The present invention is related to a novel food intermediate containing a phytosteryl esters complex and the method used to create the food intermediate. The food product provides beneficial hypocholesterolemic activity through increased cholesterol-uptake inhibition while simultaneously delivering a food product that is not adversely affected by its inclusion, either in taste or texture or in any undesirable side effects.

The present invention is related to a novel food intermediate containing phytosteryl esters complex and the method used to create the food intermediate. The food product provides beneficial hypocholesterolemic activity through cholesterol-uptake inhibition while simultaneously delivering a food product, which is not adversely affected by its inclusion, either in taste or texture or in any undesirable side effects.
There is a large amount of information in circulation today concerning elevated cholesterol levels and the health consequences due to that condition. In an effort to combat this result, a number of pharmaceutical applications, dietary supplements and other solutions relating to the treatment of high cholesterol levels have been previously introduced. However, regrettably, many of these products have an unpleasant mouth feel, that is they can feel slimy, have a displeasing taste or result in undesirable side effects which diminishes their overall value to the intended end user.
In addition, there also appears to be a growing disdain against ingesting some sort of dietary supplement, pharmaceutical treatment or other product to attain some perceived beneficial effect from such products. This may be due to a growing reliance on pills or tablets to sustain or maintain our health. Such reliance on supplements may also surprisingly contribute to malnutrition as other valuable vitamins and minerals can be omitted or overlooked when too much focus is diverted to certain items. Moreover, certain supplements may actually remove valuable macronutrients and micronutrients from the system. Individuals may also be concerned with potential risks and side effects associated with certain medications, treatments or supplements. In fact, dietary restrictions and other health concerns may preclude certain portions of the population from even consuming such products. As such, there remains a continuing interest in developing good tasting, well balanced, food products that contribute to a well balanced diet as well as provide a vehicle by which to deliver the benefit of cholesterol reduction in a palatable and efficient manner to meet the changing needs of the population.
Cholesterol in humans is known to come from primarily two sources, the body's own production of cholesterol (endogenous) and dietary cholesterol (exogenous). Lipoproteins contain specific proteins and varying amounts of cholesterol, triglycerides and phospholipids.
Bile acids are synthesized from cholesterol in the liver and then secreted into the intestines. Reducing the level of bile acid reabsorption facilitates the maintenance of a healthy cholesterol level. One method for reducing bile acid reabsorption is achieved by increasing the gut viscosity. Alternatively, a non-digestible dietary component, which binds bile acids secreted in the proximal jejunum, will reduce bile acid reabsorption in the lower intestines (distal ileum).
There are three major classes of lipoproteins and they include very low-density lipoproteins ("VLDL"), low-density lipoproteins ("LDL") and high-density lipoproteins ("HDL"). The LDLs are believed to carry about 60-70% of the serum cholesterol present in an average adult. The HDLs carry around 20-30% of serum cholesterol with the VLDL having around 1-10% of the cholesterol in the serum. To calculate the level of non-HDL cholesterol present (find the level of LDL or VLDL levels), which indicates risk; the HDL is subtracted from the total cholesterol value.
Typically, the average person consumes between 350-400 milligrams of cholesterol daily, while the recommended intake is around 300 milligrams. Increased dietary cholesterol consumption, especially in conjunction with a diet high in saturated fat intake, can result in elevated serum cholesterol. Having an elevated serum cholesterol level is a well-established risk factor for heart disease and therefore there is a need to mitigate the undesired effects of cholesterol accumulation. High cholesterol levels are generally considered to be those total cholesterol levels at 200 milligrams and above or LDL cholesterol levels at 130 milligrams and above. By lowering the total system LDL cholesterol level, it is believed that certain health risks, such as coronary disease and possibly some cancers, that are typically associated with high cholesterol levels, can be reduced by not an insignificant amount.
Numerous studies relating to modifying the intestinal metabolism of lipids have been done to illustrate that such effects can reduce a high cholesterol level. Hampering the absorption of triglycerides, cholesterol or bile acids or a combination of these items results in a lowering of cholesterol levels in the serum.
It has been suggested that phytosterols specifically displace cholesterol from the micelles in the small intestine (micelles are amphiphyllic droplets secreted from the liver through the bile ducts into the small intestine). Micelles are composed primarily of bile acids, phosphatidyl choline, and lipids and are responsible for the solubilization of fats and cholesterol from ingested food. Micelles are reabsorbed by the body along with the solubilized fats and cholesterol. Phytosterols displace cholesterol from the micelles and thus decrease cholesterol uptake and the concomitant serum cholesterol levels of the organism. In humans the phytosterols that are taken up with the micelles are transported back into the intestine where it is excreted.
Soluble dietary fiber is known to be a safe ingredient due to its long history in food supply. Soluble fiber typically remains undigested, except by colonic microflora present in the lower intestines. Soluble dietary fiber is believed to have a beneficial effect in the reduction of high serum cholesterol levels and reducing the risk associated with such elevated levels. In addition, soluble dietary fiber can have the additional beneficial effect of reduced constipation and improved regularity. However, too much fiber in the diet can create undesirable gastrointestinal side effects such as flatulence, diarrhea, and abdominal cramps, etc. leading consumers to stay away from food products that contain too much dietary fiber, regardless of any associated health benefits. While some consumers may not completely avoid such products, they also do not typically regularly use such products due to the problems enumerated above or alternatively, or in combination due to the unpleasant taste of such products. This illustrates some of the problems with prior solutions that were aimed at providing high fiber diets directed at lowering cholesterol levels, and highlights the need to create a more balanced solution that fits not only within more normal dietary patterns but also meets consumer demand for better tasting, healthy products.
There are a number of other products purporting to have cholesterol-lowering properties available in the market today. One such product offering or solution is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,136,349 which relates to a food product, food additive or the like that may be fortified with a select group of minerals, such as calcium, magnesium or potassium which when combined with conventional sterols and/or stanols increases the effect of the sterols and/or stanols in lowering cholesterol levels than with just sterols an/or stanols alone. However, significantly increasing only certain nutrients and minerals while ignoring others can result in over consumption or under consumption of essential nutrients because some nutrients are present in very high concentrations while other nutrients are present in very low concentrations. This creates a nutritionally unbalanced situation causing the consumer to either procure the missing macro and/or micronutrients through other food sources or omit them from their diet altogether. In addition to not receiving the DV (Daily Value) of certain nutrients, this may force the consumer into an over compensation mode causing the consumer to ingest more food than is actually necessary thereby defeating the purpose of such cholesterol-lowering foods, and potentially create other problems such as weight gain.
Another possible solution is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,174,560, which relates to a food composition for lowering low-density cholesterol levels (LDL) and focuses on the use of at least one stanol fatty acid ester in combination with a nutritional substance. The applicants of U.S. Pat. No. 6,174,560 however indicates that increasing the amount of fiber to reduce serum cholesterol levels has been of a limited effect and citing that fiber that is delivered in therapeutically effective doses, such as with pharmaceutical applications, can cause extreme abdominal discomfort. This provides another singular example of a particular element or component being relied upon for a health effect but still ignoring the combined beneficial effects of the present invention as well as the ability to deliver the food product in an acceptable manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,887 describes the use of stanols as food additives to reduce cholesterol absorption. In the preparation of the additives, sitostanol is dissolved with an edible solubilizing agent such as triglyceride, an antioxidant such as tocopherol, and a dispersant such as lecithin, polysorbate 80, or sodium lauryl sulfate. However, no data is provided in the selection of the most effective components and their amounts or specific methods of preparation. Effectiveness in reducing cholesterol absorption was also not determined. The preferred embodiment consisted of 25% by weight stanols in vegetable oil, but the solubility of sterols in oil is only 2%.
One of the difficulties in attempting to deliver phytosterols in a food intermediate is that the phytosterols may be oxidized or otherwise degraded during the cooking process, thus destroying the beneficial properties of including such components in food. In order to overcome this drawback, manufacturers have attempted to manipulate the cooking/processing cycles however, this results in producing products which do not have the same quality as other products that were created using well established processes.
Therefore, what is needed is an effective method of delivering phytosterols in a food product in order to obtain the beneficial hypocholesterolemic activity associated with such ingredients.
Publications, patents and patent applications are referred to throughout this disclosure. All references cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference.

