A method is disclosed for recovering chlorine-containing species from the outlet gas of a hydrocarbon conversion process with a cyclic regeneration operation. The outlet gas from an off-stream catalyst bed in which regeneration is occurring is passed to another off-stream catalyst bed which contains spent catalyst and which is maintained at sorption conditions. The spent catalyst particles sorb the chlorine-containing species from the outlet gas. This method captures and retains within the hydrocarbon conversion process chlorine-containing species that would otherwise be scrubbed and lost from the process and that would need to be replaced by the injection of make-up chlorine-containing species. This method results in significant savings in operating costs of a cyclic regeneration process. This method is adaptable to many processes for the catalytic conversion of hydrocarbons in which deactivated catalyst are regenerated by a cyclic regeneration operation.

Although catalysts for the conversion of hydrocarbons have a tendency to deactivate, a catalyst's activity can usually be restored by one of a number of processes that are known generally as regeneration processes. Regeneration processes are extensively used. What specific steps comprise a regeneration process depends in part on the reason for the deactivation. For example, if the catalyst deactivated because coke deposits accumulated on the catalyst, regeneration usually includes removing the coke by burning. If the catalyst deactivated because a catalytic metal such as platinum became agglomerated, regeneration usually includes redispersing the metal by contacting the catalyst with oxygen and chlorine. If the catalyst deactivated because a catalytic promoter such as chloride became depleted, regeneration usually includes replenishing the promoter by contacting the catalyst with one of a number of chlorine-containing species, which are referred to herein as chloro-species. Operating conditions and methods for these regeneration processes are well known.
Although some regeneration processes require that the catalyst be withdrawn from the vessel in which the hydrocarbon conversion takes place and be transported to a separate regeneration zone for reactivation, many regeneration processes can be carried out in situ. In situ regeneration is preferred especially for soft or brittle catalysts that attrit too readily when transported mechanically or pneumatically. In situ regeneration processes generally comprise two types of operations, a semiregenerative operation and a cyclic operation. In practicing the semiregenerative operation, the catalyst is maintained in continuous use over an extended period of time, say from five months to a year or more, depending on factors such as the quality of the catalyst and the nature of the feedstock. Following this extended period of operation, the reforming catalyst bed is taken off-stream while the catalyst is regenerated. In practicing the cyclic operation, the catalyst is generally regenerated with a greater frequency than in the semiregenerative operation. The cyclic operation uses multiple fixed catalyst beds arranged for serial flow of the feedstock in such a manner that at least one catalyst bed can be taken off-stream while the catalyst is regenerated. One or more companion catalyst beds remain on-stream, or go on-stream, to replace the catalyst bed that is off-stream. Subsequently, after the off-stream catalyst bed has had its catalyst regenerated and has again been placed on-stream, another catalyst bed can be taken off-stream and its catalyst is regenerated in like manner. A cyclic operation has the advantage over a semiregenerative operation of maintaining production of converted hydrocarbons while the catalyst is being regenerated.
Many cyclic regeneration operations share the common feature of contacting the catalyst with one or more chloro-species that can restore the activity of the catalyst. Usually this contacting is performed by dispersing the chloro-species in a recycle gas stream and passing the recycle gas stream through a bed of catalyst. A flue gas stream containing chloro-species and water is withdrawn from the catalyst bed and cooled, and then a portion of the flue gas stream is usually rejected from the cyclic regeneration operation. To compensate for the rejected portion of the flue gas steam, a make-up stream is usually combined with the remaining portion of the flue gas stream, thereby forming the recycle gas stream. The recycle gas stream is recycled to the catalyst bed by a recycle gas compressor. Thus, the recycle gas stream usually contains chloro-species and water. In addition, the recycle gas stream comes into contact with internal parts of the recycle gas compressor that usually operate at a temperature below the dew point temperature of the recycle gas stream. Consequently, a common risk associated with cyclic regeneration operations is the condensation of corrosive hydrochloric acid within the recycle gas compressor, which can cause serious damage and require costly repairs or even replacement of the recycle gas compressor. This risk of corrosion can be decreased by two methods. One method is scrubbing the flue gas stream with an aqueous, basic solution that neutralizes the chloro-species, and the other method is adsorbing the chloro-species from the flue gas on an adsorbent. Scrubbing is the more common of the two methods, particularly in cyclic regeneration of reforming catalysts and of catalysts for other hydrocarbon conversion processes, such as dehydrogenation, isomerization, alkylation, and transalkylation.
Although these two methods--scrubbing and adsorption--for decreasing the risk of corrosion within the recycle gas compressor of a cyclic regeneration operation are useful, they are also expensive and troublesome to operate. On the one hand, by introducing an aqueous solution into the flue gas, scrubbing can actually increase the risk of corrosion within the recycle gas compressor unless the alkalinity of the aqueous solution is carefully controlled. Moreover, because the aqueous solution must be replaced periodically, scrubbing gives rise to significant costs for supplying fresh solution and for disposing of the spent solution. On the other hand, although adsorption does not involve the introduction of an aqueous stream, the adsorbent also must be replaced periodically, and the cost of replacement of the adsorbent, including the cost of disposing of spent adsorbent, can far exceed the cost of replacement of the aqueous solution in scrubbing.
The problem of adsorbent replacement is compounded by water in the flue gas stream and, as a result, traditional adsorbents are not economically viable for adsorbing chloro-species from flue gas streams in cyclic regeneration operations. In order to be economically viable, an adsorbent, while removing a high proportion of the chloro-species from the flue gas stream, must adsorb typically from 7 to 8 percent of its weight in chloride. In order to adsorb that much chloride, the flue gas must have a low water content, typically less than 0.01 mol-% water. Water competes with chloro-species for adsorption sites on the adsorbent, and by occupying sites that would otherwise be occupied by chloro-species, water hinders the adsorption of chloride and hastens replacement of the adsorbent. Thus, if the flue gas has a high water content, the adsorbent adsorbs too much water and is incapable of adsorbing a viable amount of chloride. Because water is a common by-product of coke combustion as a result of the hydrogen-containing compounds typically found in coke, and because coke combustion is one of the common cyclic regeneration steps, flue gas streams often do have a high water content, typically from 1 to 10 mol-%. As a consequence, unless the flue gas is dried, an adsorbent will adsorb only one-third to one-half of the weight of chloride required for economic viability. This, in turn, doubles or triples the frequency of adsorbent replacement, thereby making traditional adsorbents uneconomical. Although in theory the adsorption of water can be mitigated by drying the flue gas stream prior to adsorbing the chloro-species, in fact a drier is costly, as well as impractical, because chloro-species such as hydrogen chloride tend to degrade most desiccants.
Thus, a process is sought for removing hydrogen chloride and other chloro-species from the flue gas streams of cyclic catalyst regeneration operations without the need for aqueous solutions, adsorbents, and desiccants.

Cyclic catalytic hydrocarbon conversion process with reduced chloride emissions


This disclosure relates to adaptively determining and improving the quality of a region of interest in video content. A region inspection component inspects regions of an image. A detection component determines chroma values contained in the regions. A comparison component compares the chroma values against a set of predetermined chroma values, and determines, based on the comparison, a set of regions of interest in the frame. An encoder encodes the regions of interest in the image at a higher or better quality than a remainder of the image.

Video conferencing allows people at two or more locations to interact simultaneously via video and audio transmissions. In the past, video conferencing was largely limited to enterprise use. However, the growth of the internet and wireless communication networks, coupled with declining bandwidth cost, has made video conferencing more accessible than ever before. A number of services exist that provide low bandwidth video conferencing to consumers using the internet or wireless communication networks. In addition, the rapid growth of mobile communication devices that include cameras, such as smart phones and tablet computers, enable consumers to video conference at virtually any time from anywhere in the world.
Typically, video conferencing is a bandwidth intensive process that requires transmission and reception of large amounts of video and audio information. Low bandwidth video conferencing mitigates bandwidth requirements in part by applying high compression to the video transmission. However, heavily compressing the video reduces the overall quality of the observed video. The reduction in quality is often readily apparent with respect to human faces. People can be rendered unrecognizable due to the high compression rates employed in low bandwidth video conferencing.
High bandwidth or high definition video conferencing can provide high quality observed video. However, these techniques can require special communication infrastructures that are not readily available or affordable. In addition, common techniques for facial detection and/or enhancement can be computationally expensive, and may not be well suited for video conferencing.


An exercising machine is provided that has a head engaging member that can provide a hemispherical movement. The head engaging member is attached to rollers that can roll on a pivotable arcuate track. As an exerciser moves the head engaging member in the X-Y plane, the machine forces movement in the Z plane such that the head engaging member can maintain a point of contact on the user's head as the exerciser rotates his head during exercise. The track can be arced or formed in a radius such that the head engaging member traverses a motion approximate to a radius of a neck rotation as measured from the forehead to the base of the neck.

