each end of the driving shaft 37 by the step chain 24, rotates upward and downward along guide rails (not shown).
In the conventional escalator, a step combining system of the step unit 20 as shown in FIG. 2 is provided with the bolt 26 and nut 27, which combine the second joints 21a of the step 21 with the first joints 23a of the connecting shaft 23 connected with the step chain 24.
However, when separating the connecting shaft 23 connected with the step chain 24 from the step 21, step 21 must be moved to the upper mechanical unit 30, unfastening the bolts 26 from the step 21, moving the step 21, from which the bolt 26 is unfastened, to a side panel (a), opening the side panel (a), and taking out the step 21.
The above-described actions result from which the first joints 21a formed in the step 21 protrude in a forward direction of the step 21, and the protruding upper portions of the first joints 21a are covered by another step, whereby the bolts 26 fastening the step 21 and the connecting shaft 23 can not be readily unfastened from an exterior above the step 21.
Accordingly, in the conventional step combining system, the separating operation of the step is complicated, timeconsuming, and not effectively achieved.


A pump apparatus for a milking machine is provided with an oil container for the supply of lubricant to the pump. A joint device is inserted in the container. The joint device comprises a casing enclosing an inlet conduit for bringing back oil to the container and an outlet conduit for the removal of oil from the container and supply to the pump.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a joint device for a lubricating system that is inserted into a container with a lubricant, such as oil, and that is also comprised of a casing that encloses an outlet conduit for the removal of the lubricant from the container. Moreover, the invention relates to a pump apparatus for producing a subpressure in a milking machine. The pump apparatus includes a pump having a suction side, a pressure side, and a lubrication device for lubricating the pump apparatus.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Today, milking machines operated by vacuum pumps are used in barns. In order to guarantee a high level of uniform milk production and ensure the health of the animals, the pumps must work in a highly reliable manner. Lubrication of the pump and especially its bearings is very important in achieving such reliability.
A usual type of pump device used today is shown in FIG. 1 labeled "Prior Art." The pump device includes a vacuum pump 1 having a suction side 2, a pressure side 3, and terminating in an outlet tube 4. A lubricator 5 comprised of an oil container 6 and an oil distributor (not shown) delivers oil to the bearings of vacuum pump 1. With the aid of the oil distributor (not shown), it is possible to guide the oil flow to the bearings of vacuum pump 1 via oil conduits 7. A silencer 8 and an oil trap 9 are provided on the pressure side 3 of vacuum pump 1. Both silencer 8 and oil trap 9 separate the oil which is then carried by air on pressure side 3 to oil containers 6a and 6b. Several problems are associated with this known pump device. First, container 6 on lubricator 5 must be filled with new oil before it empties in order to prevent jamming of the bearings. Therefore, continuous supervision of the oil level in container 6 is necessary. Oil containers 6a and 6b are connected to oil trap 9 and silencer 8. Oil containers 6a and 6b collect the separated oil and must be continuously supervised in order to prevent oil flowing onto the floor. The oil flow through lubricator 5 is controlled by a valve that directly influences the oil flow by throttling or opening a passage through which the oil flows. The amount of oil delivered in this manner through the valve is very difficult to regulate in an accurate manner. Furthermore, the outlets are sensitive to particles of dirt or thickened accumulations of oil that can stop up the outlets. Because the oil flow from lubricator 5 may not be observed, it is difficult to determine how much oil has been delivered to vacuum pump 1. Oil consumption increases if, for example, any one of the shaft bearings of the vacuum pump is leaking oil. Since this increase of oil consumption may not be observed, such a leakage may lead to the breakdown of the bearings. Furthermore, the function of lubricator 5 is very sensitive to a small inclination which results in an unequal distribution of oil to oil conduits 7 and to the different pump bearings. Moreover, lubricator 5 demonstrates an open construction that gives rise to a risk of accumulation of dirt in the oil. Consequently, the bearings may be supplied with impurities. In addition, the handling of the known lubricating system is relatively complicated. The new container 6 with new oil must be replaced in lubricator 5 when the oil in old container 6 runs out. Moreover, containers 6a and 6b must be replaced regularly because separated oil is collected therein.
German Patent No. 3711000 discloses an oil container for combustion engines with dry sump lubrication. In order to reduce noise, this oil container includes a return conduit having an orifice in a conical pipe. Thus, the mixture of oil and air that is brought back to the oil container may expand in the pipe with the oil depositing on the wall of the pipe by means of a helicoidal movement. The oil to be transported from the container is sucked out through a separate pipe in the lower portion of the container.
French Patent No. 2599843 discloses a device for the refining of oil. The device is comprised of a container having an inlet conduit leading to a first chamber with a sloping bottom wall. Impurities are collected in a lower space and oil is sucked out via an outlet conduit from a second chamber by means of a pump.
German Patent No. 2732474 discloses an oil suction socket for a lubricating system that is intended to be inserted into a container with oil. The suction socket includes an opening provided in the lower portion of the casing that is otherwise closed.
Swedish Patent No. 454 198 discloses a lubricant container attached to an engine. Within the lubricant container, there is a second smaller container which encloses an outlet conduit for the removal of lubricant from the lubricant container and an inlet conduit for the supply of lubricant to the lubricant container. The second smaller container is not inserted into the lubricant container, but is an integral, fixed part of the lubricant container. SE-B-454 198 does not suggest any means for separating air from the lubricant supplied to the lubricant container.
Swedish Patent No. 2 529 842 discloses a lubricating system having a pump device immersed in a lubricant container. The pump device includes an outlet means for the removal of lubricant to a machine to be lubricated. Lubricant is supplied to the lubricant container by means of further conduits separated from the pump device.