Food intermediate having sequestered phytosteryl esters in a polysaccharide matrix


A beam formation circuit and an apparatus and a method of receiving radio frequency signals making use of a smart antenna are described in which the amount of computation tasks required for the weight calculation is significantly reduced. In realizing the directivity of the smart antenna, the output signals corresponding to a plurality of sub-carriers are weighted with a common antenna weight for each of the antenna elements.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a wireless communication system in accordance with Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing, and particularly to a beam formation circuit and an apparatus and a method of receiving radio frequency signals making use of a smart antenna a receiver apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, with the high speed advent of the wireless communication technique, wireless terminals have been used by end users for the purpose of receiving and transmitting a large amount of information such as images, other types of data, in addition to voices. It is inevitable for high speed transmission of such a large amount of information to treat wide bandwidth signals and also to determine the measures that could be adopted to cope with signal fading and interference. On the other hand, OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) is drawing the attention as a technique of realizing such wide bandwidth signal communications.
The OFDM technique is a block-oriented modulation scheme that maps data symbols onto a plurality of orthogonal sub-carriers separated by a distance and arranged within a limited bandwidth to provide excellent resistance characteristics against the interference due to delay spread through the multipaths. Namely, while the orthogonally encoded data signals can be generated by means of the inverse Fourier transformation or the orthogonally decoded data signals can be extracted by means of the Fourier transformation, it is possible to provide guard intervals in order to remove the influence of the timely delay within the guard intervals. Because of this, tolerability of high speed transmissions to frequency selective fading can be improved.
OFDM having such features has been expected to be applied not only to the cellular systems and the broadcast services but also applied to wireless LANs and so forth.
For example, work is being done to formally standardize the wireless LAN on the basis of OFDM in Japan, Europe and U.S.A. referred to respectively as HiSWANa, HiperLAN and IEEE802.11a. These standards are similar to each other in the physical layer. Particularly, in Europe, the standard is applicable not only to the wireless LAN but also to outdoor usages. In accordance with the respective three standards, there are provided, among from a set of sub-carriers for transmission of packets, particular sub-carriers in preselected positions are used as pilot sub-carriers each of which includes a predetermined bit sequence while all the sub-carriers are provided with a predetermined leading preamble. FIG. 4 is a graphic diagram showing the frequencies of the transmission signals versus time in an exemplary configuration of frames. In this example, there are provided 52 sub-carriers in all each of which has a band width fM and provided with leading short and long preambles. Four pilot sub-carriers are included therein. One OFDM symbol time is 4 μsec.
FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram showing a transmitter apparatus in accordance with a conventional technique OFDM system. FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram showing a receiver apparatus in accordance with a conventional technique OFDM system. These apparatuses as illustrated respectively in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3 are used in the wireless LAN as described above and have been described in details, for example, in "OFDM for wireless multimedia communications, " (Richard Van Nee, Ramjee Prasad, Artech House, 2000).
The processing of the signals by the transmitter apparatus and the receiver apparatus will be briefly explained with reference to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3. At first, in the transmitter apparatus as illustrated in FIG. 2, the data sequences to be transmitted are error corrected and encoded by means of an encoder 601 and then interchanged by means of an interleaver 602. The output signals of the interleaver 602 are converted into multi-level signals in accordance with QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) by means of a QAM symbol relocation unit 603 followed by inserting pilot signals thereto by means of a pilot signal inserting unit 604.
Then, the QAM data sequences to be transmitted are converted into N paralell data items (N: the number of sub-carriers) by means of a serial-to-parallel converter (S/P converter) 605. The parallel data items are converted into signals in the time domain on the basis of the inverse Fourier transformation by means of the inverse fast Fourier transform unit (IFFT unit) 606 and then converted into serial data sequences by means of the parallel-to-serial converter (P/S converter) 607.
The output signals of the IFFT unit 606 are N sub-carriers as modulated by the corresponding N data items as given from the S/P converter 605. The guard interval inserting circuit 608 serves to put a wave form same as the tail portion of the effective symbols of the OFDM signal on the top of the effective symbols in the serial signals obtained after fast Fourier transformation.
The influence of the timely delay within the guard interval can be removed by the fast Fourier transformation at the receiver side. Then, the transmission signals are converted into analog signals by means of the D/A converter (DAC) 609, orthogonally modulated, frequency converted, filtered, power amplified, treated under other necessary processes, and then wireless transmitted through an antenna element 611.
It is necessary in this type of OFDM system to cope with the interference of delayed signals with delays exceeding the guard interval length, and the interference in the same channel by any other cell and any other system making use of the same frequency band. The effective use of the frequency resources is inevitable as a measure meant to work out the frequency tightness problem. It is effective as a solution of the problem to apply the so-called smart antenna technology to the OFDM system.
The smart antenna technology is effective for increasing the system capacity and the coverage area of a base station and for improving the communication quality by making use of antenna elements whose directivity is variable for the base station (and the mobile station). In this case, with a plurality of antenna elements arranged in an array as illustrated in FIG. 1 rather than a single antenna element having a variable directivity, desired directivity patterns can be formed by weighting the amplitude and the phase for the respective antenna element. With this type of such an adaptive array antenna element capable of electrically controlling the directivity, it is possible not only to direct a peak in an antenna directivity pattern to any desired direction but also to direct a null to interfering waves. Particularly, it is possible to effectively use the frequency resources by forming a plurality of antenna directivity patterns orthogonal to each other (i.e, the null of one pattern to the peak of another) and assigning the same time slot and the same frequency channel to the respective beams corresponding thereto to accomplish the so-called SDMA (Space Division Multiple Access).
A plurality of tapped-delay-lines (TDL) and a plurality of weighting units for the respective antenna elements have to be provided for the smart antenna in order to form appropriate beams carrying wide bandwidth signals. Also, in the case of the OFDM system capable of separating signals in the frequency domain, weighting units provided for each sub-carrier can be used for implementing an equivalent function. In this case, however, a large amount of computation tasks are necessarily required to obtain the weights of all the sub-carriers of the OFDM system. For this reason, the excessive amounts of processing power and computation time become obstacles to the operation of the system, for example, in the case where voice signal processing is required in real time. It becomes in this case therefore necessary to increase the system in circuit size or to make use of a high speed DSP or CPU for removing the obstacles.
Furthermore, since all the sub-carriers are provided with a predetermined bit sequence having a sufficient length, the packet efficiency tends to be reduced (while this is no the case when a blind algorithm is employed). In the case of the wireless communication system as described above making use of a short preamble, it is very difficult to obtain optimal solutions on the basis of known algorithms.

Use of smart antenna in beam formation circuit


An improved heart bioprosthetic device having a metal frame wireform or stent having an outer external surface. The metal frame has a bond layer coating at least a portion of the external surface and a coating layer disposed on at least a portion of the bond layer. The bond layer comprises a metal selected from the group consisting of: chromium, titanium, zirconium, aluminum, platinum, palladium, and niobium. The coating layer is selected from the group consisting of: a metal nitride, a metal oxide, a metal carbide, and combinations thereof. The coating layer may have a thickness of about 10 μm or less and a grain size of about 10 nm to about 15 nm, and may be characterized as polycrystalline with randomly-oriented grains with both cubic and orthorhombic phases. In one embodiment, the bond layer comprises chromium and the coating layer comprises chromium nitride.

Heart valves are dynamic structures that experience constant and cyclic mechanical stress from the hemodynamic forces intrinsic to its function. When the function of a natural heart valve declines or fails, replacement is typically required with a bioprosthetic heart valve.
One common type of bioprosthetic heart valve is a biological tissue valve, which is usually coupled to and supported by a metal frame. The metal frame can be either a wireform or a collapsible/expandable stent. Once implanted, the bioprosthetic heart valve is subjected to cyclic hemodynamic forces, causing the leaflets to open and coapt. These forces, in turn, impart mechanical stresses onto the supporting metal frame. It is therefore desirable for the metal frame to have a structural integrity that is capable of withstanding these stresses.
The surface of a metal frame, such as a wireform or stent, may often be riddled with small imperfections that can ultimately lead to reduced fatigue life and premature failure. These flaws can be in the form of inclusions (particles), draw lines, knit lines, or scratches, which are introduced during the manufacture of the wire or tube used to form the wireform or stent, respectively. It is therefore desirable to remove or ameliorate these imperfections before incorporating the metal frame into a heart valve.
One method of addressing the surface imperfections of the metal frame is to mechanically polish the surface. It is difficult, however, to mechanically polish the surface of a metal frame because the surface is not flat and typically has intricate or curved geometric configurations. It would be prohibitively difficult to uniformly polish the surface of the shaped metal frame. A similar challenge is presented with respect to electropolishing. Additionally, while mechanical polishing or electropolishing may remove certain imperfections, they may expose certain other imperfections existing below the surface of the metal frame.
What is therefore needed is a method for treating a metal frame of a bioprosthetic heart valve to improve its fatigue life, and thus, durability once implanted in a patient.

Method for manufacturing high durability heart valve


A system and method for encrypting and publishing data using blockchain technology is provided. An exemplary method includes receiving, by one or more nodes of a distributed network that maintains a blockchain, a message requesting publication of private information within the blockchain subsequent to a specified time interval. Moreover, the method includes recording a sequence of transactions in the blockchain based on the time interval, wherein each transaction in the sequence of transactions includes a payload calculated using a first homomorphic operation; and extracting the private information from a final payload of a final transaction in the sequence of transactions from the blockchain.

Blockchain technology is an emerging technology that has been used in digital currency implementations. The blockchain is a data structure that stores a list of transactions and can be thought of as a distributed electronic ledger that records transactions between a source and a destination. The transactions are batched together into blocks and every block refers back to or is linked to a prior block in the chain. Computer nodes, sometimes referred to as miners, maintain the blockchain and cryptographically validate each new block (and the transactions contained therein) using a proof-of-work system.
While blockchain technology has the potential to offer new benefits, it also poses problems for certain types of transactions. For example, a decentralized transaction ledger might not be suitable for the publication of data used to verify the authenticity of electronic documents. Using some information management systems, parties may contract to transfer encrypted private data from one party to another. Traditionally, a trusted third party can be commissioned to handle the receipt and disbursement of information and documents between parties, analogous to an escrow agent handling money between transacting parties. However, the use of such third parties raises transaction costs, and introduces risks for unauthorized access to private data during transfer of parties. As a result, there exists an additional specific need in the art for information management systems that would allow for the guaranteed publication of encrypted data.