Each year spinal cord injuries occur in contact sports such as football and wrestling. Many of these injuries could be prevented if the athlete had stronger muscles along the spinal cord. Prevention of spinal cord injuries is extremely important because these injuries often result in paralysis. One of the areas of the spinal cord which is susceptible to injury is the cervical area of the spine which resides between the shoulders and the skull. During collisions in football or during a fall or collision in any sport, the head can be snapped or over extended in relation to the body resulting in spinal cord injury and possible paralysis from the neck down.
Many have created exercising machines and methods for the neck and portions of the spine. For example U.S. Pat. No. 4,537,393 by Kusch and U.S. Pat. No. 5,984,836 by Casali provided an outer ring member with radial members pulling on all sides of a headgear. Other concepts such as U.S. Pat. No. 6,106,437 by Brooks uses the ring and two radial members connected to a pulley and a weight. Prior art devices fail to be widely accepted by athletes, trainers and weight programs for numerous reasons. One reason is the difficulty for individuals to get into and out of the exercise machine. Set up time for height and tension and head size adjustment all detract from the usability of the machine. Often, athletic teams working out together wherein, each athlete moves from exercise machine to exercise machine at timed intervals (referred to as circuit training). In this setting athletes only have a short time to exercise at a machine. If a particular machine requires too much set up time it cannot be used efficiently in circuit training. If a user is required to make numerous and/or precise adjustments to an exercise machine the setup becomes too much hassle and athletes will not use the machine. In order for a machine to be useful, the machine must be easily adjustable for users of all sizes. For example, a small youth and a three hundred and seventy five pound pro football player should be able to use the same machine. Other problems in the prior art include inadequate hygiene. Most prior art have a headgear which is made from leather or rigid plastic and these materials can cause cuts or abrasions to the skin where the head gear contacts the users head. The head gear in the prior art head often slides on the users skin making a work out uncomfortable. Additionally, the contact surfaces of the head gear is often not cleanable or sanitary. Another problem with prior art devices is that the resistance provided by the machine during exercise is un-damped and does not provide a fluent and responsive motion. Additionally, in prior art devices the head gear slides on the exerciser's head during exercise causing discomfort and an awkward feeling. The prior art falls short and is less than perfect in many respects.

Exercising machine for working muscles that support the spine


A sealing device for the frame of a bay provided in a door panel with the bay having a rabbet and being adapted to be closed by a window. The sealing device includes a first part for fastening on the rabbet having sealing lips designed to contact the window, a second part being connected to the first part by a third part which is sufficiently resilient and compliant to enable relative movement of the two first parts and the attachment by a locking action of said second part to an anchoring edge of the door panel.

Such devices, generally referred to as vertical or horizontal slides when mounted on automobile doors with fixed panes, usually consist of a standard section, with sealing lips of a relatively flexible elastomer or plastomer, and a part of relatively hard elastomer or plastomer, approximately semicircular or U-shaped, which enables mounting or assembly of the slide on the metal plates of the door or the body of the door on which it is mounted. Many embodiments of such slides have already been proposed to solve the twofold problem raised by the need to trim the door frame, while guaranteeing the sealing of the two faces of the mobile window pane's surface at its junction with said frame in which it is mounted without hindering its sliding, both for automobile windows and panes of the usual type, and of the flush-mounted or approximately flush-mounted type, as described in EP-0-308 377 or DE-3512973. In certain known embodiments, the slides are in two parts, so that, added to the drawbacks associated with the cost of management of a large number of spare parts, are those of the behavior and appearance after mounting, as well as those incurred by sealing defects, such as noise and/or the deterioration of exposed parts, owing to the difficulty of achieving a satisfactory junction of the two parts of the slide. Furthermore, the mounting of the known slides on the rabbet of the bay on which they are mounted is often relatively complex, and tends to prevent the esthetically pleasing appearance provided by the trim, typically black, extending about the periphery of the window bay and generally referred to as "styling black" or "noir de style".

Sealing device for window frame with sliding or fixed pane


A drinker, which is connected to a supply pipe, includes a novel attachment member that forces a bird's beak open during activation to deliver water directly into the bird's open beak so that the amount of water the bird receives is maximized. A pin is provided as a valve which selectively blocks or allows flow from the supply pipe to the attachment member. When a bird contacts the attachment member, the bird's beak is forced open and the attachment member substantially prevents contact of the beak with the water flowing through the attachment member, such that the water flows from the supply pipe, past the pin, through the attachment member, out an outlet on the attachment member and into the bird's open beak. A first embodiment of the attachment member includes a double-walled body member having inner and outer walls such that the water flows between the inner and outer walls. A second embodiment of the attachment member includes a single-walled body member. The pin has a flattened end attached thereto that is seated in the body member passageway. The water flows through the attachment member between the flattened pin end and the interior of the attachment member passageway. The advantages provided by the drinker allow it to be combined with a feeder. The feed collects in a feed pan suspended below the drinkers. A novel drip pan or troughs may be provided between the feed pan and the drinkers to collect any excess water.

This invention is generally directed to a novel poultry drinker that forces a bird's beak open during activation, thereby increasing water consumption by the bird by causing water to flow directly into the bird's open beak. The present invention is also directed to a novel combination of a poultry drinker and a poultry feeder.
There have been numerous designs for drinkers for supplying water to poultry. One such design provides drinkers having a straight solid pin which is connected to a valve system in the drinker. The drinker is attached to a supply pipe. When a bird contacts the solid pin, the pin is moved upwardly and the valve system is opened. This allows water to flow from the supply pipe, through the valve system and along the exterior surfaces of the solid pin. It has been found that poultry, and especially turkeys, more commonly bite at the pin to activate the drinker rather than activating the drinker by pecking or otherwise pushing up on the pin. While the solid pin design can provide sufficient water flow, because the bird bites at the pin, the beak closes around the pin and intersects the water stream. This often causes the water to run down the pin, down the outside of the beak and onto the exterior of the bird's beak, instead of into the bird's mouth. This wastes water and creates wetness in the poultry house requiring the house to be cleaned frequently and otherwise results in unsanitary and unsuitable conditions. Bacterial growth and infection within the house can devastate commercial productivity.
Another disadvantage of prior art drinkers that cause excessive amounts of dispensed water not to be consumed by the poultry and spill or leak away from the drinkers is that the drinkers are required to be maintained in a separate position in the poultry house, away from any feeders located therein. Therefore, because of the distances between the drinkers and feeders, the poultry tend to wander around the poultry house, thereby not maximizing the time spent drinking or feeding.
The present invention is intended to provide a novel drinker that substantially eliminates these problems and presents several advantages over the prior art which will become apparent upon a reading of the specification when examined in combination with a study of the drawings.

Attachment member for a poultry drinker and poultry feeder for use with the drinker


In a DC-DC converter control apparatus, it is configured to have a current sensor for detecting a current flowing through a positive electrode wire connecting the second common terminal with the positive electrode terminal of the high-voltage port and to control operations of the first and second switching elements based on the current detected by the current sensor. With this, it becomes possible to accurately detect the current of the windings and appropriately control the operation of the switching elements based on the detected currents without increasing the transformer in size.

In recent years, there is proposed a DC-DC converter having a magnetic-field canceling type transformer equipped with first and second windings that are wound around a core in reverse directions, and first and second switching elements connected to the windings (for example, see a patent reference 1). In the patent reference 1, currents flowing through the first and second windings are detected by a plurality of (two) current sensors to calculate a current difference therebetween, while the operation of the first and second switching elements are controlled so that the calculated current difference becomes zero.


A control system for controlling splitter jaw clutch (88) engagement and disengagement forces during a splitter section (16B) shift. The splitter section is shifted by a variable force splitter actuator (142) and is preferably capable of asserting at least a low, medium and high force to the splitter jaw clutch members.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control for controlling the force applied to splitter jaw clutches during engagement and disengagement under various vehicle operating conditions.
The adaptive control may be utilized with a fully or partially automated vehicular transmission system or with the range or, preferably, the splitter section of a controller-assisted, manually shifted transmission.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Compound manually shifted mechanical transmissions of the range, splitter and/or combined range/splitter type are in wide use in heavy-duty vehicles and are well known in the prior art, as may be seen by reference to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,754,665; 5,272,929; 5,370,013 and 5,390,561, 5,546,823; 5,609,062 and 5,642,643, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. Typically, such transmissions include a main section shifted directly or remotely by a manual shift lever and one or more auxiliary sections connected in series therewith. The auxiliary sections most often were shifted by a slave actuator, usually pneumatically, hydraulically, mechanically and/or electrically operated, in response to manual operation of one or more master switches. Shift controls for such systems by be seen by reference to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,455,883; 4,550,627; 4,899,607; 4,920,815; 4,974,468; 5,000,060; 5,272,931; 5,281,902; 5,222,404 and 5,350,561, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Fully or partially automated transmission systems wherein a microprocessor-based electronic control unit (ECU) receives input signals indicative of various system operating conditions and processes same according to logic rules to issue command output signals to one or more system actuators are known in the prior art, as may be seen by reference to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,361,060; 4,593,580; 4,595,986; 4,850,236; 5,435,212; 5,582,069; 5,582,558; 5,620,392; 5,651,292 and 5,679,096; 5,682,790; the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Systems wherein variable force is used to engage auxiliary sections, usually to protect range or splitter section synchronizers, are known in the prior art, as may be seen by reference to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,186,066; 5,193,410; 5,199,314 and 5,224,392, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Adaptive splitter actuator engagement force control


Embodiments provide a nanoparticle and a method for preparing the nanoparticle, as well as a membrane that includes the nanoparticle and a fuel cell that includes the membrane. The method comprises a thermal treatment method that provides from a nanoparticle comprising a structurally disordered material the nanoparticle comprising: (1) a structurally ordered core comprising a first material; and (2) a shell surrounding and further structurally aligned with the structurally ordered core and comprising a second material different from the first material. Particularly desirable is a nanoparticle comprising a Pt3Co@Pt/C structurally ordered core-shell composition supported upon a carbon support.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments relate generally to structurally ordered nanoparticles, related methods for preparing the nanoparticles and related applications of the nanoparticles. More particularly embodiments relate to enhanced performance structurally ordered nanoparticles, related methods for preparing the nanoparticles and related applications of the nanoparticles.
2. Description of the Related Art
The sluggish kinetics of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) at a proton exchange membrane fuel cell cathode is one of the key challenges for the commercial viability of proton exchange membrane fuel cells, especially for transportation applications. In that regard, it is of great interest to explore more active catalysts, with superior performance and durability, than the traditionally employed carbon-supported Pt (Pt/C) nanoparticle based cathode catalysts.
Given the continued interest in proton exchange membrane fuel cells, thus desirable are proton exchange membrane fuel cell components with enhanced performance.