Joint device for a lubrication system and a pump apparatus including the joint device


The invention provides ocular formulations and features a nano-emulsion composition, e.g., a nano-emulsion comprising a CBFβ-RUNX1 inhibitor. The composition comprises a particle with a length of less than 200 nanometers in at least one dimension.

The eye is a unique organ, both anatomically and physiologically. For example, the cornea and the crystalline lens are the only tissues in the body besides cartilage that have no blood supply, thus limiting the accessibility of these ocular structures for medications. Another example, as the eye is part of the central nervous system, there exists a blood retinal barrier analogous to the blood brain barrier that limits the accessibility of the eye to medications. The complexity of the eye provides unique challenges to drug delivery strategies.

Nano-emulsion of CBFß-RUNX1 inhibitor for ocular drug delivery

The Schepens Eye Research Institute, Inc.


Process for the manufacture of triazolone compounds and in particular nefazodone and intermediates useful in the manufacture thereof.

1,2,4-Triazol-3-one heterocyclic carbon compounds such as trazodone, etoperidone and nefazodone are known for their therapeutic use in treating depression. The pharmacological properties of trazodone has been published in several articles, see for example in Silvestrini, et al., International Journal of Neuropharmacology, 7 587-599 (1968) and those of etoperidone in P. Bertoletti, Clin. Med. 58,393 (1977).
Nefazodone and two processes for its preparation have) been described in Canadian Patent 1,198,436 and in PCT/EP93/03119 published May 26, 1994. The '436 patent relates to the preparation of 2-phenoxyalkyl-1,2,4 triazol-3-one derivatives Scheme 1 below depicts the two different methods described in the '436 patent. ##STR1## 5-Ethyl-4-(2-phenoxyethyl)-2H-1,2,4-triazol-3-one, compound 1.3 is alkylated with 1-(3-chloropropyl)-4-(3-chlorophenyl)piperazine, compound 1.5 in the presence of base to give nefazodone. Alternatively, 2-3-4-(3-chlorophenyl)-1-piperazinyl!propyl-5-ethyl-4H-1,2,4-triazol-3-o ne, compound 1.4, is alkylated with 2-phenoxyethyl chloride in the presence of base to give nefazodone.
Canadian Patent, 1,233,826 relates to an improved process for obtaining the intermediate compound of Formula 1.3 in Scheme 1. PCT/EP93/03119 teaches another process for the preparation of triazolone compounds such as nefazadone and etoperidone wherein a carbonate derivative represented as compound 2.1 in Scheme 2 below is reacted with a N-substituted hydrazide of a carboxylic acid characterized by Formula 2.2. ##STR2##
It has now been found a novel process for the preparation of triazolone derivatives and in particular for the preparation of nefazodone.
When compared to the processes of the prior art, the applicant's invention introduces a number of advantages:
First, nefazodone is produced in considerably higher yields than the process taught by the prior art.
Second, it can easily be accommodated to industrial scale production. Nefazodone is produced in four steps from commercially available starting materials.
Third, the process of the present invention introduces the substituent at the position five of 2,4-disubstituted 1,2,4-triazol-3-one at the last step of the synthesis. This synthetic pathway allows for the manufacture of various 2,4-disubstituted 1,2,4-triazol-3-one bearing a different substituent at the position five of the ring. This flexibility is extremely interesting for the synthesis of other potential antidepressant agents.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide novel process for the production of nefazodone from readily available, inexpensive and relatively safe starting material. Other objects of this invention can be recognized by those skill in the art from the summary of invention and detailed description of embodiments thereof.