System and method for publication of private data using a blockchain network


An expansion-set fluid production assembly transfers well fluids from a casing string 12 to a production tubing string 112. A tubular anchor 72 and tubular expander 70 may be positioned downhole on a running tool at a desired depth along the casing string 12. An actuator assembly 10 may forcibly move the tubular expander 70 into the tubular anchor 72, expanding the tubular anchor 72 to seal and secure the tubular anchor 72 against the casing string 12. The running tool actuator assembly 10 may be removed, leaving the expanded tubular anchor 72 and tubular expander 70 downhole. A seal nipple 122 may be sealed with the tubular expander 70 and to the production tubing string 112. Fluids may then be recovered from the wellbore through the casing string 12, through the fluid production assembly, and into the production tubing string 112.

Oil well operators have long sought improved techniques for forming a fluid production assembly to seal with a casing string and transmit fluid through a production string to the surface. Most fluid production assemblies seal with a casing string and transmit fluid from the casing string to a production tubing string using a production packer. The production packer seals with the casing string, so that formation fluid flows into the casing string, through the central bore of the production packer, then into the production tubing string which continues to the surface. Various types of production packers have been devised to fulfill this purpose, including those disclosed in U.S. Patents Re 36,525; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,967,844; 5,267,617; 5,613,560; and 5,738,171.
Also, operators have long desired improved techniques for forming a downhole patch across a tubular which has lost sealing integrity, whether that be due to a previous perforation of the tubular, high wear of the tubular at a specific downhole location, or a complete separation of the tubular. There are times when a screened section of a tubular needs to be sealed off. A tubular patch with a reduced throughbore may then be positioned above and below the zone of the large diameter tubular which lost its sealing integrity, and the reduced diameter tubular then hung off from and sealed at the top and bottom to the outer tubular. In some applications, the patch may be exposed to high thermal temperatures which conventionally reduce the effectiveness of the seal between the tubular patch and the outside tubular. In heavy oil recovery operations, for instance, steam may be injected for several days, weeks or months through the tubular, downward past the patch, and then into a formation.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,348,095 discloses a method of expanding a casing diameter downhole utilizing a hydraulic expansion tool. U.S. Pat. No. 6,021,850 discloses a downhole tool for expanding one tubular against a larger tubular or the borehole. Publication U.S. 2001/0020532 A1 discloses a tool for hanging a liner by pipe expansion. U.S. Pat. No. 6,050,341 discloses a running tool which creates a flow restriction and a retaining member moveable to a retracted position to release by the application of fluid pressure. U.S. Pat. No. 6,250,385 discloses an overlapping expandable liner. A sealable perforating nipple is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,742, and a high expansion diameter packer is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,041,858. U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,692 discloses seals to seal the annulus between a small diameter and a large diameter tubular. U.S. Pat. No. 3,948,321 discloses a liner with a reinforcing swage which remains downhole when the tool is retrieved to the surface.
Due to problems with the procedure and tools used to expand a smaller diameter tubular into reliable sealing engagement with a larger diameter tubular, many tools have avoided expansion of the tubular and used radially expandable seals to seal the annulus between the small diameter and the large diameter tubular, as disclosed U.S. Pat. No. 5,333,692. Other patents have suggested using irregularly shaped tubular members for the expansion, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,366,012, 5,494,106, and 5,667,011. U.S. Pat. No. 5,785,120 discloses a tubular patch system with a body and selectively expandable members for use with a corrugated liner patch. U.S. Pat. No. 6,250,385 discloses an overlapping expandable liner. A sealable perforating nipple is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,742 and a high expansion diameter packer is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,041,858.
Various hydraulic expansion tools and methods have been proposed for expanding an outer tubular while downhole. While some of these tools have met with limited success, a significant disadvantage to these tools is that, if a tool is unable to continue its expansion operation (whether due to the characteristics of a hard formation about the tubular, failure of one or more tool components, or otherwise), it is difficult and expensive to retrieve the tool to the surface to either correct the tool or to utilize a more powerful tool to continue the downhole tubular expansion operation. Accordingly, various techniques have been developed to expand a downhole tubular from the top down, rather than from the bottom up, so that the tool can be more easily retrieved.
The disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by the present invention.

Tubular expansion fluid production assembly and method


An audio speaker having a magnetic system that includes a magnetic insert in a recess of a bottom plate, is disclosed. More particularly, embodiments of the magnetic system include a magnetic insert having a higher magnetic saturation level than the bottom plate. Other embodiments are also described and claimed.

Field
Embodiments related to audio speakers are disclosed. More particularly, an embodiment related to an audio speaker, which includes a magnetic system having a magnetic insert in a recess of a bottom plate, is disclosed. The magnetic insert may have a higher magnetic saturation level than the bottom plate.
Background Information
An audio speaker, such as a loudspeaker, converts an electrical audio input signal into an emitted sound. Audio speakers typically include a moving assembly that oscillates relative to a stationary assembly. For example, the moving assembly may include a diaphragm connected to a driving element, such as voicecoil. The stationary assembly may include a magnetic system having magnetic components, e.g., one or more permanent magnets sandwiched between a top plate and a bottom plate, to form a magnetic circuit through which a magnetic flux travels. More particularly, when an electrical audio input signal is input to the voicecoil, the electrical current reacts with a magnetic field of the magnetic system, and generates a mechanical force that moves the moving assembly from a neutral position in an axial direction relative to the stationary assembly.

Audio speaker having a high-saturation magnetic insert


A switching valve having a bottom plate, an intermediate plate and a top plate. A distributor rotatably mounted in the intermediate plate. The bottom plate has an upper surface, and the distributor has a lower surface which interface with each other. The bottom plate has an inlet and an outlet spaced from each other and each having an inlet conduit extending from the inlet to the upper surface of the bottom plate and an outlet conduit extending from the outlet to the upper surface of the bottom plate. The distributor having an inlet conduit, an outlet conduit and a connecting conduit connecting the two together. The distributor inlet conduit is in communication with the bottom plate inlet conduit. The distributor outlet conduit is spaced from the distributor inlet conduit a distance equal to the space between the bottom plate outlet conduit and bottom plate inlet conduit so that rotation of the distributor to a predetermined position places the distributor outlet conduit in alignment with the bottom plate outlet conduit to permit fluid to flow from the inlet to the outlet and rotation of the distributor to another position disconnects the distributor outlet conduit from the bottom outlet conduit plate to prevent flow of the fluid. An O-ring seal in the bottom plate on each side of the bottom plate outlet conduit. An O-ring seal is provided in the top and bottom surfaces of the intermediate plate.

The present invention relates to a switching valve and more particularly to an improved switching valve which alternately connects and disconnects a inlet source to a plurality of outlets.
Heretofore such switching valves have been in use for alternately connecting an inlet seriatim to a plurality of outlets and disconnecting the inlet seriatim from a plurality of outlets. However, some of such valves leak and require elaborate and expensive sealing mechanisms which are difficult to operate to make them leak proof.


