A cup and plug assembly of a base for a polymer based ammunition cartridge case body includes a cylindrical sleeve joined to the base. The base includes a plug molded over a cup. The cup includes a first annular cup portion extending in a first direction from a web formed therein and a second annular cup portion extending in a second direction from the web opposite to the first direction. The plug having a first annular portion that completely encompasses an outer circumferential surface of the cup and a second annular portion that extends from the first annular portion. The second annular portion of the plug completely covering an inner surface of the first annular cup portion of the cup. The cup preferably being formed from a metal or a suitable non-metal and the plug being formed from a suitable polymer that is injection molded over the cup.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to bullets/projectiles (hereinafter referred to as bullets) and bottleneck cartridge cases. More particularly, the present invention relates to composite polymer based cartridge cases having a base comprising an over-molded metal cup and polymer plug assembly and a bottleneck sleeve which has an integral projectile locking feature.
2. Description of Related Art
It is well known in the industry to manufacture bullets and corresponding cartridge cases from either brass or steel. Typically, industry design calls for materials that are strong enough to withstand extreme operating pressures and which can be formed into a cartridge case to hold the bullet, while simultaneously resist rupturing during the firing process.
Conventional ammunition typically includes four basic components, that is, the bullet, the cartridge case holding the bullet therein, a propellant used to push the bullet down the barrel at predetermined velocities, and a primer, which provides the spark needed to ignite the powder which sets the bullet in motion down the barrel.
The cartridge case is typically formed from brass and is configured to hold the bullet therein to create a predetermined resistance, which is known in the industry as bullet pull. The cartridge case is also designed to contain the propellant media as well as the primer.
The bullet is configured to fit within an open end or mouth of the cartridge case and conventionally includes a groove (hereinafter referred to as a cannelure) formed in the mid section of the bullet to accept a crimping action imparted to the metallic cartridge case therein. When the crimped portion of the cartridge case holds the bullet by locking into the cannelure, a bullet pull value is provided representing a predetermined tension at which the cartridge case holds the bullet. The bullet pull value, in effect, assists imparting a regulated pressure and velocity to the bullet when the bullet leaves the cartridge case and travels down the barrel of a gun.
Furthermore, the bullet is typically manufactured from a soft material, such as, for example only, lead, wherein the bullet accepts the mouth of the cartridge being crimped to any portion of the bullet to hold the bullet in place in the cartridge case, even though the cartridge case is crimped to the cannelure of the bullet.
The propellant is typically a solid chemical compound in powder form commonly referred to as smokeless powder. Propellants are selected such that when confined within the cartridge case, the propellant burns at a known and predictably rapid rate to produce the desired expanding gases. As discussed above, the expanding gases of the propellant provide the energy force that launches the bullet from the grasp of the cartridge case and propels the bullet down the barrel of the gun at a known and relatively high velocity.
The primer is the smallest of the four basic components used to form conventional ammunition. As discussed above, primers provide the spark needed to ignite the powder that sets the bullet in motion down the barrel. The primer includes a relatively small metal cup containing a priming mixture, foil paper, and relatively small metal post, commonly referred to as an anvil.
When a firing pin of a gun or firearm strikes a casing of the primer, the anvil is crushed to ignite the priming mixture contained in the metal cup of the primer. Typically, the primer mixture is an explosive lead styphnate blended with non-corrosive fuels and oxidizers which burns through a flash hole formed in the rear area of the cartridge case and ignites the propellant stored in the cartridge case. In addition to igniting the propellant, the primer produces an initial pressure to support the burning propellant and seals the rear of the cartridge case to prevent high-pressure gases from escaping rearward. It should be noted that it is well known in the industry to manufacture primers in several different sizes and from different mixtures, each of which affects ignition differently.
The cartridge case, which is typically metallic, acts as a payload delivery vessel and can have several body shapes and head configurations, depending on the caliber of the ammunition. Despite the different body shapes and head configurations, all cartridge cases have a feature used to guide the cartridge case, with a bullet held therein, into the chamber of the gun or firearm.
The primary objective of the cartridge case is to hold the bullet, primer, and propellant therein until the gun is fired. Upon firing of the gun, the cartridge case seals the chamber to prevent the hot gases from escaping the chamber in a rearward direction and harming the shooter. The empty cartridge case is extracted manually or with the assistance of gas or recoil from the chamber once the gun is fired.
There are three common cartridge case designs that are well known in the industry. In particular, a bottleneck cartridge case 10 shown in FIG. 1 is used with rifles. A straight inner walled cartridge case 20 shown in FIG. 2 has inner walls of the cartridge case that are substantially parallel with a longitudinal axis of the case, which is commonly used with pistols. A tapered straight inner walled cartridge case 30 shown in FIG. 3 has inner walls that are oblique or not parallel relative to the longitudinal axis of the case and is commonly used with revolvers.
As shown in FIG. 1, the bottleneck cartridge case 10 has a body 11 formed with a shoulder 12 that tapers into a neck 13 having a mouth at a first end. A primer holding chamber 15 is formed at a second end of the body opposite the first end. A web area 16 separates a main cartridge case holding chamber 17, which contains a propellant, from the primer holding chamber 15, which communicate with each other via a flash hole channel 18 formed in the web area 16. An exterior circumferential region of the rear end of the cartridge case includes an extraction groove 19a and a rim 19b.
As can be seen in FIG. 2, the straight inner walled cartridge case 20 does not include a shoulder that tapers to a neck 23 at the first end of the cartridge case 20. Furthermore, the straight inner walled cartridge case 20 does not have a rim significantly larger than a case diameter D20 and is commonly referred to as a rimless case in the industry. Likewise, the tapered straight wall cartridge case 30 shown in FIG. 3A differs from the cartridge case 20 shown in FIG. 2 as it has interior tapered walls and a rim 39b larger than a case diameter D30.
FIG. 3B is an enlarged view of a lip lock 32 provided in the vicinity of the mouth 34 of the cartridge case 30. The lip lock 32 includes a first, generally straight portion 32a, which is orthogonal to a longitudinal axis of the case 30; a second, generally straight portion 32b, which is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the case 30 and orthogonal to the first straight portion 32a; and a slanted portion 32c, which is oblique relative to the longitudinal axis of the cartridge case 30 and both straight portions 32a and 32b. The lip lock 32 is used to securely grip a bullet (not shown).
Typically, manufacturers must take as many as twenty three (23) steps to manufacture a brass cartridge case from a rolled strip of brass material. During loading, which is the step where the cartridge case is loaded with the powder and bullet, the brass cartridge case is crimped to the bullet so that the bullet is held therein. It is well understood that crimping is necessary to assist in creating the pressure needed for satisfactory ballistic performance.
Ballistic performance is a set of measurable events resulting from the combination of a particular bullet weight placed over a particular propellant charge to be ignited by a priming method of predetermined size that establishes the pressure build up needed to propel the bullet at a desired velocity.
As shown in the schematic diagram of FIG. 4, case walls 41a and 41b of the brass cartridge cases 40 are typically crimped at a mouth 44 onto the bullet B to hold the bullet B in place. The contact surface is the wall thickness of the brass cartridge case 40 at the point the cartridge case 40 is crimped.
Alternatively, the cartridge case 50 may be tapered from a rear end 51 to the mouth 54, as shown in FIG. 5, so as to create a press fit P at the mouth 54 of the case 50, which causes the bullet B to be held in place over a larger bearing surface.
In yet another alternative, adhesives may be used to hold the cartridge case and bullet assembly together to assist in providing a desired pressure. Some commercial, law enforcement, and military firearms ammunitions are assembled with adhesives to provide an increased pressure where a simple crimping step is not sufficient.
In the late 1990's it was reported that the military would begin the use of so-called green bullets. Supposedly, such green bullets would be made of high-density materials, such as tungsten, mixed with lighter materials, such as tin and zinc. It was also reported that tungsten-nylon cores could be used. However, no specific range of ingredients was ever provided. It should be noted that the green bullets were fabricated with copper jackets. See Mikko, Assoc. of Firearm and Tool Mark Exam. Journ., vol. 31, No. 4, Fall 1999; USA Today, "'Green' Army bullets to get the lead out," and Environmental Update, Fall 1999.
Several patents for green bullets have been issued.
For example, WO 88/09476 to Booth discloses a bullet made of materials having a specific gravity of 3 to 7, a matrix of plastic material, such as nylon 6 or nylon 6/6, and a filler of a finely divided metal, such as copper, bronze or tungsten. In the preferred compositions, Nylon is incorporated in an amount of 8% or 11% by weight. The filler material is present in essentially the remainder amount. Either one of the nylon 6/6 or nylon 6 is explained as being used in amounts of up to 20% by weight. Booth does not disclose using both nylon materials together in the same bullet.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,616,642 to West et al. discloses a bullet containing a high density powder, such as copper, tungsten, bismuth, ceramic or stainless steel, in an amount of at least 85%, dispersed in a polyester matrix, such as polybutylene terephthalate or polyethylene terephthalate.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,048,379 to Bray et al. discloses a bullet made of tungsten, a fiber, such as stainless steel, copper, aluminum, nylon, Kevlar, Spectra, nickel, glass or carbon, and a binder material, such as nylon 12 or a polyester elastomer. Bray et al. indicate nylon 6/6 and nylon 6 are resins that are not suitable as binders. See column 10, lines 18–19.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,257,149 to Cesaroni discloses a bullet having a core made of a polymer, such as ethylene/methacrylic acid copolymer ionomers, polyetherester elastomers or polyamides, such as nylon 11 or nylon 12, and a jacket made of copper, nylon 6/6, nylon 6/12, nylon 4/12, flexible nylon, nylon 6 or nylon 11.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,845,716 to Husseini et al. discloses an article 21 of ammunition including a molded plastic cartridge casing body 23 having a first end 25 and a second end 27. A projectile 29 is attached to the first end 25 of the cartridge casing body 23 while a base 45 is attached to the second end 27 of the cartridge casing body 23. Husseini teaches it is known to manufacture the base 45 from a metal material, such as brass. The base 45 can also be manufactured from a plastic material that is molded out of a long fiber reinforced nylon material to provide stiffness, high compressive strength, and minimal cold flow. As such, the base 45 can be manufactured from brass, plastic, ceramic, or a combination of plastics, ceramics, and the like. See the paragraph bridging columns 5–6 in Husseini. Husseini also discloses a base 131 that includes a ceramic liner 131l with a composite or plastic material 131m molded over the liner 131l. See FIG. 18B of Husseini.
However, the base 45, 131 disclosed by Husseini, like the bases taught by the other conventionally known articles of ammunition, does not include a metallic cap defining the primer pocket and flash hole, wherein a polymer based plug is molded over the cap to provide the required resistance to internal chamber pressures that are experienced when the ammunition is fired, but also significantly reduce the overall weight of the cartridge case body relative to conventional brass cartridge cases.
As stated above, the test for all methods of holding the bullet within a cartridge case is commonly known as bullet pull. The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufactures Institute (hereinafter referred to as "S.A.A.M.I.") established a bullet pull for all calibers that creates a desired pressure to deliver the desired ballistics. The United States Military has also established bullet pull specifications that achieve the products desired ballistic performance.