Structurally ordered nanoparticles, methods and applications


A load distribution system for allocating a job to one of a plurality of arithmetic devices includes a temperature data acquirer, a candidate selector, and a job allocator. The temperature data acquirer acquires temperature data indicating temperature of each of the plurality of arithmetic devices. The candidate selector selects at least one of the plurality of arithmetic devices as a candidate for a device to which the job is to be allocated. The job allocator allocates the job to the selected candidate.

In a client-server system including a plurality of servers, a request which is given from a client to a server which is an arithmetic device for processing a job is allocated to one of the plurality of servers by a load balancer that functions as load distribution means. That is, a job which has been designated by a user of the client is allocated to one of the servers. Job allocation is performed in accordance with a previously set load distribution algorithm. The load distribution algorithms includes a round robin algorithm in which a server to which a job is to be allocated is selected in order, an algorithm in which a server which has the smallest number of in-process connections is selected, and an algorithm in which a server which responds first is selected.
In various systems including the client-server system, a reduction of power consumption is now being promoted. In order to attain power saving, for example, such a technique is proposed that only when load is lower than a threshold value in a computer system including a plurality of central processing units (CPUs), a CPU which is low in throughput but is low in power consumption is selected to be used. In addition, such a technique is also proposed that a task is scheduled to two processors of different power efficiencies so as to minimize the power consumption.


When recording and reproduction are performed at the same time, if a system controller detects that an amount of data accumulated in a buffer memory exceeds a predetermined value, the system controller stops data reading from an optical disk temporarily and records data accumulated in the buffer memory continuously to the optical disk. Then, an image is prevented from becoming abnormal when a reproduction position catches up to a recording position. Further, a system controller monitors a zone in an optical disk, to which recording is performed and controls a motor at an appropriate revolution number for the recording to the zone. Further, reproduction is performed by maintaining the revolution number. Then, even if the recording position and the reproduction position belong to different zones in a recording medium, a transition time from recording to reproduction is prevented from becoming long.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to simultaneous recording and reproduction apparatus wherein audiovisual signals are reproduced from a recording medium while they are recorded thereto.
2. Description of Prior Art
Video cassette recorders (VCR) are very popular in homes. A main use of home VCRs is reserve recording, and recording and reproduction of audiovisual signals are performed in the concept of time-shift.
However, when so-called timer recording is set in a home VCR, the contents of recording cannot be viewed, for example, before a time when the timer recording is completed. That is, the contents of recording cannot be viewed until the recording is completed. In order solve this problem, it is proposed in Japanese Patent laid open Publication 6-14288/1994 that the contents under recording can be viewed freely from the start before the reserve recording is completed. In this reproduction-while-recording, the contents from the start to a recording position can be viewed freely during the recording, and it is called as reproduction-while-recording.
On the other hand, for a DVD-RAM or the like, zone constant linear velocity control (ZCLV) is adopted. In ZCLV, a recording medium is divided in a plurality of areas (zones) in the radial direction, and constant angular velocity recording is performed in a zone. The revolution number is different among the zones, and it is faster at an inner zone. The ZCLV is used because the margin of recording power on recording is limited so that linear velocity has a value in a certain range.
However, the above prior art has the following problems. When an amount of data overflows in a buffer at the recording side, data to be recorded is missed. Further, in reproduction-while-recording, the rates of data write and read for a medium have to be faster than a case where only reproduction is performed. When the reproduction position catches the recording position in high speed reproduction or the like, a user cannot find it. A display image is disturbed when the reproduction position catches up the recording position.
In a recording medium wherein ZCLV or CLV control is used, the optimum revolution number depends on recording position. However, when reproduction-while-recording is performed for such a recording medium, the revolution number may be different between the recording and reproduction position, and it may be necessary to change the revolution number when recording operation is shifted to reproduction operation (or vice versa). When the revolution number is changed, it takes time for the revolution number to become stable. Thus, it takes time when the recording operation is shifted to the reproduction operation or vice versa. In order to increase the data rate so that the reproduction-while-recording is allowed, the time for the shift has to be shortened as much as possible. Therefore, when it is needed to change the revolution number when the recording operation is shifted to the reproduction operation or vice versa, the data rate in reproduction-while-recording becomes smaller, and it may cause the deterioration of image or sound quality, for example, when audiovisual signals are encoded and recorded.

Simultaneous recording and reproduction apparatus and simultaneous multi-channel reproduction apparatus


The filler neck of a fuel tank with an arrangement for preventing incorrect fueling has a rotatable ring and closing elements which are actuated by said ring, with a transmission device having the following features being arranged between the movable part and the rotatable ring:                there are two slides which are situated opposite one another and which have run-on faces which face toward one another in the support body,        the two slides are connected to one another by means of a rigid bar, which rigid bar is movably articulatedly connected with its first end to the first slide and with its second end to the second slide,        the second end of the bar is a bolt which engages into a first slot of the second slide and into a second slot of the rotatable ring.

The invention relates to the filler neck of a fuel tank with an arrangement for preventing incorrect fueling, composed of a neck body, at least one part which can be moved counter to a spring force by inserting the filler pipe of the correct diameter, a rotatable ring and closing elements which are actuated by said ring, with a transmission device being arranged between the movable part and the rotatable ring.
In motor vehicles with a diesel engine, the risk of incorrect fueling is high because the diameter of the filler pipe of a fueling nozzle for unleaded gasoline is smaller than that of a fueling nozzle for diesel fuel. The correct diameter is therefore the larger diameter, and the following invention concerns very reliably preventing the insertion of a smaller filler pipe into a larger hole.
It is known from EP 1 284 212 B1 for a tube piece which is movable in the longitudinal direction and which has a constriction at the tank side to be provided in the filler pipe, the diameter of which constriction is smaller than that of a filler pipe for diesel fuel but is larger than that of a filler pipe for gasoline. Said tube piece acts via a slotted guide on the closing elements, either directly on movable closing elements or via a rotatable tube piece which surrounds said tube piece.
Said safety device fails, however, if the filler pipe is inserted obliquely, or can be circumvented by pressing laterally on the filler pipe. On account of the guide length required for the two tube pieces, the spatial requirement of a filler neck of said type in the longitudinal direction is considerable and the attachment of further fittings, such as for example valves and branches for escaping fuel vapors, is difficult if not impossible.

Filler neck of a fuel tank with an arrangement for preventing incorrect fueling


A method of treating cotton comprising: (i) contacting cotton with an aqueous wash liquor comprising water and an endo-β-1,3-glucanase enzyme; (ii) optionally rinsing the cotton; and (iii) drying the cotton. The wash liquor may contain surfactant. The cotton may be contacted with the aqueous wash liquor with agitation. The method may be for removal of callose from cotton. The method may be for the manufacture of a cotton-containing fabric having improved whiteness maintenance, soil repellency, reduced malodour, anti-wrinkle benefits, and/or improved drying.