The oscillator 40 with cycle time correction includes a low accuracy oscillator 30A generating a clock CLK3, a counter 41 counting the clock CLK3 and cleared by activation of a clear signal CLR1, a register 42 storing a count CN of the counter 41 as a reference value RV in response to activation of a capture signal CAP; a comparator 43 activating a coincidence signal EQ when CN=RV, a control register 44 including a bit outputting a clear signal CLR2, a bit outputting an enable signal EN and a bit outputting a capture signal CAP, and logic circuits 45 and 46 activating the clear signal CLR1 when the clear signal CLR2 is active or when the enable signal EN and the coincidence signal EQ are both active.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a divider with cycle time correction for use as, for example, a timer or a clock signal generator.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 5 shows a prior art circuit consists of a one-chip microcomputer 10 and external circuitry associated with an oscillator.
A CPU 11 in the computer 10 includes a high frequency clock input HCK to which a clock CLK1 is provided in a normal operating mode, a low frequency clock input LCK to which a clock CLK2 is provided in a low power consumption mode, and timer interrupt signal inputs INT1 and INT2 to which clocks CLK1A and CLK2A made by dividing frequencies of the clocks CLK1 and CLK2 through counters 12 and 22, respectively, are provided.
The clocks CLK1 and CLK2 are of, for example, 4 MHz and 32 kHz, respectively, and generated by oscillators 13 and 23, respectively.
In the oscillator 13, a resistor 15 is connected between one input and the output of an NAND gate 14, and a mode signal MOD0 from CPU 11 is provided to the other input of the NAND gate 14. An external crystal oscillator 16 is connected in parallel to the resistor 15, and external capacitors 17 and 18 are connected between respective ends of the crystal oscillator 16 and a ground line VSS. Constituents 24 to 28 of the oscillator 23 correspond to the constituents 14 to 18 of the oscillator 13. A mode signal MOD1 from CPU 11 is provided to one input of an NAND gate 24.
In the normal operating mode, the mode signals MOD0 and MOD1 are set high and low, respectively, and the clock CLK1 is in operation but the CLK2 is at rest. In the low power consumption mode, the mode signals MOD0 and MOD1 are set low and high, respectively, the clock CLK1 is at rest and the clock CLK2 is in operation. Although a timer (an oscillator) constructed of the counter 12 and the oscillator 13, and a timer constructed of the counter 22 and the oscillator 23 are both of high accuracy, the number of parts, in each timer, are large to cause a cost of the circuit to be high, and the timers cause the number of inputs of the one-chip microcomputer 10 to increase.
FIG. 6 shows another prior art circuit including a one-chip microcomputer 10A and external circuitry associated with an oscillator.
A CPU 11A is operable only in the normal operating mode, and a clock CLK2A generated by an oscillator 30 is provided to the interrupt signal input INT2 of the CPU 11A.
The oscillator 30 includes a Schmitt trigger circuit 31 and an NMOS transistor 32 in the computer 10A, and a resistor 33 and a capacitor 34 added externally to the computer 10A. The input and output of the Schmitt trigger circuit 31 are connected to the drain and gate of the NMOS transistor 32, respectively. The resistor 33 and the capacitor 34 are connected in series between a power supply line VDD and the ground line VSS to constitute a CR integrating circuit. The connection node between the resistor 33 and the capacitor 34 is connected to the input of the Schmitt trigger circuit 31.
An input signal SW1 to and an output signal CLK2A from the Schmitt trigger circuit 31 are as shown in FIG. 7. That is, when the potential of the saw tooth wave SW1 rises to V1, the output of the Schmitt trigger circuit 31 goes high to turn the NMOS transistor 32 on, and thereafter the potential of the saw tooth wave SW1 falls. When the potential of the saw tooth wave SW1 falls to V2, the output of the Schmitt trigger circuit 31 goes low to turn the NMOS transistor 32 off and thereafter, the potential of the SW1 again rises.
The CPU 11A accepts an interrupt request on the rising of the clock CLK2A and, for example, checks on states of a voltage of a battery for the computer 10A and a push button (not shown), and executes a processing depending on a result of the checks.
The oscillator 30 of FIG. 6 has parts in a smaller number than the oscillator constructed of the counter 22 and the oscillator 23 of FIG. 5, and costs lower and furthermore, the one-chip microcomputer 10A has a smaller number of inputs than that of FIG. 5.
However, since the time constant of the CR integrating circuit varies largely depending on products, the cycle time of the output clock CLK2A of the oscillator 30 disperses largely. In order to suppress this disperse, there arises a need to use the resistor 33 and the capacitor 34, both with high accuracy, thereby increasing a cost.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a divider with cycle time correction of high accuracy in spite of employing a low accuracy oscillator.
In one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a divider with cycle time correction comprising: a counter counting a clock and initialized by activation of a first initialization signal; a reference register storing a count of the counter in response to activation of a capture signal; and a comparator activating a coincidence signal to activate the first initialization signal when the count and an output value of the reference register is equal to each other.
With this aspect, even if a clock is generated by a low accuracy oscillator, a coincidence signal whose cycle time is of high accuracy can be obtained as a corrected clock.
Other aspects, objects, and the advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings.


Provided are refrigerant compositions which are blends of one or more hydrofluorocarbons, siloxanes, hydrocarbons and lubricants, as well as methods for using these compositions in applications such as the recharging of refrigeration systems and for replacing a chlorofluorocarbon or hydrochlorofluorocarbon in a refrigeration system.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a solubilizing agent for a refrigerant. More particularly, this invention relates to a solubilizing agent for improving the miscibility of conventional lubricants fluorinated-alkane, -alkene, and -ether refrigerants.
2. Description of The Related Art
Certain chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbon (HCFCs), such as dichlorofluoromethane (R-12), monochlorodifluoromethane (R-22), and azeotropic mixtures of monochlorodifluoromethane and chloropentafluoroethane (R-115) (known as R-502), have thermodynamic properties and chemical stability that make them useful as refrigerants. However, these chlorine-containing refrigerants are believed to interfere with the Earth's ozone layer. Therefore, the use of CFCs and HCFCs have become highly regulated and disfavored for heating and cooling applications.
Certain hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), hydrofluoroolefins (HFOs), hydrofluoroethers (HFEs), and blends thereof are of particular interest as alternatives to CFCs and HCFCs because they have properties that are similar to chlorofluorocarbons, including similar refrigeration characteristics, but are much more environmentally friendly. Many of these compounds have vapor pressure that is ±20 percent of a comparable CFC or HCFC refrigerant at the same temperature, and have similar chemical stability, low toxicity, non-flammability, efficiency in-use, and low temperature glides.
HFCs known to be exceptionally good refrigerants include difluoromethane (R-32), 1,1,1,2,2-pentafluoroethane (R-125), 1,1,1-trifluoroethane (R-143a), 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane (R-134a), and 1,1-difluoroethane (R-152a). Certain blends of two or more of these HFCs can also be used to achieve particular thermodynamic properties. Common HFC blends include an azeotrope-like blend of R-143a and R-125 (known as R-507A), a non-azeotropic blend of R-125, R-143a, and R-134a (known as R-404A), a non-azeotropic blend of R-32 and R-125 (known as R-410A), and a non-azeotropic blend of R-32, R-125, and R-134a (known as R-407C). These alternative refrigerants are available commercially from various sources including Honeywell International Inc. of Morristown, N.J.
Each of these HFCs or HFC blends can serve as a replacement for one or more CFCs or HCFCs. For example, R-134a can serve as replacement of R-12 in refrigeration and air conditioning applications such as chillers; R-404A and R-507A can serve as replacements for R-502 in most refrigeration applications, including high, medium and low evaporation temperature systems; R410A can serve as replacement of R-22 in new air conditioning and refrigeration equipment: and R-407C can serve as a replacement for R-22 in various air-conditioning applications, as well as in most refrigeration systems including chillers. It has also become desirable to retrofit chlorine-containing refrigeration systems by replacing chlorine-containing refrigerants with non-chlorine-containing refrigerants that will not deplete the ozone layer.
To be a feasible refrigerant replacement, the HFC, HFO, or HFE must be compatible with conventional lubricants used in refrigeration systems. Refrigeration system designers are interested in how the lubricant behaves in the system so that they can design piping and other components to best manage lubricant return to the compressor. The behavior of a refrigerant with a lubricant entering the system can affect film characteristics on heat transfer surfaces, and thus energy efficiency performance. In the absence of solubility, oils tend to become lodged in the coils of the compression refrigeration, air-conditioning or heat pump system evaporator, as well as other parts of the system, thereby reducing the system efficiency. Thus, miscibility of the lubricant with the liquid refrigerant over a wide range of operating temperatures is an important consideration in selecting a refrigerant. Unfortunately, many HFCs are relatively insoluble and/or immiscible in the conventional lubricants, including mineral oils that are miscible with HCFCs. For example, mineral oil and alkyl benzenes, which have been used with conventional refrigerants such as R-12, R-502 and R-22, are immiscible with HFCs. This lack of lubricant compatibility has hindered the commercial use of many HFC as refrigerants.
HFC have been used as refrigerants in combination with alternative lubricants such as polyol ester (POE) or other synthetic lubricants. However, retrofitting refrigeration systems with HFC refrigerants is still problematic. More particularly, retrofitting refrigeration or air conditioning systems with HFC refrigerants typically requires draining as much of the lubricant oil as possible before introducing the new refrigerants with synthetic lubricants. This process often involves removing the compressor from the system so that the lubricant can be adequately drained. For these and other reasons, it would be highly desirable to retrofit a CFC or HCFC system with HFCs without having to remove the system's lubricant. If HFCs could be used with conventional lubricants, such a retrofit would become a simple "drop-in" operation. That is, the existent refrigerant would be replaced with a new refrigerant without any further change in, or disassembly of the system hardware.
Accordingly, there exists a need to improve the solubility of HFCs in conventional refrigeration lubricants.

Refrigerant compositions having a siloxane solubilizing agent


Method, device and system of obtaining the network information using the device as the service credential, which use the device without power supply and display, in which presetting the configuration files containing the information connected to the network, after connecting the device with the online data process device, establishing the information interacting channel between the data process device and the information server to obtain, download the related information. The device as the service credential can be used to store the information, or display, print and output the special network service information by the data process device, and the device can be used as the service object of the special information network and take the voucher function of service.

With the development of the Internet and communication technology, people are no longer satisfied that computers are only used in Web-browsing, and text and/or picture printing, but rather focus on the information in reference to their job characteristics and interests to manipulate various kinds of knowledge, thereof. Various characteristic information services such as the information of money, stock, weather tour, as well as restaurant and entertainment are in rapid development.
There are two present methods for users to enjoy the service provided by merchant stations by using a credential. One method is dependent on the VIP card provided by the merchant stations, wherein the VIP card only possesses visually appreciable service credential, and can not obtain the latest service dynamic information of the merchant stations at any moment. The other method is to obtain the service information of the merchant stations by using the network information, but in order to enjoy the services provided by the merchant stations, users must print out the service information provided by the merchant stations. Only with the printing paper containing the service information, can users enjoy the services in the merchant stations. This kind of service credential brings about prodigious inconvenience to users, who cannot enjoy the service provided by the merchant stations at any moment.

Method, device and system of obtaining network information using device as service credential


The airfoil of fan/compressor and turbine rotors is constructed to include a leading edge that is detachable. The leading edge includes an airfoil section and an attachment that is adapted to fit into a complementary groove formed in the rotor disk. The detachable leading edge is efficacious in integrated bladed rotor (IBR or BLISK) designs because damage to the leading edge can be fixed by either removing the leading edge and repairing it or replacing it without having to disturb the remaining portion of the IBR.