Composite polymer based cartridge case having an overmolded metal cup, polymer plug base assembly


A catalyst precursor composition comprising a) a source of chromium, molybdenum or tungsten; b) a first ligand having the general formula (I);(R1)(R2)P—X—P(R3)(R4)  (I)wherein X is a bivalent organic bridging group; R1 and R3 are independently selected from, hydrocarbyl, substituted hydrocarbyl, heterohydrocarbyl and substituted heterohydrocarbyl groups, with the proviso that when R1 and R3 are aromatic groups they do not contain a polar substituent at any of the ortho-positions; R2 and R4 are independently selected from optionally substituted aromatic groups, each R2 and R4 bearing a polar substituent on at least one of the ortho-positions; and c) a second ligand having the general formula (II);(R1′)(R2′)P—X′—P(R3′)(R4′)  (II)                wherein X′ is a bridging group of the formula —N(R5′)—, wherein R5′ is selected from hydrogen, a hydrocarbyl group, a substituted hydrocarbyl group, a heterohydrocarbyl group, a substituted heterohydrocarbyl group, a silyl group or derivative thereof; and R1′, R2′, R3′ and R4′ are independently selected from hydrocarbyl, substituted hydrocarbyl, heterohydrocarbyl and substituted heterohydrocarbyl groups of which at least one of R1′, R2′, R3′ and R4′ is substituted with a polar substituent, or R1′, R2′, R3′ and R4′ are independently selected from hydrocarbyl, substituted hydrocarbyl, heterohydrocarbyl and substituted heterohydrocarbyl groups, wherein any substituents on one or more of R1′, R2′, R3′ and R4′ are non-polar. The present invention also relates to a catalyst system comprising the catalyst precursor composition of the present invention and a cocatalyst.

The efficient catalytic trimerization and tetramerization of olefinic monomers, such as the trimerization and tetramerization of ethylene to 1-hexene and 1-octene, is an area of great interest for the production of olefinic trimers and tetramers of varying degrees of commercial value. In particular, 1-hexene is a valuable comonomer for linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) and 1-octene is valuable as a chemical intermediate in the production of plasticizer alcohols, fatty acids, detergent alcohol and lubrication oil additives as well as a valuable comonomer in the production of polymers such as polyethylene. 1-Hexene and 1-octene can be produced by a conventional transition metal oligomerization process, although the trimerization and tetramerization routes are preferred.
Several different catalytic systems have been disclosed in the art for the trimerization of ethylene to 1-hexene. A number of these catalysts are based on chromium.
Chem. Commun., 2002, 8, 858-859 (BP), discloses chromium complexes of ligands of the type Ar2PN(Me)PAr2 (Ar=ortho-methoxy-substituted aryl group) as catalysts for the trimerization of ethylene. U.S. Pat. No. 6,800,702 (BP) discloses a catalyst for the trimerization of olefins comprising a source of chromium, molybdenum or tungsten, a ligand containing at least one phosphorus, arsenic or antimony atom bound to at least one hydrocarbyl or heterohydrocarbyl group having a polar substituent, but excluding the case where all such polar substituents are phosphane, arsane or stibane groups, and optionally an activator. The ligand used in most of the examples is (2-methoxyphenyl)2PN(Me)P(2-methoxyphenyl)2.
Although the catalysts disclosed in the BP documents mentioned above have good selectivity for 1-hexene within the C6 fraction, a relatively high level of by-product formation (e.g. C10 by-products) is observed.
Catalytic systems for the tetramerization of ethylene to 1-octene have recently been developed. A number of these catalysts are based on chromium.
WO 2004/056478 and WO 2004/056479 (Sasol) disclose catalyst compositions and processes for the tetramerization of olefins. The catalyst compositions disclosed in WO 2004/056478 comprise a transition metal and a heteroatomic ligand having the general formula (R)nA—B—C(R)m where A and C are independently selected from a group which comprises phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, oxygen, bismuth, sulphur, selenium, and nitrogen, and B is a linking group between A and C, and R is independently selected from any homo or heterohydrocarbyl group of which at least one R group is substituted with a polar substituent and n and m is determined by the respective valence and oxidation state of A and C. The catalyst compositions disclosed in WO 2004/056479 comprise a transition metal and a heteroatomic ligand having the general formula (R)nA—B—C(R)m where A and C are independently selected from a group which comprises phosphorus, arsenic, antimony, oxygen, bismuth, sulphur, selenium, and nitrogen, and B is a linking group between A and C, and R is independently selected from any homo or heterohydrocarbyl group and n and m is determined by the respective valence and oxidation state of A and/or C.
WO 2004/056480 (Sasol) discloses the tandem tetramerization and polymerisation of ethylene. Specifically, WO 2004/056480 discloses a process for polymerising olefins to produce branched polyolefins in the presence of a distinct polymerization catalyst and a distinct tetramerization catalyst, wherein the tetramerization catalyst produces 1-octene in a selectivity greater than 30% and the 1-octene produced is at least partially incorporated into the polyolefin chain.
Although the tetramerization catalysts disclosed in the Sasol documents mentioned above have good selectivity for 1-octene within the C8 fraction, again, a relatively high level of by-product formation is observed. Typically, the by-product consists of C6 compositions; however, only about 70 to 80% wt. of the C6 by-product composition is 1-hexene, with the remaining C6 by-product comprising compounds such as methylcyclopentane and methylenecyclopentane. The presence of these remaining C6 by-product compositions, which have very little commercial use or value, is highly undesirable from both an economic point of view as well as from a product separation point of view.
It has now been surprisingly found that the catalyst system and process of the present invention provide an efficient route for the selective production of 1-hexene and 1-octene from ethylene while reducing the level of by-product formation, especially C10 by-products, solids (i.e. heavy waxes and/or polyethylene) and C6 compositions/isomers other than 1-hexene.

Catalytic trimerization and tetramerization of olefinic monomers


A spinning reel system for providing an ergonomic grip and increasing stability and control when fishing. A reel rotor and a reel handle are disposed on a reel body. A spacer is disposed between the rotor and the body. A reel support arm is angularly disposed on the body. A reel foot is angularly disposed on the support arm. The reel foot is adapted to be installed in a standard reel seat of a fishing pole. The reel rotor rotates and oscillates toward a body anterior end and a body posterior end. The support arm has grooves and protrusions for receiving the fingers of a user.

A fishing reel is a cylindrical device typically attached to a fishing rod for use in managing the line used for fishing. There are several predominant types of fishing reels commonly used in today's fishing including the spinning reel. The present invention features a spinning reel system for increased stability and control when fishing with a spinning reel.
Any feature or combination of features described herein are included within the scope of the present invention provided that the features included in any such combination are not mutually inconsistent as will be apparent from the context, this specification, and the knowledge of one of ordinary skill in the art. Additional advantages and aspects of the present invention are apparent in the following detailed description and claims.