Degradation of whiteness in fabrics, particularly white fabrics is a continuing problem. Efforts to promote the longevity of fabrics are on-going. Whilst there are many cleaning and treatment technologies and processes aimed at mitigating such problems however, it is a constant challenge to provide improved efficacy and especially to do so in an environmentally favorable manner.
The present inventors have found that natural impurities, particularly present in cotton fibres contribute to whiteness degradation and also play a role in adhering other soils which contact the cotton fibres during use or even during the washing process.
Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of treating cotton to counteract whiteness degradation.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The invention provides a method and apparatus for identifying gestures performed by a user to control an interactive display. The gestures are identified based on a bounding box enclosing the points at which a user contacts a touch sensor corresponding with the display surface. The invention thus permits the use of inexpensive and highly reliable grid-based touch sensors that provide a bounding box to describe contact information. In identifying the gestures, the position, motion, shape, and deformation of the bounding box may all be considered. In particular, the center, width, height, aspect ratio, length of the diagonal, and orientation of the diagonal of the bounding box may be determined. A stretch factor, defined as the maximum of the ratio of the height of the bounding box to the width of the bounding box and the ratio of the width of the bounding box to the height of the bounding box, may also be computed. Finally, gestures may be identified based on the changes in time of these characteristics and quantities.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to interactive displays. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for determining user gestures to control a touch detecting, interactive display.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are many situations in which one or more individuals interactively explore image-based data. For example, a team of paleontologists may wish to discuss an excavation plan for a remote dig site. To do so, they wish to explore in detail the geographic characteristics of the site as represented on digitized maps. In most laboratories, this requires the team either to huddle around a single workstation and view maps and images on a small display, or sit at separate workstations and converse by phone. The activity of exploring imagery is much more easily and effectively accomplished with the users surrounding a single large display. A particularly effective approach is a touch detecting, interactive display such as that disclosed in the related patent application entitled Touch Detecting Interactive Display, filed Aug. 6, 2004, Ser. No. 10/913,105. In such a system, an image is produced on a touch detecting display surface. A touch sensor determines the locations at which a user contacts the display surface, and based on the position and motions of these locations, user gestures are determined. The display is then updated based on the determined user gestures.
A wide variety of mechanisms are available for determining the locations at which a user contacts the touch sensor. Often, a grid-based approach is used in which measurements acquired on the perimeter of the touch sensor indicate a horizontal coordinate x1 and a vertical coordinate y1 for each contact location.
FIG. 1 shows is a schematic diagram that shows a prior art infrared break-beam, grid-based touch sensor for determining the coordinates of two contact locations. The approach shown is similar to that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,478,220 to Milroy, U.S. Pat. No. 3,764,813 to Clement et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,775,560 to Ebeling et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 3,860,754 to Johnson et al. These systems incorporate a series of horizontal and vertical beams generated by infrared LED's and a corresponding series of infrared sensors. In FIG. 1, a point of contact C1 interrupts the beam of light passing from an emitter E1x to a sensor S1x and the beam of light passing from an emitter E1y to a sensor S1y. A similar interruption of beams is created by a contact point C2. The locations of the contact points (x1,y1) and (x2,y2) are determined by considering the x and y locations of the interrupted beams. A well known shortcoming of this approach to determining contact locations is a ghosting effect in which the pair of contact locations C1 and C2 cannot be distinguished from the pair of contact locations C1′ and C2′. Accordingly, the contact information returned by grid-based touch sensor is best considered as a bounding box defined by the rectangle C1C1′C2C2′.
This method of determining and reporting the locations of contacts differentiates grid-based sensors from many other touch sensor technologies such as the Synaptics TouchPad™ found on many laptop computers. By measuring changes in capacitance near a wire mesh, the TouchPad™ determines contact positions directly and reports an absolute position to the host device. Clearly, an ability to directly ascertain and report the position of a contact is in many situations advantageous. However, capacitive sensors do not scale well, and are therefore impractical or prohibitively expensive for incorporation into large interactive displays.
A number of methods have been proposed for recognizing user gestures through tracking the position and motion of one or more contact locations determined by a touch sensor. Clearly, these methods encounter difficulty when used in conjunction with a grid-based sensor that cannot disambiguate the location of multiple simultaneous contact points. It would thus be advantageous to define a set of user gestures in terms of the bounding box surrounding the detected contact locations. Such a set of user gestures would permit the use of inexpensive, highly reliable, and highly scalable grid-based touch sensors yet still allow users to interact with the display in an intuitive manner.

Bounding box gesture recognition on a touch detecting interactive display


The present invention provides novel compounds of the formula Gei-x-ySixSny, wherein 0.01<y<0.11, and 0.26<x<0.35, and semiconductor structures comprising such compounds. The present invention also provides novel semiconductor structures comprising silicon substrates, an SiGe buffer layer, and a Group III-V or II-VI active layer. The present invention also provides novel semiconductor structures comprising silicon substrates, an SiGe buffer layer, an SiGeSn template layer, and an SiGe, Ge, Group III-V, or Group II-VI active layer.

The concept of buffer layers is well-known and widely used in heteroepitaxy of semiconductors. They are designed to alleviate interfacial stress and defect formation or to promote growth of certain phases or 2D morphology. For highly mismatched systems, the concept of graded buffer layers was first proposed at RCA in 1966, and most efforts to date have been designed to find solutions to specific problems rather than a global pathway to semiconductor integration. From all integration schemes, the integration of III-V and II-VI semiconductors with silicon would have the most favorable impact on functionality, miniaturization and production cost.
Low Al content AlGaAs compounds possess lattice constants close to that of Ge. As such, Ge seems to be a reasonable pathway to monolithic integration of some arsenide-based devices with Si. Although Si and Ge are closely related, direct epitaxy of Ge on Si produces copious defects in the Ge layer due to a significant lattice and thermal mismatch. To alleviate this problem, research in recent years has focused on graded Si1-xGex buffer layers grown on Si(100). In this case, a thick Si1-xGex interlayer is graded compositionally up to 100% Ge to create a virtual substrate that is nearly lattice matched to GaAs. A graded layer thickness in excess of 10 μm is required to achieve threading dislocation densities in the 106 per cm2 range, and a post growth chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) step is necessary to produce a smooth surface prior to subsequent growth.
While the above approach is relatively straightforward it poses several limitations: (1) the addressable lattice parameter space is limited to a narrow range between Si and Ge, thus allowing lattice matching of only three compounds (GaAs, GaP, and AIP); (2) the process requires thick buffer layers grown at a relatively high temperature, which causes additional defect formation due to thermal mismatch; (3) a post-growth, CMP planarization step is mandatory; and (4) threading defect densities are in the 106 per cm2 range, which is detrimental to most advanced compound devices; a reduction in defect density of two to three orders of magnitude is needed.
Thus, improved materials and methods for integration of III-V and II-VI semiconductors with silicon are needed in the art.

GeSiSn-based compounds, templates, and semiconductor structures

Arizona Board of Regents, a Body Corporate of the State of Arizona acting for and on behalf of Arizona State University


In exemplary aspects of cache coherency management, a first request is received and includes an address of a first memory block in a shared memory. The shared memory includes memory blocks of memory devices associated with respective processors. Each of the memory blocks are associated with one of a plurality of memory categories indicating a protocol for managing cache coherency for the respective memory block. A memory category associated with the first memory block is determined and a response to the first request is based on the memory category of the first memory block. The first memory block and a second memory block are included in one of the same memory devices, and the memory category of the first memory block is different than the memory category of the second memory block.

In a multiprocessor shared memory system, data stored in a system memory local to a processor can be shared, resulting in copies of that data also being stored in caches of other processors. Cache coherency is employed to ensure that changes to the shared data or to copies of that data are propagated throughout the system, such that all copies reflect the same value. Hardware and/or software implementations supervise or manage cache coherency in the multiprocessor shared memory system by applying cache coherency protocols such as snoopy- or directory-based protocols. Directory-based cache coherency protocols employ coherency directories to track and store the state and ownership of memory blocks that may be shared with other processors in the multiprocessor shared memory system. Coherency directory caches can be employed to provide faster access to state and ownership information stored in coherency directories.

Cache coherency management for multi-category memories

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP


Water-soluble discrete multi-biotin-containing compounds with at least three (3) biotin moieties are disclosed. The water-soluble biotin-containing compounds may additionally comprise one or more moieties that confer resistance to cleavage by biotinidase or that is cleavable in vitro or in vivo. The discrete multi-biotin-containing compounds may include a reactive moiety that provides a site for reaction with yet another moiety, such as a targeting, diagnostic or therapeutic functional moiety. Biotinylation reagents comprising water-soluble linker moieties are also disclosed and may additionally comprise a biotinidase protective group. Methods for amplifying the number of sites for binding biotin-binding proteins at a selected target using multi-biotin compounds also are disclosed.