Methods for the manufacture of neofazodone


A system comprising a plurality of mobile object servers respectively assigned to a plurality of regions in a geographic space, the plurality of mobile object servers including at least one mobile object server including a mobile object agent assigned to a moving object in the assigned region; and a plurality of event servers operable to manage events occurring in the geographic space; wherein each mobile object server is operable to transfer the mobile object agent to one of the plurality of mobile object servers assigned to a neighboring region in response to the moving object moving to the neighboring region, and execute the mobile object agent to collect information of events from at least one event server, and provide the moving object with information that assists the moving object with traveling in the geographic space.

The present invention relates to a system for managing geographic space and moving objects thereon.
Driver assistance systems, such as the system in US patent publication 2012/0291049, partition the events among processing nodes based on location information, such that each processing node is responsible for executing queries against a relation representing a predefined spatial region. Other systems, such as the system in U.S. Pat. No. 8,850,013, perform server load-balancing by distributing data describing geo objects across a plurality of servers and directing requests for data to one of the plurality of servers based on the geographic location of the user. Still further systems, such as the system in U.S. Pat. No. 8,862,146, enhance location information for a mobile device comprising a location information module configured to obtain location data indicative of a location of said mobile device, obtain additional data comprising context information for said mobile device, the location information module further configured to process said additional data to obtain said context information and to determine enhanced location information for said mobile device, based at least in part on processing said location data in association with said context information.
As a large number of automobiles and events on the geographic map are expected to be managed by the system, the system has to process a great deal of information. Since cars generally move at high speed and require the latest information, it is desirable to complete all processes of a driving system within one server in order to minimize processing time for individual automobiles.
However, as the geographic space being handled by such a system expands, the amount of information being transmitted and received increases due to an increase in the number of automobiles and the number of roads, and the corresponding requirements might exceed the processing power of a single server. Even if the geographic space is divided and a plurality of servers are used to process the spaces resulting from the division, automobiles move at high speeds among the plurality of divided geographic spaces, and therefore further communication between the servers is necessary, such that the communication load between servers increases. The increase of the communication load between the servers prevents the system from processing each automobile in a short time. Therefore, a system to enable less communication load between servers and higher scalability is further needed for efficiently managing large scale geographic spaces.

International Business Machines Corporation


An n-type GaN layer made of n-type gallium nitride (GaN) is formed on a sapphire substrate. A plurality of island-phased layered structures are formed in random sizes between the n-type GaN layer and a p-type GaN layer that is made of p-type GaN. Each of the layered structures is configured by stacking multiple AlN layers made of aluminum nitride (AlN) and multiple InGaN layers made of indium gallium nitride (InGaN) on an AlN base layer. The respective layered structures emit lights of different wavelengths. This accordingly allows for emission of light in a wider wavelength range.

A proposed configuration of this type of light emitting diode element includes an InGaN quantum well layer having an InGaN (indium gallium nitride) nanostructure of indium-rich composition on a GaN (gallium nitride) layer (for example, Patent Literature 1). The light emitting diode element of this configuration emits light of cool white color having a relatively sharp peak around 430 nm in an emission spectrum.

Light emitting diode element and method of manufacturing the same


A hydrostatic variable displacement unit is provided having a swash plate which serves to adjust the stroke of displacement pistons in a cylinder block and can be pivoted in its angular position by means of a servo system, the servo system having at least one servo piston with two servo-piston end surfaces which are in each case assigned a servo cylinder and a servo-piston rear surface, and the servo cylinders, by means of the assigned servo-piston end surfaces, in each case bounding a servo-cylinder pressure space. The servo piston is acted upon by a spring arrangement having at least one spring arranged outside the servo-cylinder pressure space and clamped between two spring plates. The two spring plates are acted upon by the springs in the direction of a stop of the particular servo cylinder that is situated on its side such that in the neutral position, the spring plates bear against the servo-piston rear surfaces and against the stop of the particular servo cylinder.