A collector electrode and adjacent electric weld torch are placed at a selected distance from a work surface or substrate. An electric welding current is generated so that a welding current arc forms between the collector electrode and the weld torch. A feed metal is then fed into the welding current arc and is melted into molten metal adjacent to the collector electrode. The molten metal is then deposited onto a work surface. The collector electrode and weld torch are positioned so that the welding current arc between the weld torch and the collector electrodes does not penetrate the work surface or the already-deposited metal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for depositing molten metal on a substrate using an arc welder.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Objects of various shapes may be formed by the depositing of layers of material on a substrate. A preform is typically used in this process. A preform is a section of material upon and around which the material is deposited. The preform is machined so as to reflect the final shape of the built-up object. Often, the deposited material will bond to the preform. Thus, the use of a preform typically requires the additional steps in the manufacturing process of machining the preform and removing the preform after fabrication.
Other methods of building objects by material deposition have attempted to eliminate the use of a conventional preform. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,775,092 to Edmonds et al. provides a method and apparatus for building objects by welding without the use of a conventional preform. The technique of Edmonds, however, involves running a welding current from the consumable material feed to the just deposited material.
One type of material used in such material deposition processes are metals. A typical means of depositing metals in a manner that allows the deposited metal to be bonded to other metal layers is through welding. However, prior art welding techniques such as is shown in prior art FIG. 1 typically require a substrate made of a conductive material so that a welding current may be directed through the substrate. The arc caused by the welding current then melts feed metal placed adjacent the substrate. These prior art welding techniques can cause the just-deposited metal as well as the previously applied layers of metal and the substrate to be influenced by the welding arc. Such welding arc influences include substantial welding arc penetration into the already-deposited metal which results in the remelting of the already-deposited metal or substrate. When the deposited metal is substantially remelted, there is an accompanying loss in integrity of the shape of the deposited metal. If layers adjacent to the initial layers and substrate have different compositions, remelt could cause the dissimilar materials to mix. Thus, typical welding techniques are inappropriate for the fabrication of objects having accurate dimensions and shapes. Prior art welding methods also cannot weld onto a nonconductive or poorly conductive substrate.

Method and apparatus for depositing molten metal


In a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device, the increase of the capacity of a nonvolatile semiconductor memory inevitably causes the power supply circuits including the charge pump circuits at the periphery to increase. In view of the above situation, the object of the present invention is to provide a technology of allowing a nonvolatile semiconductor memory to increase the capacity without increasing the power supply circuits which are the peripheral circuits of the nonvolatile semiconductor memory. It is possible to carry out the erase and write of plural memory cell blocks by selecting memory cell blocks one by one in a power supply circuit containing a charge pump circuit having the capability of carrying out the erase and write of a memory cell block and it is also possible, at the time of read and standby, to increase the charge pump capability and select plural memory cell blocks by inputting clock signals having a frequency not less than the frequency of the clock signals at the time of the operations of erase and write to charge pumps.

In recent years, a nonvolatile semiconductor memory device equipped with a nonvolatile semiconductor memory has been required to be equipped with a large-capacity nonvolatile semiconductor memory with the increase of the variety of applications and the like.
One of the factors hindering the increase of the capacity of a nonvolatile semiconductor memory is the increase of the chip cost caused by the increase of the area of a chip. In this light, proposed are: a Single MONOS (Metal Oxide Nitride Oxide Semiconductor) memory having the configuration of one transistor to one bit as described in JP-A No. 77197/1986 in order to reduce a chip area; and also a charge pump circuit to generate high voltage corresponding to the Single MONOS (hereunder referred to as "S-MONOS).
FIGS. 1A to 1D are diagrams showing operation biases in the various modes of an S-MONOS. As shown in FIG. 1A, at the time of erase, the threshold value (Vth) of a memory cell is set to the negative side by: applying −8.5 V to a memory gate (MG) and 1.5 V which is the power supply voltage to a well, a source (S), and a drain (D); and extracting electrons in a nitride film to the side of the well by the tunnel effect. As shown in FIG. 1B, at the time of write, the threshold value (Vth) of a memory cell is set to the positive side by: applying 1.5 V to an MG and −10.5 V to a well, a source (S), and a drain (D); and injecting electrons into a nitride film by the tunnel effect. As shown in FIG. 1C, at the time of read, by applying 0 V to a selected MG, 0 V to a source, and precharged 1.0 V to a drain: if a memory cell is in the state of erase, since Vth is negative, electric current flows between the drain and the source and thus it is detected that the drain potential lowers; and, if the memory cell is in the state of write, since Vth is positive, electric current does not flow between the drain and the source and thus it is detected that the drain potential is kept at 1 V. Further, as shown in FIG. 1D, at the time of standby, −1.5 V, which is not more than the Vth of a memory cell at the time of erase, is applied to an MG and a well.
Then, FIG. 2A shows a schematic diagram of charge pump circuits corresponding to the S-MONOS and FIG. 2B shows the charge pump circuit of each stage. In FIG. 2A, the signals CONTIN, CONTOUT, ACLK, and BCLK shown in FIG. 2B are not written for simplification. As it is obvious from the operation biases sown in FIG. 1, the feature of the configuration is that, in the charge pump circuit configuration shown in FIG. 2A, a switch is introduced between adjacent two stages of the charge pumps so as to be able to change the number of the stages of the charge pumps since the charge pump output voltage varies for each of erase/write, read, and standby.

Non volatile semiconductor memory device


A portable basketball goal assembly that includes a rim attached to a backboard bracket. The backboard bracket is attached to a basketball backboard. The rim is pivotal in a direction towards the basketball backboard. The backboard is attached to one end of a shaft that contains foldable elements. The other end of the shaft is pivotally attached to the rear end of a base. A shaft support element has one end pivotally attached to the front end of the base. The other end of the shaft support element is removably attached to the shaft. The shaft and the shaft support element can be folded towards the base to allow storage and portability of the basketball goal. The base includes one or more wheels along its front edge allowing for transportability of the folded assembly. The basketball goal assembly can be stored in either a horizontal position parallel to the ground, or a vertical position perpendicular to the ground.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to basketball goals, and more particularly, to portable basketball goals.
2. Description of the Related Art
The growing popularity of the sport of basketball has influenced many people to purchase basketball goals to allow playing of the sport around their own home. Traditionally, these basketball goals consist of a pole or shaft that is permanently anchored in some fashion, and a backboard-rim assembly attached to the shaft. Once installed, however, these basketball goals are difficult to remove for reinstallation elsewhere, and thus are generally not moved. This presents a problem if a person later desires to relocate the basketball goal assembly for some reason, such as to put something else where the basketball goal assembly currently exists. Another problem may exist if a person does not have enough space for a permanent basketball goal assembly.
Portable basketball goal assemblies, whereby the shaft is not in any fixed structure, but is set on a base that is movable, have thus become available. These portable basketball goal assemblies usually allow a person to move the basketball goal assembly from one place to another. These goals, however, are big and bulky to move. Moreover, many of these goals are not easily transported more than a short distance since they are usually moved in their upright playing position. If they are moved to a location, they are usually left there until relocated since these basketball goals are not easily stored.
Portability does not necessarily make for good storage. A basketball goal assembly in its upright position would generally have to be left outside of a garage or other storage building because of its height. Moreover, the base and support structure of portable basketball assemblies often make the assembly very bulky and difficult to store. This limits where the basketball goal assembly can be stored and generally does not allow for storage in traditional places for storage such as an outside shed or garage.
In light of the forgoing, there is a need for a basketball goal assembly that is both portable and foldable for storage.

Foldable portable basketball goal assembly


Chemical indicator compositions comprising a bismuth compound; elemental sulfur; and a compound with relatively high water solubility which makes the composition alkaline when exposed to water vapor at an elevated temperature; a chemical indicator comprising a substrate and the composition coated on at least a portion of a major surface of the substrate; and methods of making and using the chemical indicator are disclosed.

A variety of products and articles, including, for example, medical instruments, devices, and equipment, must be sterilized prior to use to prevent bio-contamination of a wound site, a sample, an organism, or the like. A number of sterilization processes are used that involve contacting the product or article with a sterilant. Examples of such sterilants include steam, ethylene oxide, hydrogen peroxide, and the like. Steam sterilization is widely used, at least in part because multiple batches of articles can be subjected to sterilization conditions during a 24 hour period using a single steam sterilizer.
Monitoring for conditions sufficient for sterilization is generally carried out by placing an appropriate sterilization indicator along with the product and/or article to be sterilized within a sterilization chamber. A variety of sterilization indicators, including chemical and biological indicators, are known and used for this purpose. Chemical indicators offer an advantage in that they can be read immediately at the end of a sterilization process. Internal chemical indicators are placed within an instrument tray and are read in the operating room upon opening the steam-exposed tray prior to instrument removal. Process indicators, such as labels and autoclave tapes, indicate that a wrapped instrument tray or other wrapped article or articles has been exposed to steam.
Internal chemical indicators and process indicators, such as autoclave tapes, should indicate (by color change) the presence of steam under various operating conditions but should remain their original color, or near their original color, under other conditions in which inadequate amounts of steam for sterilization of medical devices has contacted them. For example, an autoclave tape should show a significant color change when subjected to steam in a hospital autoclave at 132-134° C. for around 3 or 4 minutes and at 121° C. for around 20 minutes. Additionally, when tested using a steam resistometer, and according to ISO Standard 11140, an autoclave tape should show a significant color change on contact with steam at 134° C. for 2 minutes, and at 121° C. for 10 minutes, but should not show a significant color change on exposure to steam at 134° C. for 30 seconds nor at 121° C. for 3 minutes. Finally, an autoclave tape should not show a significant color change on exposure to dry heat at 140° C. for 30 minutes.
Steam sterilization indicator compositions for both internal indicators and process indicators that have been used include a polyvalent metal compound, such as lead carbonate, and sulfur. Such indicators turn to brown or black when their color is fully developed by a steam sterilization condition. Because of environmental concerns, lead compounds have been and continue to be replaced by other polyvalent metal compounds. For example, bismuth has been proposed to replace lead in certain steam sterilization indicator compositions as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,916,816 (Read) wherein, for example, bismuth subcarbonate was used.
Accordingly, there is a continuing need for lead-free chemical indicators that can indicate that a steam sterilization process condition has been met.