As one skilled in this technology appreciates, the gas turbine power plant typically incorporates fans and compressor blades for imparting compression to the intake air (straight jet engines do not incorporate fans) which is then delivered to the combustor where fuel is combusted to add heat thereto. Hence, this engine working medium is accelerated before being delivered to the turbine which is mechanically connected to the fan/compressor so that the energy extracted from the engine working medium is converted to power the compressor fan/blades to pressurize the intake air and develop propulsive thrust. The fan blade, which essentially is a compressor blade that is typically mounted upstream of the smaller compressor blades, not only serves to pressurize the intake air, it also develops thrust which is added to the overall thrust developed by the engine.
As will become apparent from the description to follow, this invention is particularly efficacious for use in an IBR of a gas turbine engine, but also has potential use for airfoils that are utilized in a non IBR configuration. The following discussion relates to the IBR configuration.
Modern day fan blades are generally highly sophisticated so as to achieve high pressure ratios across the stage(s) of fan blades which require swept airfoils and contoured blade shaping to attain the necessary superior aerodynamics. The backward sweep of the airfoil leading edge typically serves to reduce shock losses and noise generation while the forward sweep is typically incorporated to enhance the aerodynamics of the airfoil.
In addition to the aerodynamics of the airfoil, be it a fan, compressor or turbine blade, a concern to the designer and engine user is the stress concentration of the blade. During operation the blades and disk rotate and generate substantial centrifugal forces which are carried by the disk. The designer of the IBR must assure that the steady tensile stress and the alternating stress are maintained within their limits throughout the entire IBR configuration for the entire operating envelope of the power plant. What is not in the control of the designer is localized stress concentration that is occasioned by blade damage due to foreign object ingestion. Ingested objects, such as grit or sand from the runways, small birds, ice, etc. during normal operation may cause chips or nicks in the blades and most commonly in the leading edge. Obviously, because the IBR is a complicated hardware requiring special materials and expensive manufacturing, it is extremely costly to discard an IBR whenever the blade becomes damaged. Since the IBR is an integral unit of the blades and disks, obviously the removal of the blade for repair purposes is non-existing.
While the teachings disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,354 granted to Wadia, et al on Mar. 10, 1998 entitled FORWARD SWEPT FAN BLADE, relates to a separate leading edge, the present invention differs not only in the construction thereof, but also the design philosophy. To best understand the difference between these two concepts, one should appreciate the teachings in the Wadia et al reference, supra, where the swept portion of a IBR fan blade is made from a separate composite piece that fits into the portion of the airfoil of the fan blade so as to attain the forward sweep. As is true in all fan blades, the centrifugal loads generated by the disk create predominantly radial centrifugal forces in the blades which causes a steady tensile stress. In addition, the airflow over the blades induces vibration in the airfoil and creates alternating stresses. These stresses, i.e., steady tensile stress and alternating stresses are not uniform and vary over the length, width and thickness of the blade. This situation is exacerbated by indications on the airfoil such as nicks, chips, cracks and the like caused by sand, dirt, bird ingestion, etc. that causes stress concentration. The problem is more complicated when the leading edge is significantly swept forward. While this innovation provides aerodynamic benefits, it changes the center of gravity of the blade and hence, complicates the stress design of the airfoil. Hence, the purpose of the teachings of the '354 patent, supra, is to provide a design configuration that improves the stress problem by reducing the steady stress along the leading edge of the airfoil which would otherwise occur from effecting forward sweep.
Of significance, the present invention differs from the '354 patent and other heretofore known prior art designs, by 1) providing a removable leading edge that can be fabricated from the same or different materials and 2) designing the leading edge as an independent load carrying member where it includes an airfoil portion and an attachment portion (root), such that the loads on the airfoil are transmitted from the airfoil through the root of the leading edge into the disk. Hence, the disk, whether an IBR or a non-IBR fan must be designed to accommodate the root of the leading edge for attachment thereto.


Provided are an iontophoresis device for drug delivery, a method for preparing the iontophoresis device, a kit including the iontophoresis device, and a method for delivering a drug by using the iontophoresis device.

Methods for delivering a drug for the purpose of skin care or treatment may be oral administration, topical administration, intravenous administration, intramuscular injection, intradermal injection, and subcutaneous injection. Except the topical administration delivering a drug to a specific site of the body, these drug delivery methods generally deliver a drug to the whole body. These drug delivery methods are not appropriate for topically delivering a drug to a specific body tissue.
Therefore, methods such as natural orfice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) and iontophoresis for drug delivery to a specific body tissue have been developed. The iontophoresis is a drug delivery method that facilitates charged molecules to penetrate a tissue. FIG. 1 is a view that schematically illustrates a conventional iontophoresis device. Referring to FIG. 1, an iontophoresis device is a technique that penetrates an ion material into skin by using a direct current, where an ion material having positive characteristics is applied to a '+' electrode, and an ion material having negative characteristics to a '−' electrode to use a repulsive force that acts between ions having the same porality, and thus the ion materials may be easily penetrated into skin. Unlike a traditional transdermal administration by which a drug is passively absorbed, active deliver of a drug may be performed in an electric field when the iontophoresis device is used.
However, in the conventional iontophoresis device, an oxidation reaction occurs at a surface of an electrode attached on skin which may thus generate itching, pain, burning, and erythema on skin of the user using the iontophoresis device. Accordingly, an iontophoresis device including an electrode to prevent itching, pain, burning, and erythema phenomenons that may be generated during a process of delivering a drug to skin.

Iontophoresis device for drug delivery and method for manufacturing the same


An apparatus for slitting a web moving along a path in a transport direction has a support transversely shiftable relative to the web adjacent the path, a drive shaft extending transversely of the direction adjacent the path and substantially nonmovable transversely of the path, and a drive gear on the support rotationally coupled gear to the drive shaft and shiftable along the shaft. A mount shiftable toward and away from the shaft on the support carries at least one driven gear and a driven blade fixed to and rotatable with the driven gear. Another blade is juxtaposed with the driven blade and flanks the path therewith. An actuator can shift the mount between a cutting position with the blades closely juxtaposed and the driven gear meshing with the drive gear and a retracted position with the blades separated and the driven gear out of mesh with the drive gear.

A longitudinal cutting apparatus for paper, plastic foils, or aluminum foils normally has several pairs of disk blades, the blade pairs slitting the workpiece web longitudinally into individual strips. Such a longitudinal cutting apparatus is part of a winding machine that produces individual narrow rolls from a wide material web. In order to produce different roll formats, the disk-blade pairs are positionable transversely of the web-travel direction.
Such a longitudinal cutting apparatus is known from WO 1999/047317. The there described longitudinal cutting apparatus is comprised of a driven upper blade and a freely rotatable lower blade. The upper blade is a disk blade and the lower blade is a cup blade. Each pair of blades is positionable transversely of the travel direction of the web to be slit to produce the desired format width. In addition each upper blade is positionable along its rotation axis toward the respective lower blade so that the two blade edges can be exactly aligned to each other. Furthermore each upper blade can be raised to an inactive position if it is not needed for longitudinal slitting.
The rotary drive for the upper blade is an electric motor, in particular a compact brushless direct-current motor. The motor is mounted above the upper blade and drives the upper blade via a belt. The provision of the drive motor above the disk blade makes it possible to make the longitudinal cutting apparatus narrower.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,727 describes a cutting apparatus with rotatably driven blades for fashion cutting of cardboard sheets. The cutter of the cutting apparatus is comprised of two separately driven disk blades that are driven by a drive and a shaft extending over the entire width of the machine. For setting the cutting positions of the cutting apparatus the slides are shiftable transversely of the drive shaft. To set the cutting depth the disk blades are pivotal about the axis of the driving gear, to which end the gears of the drive are in constant mesh.


A method of cementing may include: measuring a feeding rate of water and a feeding rate of cement blend into a cement blender; calculating a cement retarder feeding rate and/or an accelerator feeding rate using a thickening time model, wherein the thickening time model uses at least a thickening time requirement, the feeding rate of water, and the feeding rate of cement blend, to calculate the cement retarder feeding rate and/or the accelerator feeding rate; introducing a cement retarder at the cement retarder feeding rate and/or an accelerator at the accelerator feeding rate into the cement blender; mixing at least the water, cement blend, and at least one of the cement retarder and/or the accelerator in the cement blender to provide a cement slurry; and placing the cement slurry in a wellbore.

In well cementing, such as well construction and remedial cementing, cement compositions are commonly utilized. Cement slurries may be used in a variety of subterranean applications. For example, in subterranean well construction, a pipe string (e.g., casing, liners, expandable tubulars, etc.) may be run into a well bore and cemented in place. The process of cementing the pipe string in place is commonly referred to as "primary cementing." In a typical primary cementing method, a cement slurry may be pumped into an annulus between the walls of the well bore and the exterior surface of the pipe string disposed therein. The cement slurry may set in the annular space, thereby forming an annular sheath of hardened, substantially impermeable cement (i.e., a cement sheath) that may support and position the pipe string in the well bore and may bond the exterior surface of the pipe string to the subterranean formation. Among other things, the cement sheath surrounding the pipe string functions to prevent the migration of fluids in the annulus, as well as protecting the pipe string from corrosion. Cement slurries also may be used in remedial cementing methods, for example, to seal cracks or holes in pipe strings or cement sheaths, to seal highly permeable formation zones or fractures, to place a cement plug, and the like.
A particular challenge in well cementing is the development of satisfactory placement and mechanical properties, including thickening time, in a cement slurry within a reasonable time period after placement in the subterranean formation. Oftentimes several cement slurries with varying additives are tested to see if they meet the material engineering requirements for a particular well. The process of selecting the components of the cement slurry are usually done by a best guess approach by utilizing previous slurries and modifying them until a satisfactory solution is reached. The process may be time consuming and the resulting slurry may be complex. Furthermore, the cement components available in any one particular region may vary in slurry from those of another region thereby further complicating the process of selecting a correct slurry.