The very strong interaction of biotin with the proteins avidin and streptavidin renders biotin-containing compounds useful for numerous applications. For example, many diagnostic tests use biotinylated derivatives. The widely used enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), which was developed as an alternative to radioimmunoassays, employs biotinylated antibodies. Other biotinylated compounds have been used as probes and biotinylated nucleic acids have also been widely used. Purification techniques such as affinity chromatography frequently employ biotinylated materials.
More recently, biotin derivatives have been used in diagnosis and therapy of human disease. Notably, investigators have shown that use of a combination of monoclonal antibodies, streptavidin and/or avidin, and radiolabeled biotin derivatives, improves the diagnostic and therapeutic characteristics of the radiolabeled monoclonal antibody tumor targeting system. An example would be the "pre-targeting" of monoclonal antibody conjugates using the biotin/(strept)avidin ligand/anti-ligand pair for imaging and therapy of cancer.
One disadvantage of using biotin derivatives for many of these applications is their generally low solubility in aqueous media. In many examples, biotin derivatives and biotinylation reagents generally need to be solubilized in organic solvents or a medium comprising a substantial level of organic constituents to attain aqueous solubility. Insolubility of biotin derivatives and biotinylation reagents in aqueous solutions is particularly problematic for in vivo applications where organic solvents cannot be used.
It has been recognized that the availability of biotin derivatives for binding with avidin- and streptavidin-containing compounds may be greater when a spacer molecule is used between the biotin moiety and the other moieties to which the biotin is attached. The spacer molecules previously used have generally possessed low solubility in aqueous medium. Such spacer molecules reduce the aqueous solubility of the biotin-containing compound. In addition to causing solubility problems, the lipophilic nature of the biotin derivatives with spacer molecules of low water solubility may cause them to associate with blood components, rendering their biological half-life in in vivo applications longer than desired. Prior investigators have attached water solubilizing moieties to biotin and to compounds containing two biotin moieties, however, the prior art has failed to disclose or suggest biotin-containing compounds that comprise at least three (3) biotin moieties which are resistant to the enzyme biotinidase.
Heretofore, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,541,287 and 5,578,287 disclose compositions for use in pre-targeted delivery of diagnostic and therapeutic agents, which compositions employ biotin/avidin as the ligand/anti-ligand binding pair. These patents disclose that the 1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-N,N′,N″,N′″-tetra acetic acid (DOTA)-biotin adducts have desirable in vivo biodistribution and are cleared primarily by renal excretion. However, these patents only teach biotin-containing compounds of up to two (2) biotin moieties. These patents also report that the disclosed adducts are not stable in serum due to the presence of biotinidase. Poor in vivo stability therefore limits the use of such conjugates in therapeutic applications.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,326,778 discloses conjugates of biotin and deferoxamine for radioimmunoimaging and radioimmunotherapy, which conjugates are capable of binding metal ions to avidin or streptavidin. This patent fails to suggest a biotin-containing compound that contains at least three (3) biotin moieties and water-solubilizing moieties of 6 to 50 atoms in length.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,698 discloses a method for the detection and therapy of lesions with biotin/avidin polymer conjugates. The preferred polymers are the starburst dendrimers or dextrans. This patent, however, does not suggest water-soluble linker moieties of 6 to 50 atoms in length and biotinidase blocking groups in a discrete multi-biotin-containing compound. This reference also fails to suggest how dendrimers and dextrans can be used to produce discrete, water-soluble, multi-biotin-containing compounds.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,521,319 teaches that biotin compounds, which comprise water-soluble linkers, can be conjugated to various moieties; however, there is no suggestion that three (3) or more biotin moieties be present in the compound and that biotinidase blocking groups be incorporated to impart in vivo stability.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,750,357 describes a detectable synthetic copolymer wherein one monomer is a binding agent for microorganisms and the second monomer is a detectable label or a binding site for a detectable label, such as biotin. The polymerization of these two monomers results in a random co-polymer that may contain three (3) or more biotin moieties. However, there is no suggestion or disclosure that each biotin moiety be linked to a water-soluble moiety of 6 to 50 atoms in length, which in turn is linked to a cross-linker compound that has at least tri-functionality, such as benzene 1,3,5-tricarbonyl trichloride, starburst dendrimers, cascade dendrimers, polylysine, polyglutamic acid, and polyaspartic acid. The thermally initiated random polymerization disclosed produces a reaction mixture that consists of numerous polymeric species with varying molecular weights and number of biotin moieties. Such random biotin-containing compounds have a very limited utility in diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Further, this patent does not address the need for a biotinidase blocking moiety.
Hnatowich, et al., in "Investigations of Avidin and Biotin for Imaging Applications", J. Nucl. Med., Vol. 28, pp. 1294–1302, No. 8 (1987), discloses a biocytin-DTPA-biotin dimer reaction product. This reference, however, does not suggest a compound comprising at least three (3) biotin moieties, water-soluble linker moieties of 6 to 50 atoms in length, and biotinidase protective moieties.
Biotinylated dextrans have been proposed as molecular probes by, for example, R. P. Haugland, Handbook of Fluorescent Probes and Research Chemicals, Sixth Edition, Chapter 15.5, Molecular Probes, Inc., Eugene, Oreg. These probes are not discrete molecular entities and do not address the need for resistance to biotinidase activity, nor do they suggest the use of water-soluble linker moieties of 6 to 50 atoms in length.
It is apparent, then, that the prior art has paid little attention to the water solubility of biotin-containing compounds, or the synthesis of biotin reagents having three (3) or more biotin moieties and resistance to biotinidase. Because biotin-containing compounds are of increasing interest for diagnostic and therapeutic applications, there is a need for enhanced biotin-containing compounds exhibiting excellent water solubility and improved resistance to cleavage by the serum enzyme biotinidase. The compounds according to the invention meet these needs, in part, through the selection of water-soluble linkers that allow for the optimum binding of the biotin moiety to avidin/streptavidin.

Water soluble multi-biotin-containing compounds


Embodiments of the present invention provide an apparatus allowing for an adjustable face plate. The apparatus comprises a face plate, an adjustment device affixed to the face plate, wherein the adjustment device includes a plurality of ridges formed thereon to define a plurality of gaps, and wherein the adjustment device is capable of rotating about an axis, and a clamp affixed to an electronic device chassis, having a first arm contacting the adjustment device in a first gap of the plurality of gaps and allowing for rotation of the adjustment device about the axis from the first gap to a second gap of the plurality of gaps.

Electronic devices require housing to protect sensitive systems from external factors such as moisture and dust. Additionally, housings serve to limit the amount of stray electromagnetic radiation entering or leaving the device. Excess stray electromagnetic radiation can interfere with electronic devices' operation and prevent proper operation of those devices. Traditional housing structures employ a rectangular box structure with the electronic device stored inside. The box structure includes six faces, typically made from metal or plastic, connected at right angles to each other. One or more of the faces typically include buttons, measurement displays, and/or input/output (I/O) ports for interfacing with other electronic devices. Dense platforms, such as high performance network servers, often include multiple electronic devices, each with its own rectangular housing, stored in a rack or cabinet, and interconnected to each other via cables, such as coaxial Ethernet cables.

Lenovo Enterprise Solutions (Singapore) Pte. Ltd.


A sewing machine having an embroidery frame and a drive unit for driving that frame with respect to the sewing needle, wherein the area occupied by the frame and drive unit can be reduced for storage. To do this, the user presses a storage button on an LCD touch panel screen. The CPU determines that a command has been given to reduce the area of the frame and drive unit for storage; calculates the amount of drive necessary to move the embroidery frame from its current position stored in nonvolatile memory to the position used for storing the drive unit; and controls drive motors to move the embroidery frame the distance calculated, reducing the overall area occupied by the frame and drive unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sewing machine mounted with a support frame drive unit for moving a workpiece cloth.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The sewing machine detachably mounted with a support frame drive unit (hereinafter referred to simply as "drive unit") has been described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. HEI-4-364887. In this Laid-Open Patent Publication, as shown in the explanatory diagrams shown in FIGS. 9(a) and 9(b), a workpiece cloth is supported by an embroidery frame 102 on the drive unit 100. The embroidery frame 102 is attached to a support portion. This support portion is moved in the front-and-back direction by a Y-direction movement mechanism 104. The Y-direction movement mechanism 104 moves in the left-and-right direction according to an X-direction movement mechanism. The Y-direction movement mechanism 104 is exposed on the external part of the drive unit 100, while the X-direction movement mechanism is provided inside the drive unit 100. Thus, when the drive unit 100 is removably mounted on the sewing machine, the embroidery frame 102 can be moved forward and backward or left and right beneath the vertically moving sewing machine needle.
Recently, large embroidery patterns have become fashionable. Thus, the movement ranges of the X-direction movement mechanism and the Y-direction movement mechanism 104 have been expanded along with the embroidery frame 102. The drive unit 100 itself has been made larger in order to accommodate these larger embroidery patterns. However, since a considerable amount of space is required to store the sewing machine when it is mounted with the drive unit 100, in some cases it is more suitable to separate the two. In addition, the sewing machine is sometimes stored with the embroidery frame 102 attached to the drive unit 100 to eliminate both the possibility of losing the embroidery frame 102 and the trouble required to remove and attach the same from the drive unit 100.
However, when the sewing machine is stored with the embroidery frame 102 attached to the drive unit 100, as described above, the area in which the embroidery frame 102 and drive unit 100 overlap is small, and the surface area (seen from above, as in FIG. 9(a)) occupied by the embroidery frame 102 and the drive unit 100 is large. Thus, a large area is occupied by the drive unit 100. A very large amount of space will be necessary particularly if a large embroidery frame 102 is attached to the drive unit 100.
The dimensions X1 and Y1 of FIG. 9(a), for example, are longer than the respective dimensions X2 and Y2 of FIG. 9(b). Thus, the drive unit 100 in the state shown in FIG. 9(a) requires more width and depth than the drive unit 100 shown in FIG. 9(b).
Hence, if the drive unit 100 is set next to a wall or other objects, the embroidery frame 102 and the drive unit 100 must be positioned in such a way as not to bump against the wall or other objects. In addition, the drive unit 100 might not fit into an area if a part attached externally to the drive unit 100 that moves with the embroidery frame 102 (the Y-direction movement mechanism 104, for example) is not in a suitable position.

Sewing machine facilitating storage of embroidery attachment


A tow socket connector for receiving a plug from a towed vehicle and having multiple electrical terminals sealed axially through the socket from one side to the other. Each terminal is locked in its associated opening in the connector by a snap member and the thickness of each terminal is expanded by jogs formed along a portion of its length to provide a slide fit and a sealant block between the terminal and its opening. Each terminal includes a horizontal opening to permit the flow of sealant in a well formed at the upper end of the socket.