Chemical indicator compositions, indicators and methods


Systems and methods are described that provide a dynamic reporting functionality that can identify important information and dynamically present a report about the important information that highlights important findings to the user. The described systems and methods are generally described in the field of diabetes management, but are applicable to other medical reports as well. In one implementation, the dynamic reports are based on available data and devices. For example, useless sections of the report, such as those with no populated data, may be removed, minimized in importance, assigned a lower priority, or the like.

Diabetes mellitus is a disorder in which the pancreas cannot create sufficient insulin, such as in the case of Type I diabetes and/or in which insulin is not effective, such as Type 2 diabetes. In a diabetic state, a victim suffers from high blood sugar, which causes an array of physiological derangements, such as kidney failure, skin ulcers, or bleeding into the vitreous of the eye, associated with the deterioration of small blood vessels. A hypoglycemic reaction, such as low blood sugar, may be induced by an inadvertent overdose of insulin, or after a normal dose of insulin or glucose-lowering agent accompanied by extraordinary exercise or insufficient food intake.
A diabetic person may carry a self-monitoring blood glucose (SMBG) monitor, which typically requires uncomfortable finger pricking methods. Due to the lack of comfort and convenience, a diabetic typically measures his or her glucose level only two to four times per day. Unfortunately, these time intervals are spread so far apart that the diabetic will likely find out too late, sometimes incurring dangerous side effects, of a hyperglycemic or hypoglycemic condition. In fact, it is not only unlikely that a diabetic will take a timely SMBG value, but additionally the diabetic will not know if his blood glucose value is higher or lower based on conventional methods.
Consequently, a variety of non-invasive, transdermal (e.g., transcutaneous) and/or implantable electrochemical sensors are being developed for continuously detecting and/or quantifying blood glucose values. These devices generally transmit raw or minimally processed data for subsequent analysis at a remote device, which can include a display, to allow presentation of information to a user hosting the sensor.
Using such systems, glucose values can be immediately displayed to the user. Data from such sensors can also be transmitted to a remote location, and compiled into one or more reports. One problem with such reports is that the same typically have a set report format. The various sections and sub-sections of the report remain the same, whether there is sufficient data to make the section relevant to the user or not. For example, there may not be any insulin data available to generate the report, but the report may have sections that deal with insulin data anyway. This can make the report bulkier, and less comprehensible to the user.
In the same way, static reports can result in presenting information in a way in which important information is either not presented to the user and not presented in a user friendly way. As an example, important recognized patterns could be buried in a report because of the set format. Not only could a user expend considerable time and effort in recognizing the information, but a user could miss the important information altogether.
Moreover, prior art data reporting systems are typically set up with a particular user in mind. This can limit the usefulness of the system to the particular type of person for which the system was designed. For example, the system may be set up for a specialized doctor (e.g. endocrinologist), in which case the system may be designed to provide abundance of detail. However, a new patient may not be able to adequately use the system. Conversely, a simple system that could be useful for new patients may not provide the detail desired by the specialized professional.
In addition, prior art reports tend to follow old conventions that are not necessarily intuitive, and may be difficult to manage efficiently during a doctor-patient visit. The doctor may have to flip around the report while discussing the report with the patient, because information is not provided in a convenient way. Finally, the report may contain a lot of details not relevant to the doctor-patient conversation.
This Background is provided to introduce a brief context for the Summary and Detailed Description that follow. This Background is not intended to be an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter nor be viewed as limiting the claimed subject matter to implementations that solve any or all of the disadvantages or problems presented above.

System and method for data analytics and visualization


An information display device allowing a memory property display screen that continuously displays displayed content as it is even when a power supply is shut off to display information includes a user authentication executing section that performs a user authentication every time a predetermined time elapses; and a display screen control section that puts a display state of said memory property display screen into a display state in which perusal of said information becomes difficult when the user authentication fails.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information display device that allows a memory property display screen that continuously displays the displayed content as it is even when a power supply is shut off to display information.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, as the display device of this type, for example, information display device has been known, in which information on document papers, images, and the like is displayed in the memory property display screen such as a cholesteric liquid crystal, an electrophoretic migration type display screen, and the like, and the displayed information is submitted for user perusal (for example, see JP-A-2002-357853).


Air is supplied along a pipeline to an apparatus for separating an oxygen-enriched gas stream from the air by vacuum swing adsorption. The oxygen-enriched gas stream is supplied to a burner which fires into a furnace. A hot gas stream leaves the furnace through an outlet. Steam is raised from the hot gas in a waste heat boiler. Steam so raised flows through one or more of the eductors to draw through a pipeline the vacuum necessary for the operation of the vacuum swing adsorption apparatus.

This invention relates to air separation. In particular, it relates to a vacuum swing adsorption method and apparatus for separating an oxygen-enriched gas stream from air.
There is a continuing search for more economical methods of separating air. Some of these methods are directed at improving the thermodynamic efficiency of air separation processes. Others are directed at finding inexpensive sources of power. One such source is the waste heat that is typically evolved from an oxidation reaction. It is known to employ such waste heat to raise steam and to expand the pressurized steam in a turbine which may be directly coupled to a compressor forming part of the air separation plant or which may alternatively be coupled to a generator of electrical power. Alternatively, a compressed nitrogen stream from the air separation plant may be raised in temperature by the waste heat and expanded in an expansion turbine. The expansion turbine may be directly coupled to a compressor forming part of the air separation plant or to a generator of electrical power.
One disadvantage of such arrangements is that they add very considerably to the total capital cost of the plant and they tend not to lend themselves for use when there is a need to vary the output of electrical power.
Japanese patent application 54-162697A discloses a process in which an oxygen-enriched gas containing 40% by volume is separated by means of membranes from air. The oxygen-enriched gas is the permeate gas. A vacuum is drawn on the permeate gas side of the membranes in order to facilitate the separation of the oxygen-enriched gas. The oxygen-enriched gas is supplied to a furnace. Waste heat from the furnace is employed in raising steam. The steam flows through an eductor which draws the vacuum. Such an arrangement is however unsuitable for practical use because the steam contaminates the oxygen-enriched product. It is therefore necessary to disengage liquid water from the resulting oxygen-enriched gas. It is also necessary to ensure that the steam contains no impurity that might be hazardous in the presence of the oxygen-enriched gas.
It is an aim of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus which ameliorates at least one and preferably all of these disadvantages.


An insert adapted to connect to opposite walls in a heat exchanger tube, including a corrugated sheet having alternating wave crests and wave troughs connected by wave flanks having openings therein, wherein at least some of the wave crests have a length different than the length of the wave troughs, and/or adjacent sections have different wavelength waves. Such inserts may be produced by transporting material sheets through a press, where the sheet feed rate and/or the press stroke speed may be selectively varied.

Heat exchangers typically provide separate flow paths for different media, with heat being exchanged between the media through the materials separating the flow paths. For example, in radiators, a plurality of tubes are commonly provided for carrying heated fluid, with air blown over the tubes (and fins attached to the tubes) so that heat from the fluid is dissipated through the tube walls (and attached fins) to the air, thereby cooling the fluid.
It is important that the flow paths in such heat exchangers facilitate such heat exchange by, for example, maximizing the heat dissipation to the tube walls of the fluid flowing therein, while also minimizing pressure drop in the fluid so as to ensure proper flow of the fluid through the heat exchanger and in the system in which the fluid may be used.
Corrugated inserts or turbulators have been used to facilitate such desired operation. In one example having a corrugated insert in a heat exchanger tube of an oil cooler, the insert has uniform waves with openings in the wave flanks. With such inserts, as indicated in German Utility Model DE 296 22 191 or European Patent EP 742 418 B1, an inflow direction favorable for low pressure loss of the oil lies across the wave trend with an unfavorable one lying precisely in the wave trend. Such inserts can therefore be inserted into the heat exchanger tube so that the wave trend has a certain slope relative to the inflow direction to provide an optimal ratio of cooling performance to pressure loss. However, it is necessary that such inserts be punched out with the corresponding slope angle, so that higher material wastage could possibly occur. Since this is not willingly accepted, in terms of achieving the optimal ratio of cooling performance to pressure loss, relatively large bypasses are often left between the edges of the heat exchanger tube and the edges of the insert. However, such bypasses effect the overall flow characteristics of the heat exchanger and they are therefore often not desirable.
In other heat exchangers such as in flat tubes of charge air coolers or condensers, inserts have been arranged in the heat exchanger tubes so that the inflow direction is situated precisely across the wave trend, in which case openings in the wave flanks need not necessarily be present. However, the advantages of heat exchange provided by fluid flow through multiple wavelengths (through flank openings) are also not received.
The present invention is directed toward overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.