Real time tailoring of cement slurry for downhole thickening time


A lens system is adaptable to face masks for divers and camera windows and ssures improved viewing characteristics underwater, including unit magnification and substantially perspective distortion-free viewing over a wider field of view. The system includes a first lens having a concave outer face contacting water and a concave inner face contacting a gas filled interior. A second lens spaced apart from the first lens in the interior has a convex outer surface and a flat inner surface. The concave outer face and concave inner face of the first lens and the convex outer surface and flat an inner surface of the second lens are coaxially aligned and optically oriented to afocally process and transmit light passing through them to a nodal point in the interior. At least one of the outer face, concave inner face, convex outer surface and inner surface defines an aspheric curve. A pair of such lens systems may be mounted in a face mask structure or a single modified lens system having a flat outer face may be mounted in a case for an underwater camera.

This invention relates to diving masks and camera windows. In particular, this invention relates to underwater diving masks and camera cases having the improved underwater viewing characteristics of unit magnification and perspective effects approaching normal unaided vision in air.
A well-known phenomenon that creates angular magnification and perspective distortion is caused by the medium transition from water to air through a plane-parallel layer of tempered glass or plastic (see Human Underwater Vision: Physiology and Physics by J. S. Kinney, pg. 83-106). Such transitions are common in diver face-masks or flat optical windows used to protect a camera and electronic parts of cameras from the water environment. This effect is also visible looking down into still water and can be seen to be a function of the change in medium rather than the material of the optical window.
This effect can be derived from Snell's law of refraction: EQU n.sub.water sin (.theta..sub.water)=n.sub.window sin (.theta..sub.window)=n.sub.air sin (.theta..sub.air)
where n.sub.water is the index of refraction of water and .theta..sub.water is the angle from the normal of the surfaces where the light ray changed media between water and the window. The other variables are defined similarly. The indices of refraction are usually slightly adjusted so that the index of refraction in air becomes by definition exactly unity.
The window material turns out to be unimportant and the net effect of Snell's law in the transition from water to air is that there is a paraxial angular magnification of about 1.34 and binocular triangulation is subverted. This makes objects look nearer than they would look if they were perceived through air (i.e., perspective distortion). The magnification problem is particularly acute when attempting to view objects off-center in the optical system. There is an angle at which objects can no longer be seen from the air side of the window. Theoretically it is over 48 degrees but practically it is less than 45 degrees. Reports of 50-degree or greater fields of view result from slight motions of the head. Light having incidence angles greater than the value of somewhere between 48 and 49 degrees is totally reflected at the interface.
While divers have used flat face-masks for many years with good success, there are situations where correction of the above problems would prove to be beneficial. Divers having to do work underwater requiring a great deal of hand-eye coordination, such as underwater welding or salvaging, could enhance the fine control of their hands with their vision behaving as it does in air. The invention to be described in detail below performs the desirable demagnification required to achieve this, and does so without adding net optical power.
The prior art has failed in its attempt to achieve this desirable result. The invention of U.S. Pat. No. 3,040,616 provided an underwater goggle that had a paraxial unit magnification about equal to unity. It had severe off-axis aberrations of astigmatism and field curvature, however, reaching a full degree or more of blurring at 38 degrees. As long as mask users held the object rigidly at the center of the field-of-view of their goggles, they probably perceived adequate performance, but the off-axis performance limited this otherwise excellent design to the central ten degrees or so.
More recently, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,359,371 and 5,523,804 have disclosed a thin negative singlet design. However, the claims of optical unit-magnitude performance of this device are incorrect. No thin lens of the optical powers specified in the patents (when placed only a few inches before the eyes) results in unit magnification. Perhaps the design of the patents relies on subtle and complex psycho-visual cues to partially correct perspective errors, but the fundamental optical design does not do this correction. The design of the patents also adds a small amount of negative optical power to the system, which can be accommodated by young viewers, but for older people pushes the limit of close-focus outward even farther than presbyopia allows in air. Corrective lenses can be placed in contact with the flat inner surface, but doing so would destroy any benefits of the very slightly curved outer surface.
More common are the attempts to correct for the intense negative power of dome-style lenses. Inventors of such devices reason correctly that domes are not limited in field-of-view like flat lenses. However, a dome small enough to fit over each eye individually has much stronger optical power than the normal eye is capable of refocusing by accommodation; a lens must be added internally to add some positive power to the system. Thus, the user recovers an approximately afocal beam. Inventions exemplifying this principle are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,672,750 and 5,625,425. The inventions of these patents are designed for widening the field-of-view, however, and not unit magnification.
Thus, in accordance with this inventive concept, a need has been recognized in the state of the art for a lens system adaptable to face masks for divers and camera windows that assures improved viewing characteristics underwater, including unit magnification and good perspective rendering over a wide field of view.

Diver's face mask having aspheric, afocal lens system providing unit magnification for use as a window between air and water

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


In accordance with the present subject matter there is provided a composition including at least one nanoparticle, at least one alkali metal salt and a metal salt having water of crystallization. The subject matter also relates to a method for preparation of the composition.

Global warming is one of the major current environmental issues, which is caused by release of greenhouse gases in the environment. Increased consumption of energy from conventional fossil fuels in the last decades has led to the release of greenhouse gases which could adversely affect the climate. To reduce the impact of climate change due to global warming, current energy research is intensively focusing towards the effective utilization of most abundant energy source available, nothing but solar energy to save the environment from green-house producing fossil fuels and also to provide energy security. Considering solar energy, no investment is required for the source and the main cost is related with the thermal storage system for storing solar thermal energy for sufficient time period.
Solar thermal energy storage is a key element for the improvisation of the efficiency of thermal energy utilization because large scale solar energy production demands a wider storage capacity. High temperature thermal energy storage systems can deal with a wide range of temperatures and concentrated solar power (CSPs) applications and have greater potential in terms of technology as well as economy. The solar thermal energy can be stored in the molten salt media from where the heat energy is transferred to water for thermal operations such as high-power steam generation in solar power plants.
Fazel Yavari et al (Journal of Physical Chemistry C; 2011, 115, 8753-8758) have reported thermal conductivity enhancement of organic phase change materials by the addition of graphene nanoparticles. Donghyun Shin et al. reported (International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer; 2014, 74 210-214) specific heat capacity enhancement of lithium carbonate-potassium carbonate salt eutectic by the addition of alumina nanoparticles. In this paper the authors initially made salt eutectic and added nanoparticle externally and add extra water and sonicated for 200 minute and finally evaporated the water to form salt-nanofluid. This consists of multiple steps and takes more time for the synthesis.
US20140084205 discloses an invention of nanoparticle coated phase change material as heat transfer and heat storage applications. The aforementioned document specifically discloses Sn/SiO2 incorporated phase change material to enhance the thermal conductivity of organic heat transfer fluid.

Composition for thermal storage and heat transfer applications


An ultrasonic transducer for use in a fluid medium is proposed. The ultrasonic transducer includes at least one transducer core which has at least one acoustic/electric transducer element, in particular a piezoelectric transducer element. The ultrasonic transducer furthermore includes at least one housing, at least one housing opening being at least partially sealed against the fluid medium with the aid of a sealing film which is connected to the transducer core. The sealing film has at least one expansion deformation which is configured to permit a relative movement between the transducer core and the housing.

Ultrasonic transducers of this type are provided for measuring air flows; however, it is also possible, in principle, to use other fluid media, i.e., gases and/or liquids. Examples of ultrasonic transducers are described in German Patent Application No. DE 10 2007 010 500 A1 as well as in the references cited therein. In principle, the ultrasonic transducers described therein may also be modified and/or manufactured according to the present invention within the scope of the present invention. Ultrasonic transducers of the type described are provided, in particular, for measuring air flows, for example to derive an air volume signal within a system controller of an internal combustion engine.
As is described, for example, in German Patent Application No. DE 10 2007 010 500 A1, matching layers or matching bodies are used in many ultrasonic transducers to improve a noise radiation into the fluid medium and/or an absorption of ultrasound from the fluid medium. For example, ultrasonic transducers having noise-radiating resonance or matching bodies may have, for example, a metal diaphragm and/or a λ/4 impedance matching layer.
In ultrasonic transducers or ultrasonic flowmeters which must meet special pressure requirements, the noise-radiating surface is usually an integral part of a transducer housing or a flow tube, or it is hard-connected to these components, so that it is not usually possible to provide adequate decoupling against the propagation of structure-borne noise. If the decoupling against such noise is to be improved, a soft fastening material is needed. Due to the pressure requirements, however, this fastening and/or decoupling material must be supported on the housing, so that the thermal expansion, in turn, must have the greatest effect in the moving area of the noise-radiating surface. These compensating movements make it difficult to provide a media-tight transducer design.
Ultrasonic transducers in which a damping element, for example a damping casting, is inserted between the housing and a transducer core which has a piezoceramic transducer element, is described in German Patent Application Nos. DE 10 2008 055 126.0 and DE 10 2008 055 116.3. In general, elastomers, such as O rings or silicone molded parts, are frequently used for decoupling structure-borne noise. In and of themselves, however, these approaches do not usually offer sufficient media resistance for the installation situation, in particular, in motor vehicles. For example, silicone may swell and/or bleed under the influence of moisture and/or hydrocarbons, and gaps may form between the silicone and the surrounding area. As a result, sealing elements, for example in the form of vapor-deposited coatings, for example parylenes or sealing films, are frequently used for sealing ultrasonic transducers. The use of sealing films is also described, for example, in German Patent Application No. DE 10 2008 055 116.3. However, the disadvantage of pure coatings often lies in a poor mechanical cohesion of the coating, in particular under shearing loads, which occur in transition zones between different base materials. For example, the decoupling material may shift in relation to the impedance matching layer or the transducer housing under mechanical or thermal load, so that the coating may crack on this side. When using films, in many cases, thermal and mechanical stresses result in at least in an expansion load on the film, so that the film itself or its adhesion is severely stressed.