Connector assemblies for interconnection of electrical circuits between a towing and a towed vehicle are marketed in numerous different designs. Commonly, the towing vehicle will have a plastic receptacle mounted on or adjacent the rear bumper and the towed vehicle or trailer will have a plug to fit the receptacle, usually carried by a length of cable. Multiple electrical terminals insulated one from another in both plug and receptacle are common to most designs. Such terminals are usually formed as elongated metallic elements which extend through the receptacle and the plug socket in which they may be molded in place or, in some cases, held mechanically in place. When a connector socket is exposed to the environment, as in the case of a socket mounted on the bumper or rear panel of a towing vehicle, the outer end which is designed to accept the matching plug from the towed vehicle is exposed to the elements, especially when the connector is not in use and a plug is not inserted in the socket. Penetration of the socket by contaminants or moisture can cause shorting and other electrical problems. The axial openings in the socket through which the terminal elements extend are frequently the most serious causes of leakage. Some attempts have been made to seal the terminals in the openings in which they are inserted, but difficulties have arisen because of the relatively loose fit or the difference in materials; conducting terminals usually being metallic and the body of the socket usually being of insulating plastic material of different coefficient of expansion.
The present invention has as its primary object the provision of a socket connector in which electrical terminals are securely fixed in sealed relationship to the body of the socket.
A secondary object is the weatherproofing of socket connectors.
Another object of the invention is the maintenance of the integrity of electrical circuits connected to the terminals of socket assemblies.
A further object is the provision of electrical terminals in connector sockets which have an effective thickness close to those of the socket openings in which they fit.


A method and an apparatus of wood pressing usable in manufacturing glued laminated wood such as laminated veneer lumber (LVL) using a number of wood veneer sheets are disclosed. A hot press used for wood pressing includes a pair of heating plates which are disposed one above the other and have pressing surfaces facing each other. The paired heating plates are both movable toward and away from each other. In operation, firstly one of the heating plates is moved toward the other heating plate to a position where the pressing surface of the one heating plate is spaced from a surface to which a veneer sheet is to be glued by a distance corresponding to the thickness of the veneer sheet. Then, the other heating plate is moved toward the one heating plate until a desired pressure is produced pressing.

The present invention relates to a method of wood pressing in manufacturing glued laminated wood made of a number of wood sheets such as veneer sheets which are provided by rotary peeling or otherwise prepared, dried appropriately, clipped into a predetermined length, and laminated together by hot pressing with a thermosetting adhesive in such a way that a multiple-layered board of glued laminated wood is made. The invention also relates to a wood pressing apparatus for use in manufacturing the glued laminated wood.
For better understanding of the underlying background of the present invention, firstly reference is made to FIG. 1 which shows a drawing provided in the publication of "LVL Laminated-Veneer Lumber—Development and Economics" by J. C. Bohlen, Forest Prod. J. Vol. 22, No. 1, 1972. The drawing schematically shows a prior art apparatus for manufacturing LVL, that is a typical glued laminated wood, wherein a number of veneer sheets are laminated together in a staggered manner with the wood grain of each veneer sheet running primarily along the length of the resulting product or LVL board.
The apparatus includes three sets of hot presses X, Y and Z arranged at three different stages spaced at an interval along the direction in which LVL board in process is conveyed as indicated by arrow at the right-hand side on the drawing. Each of the hot presses X, Y and Z has a pair of movable upper and lower heating plates X1, Y1 and Z1 disposed one above the other, respectively. For the sake of description of the apparatus, these three sets of hot presses X, Y and Z will be referred to as the first, second and third hot presses, respectively. Though not shown specifically in the drawing, there are provided three sets of veneer feeders associated with the respective hot presses X, Y and Z, and each set includes upper and lower movable veneer sheet feeders as indicated by arrows which depict the feeding directions. In the drawing, reference symbols A, B and C designate wood veneer sheets each having substantially the same length, width and thickness and disposed in the same orientation with the wood grain thereof extending substantially parallel to each other, i.e. extending along the lengthwise direction of the LVL board in process. It is noted that, for the sake of convenience in illustration, each veneer sheet is illustrated with a thickness which is shown exaggeratedly large relative to its length and also that a conveyer for moving a board in process is omitted from the illustration.
In manufacturing LVL board with the apparatus of FIG. 1, firstly a pair of veneer sheets A depicted by shading is prepared with one surface of either one of such veneer sheets A coated with thermosetting adhesive. These veneer sheets A are fed by the first feeders for the first hot press X and combined together with the adhesive-coated surface interposed between the mating surfaces of the two veneer sheets A and with the ends thereof in an offset or staggered relation as shown in the drawing in such orientation that their wood grain extends generally along the length of LVL board to be produced. These two veneer sheets A thus placed one on the other are conveyed to the first pressing station between the first heating plates X1, where the veneer sheets A are glued together under heat and pressure by the hot press X. After the first hot pressing operation is over and the heating plates X1 are retracted, the laminated veneer sheets A are conveyed toward the second pressing station at the second hot press Y.
On the way to the second pressing station, i.e. at an appropriate position between the first and second pressing stations, another pair of veneer sheets B, indicated by shading, each having on one surface thereof adjacent to the laminated veneer sheets A coated with thermosetting adhesive is fed by the second veneer sheet feeders and laid on the opposite outer surfaces of the previously laminated veneer sheets A in a staggered relation to the veneer sheets A as shown in the drawing. The veneer sheets B thus laid onto the veneer sheets A are conveyed therewith to the second pressing station, where the veneer sheets B are pressed by the second hot press Y to be bonded to the laminated veneer sheets A.
After pressing by the second hot press Y is over, the laminated veneer sheets A and B are conveyed toward third hot press Z at the third station. At an appropriate position between the second and third pressing stations, still another pair of veneer sheets C, indicated by shading, having on the inner surfaces thereof coated with adhesive is fed by the third veneer feeders and laid on the opposite outer surfaces of the veneer sheets B in a staggered arrangement. The veneer sheets C thus placed on the laminated veneer sheets A and B are conveyed to the third pressing station, where they are similarly pressed by the third hot press Z. Thus, an assembly of laminated veneer sheets A, B and C is formed.
Steps of operation including the above veneer sheet feeding, laying, hot pressing and conveying are performed successively at the respective positions and stations, whereby an LVL board with six plies as counted through its thickness is formed. As shown in FIG. 1, any two adjacent veneer sheets A, B or C in each layer are disposed with the ends thereof abutting closely each other to form end joints, and the veneer sheets A, B and C are laid such that the end joints are distributed in a regularly staggered arrangement in the resulting LVL board.
The above-cited publication which provides the drawing of FIG. 1 showing a method and an apparatus for manufacturing LVL gives no description about the manner of operation of the respective hot presses. A hot press having a pair of upper and lower heating plates for pressing therebetween wood material such as veneer sheets for manufacturing LVL usually has one of the heating plates movable toward the other heating plate which is stationary or fixed. If such a hot press is used in the apparatus of FIG. 1, problems will occur as will be described below.
If the first, second and third hot presses X, Y and Z shown in FIG. 1 are of such structure that the lower heating plates are fixed and the upper heating plates are movable toward and away from the respective lower heating plates, the lower heating plates of the hot presses Y and Z should be arranged such that their top pressing surfaces are lower than the top pressing surface of the lower heating plate of the first hot press X by distances corresponding to the thickness and twice the thickness of veneer sheet, respectively. As apparent from the drawing of FIG. 1, however, feeding of veneer sheets B or C is extremely difficult in such arrangement of the lower heating plates.
At the hot press Y, for example, a veneer sheet B will have to be inserted into a space between the lower surface of veneer sheet A already pressed in the previous first hot press X and the top surface of the lower heating plate Y1 of the second hot press Y. Since the spaced distance between the above two surfaces of the veneer sheet A and the lower heating plate Y1 corresponds to the thickness of veneer sheet, it would be practically impossible to insert a veneer sheet B into such a limited small space and set it in place. The same is true of a veneer sheet C which is to be inserted into a similar limited small space at the third hot press Z.
If the lower heating plates Y1 and Z1 of the second and third hot presses Y and Z are set such that their top pressing surfaces are lower than the top pressing surface of the lower heating plate X1 of the first hot press by distances which are slightly greater than the thickness and twice the thickness of veneer sheet, respectively, it is still difficult to feed a veneer sheet B or C. At the second hot press Y, for example, veneer sheet B already glued to LVL in process (or the right veneer sheet B of two veneer sheets B which are shown in contact with the lower heating plate Y1 of the second hot press Y in FIG. 1) tends to be brought into contact with the lower heating plate Y1 by bending of the in-process LVL board by its own weight. As a result, the space between the lower surface of veneer sheet A already glued at the previous first hot press X and the top surface of the lower heating plate Y1 of the second hot press Y is narrowed to a distance corresponding to the veneer sheet thickness.
The spaced distance between the top surface of the lower heating plate X1 of the first hot press X and the top surfaces of the lower heating plates Y1 and Z1 of the second and third hot presses Y, Z may be set much larger so that a veneer sheet, for example veneer sheet B, is insertable even if the in-process LVL board is bent by its own weight. When the upper heating plate Y1 is moved down toward its associated lower heating plate Y1 for pressing, however, the in-process LVL board is bent down by the lowering upper heating plate Y1, so that the resulting LVL board is bent into an arcuate shape. The same holds true at the hot pressing station Z. The LVL board thus bent in arcuate shape is rendered useless as a product.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a method and an apparatus of wood pressing which can be used helpfully in manufacturing glued laminated wood such as LVL.

Method and apparatus of pressing in manufacturing glued laminated wood


A component subjected to wear during use includes a powder coating formed of a polymer selected from the group consisting of a polyamide, polyolefin, polyester, urethane, epoxy, acrylic, and mixtures thereof to provide improved wear resistance, enhanced cleanability, and reduced surface friction. Preferably, the component is for use in conveying product, such as in a conveyor system, and includes: (1) a metal core and a nylon powder coating; or (2) a stainless steel core and a powder coating. Most preferably, the coating is generally clear or translucent so as to give the appearance that the underlying component, which is typically made of metal, is neither coated nor made entirely of a polymer.