The present invention provides an air bearing type machine tool capable of carrying out a process with a high load for cutting iron or the like and controlling the degree air is used. The air bearing type machine tool includes a main shaft, an air bearing supporting the main shaft, and an air pressure regulating device capable of regulating the pressure of air supplied to the air bearing. The air pressure regulating device, in turn, has an air feed portion supplying air to the air bearing, a processing load detection device for detecting the degree of processing load, a processing power detection device for detecting the degree of processing power, and an air pressure defining device for controlling the pressure of air fed from the air feed portion by using the detected values of the processing load and the processing power. The pressure of air supplied to the air bearing can be changed, so that the rigidity of the air baring can be changed in response to the processing load or the like, that is the process with from the low load to the high load can be carried out, with the result that the used air can be controlled at the minimal required amount.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an air bearing type machine tool to support a main shaft by an air bearing, which is for carrying out a cutting process of various materials, such as steel, iron, non-ferrous metal, wood, stone, glass, graphite, plastic, ceramic and so on.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a typical machine tool for carrying out a cutting process or the like, a main shaft attached thereto with a tool is generally supported by an antifriction bearing. In some machine tools, an oil bearing of dynamic pressure or static pressure is used as a bearing for the main shaft.
Further, lately, there has been an ultra-precise machine using a static air bearing having extremely low-friction as the bearing for the main shaft.
However, the aforementioned conventional bearings have the following disadvantages.
More specifically, when the antifriction bearing is used as the bearing for the main shaft, the product of the rotational number and the diameter of orbit of which a rolling element is rotated is limited to a fixed threshold value dependent upon a structure of the bearing or the like, so that there is a disadvantage that it is difficult to rotate the main shaft at high-speeds. Therefore, the rotational speed of the main shaft is slower, resulting in a disadvantage that it is difficult to shorten the processing time.
Incidentally, lately, the structure of the bearing has been developed to pave the road to rotate the main shaft at high speeds by various inventions even when the antifriction bearing is used, but there are disadvantages that a vibration and noise are large and the life of the main shaft or the bearing is shorter. Especially, the short life causes the need for a routine replacement of the main shaft or the bearing in order to maintain production, resulting in a disadvantage of the extremely great cost of processing including replacement costs in the great-efficient high-speed process to rotate the main shaft at high speeds.
The antifriction bearing cannot basically avoid producing a vibration by microscopic asperities on the transferring face or a sphericity error of each rolling element, resulting in a basic disadvantage that it is difficult to improve the processing accuracy and to carry out the process in high speeds.
In the oil bearing of the dynamic pressure or the static pressure, when the main shaft is rotated at high speed, the sharing resistance of oil is increased, resulting in an uneconomical disadvantage caused by increasing power consumption.
Heat, caused by increasing power consumption produces, thermal deformation of the main shaft or the bearing, resulting in a disadvantage of reduction of the processing accuracy.
In the conventional static air bearing, a supplied air pressure is approximate 5 atmospheric pressure to 7 atmospheric pressure, the rigidity of the bearing is insufficient for processing iron, steel or the like which needs high load, therefore the bearing cannot be used except for precisely processing for soft metal, such as bronze, aluminium, silicone or the like.
The applicants have been developed a machine tool capable of processing for iron, steel or the like which needs high load by improving the rigidity of the bearing by increasing the pressure of air supplied to the static air bearing, but newly found an uneconomical disadvantage of using high amounts of energy because an amount of air used is increased as the air pressure is increased.
It is an object of the present invention to provide the air bearing type machine tool capable of processing for cutting iron or steel or the like which needs high load, and saving energy by controlling an amount of air used.


Method for fabricating fiber and film products and composites includes: introducing an aqueous gel of nanofibrillar cellulose into a volume of organic extraction agent miscible with water so that the aqueous gel is kept as a separate phase and forms one or several discrete physical entities containing the nanofibrillar cellulose within the phase; changing water with the organic extraction agent in said one or several discrete physical entities of nanofibrillar cellulose; and drying the nanofibrillar cellulose by removing the organic extraction agent from the one or several discrete physical entities of nanofibrillar cellulose. In the method the aqueous gel of nanofibrillar cellulose is introduced into the volume of organic extraction agent in the form of one or several elongated elements which form a fiber-like or ribbon-like or film-like product after drying.

Fibrous architectures are among the most abundant load-carrying materials in nature. This structural motif bridges the length scales from the smallest peptide folding motifs to protein materials as in collagen up to larger structural entities like spider silk or cellulose microfibrils (P. Fratzl, R. Weinkamer, Prog. Mater. Sci. 2007, 52, 1263; M. A. Meyers, P. Y. Chen, A. Y. M. Lin, Y. Seki, Prog. Mater. Sci. 2008, 53, 1) The latter are composed of highly aligned native crystalline β-D-(1-4)glucopyranose polysaccharide chains (cellulose I crystals) where the chains are strongly intermolecularly bound via a multitude of hydrogen bonds. These microfibrils are the main building blocks of plants and are responsible for the mechanical strength of wood or nutshells. Their underlying native nanocellulose fibrils (also known as nanofibrillated cellulose (NFC) or microfibrillated cellulose (MFC)) can be isolated via consecutive chemical/enzymatic and homogenization treatments (I. Siro, D. Plackett, Cellulose 2010, 17, 459; S. J. Eichhorn, A. Dufresne, M. Aranguren, N. E. Marcovich, J. R. Capadona, S. J. Rowan, C. Weder, W. Thielemans, M. Roman, S. Renneckar, W. Gindl, S. Veigel, J. Keckes, H. Yano, K. Abe, M. Nogi, A. N. Nakagaito, A. Mangalam, J. Simonsen, A. S. Benight, A. Bismarck, L. A. Berglund, T. Peijs, J. Mater. Sci. 2010, 45, 1.) They typically consist of highly crystalline nanoscale fibrils with diameters around 1-35 nm and several micrometers in length. Cellulose nanocrystals, alternatively called as nanowhiskers, are related materials, which are shorter and rod-like due to strong acid hydrolysis. Nanofibrillated cellulose is a remarkable emerging class of nature-derived nanomaterial for its extraordinary mechanical properties, combining astonishing stiffness and expected strength with a lightweight character. It has been shown earlier that cellulose I crystals can reach a Young's modulus of up to 136 GPa and an expected strength in the range of a few GPa (S. Iwamoto, W. H. Kai, A. Isogai, T. Iwata, Biomacromolecules 2009, 10, 2571; H. Yano, J. Sugiyama, A. N. Nakagaito, M. Nogi, T. Matsuura, M. Hikita, K. Handa, Adv. Mater. 2005, 17, 153) These properties rank them at the top end of high-performance natural materials. As a comparison, the stiffness of cellulose I is two to three times higher than that for glass fibers (50-80 GPa), just above typical titanium alloys (105-120 GPa) and it approaches that of steel (200 GPa). Strikingly, all of this is realized by a purely organic material with a comparably low density (ca. 1.6 g/mL). This renders cellulose nanofibrils one of the most promising building blocks for future materials.
Furthermore, NFC is based on a natural polymer that is abundant in nature and is renewable and degradable. Therefore, nanofibrillar cellulose might be an interesting constituent in structures where strength is needed.
Individual cellulose polymers have a long history in the context of fiber production. Fibers based on dissolved and regenerated or fully hydrolyzed cellulose and its derivatives (e.g Rayon™) are widely used for textiles or reinforcements, owing to decades of development. However, due to their inherent strength, as originating from the crystalline character, as not preserved in dissolution processes, NFC based materials possess the potential to go significantly beyond the mechanical performance of molecular cellulose materials.
Thus, numerous trials have been made on trying to achieve nanocomposites based on NFC and synthetic engineering plastics. The reported experiments have shown properties lower than desired, especially with hydrophobic thermoplastics, which would be the most important matrix polymers. The main reason for that is the difficult nature of the NFC: water is needed to fully disperse pristine NFC in the nanoscale. If the water is removed during the compounding stage, the fibers aggregate and phase separation takes place, which will lead to poor mechanical properties.
NFC production techniques are based on grinding (or homogenization) of aqueous dispersion of pulp fibers possibly combined with chemical/biochemical treatments. The concentration of NFC in dispersions is typically very low, usually around 1-5%. After the grinding process, the obtained NFC material is a dilute viscoelastic hydrogel. At very small concentrations, the NFC material in water forms a viscous fluid.
Thus, there is an evident need for transforming the aqueous NFC raw material to a structure where the water is essentially absent and the nanocellulose fibrils are arranged so that they can be used as structural parts in composites or as fiber-like structures of high strength.
In order that the NFC can be used as various structural constituents, water must be removed from the NFC hydrogel. The fundamental problem in mechanical water removal is the high hygroscopicity of NFC and the ability of NFC hydrogel to form a very dense and impermeable nanoscale membrane around itself, for example during filtration. The formed membrane hinders the diffusion of water from the gel structure, which leads to very slow water removal rates. However, water removal is not the only problem, but the nanocellulose fibrils must be arranged in a structure where their strength potential can be fully utilized. Whenever water is removed, the nanocellulose fibrils tend to aggregate which results in poor mechanical properties of the product.
The article Capadona J. R. et al. A versatile approach for the processing of polymer nanocomposites with self-assembled nanofiber templates, Nature Nanotech. 2, 765-769 (2007) describes gels made of nano-scale cellulose whiskers which are obtained through acid hydrolysis of tunicate mantles. The whiskers exist initially in aqueous dispersion and they are made to an organogel in a sol-gel process through extraction agent exchange with a water-miscible extraction agent, whereafter the gel is filled with a matrix polymer by immersing the gel in a solution of the polymer and dried. During the gel-forming step acetone was introduced on top of the aqueous whisker dispersion without mixing the layers. The acetone was exchanged daily and the acetone layer was gently agitated to promote the extraction agent exchange. After some days the acetone organogel, called a "scaffold" was obtained. The article also reports the use of acetonitrile, ethanol, methanol, isopropanol and tetrahydrofuran as extraction agents for making the organogel. The gelled nanofiber scaffold was impregnated with a polymer by immersion in a polymer solution, and the nanocomposite was dried and compacted. Using this approach, nanocomposites with polybutadiene and polystyrene could be fabricated with improved mechanical properties. However, the gel forming step through the extraction agent exchange takes typically many days. No essentially pure NFC fiber products were presented and foreseen, and materials were blends with low weight fraction of NFC which prohibited to achieve high mechanical properties.