Ultrasonic transducer for use in a fluid medium


An electrical connector (1) comprises an insulative housing (2), a number of terminals (3) received in the housing and a shell (4) enclosing the housing for electromagnetic interference protection. The housing has a number of grooves (242) defined in longitudinal walls (204) and a pair of projections (25) formed on lateral walls (206). The shell comprises a number of tags (42) secured in the grooves, a pair of downwardly extending board locks (44) interfering with the projections, and a number of tabs (45xe2x80x2) integrally extending from lateral walls (412) thereof to engage with recesses (29xe2x80x2) of the housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a header connector, and particularly to a header connector with a securely assembled shell for EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) protection.
2. Description of Related Art
Almost every computer is equipped with a header connector for engaging with a cable end connector which connects with a hard disk drive to establish an electrical connection between the hard disk drive and a printed circuit board on which the header connector is mounted. A conventional header connector comprises an elongate insulative housing having two longitudinal walls and two lateral walls, and a plurality of pin-type terminals retained in the housing. Each terminal includes a mating portion for electrically engaging with a corresponding terminal of a complementary cable end connector, and a tail portion for electrical connection with a printed circuit board. However, when it is required that the header connector carry out high speed data transmission between the printed circuit board and the hard disk drive, electromagnetic or radio frequency interference increases. Therefore, a shell is employed to enclose the insulative housing of the header connector for EMI protection. The shell includes a pair of grounding legs integrally and downwardly extending from opposite ends thereof. When the header connector is mounted on the printed circuit board, the grounding legs are inserted into corresponding positioning holes of the printed circuit board for grounding.
However, because the longitudinal walls of the insulative housing are too long, the shell may not completely abut against the longitudinal walls of the housing without additional retaining means. As a result, the EMI protection of the header connector may be adversely affected. Furthermore, when the grounding legs of the shell are inserted into the positioning holes of the printed circuit board, the shell is easy to separate from the housing.
Hence, a header connector with a securely assembled shell is required to overcome the disadvantages of the related art.
Accordingly, one object of the present invention is to provide a header connector with a shell tightly enclosing an insulative housing thereof for complete electromagnetic interference protection.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a header connector with a shell which has a pair of board locks securely engaged with an insulative housing for facilitating insertion into a printed circuit board.
In order to achieve the objects set forth, a header connector with a shell in accordance with the present invention comprises an elongate insulative housing which has longitudinal walls and lateral walls, a plurality of terminals retained in the housing, and a shell securely assembled to the housing. The housing has a plurality of grooves defined in the longitudinal walls and a pair of projections formed on the lateral walls. Each projection has an outer head and an inner neck integrally connecting with the housing. The shell has a plurality of tags formed on longitudinal walls thereof for being secured in the grooves of the housing, a pair of board locks downwardly extending from lateral walls thereof for interfering with the neck of the projection, and a pair of tabs integrally formed on lateral walls and bent inwardly to engage with recesses defined in a mounting face of the housing. Thus, the shell fixedly encloses the housing for complete electromagnetic interference protection.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


A heat reflecting fenestration composite is provided which includes in sequence: (a) a substantially transparent substrate; (b) a first outer dielectric layer; (c) an infrared reflecting metal layer; (d) a color correcting metal layer comprising a metal different from the infrared reflecting metal layer; (e) a protective metal layer comprising a metal different from the infrared reflecting metal layer and different from the color correcting layer; and (f) a second outer dielectric layer. The dielectric layers are typically indium oxide, indium zinc oxide, indium tin oxide or mixtures thereof. Preferably, the composite also includes additional layers of infrared reflecting metal layer, color correcting metal, protective metal and dielectric. Also preferably, the composite comprises a top layer of glass or transparent polymeric plastic. The infrared reflecting metal layer is typically silver, gold, copper or alloys thereof. The color correcting metal layer typically has a refractive index in the visible light range between about 0.6 and about 4 and has an extinction coefficient for light in the visible light range between about 1.5 and about 7. Metals such as chromium, cobalt, nickel, zinc, palladium, indium, tin, antimony, platinum, bismuth and alloys thereof can be used in the color correcting metal layer, with indium being preferred. The protective metal layer is made from a metal whose oxide is substantially non-optically absorbing, such as aluminum, titanium, zirconium, niobium, hafnium, tantalum, tungsten and alloys thereof, with titanium being preferred. The color correcting and protective metal layers can also be disposed on both sides of the infrared reflecting metal layer. Such composites provide a heat reflecting fenestration structure having exception degradation resistant properties and visible light transmission reduction properties, without excessive reflectance.

Heat reflecting fenestration products have become increasingly popular for architectural and vehicular window use. Such products have been found to be highly effective in reducing air conditioning costs and in improving the quality of transmitted visible light.
The most common such fenestration products are composites having multiple thin layers which cooperate with one another to reduce the transmission of infrared and near infrared waves, while allowing the transmittance of a substantial percentage of light in the visible spectrum. A typical composite consists of a transparent substrate such as glass or flexible plastic film. Onto the substrate are deposited multiple stacks of discrete layers, each stack having in sequence a thin film of dielectric material and a heat reflecting metal such as silver, gold or copper.
Each of the layers is generally deposited by thermal evaporation deposition or by "sputtering" deposition, both techniques well-known in the art. For ease and economy of manufacture, each of the layers is typically deposited by sputtering deposition. In sputtering deposition methods, metal molecules from a source metal are induced to "sputter" onto a designated substrate by a strong electrical field under subatmospheric pressures. Where the layer deposited is to be pure metal, such sputtering is accomplished in an inert atmosphere. Where the layer is to be a metal oxide, such sputtering typically is carried out in a highly oxidative atmosphere using, for example, oxygen plasma.
A common problem with the manufacture of such composite structures is the degradation of the infrared reflecting metal layer by its exposure to oxygen plasma during the deposition of dielectric material (generally a metal oxide). Such degradation of the infrared reflecting metal significantly decreases the performance of the composite.
Another problem with such composite structures is the tendency of the infrared reflecting metals to degrade over long periods of time by long-term contact with oxygen or other chemicals from the surrounding atmosphere. This problem is especially acute where the structures are flexible film structures affixed to preexisting architectural or vehicular windows. The application of such films to such preexisting windows is typically carried out using water as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,891,486, which is incorporated herein by this reference. In the application of such films to such preexisting windows, water used in the application tends to become trapped between the window glass and the flexible film. Over time, this trapped water diffuses through the flexible film to substantially degrade the reflecting metal layers within the composite structure.
Another problem with such composite structures is the general inability of such structures to successfully prevent the transmittance of excessive amounts of visible light. Transmittance of excessive visible light transmits unnecessary quantities of heat and can result in a displeasing "overly-bright" environment for the user.
Still another problem with such composite structures of the prior art is that they often reflect an inordinate percentage of visible light. Such high reflectances give the fenestration product an unpleasant mirror-like appearance. It is generally considered preferable for fenestration products to transmit less than about 15% of light within the visible spectrum.
Still another problem with composite structures of the prior art is that they often do not transmit and/or reflect light on both sides of the fenestration product in "neutral colors." This is especially a problem in products adapted to provide reduced (<60%) visible light transmittance. Although it is considered acceptable for some fenestration products to transmit light which has a slightly blue or slightly green cast, all other "tints" are generally considered undesirable.
Attempts have been made to solve these problems, but such attempts have not been wholly successfully. For example, the disposition of a protective metal layer onto the infrared reflecting metal layer has been found to improve the degradation resistence of the infrared reflecting metal layer during the disposition of the dielectric layers. However, the use of such protective metal layer has not solved--and in many cases made more complicated--the problems of undue light transmittance, undue light reflectance and undesirable tint. Such attempts have also been commonly found to be unduly expensive in manufacture and/or unstable over long periods of time.
Accordingly, there is a need for a heat reflecting fenestration composite which effectively prevents the degradation of the infrared reflecting metal and which reduces the amount of transmitted visible light without causing excessive reflectance, color, distortion or long-term instability.