The use of metal, such as steel, in forming wear components is ubiquitous. To provide steel components with enhanced surface properties and wear resistance, one very popular technique is to alter the composition of the steel alloy during fabrication to provide an outer surface with high corrosion resistance. Besides being resistant to troublesome corrosion and staining, this "stainless" steel as it is commonly known provides low maintenance and is relatively inexpensive to fabricate, which makes it an ideal base material for a host of commercial applications. In particular, stainless steel can be worked into components, such as sheets, plates, bars, wire, and tubing to be used in cookware, cutlery, hardware, surgical instruments, major appliances, industrial equipment (such as for conveying products), and even building material in skyscrapers and large buildings.
While users of stainless steel benefit from the concomitant advantages described above, this material is not without limitations, especially when used in industrial applications involving the processing of organic materials. For one, stainless steel can have a relatively high coefficient of friction with many other materials, including plastics (such as acetal) and other metals. Thus, stainless steel is generally not used in environments where it is subjected to constant or frequent sliding contact with another part, since the resulting high friction creates undesirable wear and may quickly degrade the desirable corrosion-resistant surface.
Wearing of stainless steel over time also tends to produce what is known in the vernacular as "black oxide." This black oxide is believed to emanate from the surface of the stainless steel as the result of abrasion. Although generally believed to be harmless, this black oxide is unsightly, difficult to remove using standard cleaning techniques, and leads users of the components to believe that the affected components must be replaced to ameliorate the problem. While offering a temporary improvement, replacing the components before the end of their normal service life is an expensive undertaking and merely delays the onset of a relapse of the problem.
For reasons not well identified, the typical surface properties of common types of stainless steel also cause certain materials, and especially those with a relatively high fat (oil) content, to tend to adhere and resist being released during cleaning. For example, stainless steel is often used for conveying, such as through chutes, dispensers, chains, belts, or like components. Typically, these conveyor components must be washed frequently and thoroughly in order to ensure that a clean environment is maintained and contamination kept in close check, especially when products for human consumption are involved (primarily, because of strict FDA regulations).
Despite offering superior corrosion resistance, the property of stainless steel that allows certain materials to adhere to it makes it more difficult and expensive to wash thoroughly. Indeed, washing may take up to one third of the service life of the component, which obviously contributes significantly to the operational cost. Besides being costly, frequent washing also generates a significant amount of waste product requiring further treatment or disposal, which raises environmental considerations. Washing is also typically done using chlorine, which as is well known can easily degrade stainless steel over time, and even lead to deleterious rusting.
Accordingly, a need is identified for an improved manner of making metals and, in particular, stainless steel, into components usable in situations where they are subject to sliding friction and concomitant wear, or where cleanability is of paramount importance, such as in food and chemical processing. No significant increase in manufacturing expense would result, yet a significant benefit in terms of service life and cleanability would be realized. Furthermore, the technique would be such that it could be used not only in manufacturing new components, but also on existing components in order to extend their service life and improve cleanability.

Powder coating components to reduce friction, increase wear resistance, and improve cleanability


The present invention relates to a streamlined wavy fin for a finned tube heat exchanger, which comprises a fin body, an airflow inlet on one end of the fin body, an airflow outlet on the other end of the fin body, mounting holes for mounting tubes on the fin body, and several convex/concave ripples consecutively formed from the airflow inlet to the airflow outlet on the fin body in an orientation of an airflow streamlines. A connection line of the wave crests of the same one convex ripple and a connection line of the wave troughs of the same one concave ripple neighboring the same one convex ripple are both streamlines. The present invention efficiently suppresses the flow separation downstream the circular tubes, and obviously reduces the pressure loss of airflow. And at the same time, the surface areas of the fins are increased, heat transfer resistance on the fin side is decreased, the streamlined fluid flow makes that it is not easy to producing a recirculation flow downstream the circular tubes, and heat transfer performance of the fins at the rear part of the tube bank may be obviously improved, which has better fluid flow and heat transfer performances, the fins is not easy to accumulate dust in use, and stability of heat transfer performance is maintained.

It is usual that liquid working fluid flows in the tubes of a finned tube heat exchanger, and air flows outside of the tubes. In order to reduce heat transfer resistance on the air side, fins are mounted outside of the tubes to increase heat transfer area and then to decrease heat transfer resistance. As being limited by the volume and the economical efficiency of heat exchanger and the efficiency of the fins, the areas of the fins cannot be unlimitedly increased. In order to improve the heat transfer performance of the finned tube heat exchanger, increasing disturbance of fluid flow is an efficient measure for improving the heat transfer performance on the fin surfaces. The fins are usually manufactured into structural patterns to easily increase fluid disturbance, such as the louvered fin, the transversally wavy fin, the fin punched vortex generators, the intermittent annular groove fin, and the punched rhomboic formation, etc. Although the fins mentioned above may achieve heat transfer enhancement on the fin surfaces, the flow resistance increases. Furthermore, the louvered fin, the transversally wavy fin, the fin punched vortex generators, the intermittent annular groove fin, and the punched rhomboic formation fin, etc, can easily accumulate dust, thereby the heat transfer resistance of the fin increases, and the heat transfer performance of heat exchanger deteriorates.
In addition, for circular/elliptical finned tube heat exchanger, when air flows through the channels formed by the fin patterns mentioned above, the shapes of the streamlines of air flow are far from the streamlined shapes. Especially, when the flow velocity is larger, the flow separation occurs on the wall of the circular/elliptical tubes, and the flow recirculation regions will be formed downstream the circular/elliptical tubes, the flow separation will cause large pressure loss, and the heat transfer performance deteriorates, and hence, the heat transfer performance needs to be improved further.
In summary, the heat transfer enhancement technologies used by the existing fins for finned tube heat exchanger have not obviously changed the streamlines of the air flow in the channels formed by the circular/elliptical tube bank and the fins into streamlined shapes. Thus, the pressure loss of the air flow through the channels formed by the fins and the circular/elliptical tubes is large. Therefore, it is very important to further develop a fin pattern of better heat transfer performance, lower pressure loss and being not easy to accumulate dust.

Streamlined wavy fin for finned tube heat exchanger


There is provided an electric solenoid for a building fire suppression system that provides a supervisory or warning signal when the solenoid is removed from its service location. The primary coil winding of the solenoid extends through a base that is detachable from the solenoid. The base remains fixed in place at the service location for the solenoid. When the solenoid is properly installed on the base, a conductor in the base provides the connection to complete the solenoid coil circuit, making it operational. When the solenoid is removed from the base, the coil circuit is interrupted. Connected circuitry that interfaces with the solenoid coil circuit provides a supervisory signal to a remote location, a local location, or both, when the coil circuit is interrupted. When the solenoid is properly installed on the base, a coil spring urges and biases the base firmly against the solenoid to maintain electrical contact between the base and the solenoid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to solenoids, and, more specifically, to an electric solenoid capable of providing a supervisory warning signal in the event that the solenoid is removed from its service location.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern commercial and industrial buildings rely on water sprinkler systems for the first fire suppression response in the event of a building fire. Areas of buildings that contain sensitive equipment or documents that would be damaged by water are commonly provided with a "preaction" or "dry" sprinkler system to minimize the risk of accidental release of water. Preaction fire suppression sprinkler systems commonly utilize electric solenoids to automatically open valves and pressurized water lines so as to supply water to sprinkler heads at the location of a detected fire. Typically a localized building fire is first detected by a heat or a smoke detector installed in the building. The activated heat or smoke detector provides a fire signal to the preaction sprinkler control system. The control system in turn energizes one or more electric solenoids installed on associated valves in the fire suppression water lines, providing pressurized water to the sprinkler heads in the vicinity of the fire. These solenoids are commonly used in a wide variety of fire suppression systems, such as, but not limited to, preaction systems, carbon dioxide systems, clean agent systems, water mist systems, etc. These systems are commonly used in commercial, industrial, and marine applications.
The National Fire Protection Association (N.F.P.A.) mandates that fire suppression systems and their component parts be regularly tested. During the testing process, the solenoids are commonly removed for their inspection, testing, and replacement if necessary. The control valves on which the solenoids are installed are normally closed, and open only when the solenoid is energized by a fire signal. Therefore, during routine inspections, the solenoids must be removed from the valves to prevent a discharge of the water or other fire suppression product during testing.
After testing, if all the solenoids are not properly replaced on their valves and functional, the integrity of the fire suppression system is compromised. Typically, no indication or warning signal is provided to the fire suppression control panel when a solenoid has been removed, or has not been properly replaced after its removal. The N.F.P.A. requires that all fire protection circuits and equipment be continuously monitored and supervised at all times for their integrity.
A need therefore exists for an apparatus for providing such a supervisory or warning signal when any solenoid in the system is removed. Preferably, such an apparatus will automatically monitor whether each individual solenoid is properly installed and ready for operation, and will provide an indication to the fire protection control panel of which particular solenoid is not properly installed, so that corrective action can be taken quickly and efficiently.

Apparatus for providing supervisory signal for a solenoid


A method, a device, and a bus system for synchronizing at least two TTCAN buses having at least one bus user, there being cycle times of the basic cycles in the TTCAN buses, a global time being determined in each TTCAN bus and the deviations of the global times of the TTCAN buses which are linked together by at least one user being determined from the global times, and the deviations of the individual global times being transmitted to at least one bus user, the cycle times of the TTCAN buses, which are connected by at least one user, being mutually adjusted as a function of the deviations in the global times in such a way that the buses are synchronized with respect to the cycle times.