Method for fabricating fiber products and composites


Provided is a light illuminating unit for emitting partially polarized light having an anisotropic illuminance distribution onto a polarizing device. The light illuminating unit includes: a light generator to emit light having an anisotropic illuminance distribution; and a polarizing device to receive light from the light generator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light illuminating unit, and more particularly, to a light illuminating unit for processing of an alignment layer of a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
A typical LCD device includes two substrates each having electrodes on one surface. The two substrates are arranged such that the surfaces on which the electrodes are formed face each other, and a liquid crystal layer is interposed between the two substrates. A LCD device having the described construction displays an image by varying the alignment of molecules of the liquid crystal layer using an electric field generated by a voltage applied to the two substrates. As the electric field is varied the alignment of the liquid crystal molecules changes, changing the light transmittance of the liquid crystal layer in correspondence with the applied voltage to generate an image.
A typical LCD device includes a liquid crystal (LC) panel for displaying an image and a driving unit for applying a driving signal to the LC panel. The first and second substrates of the LC panel are bonded together with a predetermined intervening space between the two substrates, and with an LC layer interposed between the two substrates.
LCD devices may be of various types. In an in-plane switching (ISP) mode LCD device the first substrate includes a plurality of gate lines separated by a constant interval in a first direction; a plurality of data lines separated by a constant interval and arranged in a perpendicular direction to the gate lines; pixel electrodes formed in a comb shape having a plurality of teeth in the pixel regions defined by the gate lines and the data lines crossing each other; a common electrode alternately formed with the teeth of the pixel electrodes; and a plurality of thin film transistors (TFTs) to be switched in response to a signal from the gate lines to transfer signals of the data lines to the pixel electrodes.
The second substrate includes a black matrix layer for blocking light passing through portions other than the pixel regions, and a color filter layer for realizing colors.
An alignment layer is formed on each of the first and second substrates. The alignment layer is processed to provide an initial alignment direction for the molecules of the liquid crystal layer of the LCD device.
The alignment methods of the related art for processing the alignment layer include a rubbing method.
In the rubbing method, an alignment material such as polyimide (PI) is coated on a substrate, and mechanical friction is generated using a rubbing cloth to generate fine grooves in the alignment material to induce an alignment direction. The rubbing method is widely used in the industry because it can be applied over large areas at a high speed.
However, the shape of the grooves formed in the alignment layer changes with variations in the amount of friction generated during the rubbing process. The variations in the shape of the grooves may result in inhomogeneous alignment of liquid crystal molecules of the liquid crystal layer. Irregular phase distortion and light scattering due to the inhomogeneous alignment of the liquid crystal molecules may reduce the performance of an LCD device.
In addition, dusts and static electricity generated during rubbing processes reduce the manufacturing yield for the resulting LCD devices.
Various methods for manufacturing a liquid crystal alignment layer without the use of physical contact are being studied in order to solve the problems of the rubbing method. Among the studied methods are included techniques using photo-alignment technology. In the photo-alignment technology, a liquid crystal alignment layer is processed by illuminating polarized ultraviolet (UV) light onto a polymer film.
In contrast to the rubbing method, alignment methods using photo-alignment technology do not generate dusts and static electricity and can avoid the yield reduction caused by dust and static electricity. In addition, by allowing the liquid crystal molecules to be uniformly arranged over an entire surface of an alignment layer and the uniformity of the alignment of the liquid crystal layer can be improved, and phase distortion or light scattering problems can be eliminated or reduced.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an alignment process of a liquid crystal alignment layer according to a related art rubbing process.
Referring to FIG. 1, according to the related art rubbing process, a polymer compound such as polyimide or the like is coated on a substrate 2. Thereafter, a rubbing drum 7 rotates at a high speed to rub the surface of the coated substrate 2 so that microgrooves are formed on the surface of the polymer compound. Herein, the rubbing drum 7 is rolled up in a predetermined cloth with nylon or polyester rayon.
Through the rubbing process, the liquid crystal molecules are aligned at a predetermined pretilt angle on the surface of the alignment agent. Meanwhile, since the rubbing process has is simple and adaptive for scaling up the size of device and usable in high-speed production, it is widely used industrially.
However, the microgrooves formed in the alignment layer may have non-uniform shapes depending on the amount of frictional force between the cloth and the alignment layer 1 during rubbing. As a result, the alignment of the liquid crystal molecules can be non-uniform resulting in phase distortion and light scattering. Moreover, the substrate 2 may be damaged due to electrostatic discharge (ESD) generated while rubbing the surface of the polymer. Further, there is a problem that a production yield decreases due to the micro dust generated from the rubbing drum 7.

Light illuminating unit and method of fabricating a liquid crystal display device using same


This invention discloses an apparatus for optically inspecting an object having upper and lower faces for indicating the condition of the object, including a lighting system periodically reflecting a beam of light from one face of the object to produce a series of short-duration time-spaced reflected beams, and periodically transmitting a beam of light through both faces of the object to produce a series of short-duration time-spaced transmitted beams time-interlaced with the reflected beams, a sensor sensing the short-duration time-spaced reflected beams and transmitted beams, and generating electrical outputs corresponding thereto, and a processor receiving the electrical outputs and processing them to provide an indication of the condition of the object.. A method of optically inspecting an object having upper and lower faces for indicating the condition of the object is also described.

A large number of methods and systems are known for optically inspecting articles. For example, Dotan et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,216,479 discloses a system for optically inspecting objects, particularly printed circuit boards, by projecting a beam of light onto one face of the object, and sensing reflected light reflected from that face and fluorescent light induced at that face, such sensed light being then used to indicate defects in the respective face of the object; the described system also transmits the light through the object and senses the transmitted light at the opposite face of the object for detecting defects in plated through-holes in the printed circuit board. Published European Patent Application 92114182.6 also discloses an optical inspection method and system utilizing both reflected light and transmitted light for detecting defects. The systems in both of the above patents are based on a scanning technique wherein the light beam, e.g., a laser beam, is caused to scan the object being inspected.


A missile (20) comprises a missile body (22) and a plurality of (typically four) body flaps (28) located around the circumference of the missile body (22). Each body flap (28) is independently pivotable to an extended position wherein the body flap (28) is pivoted outwardly from a pivot axis along the leading edge (34) of the body flap (28). The forward edge (34) of the body flap (28) is displaced outwardly from the body (22) of the missile (20) by a distance no less than a boundary layer thickness of the body (22) of the missile (22) at the maximum operating speed and altitude of the missile (20), and preferably about the boundary layer thickness, which thickness typically is about 1-3 inches for a high-velocity missile.