The invention relates to a hydrostatic variable displacement unit having a swash plate and a servo system having a spring arrangement.
In the known hydrostatic variable displacement units having a swash plate, which operate as a closed-circuit pump or motor, the variable displacement pistons are guided in cylinders of a cylinder block and rotate about the shaft of the variable displacement unit. During the rotation, the displacement pistons are supported on the swash plate by means of sliding blocks, with each displacement piston executing a complete stroke during each 360° revolution. For this purpose, the swash plate has a planar running surface on which the sliding blocks.
The swash plate can be pivoted by means of a servo system in such a manner that the angular position of its running surface in relation to the stroke direction of the displacement pistons changes. The stroke of the said pistons therefore also changes as does the volumetric flow produced by the pump. The force required to change the pivoting angle of the swash plate is generally produced hydraulically by the servo system. For this purpose, the swash plate is connected to one or more servo pistons which are guided in corresponding servo cylinders and can be acted upon by pressure. The adjustment, brought about as a result, of the servo piston is transmitted mechanically to the swash plate which is thereby pivoted, for example via a servo arm which is connected to the swash plate. The spring forces of the spring arrangement for the resetting are dimensioned in such a manner that they return the pivoting angle of the swash plate into the neutral position, i.e. to the angular position of 0°, when the servo system of the variable displacement device is not activated.
Transversely situated servo pistons on closed-circuit pumps generally use servo springs which act in each direction of displacement of the servo piston because the resetting is thereby ensured for both pivoting directions of the swash plate using the same springs. In order to save on construction space, the springs may be accommodated in the hollow drilled servo pistons, but this gives rise to the problem that the servo arm of the swash plate is not able to apply to the servo piston a central force situated on the axis of movement of the servo piston and tilting forces unavoidably occur. If, on the other hand, the springs are placed on one side of the application of force into the servo space, these tilting forces are avoided, but a large amount of construction space is required. In order to reduce this construction width problem, the springs can furthermore also be placed into the servo-cylinder pressure space, but this requires parts which are manufactured very precisely, and is severely restricted in terms of the spring forces which can be selected because of the dimensions of the cylinder space.
One solution is disclosed in DE 100 37 482 C1. It describes a hydraulic variable displacement pump which operates in a closed circuit and has a servo system which is situated transversely and in which a double-action servo piston having two end surfaces guided in each case in a cylinder is provided. The piston is forced back into the neutral position by means of springs which act as compression springs during each piston stroke in any desired direction. In this case, the springs are arranged around the servo piston outside the servo-cylinder pressure space and, on both sides of the point of engagement of the servo arm, are supported on the housing in each case via spring plates and are supported on the opposite side in each case on one of the servo cylinders.
In the case of the known system, the servo arm can indeed apply force centrically, on the axis of movement of the servo piston. However, the fact that the springs are situated on a common central line about the axis of movement of the servo piston on both sides of the point of engagement of the servo arm has the drawback that the servo piston has to be in a number of parts in order to be able to fit the springs. In the case of the system according to DE 100 37 482 C1, the two parts forming the end surfaces of the servo piston are therefore screwed to the central part of the piston. In this case, during installation, the particular spring assembly between the spring plates has to be enclosed between the servo piston and servo cylinder in a manner free from play as far as possible and in the process positioned in such a manner that the pump is in the neutral position. The freedom from play makes it necessary to select the manufacturing tolerances of the individual components to be extremely exacting. On the other hand, the neutral position has to be adjusted by displacement of the entire servo system relative to the pump housing. A dedicated variable displacement housing is therefore required for the servo system. All of these circumstances make installation more difficult and increase the costs of manufacturing very considerably.
The primary object of the invention is therefore to provide a hydraulic variable displacement unit having a servo system which permits simpler manufacturing and installation.
This and other objects will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

Hydrostatic variable displacement unit having a swash plate and a servo system having a spring arrangement