In recent years there has been a drastic increase in networking of control units, sensors, and actuators with the help of a communication system, i.e., a bus system, in today's automobile industry and machine construction, in particular in the machine tool sector and in automation. Synergistic effects may be achieved here due to the distribution of functions among a plurality of control units. These are known as distributed systems. Communication between different stations is increasingly being accomplished via at least one bus, i.e., at least one bus system. Communication traffic on the bus system, access and reception mechanisms, and error handling are regulated by a protocol.
The CAN (controller area network) protocol is well established in the automotive sector. This is an event-driven protocol, i.e., protocol activities such as sending a message are initiated by events having their origin outside of the communication system. Unique access to the communication system, i.e., bus system, is triggered via a priority-based bit arbitration. A prerequisite for this is that a priority is assigned to each message. The CAN protocol is very flexible. It is thus readily possible to add additional nodes and messages as long as there are still free priorities (message identifiers). The collection of all messages to be sent in the network together with their priorities and sender nodes plus possible reception nodes are stored in a list known as the communication matrix.
An alternative approach to event-driven spontaneous communication is the purely time-triggered approach. All communication activities on the bus are strictly periodic. Protocol activities such as sending a message are triggered only by the passing of time, which is valid for the entire bus system. Access to the medium is based on the allocation of time ranges in which one sender has the exclusive sending right. The protocol is comparatively inflexible; new nodes may be added only if the corresponding time ranges have been freed up in advance. This circumstance requires that the order of messages be determined even before starting operation. Therefore, a schedule is drawn up which must meet the requirements of the messages with regard to repeat rate, redundancy, deadlines, etc. This is known as a bus schedule. The positioning of messages within the transmission periods must be coordinated with the applications which produce the message content to minimize the latency between the application and the transmission time. If this coordination does not take place, the advantage of the time-triggered transmission (minimum latent jitter in sending the message on the bus) would be lost. High demands are made of the planning tools. TTP/C is such a bus system.
The requirements outlined above for a time-triggered communication and the requirements for a certain measure of flexibility are met by the method of time-triggered CAN known as TTCAN (time-triggered controller area network), which is described in German Published Patent Application No. 100 00 302, German Published Patent Application No. 100 00 303, German Published Patent Application No. 100 00 304 and German Published Patent Application No. 100 00 305 as well as ISO Standard 11898-4 (currently in the form of a draft). TTCAN meets these requirements by establishing the communication cycle (basic cycle) in exclusive time windows for periodic messages of certain communication users and in arbitrating time windows for spontaneous messages of a plurality of communication users. TTCAN is based essentially on a time-triggered periodic communication, which is cycled by a user or node which gives the utilization time and is known as the time master, with the help of a time reference message, or, for short, reference message. The period until the next reference message is known as the basic cycle and is divided into a predefinable number of time windows. A distinction is made between the local times, i.e., local timers of the individual users, i.e., nodes, and the time of the time master as the global time of its timer. Additional principles and definitions based on TTCAN are given in the ISO Draft 11898-4 or the related art cited above and are thus assumed to be known and will not be described further explicitly here.
Thus there are numerous real time bus systems for networking control units in automation, in motor vehicles or elsewhere, including the aforementioned CAN, TTP/C or Byteflight as well as TTCAN, also mentioned above. CAN, TTCAN and Byteflight are single-channel bus systems, which means that redundancy may be achieved by duplication of the corresponding system. TTP/C is an intrinsically two-channel system, i.e., redundancy is always built in. As a service, many bus systems provide a time base synchronized to the bus. In the bus systems originally designed as two-channel or multichannel systems, synchronization is usually forced by design, typically by the fact that one node, i.e., user, must transmit on both buses simultaneously. This has some advantages, (e.g., synchronization is always ensured) but it also has a number of disadvantages, e.g., the fact that each bus may not be operated independently, the time patterns on the two buses may differ only to a very limited extent and the modularity of the two or more bus systems is lost due to the coupling which is provided by design.
As explained, it is obvious that the related art is incapable of yielding optimum results in all regards. This situation is to be improved with the present invention as described below.
In the case of buses, i.e., bus systems, designed as single-channel systems, synchronization is performed explicitly if needed. In the following, a TTCAN network and/or a plurality of TTCAN buses, i.e., bus systems, and their coupling are assumed as the bus system, but this is to be understood as restrictive with regard to the object of the present invention to be explained later only inasmuch as the properties of the TTCAN are the prerequisite, i.e., are necessary, for representing the object according to the present invention.

Method and device for synchronizing the cycle time of a plurality of TTCAN buses based on determined global time deviations and corresponding bus system


A golf ball including a spherical core and a cover. The cover has a nominal thickness of 0.1 mm to 1.2 mm. A dimple is formed on the surface of the cover. A concave portion is formed on the surface of the core. The position of the concave portion corresponds to that of the dimple. The golf ball is obtained by forming the core by means of a mold having a large number of projections provided on a cavity surface thereof. By the projections, the concave portion is formed. When the cover is to be formed, the position of the core is determined in such a manner that the projections for forming the dimple correspond to the concave portions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a golf ball. More particularly, the present invention relates to a golf ball comprising a cover having a small thickness.
2. Description of the Related Art
General golf balls excluding golf balls manufactured for a driving range comprise cores and covers. The core is formed by a single solid rubber layer, two or more solid rubber layers, a solid rubber layer and a synthetic resin layer or the like.
It is important for golf ball manufactures to manufacture a uniform golf ball. There have variously been proposed a method of manufacturing a golf ball having a multilayer structure (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publications Nos. Hei 9-285565 (1997/285565) 2000-330 and 2000-5343).
Examples of characteristics required for a golf ball by a golf player include a long flight distance, an excellent spin performance and a soft hitting feeling. In hitting with a driver, the golf player attaches importance to the flight distance. In hitting with a short iron, the golf player attaches importance to the spin performance and the hitting feeling. In order to correspond to various characteristics which are required, there has been proposed a golf ball comprising a cover having a small thickness.
A golf ball has approximately 200 to 550 dimples on a surface thereof. The role of the dimples resides in one aspect that such dimples disturb an air stream around the golf ball during the flight to accelerate the transition of a turbulent flow at a boundary layer, thereby causing a turbulent flow separation. The acceleration of the transition of the turbulent flow causes a separating point of air from the golf ball to be shifted backward so that a drag coefficient (Cd) is reduced, resulting in an increase in the flight distance of the golf ball. The acceleration of the transition of the turbulent flow increases a differentia between upper and lower separating points of the golf ball which is caused by back spin. Consequently, the lift action on the golf ball is increased. The dimple effect greatly depends on the volume of the dimple.
The thickness of the cover provided under the dimple is smaller than that of the cover of a land portion thereof (which will be hereinafter referred to as a "nominal thickness"). Usually, the depth of the dimple is more than 0.2 mm. In the case of a golf ball having a nominal thickness of 1.2 mm or less, the thickness of the cover provided under the dimple is extremely small. In some cases in which the golf ball is repetitively hit, the dimple acts as the starting point of a crack and the cover is thus broken.
If the nominal thickness is less than the depth of the dimple, the core is exposed to the bottom portion of the dimple. Also in the case in which the nominal thickness is greater than the depth of the dimple, there is a possibility that the core might be exposed to the bottom portion of the dimple if the eccentricity of the core (the center of the core is shifted from that of the golf ball) is caused. In a golf ball having a small nominal thickness, the core is apt to be exposed due to eccentricity. The durability of the golf ball remarkably deteriorates due to the exposure of the core. The exposure of the core decreases the volume of the dimple so that the dimple effect is reduced. Also, the exposure of the core is not desirable for external appearances.
In cover molding, a core is put in a mold. A molten cover material flows in a gap between the core and the cavity surface of the mold. The cavity surface of the mold is provided with a projection having a shape obtained by inverting the shape of a dimple. In the case in which a cover having a small nominal thickness is to be formed, the flow of the cover material is hindered by the projection because the distance between the projection and the core is extremely small. Thus, it is hard to form a cover having a small nominal thickness.

Golf ball and golf ball manufacturing method


A connector (1) for fastening a first component (100) to a second component (200) of a motor vehicle, includes a bearing collar (10) for bearing against the first component (100), a crossbar (20) having one or more upper bearing surfaces (21.1, 21.2) for bearing against the second component (200) and for bracing the second component (200) against the first component (100) in a rotated final assembly position, a shaft portion (30) for passing through corresponding apertures (110, 210) in the components (100, 200), and fastening means (40) for fastening the connector (1) to the first component (100) in a preassembly position. A rotation-blocking device (50) is configured to block rotation of the connector (1) in relation to the first component (100) in the preassembly position and only to release said rotation when the connector (1) has moved from the preassembly position in the direction of the final assembly position.

The prior art U.S. Pat. No. 3,480,311, WO 2008/101531 A1 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,795—in each case disclose a connector for mechanically connecting at least two components, having a bearing collar and a crossbar and means for fastening to one of the components in a defined preassembly position.
The inventors have found it disadvantageous that the assembly sequence associated with said connectors involves the risk of erroneous assembly.

Connector with enhanced mounting process