This invention relates to the control of a missile, and, more particularly, to a control surface positioned for improved effectiveness.
The trajectory of missiles that fly through the air can be controlled either by moving control surfaces into the air stream, pivoting the primary propulsion engine, pushing the nose of the missile sideways with thrusters, or a combination of these techniques. Movable control surfaces are preferred for many applications, because the are effective and well understood, and because their added weight is relatively small. The present invention is concerned with the control of missile flight with movable control surfaces.
Movable control surfaces may be provided on the wings of the missile, if any, or extending from the body of the missile. In the latter case, a trailing edge body flap typically is found on a wingless missile carried in an internal weapons bay of an aircraft. This type of missile relies primarily on the power of its engine rather than aerodynamic lift to maintain it aloft. There are typically four body flaps, symmetrically located 90 degrees apart around the tail of the missile. Each body flap is a panel that is pivotable outwardly from a position flush with the body of the missile to a position in which it extends into the air stream. The body flaps do not provide primary lift to the missile. Instead, the unbalanced aerodynamic effect of the extended flap is used to change the orientation of the missile and thence control its direction of flight. The flaps are used singly or in combination to attain the selected flight orientation.
It has been observed that such controllable body flaps often experience reduced effectiveness as the speed of the missile increases into the high subsonic, transonic, and supersonic speed ranges, and at high altitudes. The result is reduced sensitivity of the missile to its control commands, and the need to use larger flaps to maintain a required level of sensitivity at high speeds and altitudes.
There is a need for an improved control approach for missiles that reduces the degradation of control effectiveness. The present invention fulfills this need, and further provides related advantages.


Methods are presented for providing dynamic search filter suggestions that are updated and ranked based on the user filter selections. One method includes detecting a query received in a user interface (UI), calculating, by a search-candidate model, first search results, and calculating, by a suggestions model, first filter suggestions for filter categories to filter responses to the query. The suggestions model is obtained by training a machine-learning algorithm utilizing pairwise learning-to-rank modeling. The first search results and the first filter suggestions are presented in the UI. When a selection in the UI of a filter suggestion is detected, the search-candidate model calculates second search results for the filter categories based on the query and the selected filter suggestion, and the suggestions model calculates second first filter suggestions based on the query and the selected filter suggestion. The second search results and the second filter suggestions are presented in the UI.

Data search can be inefficient when sorting through a large number of items (e.g., millions, tens of millions). In a simple search query interface, the user enters keywords that define the search parameters. Search systems have improved over the years, such as by improving the ranking of search results based on the queries. However, sometimes there may be a large number of results to sort through (e.g., hundred thousand, millions, or more), and the optimal results are not necessarily the ones ranked at the top of the list of results. There is a lack of efficient tools to assist the users in narrowing and ranking the results based on the users' needs.
What is needed are tools that help the users narrow the field of results to obtain the desired search results easily and quick.


A vehicle electronic control system includes a center device and a master device and a data relay device capable of performing data communication therebetween. The center device obtains campaign information of the program update, transmits the obtained campaign information to the data relay device, and transmits the update data to the data relay device. When receiving the campaign information from the center device, the data relay device changes setting of the received campaign information and delivers the information to the master device, and, when receiving the update data from the center device, the data relay device delivers the received update data to the master device. When receiving the campaign information from the data relay device, the master device instructs a target electronic control device to update the program with the update data received from the data relay device according to the received campaign information.

In recent years, along with diversification of vehicle control such as a driving support function and an automatic driving function, the scale/size of the program is increasing in an electronic control device (hereinafter may also be referred to as ECU (Electronic Control Unit)) for the vehicle control, diagnosis and the like. In addition, with the present version of the program becoming outdated due to functional improvement and the like of the program, there are increasing opportunities to rewrite ("reprog" or reprogram) the program in ECU. On the other hand, with the development of communication network technologies, technologies related to connected cars are also prevailing. Under these circumstances, OTA (Over The Air) technology for re-write/overwrite programs in the target ECU in the vehicle is are enabled by (i) having a vehicle master device as a relay device on the vehicle side and (ii) delivering the update data downloaded wirelessly from the center device to the target ECU by using the vehicle master device.

Vehicle electronic control system, data relay device, campaign information delivery control method, and campaign information delivery control program


A method of adhering roof tiles to a roof utilizes a one-component adhesive and in particular, a one-component polyurethane adhesive foam applied to the undersurfaces of the roof tiles in a discontinuous patterns. The adhesive is applied in the form of separate deposits at opposing corners of the undersurfaces of the roof tiles and the roof tiles are laid on the roof in serial fashion and overlapping courses.

The present invention relates generally to methods of roof construction, and more particularly relates to an improved method for adhering roof tiles to substrates using economical one-component adhesives, including one-component high-density polyurethane adhesive foams.
Roof construction, especially in residential construction, varies by location throughout the United States. In the northern climates, most roofs utilize a thin covering of tar paper-based shingles or thick wooden shingles as a final covering for the roof. In southern climates, tiles are used as the final covering of the roof. These roof tiles may be made from a variety of materials, including synthetic materials, such as plastics, and natural materials, such as stone, concrete, clay, ceramic and fired brick. In the application of these latter types of roof tiles, mortars or cementitious materials have been used in the past to apply the roof tiles to the roof substrate.
The use of mortars as roof tile adhesives is expensive because the mixing and application of the mortar is very labor intensive. Mortars are dense materials and their use as roof adhesives increases the load placed on the roof. The curing time for mortar may also be relatively long, thereby hampering quick completion of the roof. A need therefore exists for a lighter adhesive which is less labor intensive than mortar and which lends itself to efficient application of roof tiles.
Adhesives, and in particular adhesive foams, have been developed to replace mortars used in roof construction. U.S. Pat. No. 5,362,342, issued Nov. 8, 1994 describes the use of a two-component polyurethane foam to bond roof tiles to a substrate. This patent further describes the use of a bulky, complex pressurized dispensing system which is necessary to mix the two components together so that they may react to create a sufficient amount of foam with the desired adhesive characteristics. The aforesaid '342 patent further describes a particular method of using two-component foams to bond roof tiles to a roof substrate in which thick, linear beads of foam are applied to the entire length of the roof tiles.
One-component adhesives, such as those sold under the trade name INSTA-STIK by Insta-Foam of Joliet, Ill. have been utilized in the past, primarily for adhering roof insulation boards to roof substrates. These one-component adhesives are collapsible foams and are applied in long beads of foam for all or most of the entire length of the insulation boards to adhere the insulation boards to the roof. The use of long, linear beads of adhesives increases the cost of applications by using large amounts of adhesives and lengthening the application process.
The present invention is directed to a roof tile adhesion method which uses inexpensive one-component adhesives, and in a preferred embodiment one-component polyurethane adhesive foams, in a novel application pattern which significantly reduces the amount of adhesive used per roof tile without detracting from its adhesive strength.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method of adhering roof tiles to a roof substrate using economical one-component adhesives, including one-component adhesive foams.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for adhering roof tiles to a substrate using a modest amount of adhesive in a unique pattern which reduces the amount of adhesive used for application, yet provides sufficient adhesive strength between the roof tile and the substrate.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a method for adhering roof tiles to a substrate by applying a one-component, high-density polyurethane adhesive foam to opposing corners of the roof tile and placing the tiles into contact with the substrate, and letting the adhesive foam cure to adhere the roof tile to the substrate.
Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide an improved tiled roof construction having a substrate, a plurality of roof tiles adhered to the substrate, the roof tiles being adhered to the substrate by an adhesive deposited in alignment with opposing corners of the roof tiles, the adhesive deposits having a pad-like profile, the adhesive pads adhering opposite corners of the tile to the roof substrate and a preceding tile course, the adhesive pads further defining a discontinuous adhesive pattern which does not subdivide the space between the tile undersurfaces and the roof substrate into discrete spaces to restrict air circulation between the roof tile and the roof substrate.

Method of adhering roof tiles using one-component adhesive and roof construction obtained thereby


A system is provided for optimisation processing in a cellular communications network having a central element (30) and a number of distributed network elements (40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50). Each network element (40–50) is coupled to the central element, and each is arranged to obtain optimisation data and has a pre-processing arrangement (120) for pre-processing the optimisation data. The central element (30) then receives and processes this pre-processed optimisation data to produce optimisation code for optimising the performance of the network. In this way less data needs to be backhauled to the central element (30), and less processing is required at the central element (30), thereby improving the scalability of the network.

In the field of this invention cellular networks include a number of network elements (such as base stations) which operate using call processing software. Such software is updated periodically by the manufacturer of the network element. Typically these software updates are downloaded from an Operations and Maintenance Center (OMC) when a new software release is available for the Network Element.
It is also desirable to be able to optimise the performance of the network as a whole. Such optimisation is typically performed by an optimisation manager.
Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a prior art cellular network such as a GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) network. An optimisation manager 5 which may be part of or co-located with the OMC of the network is coupled via first and second Base Station Controllers (BSCs) 7 and 9 respectively to a number of Base Stations 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20. Each of the Base stations 10–20 and the BSCs 7 and 9 are network elements of the network.
Each base station 10–20 typically provides a 'cell' of the network, and contains a number of operating parameters for the cell such as power settings, frequency settings and the like. These parameters may be adjusted in order to optimise power consumption, signal quality and other characteristics of the cell.
Typical optimisation architecture is based on the collection of a significant amount of data from the cells, which is then processed centrally to provide reports for each cell and combined recommendations for topological planning. This is done by the optimisation manager 5 'backhauling' measurement data from each base station, and then processing this backhauled data using performance optimisation algorithms in order to provide the reports and recommendations.
Considering the first base station 10 and its associated cell, measurements from the cell are backhauled to the optimisation manager 5 periodically, where they are processed to derive optimised parameter settings for the base station 10, as well as the combined recommendations.
A problem with this arrangement is that a large amount of optimisation data must be sent from each network element to the optimisation manager 5 (illustrated by the thick lines of FIG. 1).
Furthermore all of the optimisation data must be processed at the optimisation manager 5 (illustrated by the dial 6). This restricts the expansion of the network, as each additional cell leads to a further increase in the amount of optimisation data to be transferred and processed, and requires that the processor at the OMC/optimisation manager 5 be highly specified in order to achieve optimisation results and hence optimise the performance of the network in a reasonable time period.
A need therefore exists for a network element, system, method, computer program and data carrier wherein the abovementioned disadvantages may be alleviated.