Heat reflecting fenestration products with color corrective and corrosion protective layers


There is provided a radiant heating body (1) in which the temperature sensor (thermocouple element 12) of a temperature limiter is fitted at the hottest point on the underside of a glass ceramic plate (3). By virtue of that specific arrangement of the temperature sensor (12), with each type of heating arrangement, temperature measurement is effected directly at the hottest type-specific point. The temperature sensor (12) is desirably fitted in a ceramic tube (15) in order electrically to insulate it and to shield it from ambient heat.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a radiant heating body having a carrier for at least one radiant heating resistor, a plate, disc or the like which covers the radiant heating resistor, and a temperature limiter or temperature monitor.
Radiant heating bodies of that kind usually have a carrier for a heating means which is to be electrically operated and which comprises heating resistors. Such heating resistors are covered by a glass ceramic plate, high-quality steel plate or the like plate or disc, which with its top side serves as a hot plate. By virtue of their design configuration, radiant heating bodies of that kind, together with the glass ceramic plate, form a carrier space which is substantially closed outwardly and in which the radiant heating resistors are fitted. In order to prevent overheating of the glass ceramic plate, temperature limiters or temperature monitors are used in relation to such radiant heating bodies.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
DE 33 15 657 A1 discloses an electrical cooking appliance with a glass ceramic plate having a central opening with a sleeve which is fitted therein and in which a temperature sensor is disposed. In that arrangement the temperature sensor is held in the sleeve displaceably by a spring force to a position of bearing against an upper abutment, whereby, when the temperature sensor bears against the abutment, it projects somewhat above the surface of the glass ceramic hot plate.
Another design arrangement and configuration of a temperature limiter for a glass ceramic cooking unit is known from EP 0 141 923 B1. In that case the temperature sensor extends preferably substantially along a diameter over the cooking area or however in somewhat laterally displaced relationship with respect to the cooking area. The temperature sensor itself comprises a plurality of bar portions disposed in a unitary, elongate outer tube. The temperature sensor of that design configuration makes it possible to communicate to the temperature sensor the different temperature influences resulting from the at least two heating surfaces, so that the response temperature on the part of the temperature sensor is actually independent of whether one or two heating surfaces are in operation.
In the case of radiant heating bodies or radiant heating means it is fundamentally important and also prescribed by safety requirements that the temperature at the underside of the glass ceramic plate does not exceed a maximum value in order to prevent the glass ceramic plate from being damaged. For that reason, temperature limiters are used, which monitor the set maximum value at the underside of the ceramic glass plate and which ensure that the maximum temperature of for example 600.degree. C. or 700.degree. C. at the underside of the glass ceramic plate is not exceeded.
It is known however that the temperature at the underside of the high-quality or glass ceramic plate is not the same at all points, but depends substantially on the routing configuration of the heating conductor or conductors and the dimensioning thereof. If now a temperature distribution in respect of the high-quality steel or glass ceramic plate is plotted in a chart, it can be seen that there are so-called hot spots which only rarely occur in the detection region of the per se known sensor bar of the temperature limiter.


Flowing electrolyte batteries capable of being selectively neutralized chemically; processes of selectively neutralizing flowing electrolyte batteries chemically; and processes of selectively restoring the electrical potential of flowing electrolyte batteries are disclosed herein.

Batteries are used for a wide variety of industrial applications. For example, buildings containing lead acid batteries are placed throughout our countryside and within our urban areas for electrical energy storage, and these batteries are used to keep telephones, cable TV, and Internet data centers functional when power is otherwise lost. The most widely used batteries for industrial applications are the classic lead acid battery, which are available as flooded cell or valve regulated. Each of these batteries uses the same basic chemistry; plates of lead and lead oxide are contained in an electrolyte of sulfuric acid. Battery terminals are connected to these plates immersed in electrolyte.
Flowing electrolyte batteries have two electrolytes, anolyte and catholyte, that are circulating and separated by a membrane. In the case of zinc bromine flowing electrolyte battery, zinc is plated out during charge and consequently frees up bromide ions that diffuse across the membrane. In this case, the anolyte becomes increasingly zinc depleted and the catholyte becomes increasingly bromine rich. An electrical potential develops across this membrane due to the presence of metal on one side of the membrane, such as zinc, and a catholyte on the other side of the membrane. The catholyte is rich in cation concentration such as bromide.
In the event of a fire within a facility containing industrial batteries, or in the event of a battery malfunction, the batteries may become unsafe and the energy that they store may become readily available to the outside world. Fire departments proceed with great caution into fires in such facilities because of the danger of electrical shock or explosion that may occur in the event of a battery failure. Previously, there has not been a way to turn batteries off chemically.
Also, in the event of non-use, a battery can self discharge due to reactant available in the reaction cell. The reactant causes a slow diffusion through the membrane to slowly discharge the battery. Previously, there has not been a way to neutralize batteries chemically to stop this self discharge in times of non-use.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Flowing electrolyte battery with electric potential neutralization


A method for measuring acceleration or mechanical forces, the acceleration causing inertial forces, uses a transducer or accelerometer in which at least one piezoelectric element is influenced by a shearing force substantially parallel to the polarization axis of the piezoelectric element, where the shearing force is created by a component of a mechanical or an inertial force substantially perpendicular to the polarization axis. A transducer for measuring acceleration or mechanical forces, the acceleration causing inertial forces, includes at least one piezoelectric element and at least two spaces surfaces abutting the piezoelectric element and arranged so that they are mutually displaced by a component of a mechanical or an inertial force acting substantially in a direction perpendicular to the polarization axis of the piezoelectric element. The piezoelectric element is preferably mounted between the free ends of two arms positioned on a supporting base, the arms being deformed or tilted in a direction perpendicular to their longitudinal axis by the force or acceleration. Forces or accelerations in three directions may be measured using a single piezoelectric element with a plurality of electrodes. The principles are also useful for the measurement of force or pressure.

Mechanical dynamometers are often used for static and dynamic measurements of mechanical forces. The forces to be measured may cause changes in the electrical charge, voltage, current or impedance in one or more measuring elements.
When measuring mechanical vibrations or acceleration it is known to use seismic accelerometers employing piezoelectric material for generating the electrical charges. For such accelerometers it is known to have a seismic mass arranged on the piezoelectric element or material which again is arranged on a base. Thus, when the accelerometer is subjected to acceleration, inertial forces introduce strains in the ceramic element which produces electrical outputs by virtue of the piezoelectric effect.
When vibrations having a frequency which is substantially lower than the natural resonant frequency of the total accelerometer system are acting upon the base, the seismic mass is forced to follow the vibrations thereby acting on the piezoelectric element with a force which is proportional to the seismic mass and the acceleration. Thereby, the inertial force acting on the piezoelectric element generates electrical charges on the element which charges are proportional to the acceleration.
When the piezoelectric element is subjected to compression forces during vibration, the accelerometer is of the compression type, and when the piezoelectric element is subjected to shear forces during vibration, the accelerometer is of the shear type. The compression type accelerometer is the most simple in its construction, but it is rather sensitive to temperature transients since the ceramic piezoelectric material is pyroelectric in the axis of polarization and the signals is taken from electrodes perpendicular to this axis. In contrast to this, the shear type accelerometer has a low sensitivity to temperature transients as the signal here is taken from electrodes parallel to the axis of polarisation.
It is known that a higher sensitivity can be obtained by an accelerometer of the "bender" type. In such an accelerometer, the force from the seismic mass acts to bend a so-called "bender element", which has a layer of an electric conductive material sandwiched between two layers of piezoelectric material being polarized in their direction of thickness. Thus, when the element is bent, then, in a plane perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the element, stresses of compression are generated in one of the two layers and stresses of tension are generated in the remaining layer. When the length of the bender element is considerable larger than the thickness of the element, the electrical charges generated on each of the two layers will be larger than the charges obtained if the same seismic mass is operating directly for the purpose of compression or shear of the piezoelectric material.
However, a disadvantage of the bender element is that it is pyroelectric, since the electrodes are arranged on surfaces which are perpendicular to the axis of polarization.
Another disadvantage of the bender element is that the piezoelectric material constitutes a major part of the mechanical construction which causes some problems when trying to optimize this construction.

Method and apparatus for measuring acceleration or mechanical forces


A mortiser tool comprises a drill bit, a cutting element mounted around the drill bit and a motor means. In use a motor rotates the drill bit independently of the cutting element, and in use a motor moves the drill bit in a first reciprocating action, in which the cutting element is axially movable in relation to the drill bit. The drill bit is provided with a transmission adapted to axially move the cutting element in a second reciprocating action in use, which second reciprocating action is axially non-synchronous with the first reciprocating action.

This invention relates to a mortiser tool, for use particularly, but not exclusively as a hand-held device.
A mortiser tool which is used to create troughs, slots or openings in subject materials, for example, wood, plaster, brickwork or any other material, to receive fittings or structural components. For example such tools are used to create lock mortises on wooden doors.
One particular mortiser tool comprises a rotating drill bit, the tip of which is surrounded by a non-rotating cutting element. The end, or face, of the cutting element is commonly square, with recesses along each side, such that four points are formed by the corners. The cutting element works by being driven into the material being cut, and serves to square-off the circular hole cut by the drill bit. This kind of mortiser tool is very effective, and can cut a regular square shaped through.
Mortiser tools as described above are only used with fixed, non=portable machines, because a large force is sometimes required to force the cutting element into the subject material. Commonly the mortiser tool is vertically mounted, and a weight is used to push the tool into the subject material.
However, in many cases subject materials are cut on site, where only hand-held tools are available, for example when a new door is fitted with a lock mortise. In these circumstances the superior cutting effect if the above-described mortiser tool is not available.
The present invention is intended to overcome some of the above problems.