Network element system method computer program and data carrier for network optimisation


Methods and devices for forming a contact over a metal gate for a transistor are provided. The device may comprise an active area, an isolation area surrounding the active area, and a metal gate above the isolation area, wherein the metal gate comprises a conductive layer. The contact comprises a first contact part within the conductive layer, above the isolation area without vertically overlapping the active area, and a second contact part above the first contact part, connected to the first contact part, and substantially vertically contained within the first contact part.

The semiconductor industry has experienced rapid growths due to continuous improvements in the integration density of semiconductor devices (e.g., transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors, etc.) and the continuous reduction in the critical dimension (CD) of semiconductor devices. With the continuous reduction of the CD of semiconductor devices, the scales of the gate, source and drain of a transistor decrease accordingly.
The gate of a transistor is the area where the critical on-off switching of the transistor takes place. Historically, doped polysilicon has been used as the gate electrode of CMOS transistors. When the gate dimension in a modern transistor is so thin, a gate leakage may occur through a process called "quantum mechanical tunneling." New generations of transistors may be made using metals to replace polysilicon gate electrodes. A metal gate enables a faster, and a more reliable performance for a transistor, with reduced gate leakage. These new metal gates may reduce the NMOS transistor gate leakage by more than 25 times and PMOS transistor gate leakage by more than 1000 times while simultaneously delivering improved drive current and improved circuit performance.
While the metal gate reduces the gate leakage for CMOS transistors, it can have a large resistance, which can lead to a low yield for the transistor fabrication process. New methods and apparatus are needed to reduce the resistance of a metal gate for the transistors.
Corresponding numerals and symbols in the different figures generally refer to corresponding parts unless otherwise indicated. The figures are drawn to clearly illustrate the relevant aspects of the various embodiments and are not necessarily drawn to scale.

Methods and apparatus of metal gate transistors

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


An ink jet etching method according to the invention includes an etching step of etching fabric by using an ink set including first etching ink containing an etching agent, and second etching ink containing the etching agent in which a concentration of the etching agent is lower than a concentration of the etching agent in the first etching ink, in which etching fabric includes ejecting the first etching ink is ejected from two or more nozzle arrays among a plurality of nozzle arrays included in a recording head.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an ink jet etching method and an ink jet printing system.
2. Related Art
From the related art, as a technology of processing fiber, etching processing has been known in which a part of fiber configuring cloth (fabric) is broken and leached, and thus a watermark design is partially made, or a hole is opened. Such etching processing is able to be performed by using an ink jet system, and is able to be implemented by ejecting etching ink containing an etching agent from a nozzle of a recording head and by attaching the etching ink to the fabric.
As a technology similar to the etching processing, a printing technology using an ink jet system has been practically realized. Here, in the printing using the ink jet system, a technology of performing various expressions by changing a contrasting density of a color is disclosed in, for example, JP-A-63-066386, JP-A-63-072585, and JP-A-2005-246905.
In JP-A-63-066386 and JP-A-63-072585, a technology of changing a contrasting density of a color by using discharge printing is disclosed. In addition, in JP-A-2005-246905, a technology of changing a contrasting density of a color according to an ink amount is disclosed.
It is convenient when the printing technology disclosed in JP-A-63-066386, JP-A-63-072585, and JP-A-2005-246905 described above is also able to be applied to the etching processing. However, the etching processing is different from the discharge printing processing in that the contrasting density has to be expressed by changing a thickness of cloth, and thus it is not realistic to divert the printing technology in this state.
For example, when the technology disclosed in JP-A-63-066386 or JP-A-63-072585 is diverted to the etching processing, it is necessary that a plurality of printing is performed to thick cloth, and thus not only does it take time, but also an image is easily deviated, and it is extremely difficult to perform the etching processing.

Ink jet etching method and ink jet printing system


A multifunctional water-resistant bathroom fixture is provided for multiple utilitarian applications in the bathroom including use as a water-resistant bathroom soap holder and bathroom tissue dispenser for coordinating the bathroom shower area. The multifunctional bathroom fixture includes a wall mounting bracket or frame for carrying a pivotal sloping cover and a water-resistant closure device disposed between the sloping cover and wall mounting frame. The wall mounting frame may include sloping sides conforming to the configuration of the sloping cover to provide a soap dish or bathroom tissue closure that is resistant to water and adaptable to a wide variety of applications in the home.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a water-resistant multifunctional bathroom fixture which may be utilized as either or for both providing a water-resistant soap dish holder or as a bathroom tissue fixture which prevents water spray from interfering with soap or bathroom tissue located in the bathroom. More particularly, the invention contemplates a multifunctional water-resistant device having a pivotal sloping cover conforming to the sides of a wall attachment mounting frame. The pivotal cover in the preferred embodiment nests into the sides of the wall attachment mounting frame to ensure water spray, splashing or dousing of water results in the water being directed away from items placed within the water-resistant fixture in the bathroom.
2. Description of Related Prior Art
Conventional showers and bathrooms include a shower area which generally employs a ceramic tiled bathroom and bathtub with a shower curtain which is also in general proximity of bathroom tissue holders and subject to water-splashing. In many ceramic tiled bathroom/bathtub arrangements a soap dish holder is built into the wall which includes a handle and a soap dish for holding soap. A number of the prior art devices provide a closure for the built-in holder which covers the handle. Further, in many bathrooms adjacent to the shower is a bathroom tissue holder which in most instances does not include a water-splash shield. In some bathrooms a shielded pivotal bathroom tissue cover is provided which assists in preventing water splashes onto toilet tissue which cover also assists in providing for the tearing of the bathroom tissue. Unlike the present invention the prior art has not provided a device which functions both as a water-resistant soap dish container and bathroom tissue dispenser for protecting bathroom tissue.
Numerous conventional devices are available in the prior art for covering the conventional bathtub/shower soap holding fixture to reduce the amount of water collected in the fixture during showering. One such device for covering a conventional shower soap holder and handle is U.S. Pat. No. 4,654,901. This device, unlike the present invention is intended for a conventional soap holding fixture and is designed to reduce the amount of water splashed into the soap tray to prevent deterioration of the stored soap. One of the disadvantages of such devices is that it obstructs the built-in handle preventing use in an emergency. Another disadvantage is that the built-in fixture is enclosed and does not allow sufficient aeration or drying of wet used soap placed in the covered conventional soap holding fixture.
Devices such as Garcia U.S. Pat. No. 4,654,901, Dworkin U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,300,248, Turek, et al. 3,022,602 and Link 3,323,850 all pertain to such insert devices for use with conventional bathroom soap holding fixtures to reduce the amount of water. In many of these devices a pivotal or shielding-type cover is provided to reduce the amount of water in the conventional soap holding fixture and prevent deterioration and the dissolving of the soap in the soap dish.
Unlike the invention the insert devices of the prior art are not multifunctional and susceptible to multiple applications in the bathroom and are not self-standing units. Further such prior art devices interfere with the built-in handle and the closing off of built-in recess retards drying of wet bars of soap placed in the closed conventional soap holding fixture. In addition such prior art devices do not provide for a multifunctional use for other applications in the bathroom for decorative and utilitarian functions.
The prior art also includes stand alone soap holding devices for holding, drying and repetitively dispensing soap such as in Collet U.S. Pat. No. 4,313,537. Such stand alone devices are not subject to the moisture entrapment problem inherent in the conventional bathtub/shower soap holding fixtures but also do not provide a water-resistant closure during showering. Further, such devices do not provide the advantages of having additional applications and uses in the bathroom environment. In addition such devices are not readily amenable to decorative and coordinated applications in the bathroom environment.
Additional conventional self-standing soap receptacles which have been utilized in the prior art for decorative applications in the bathroom include U.S. Pat. No. 3,063,190 which is a soap receptacle primarily designed for children. Such prior art soap receptacles have the advantage of decoration and holding the interest for children in the bathroom. These devices are not multifunctional and do not have multiple applications in the bathroom environment. Further, such devices are not water-resistant and allow the admission of water in the closure, either as a result of water splashed into the closure, or as a result of wet soap being placed in the closure. Such prior art soap dishes also do not provide for water channelling and water drainage away from soap bars placed within the prior art soap dish closures. These prior art devices are not multifunctional and traditionally have been designed for use only in the bathtub or shower as a soap dish.

Water-resistant multifunctional bathroom fixture