This application claims the priority of the corresponding German patent application Ser. No. 199 59 061.3 filed Dec. 8, 1999. The disclosure of the aforesaid priority application, as well as the disclosure of each and every US and/or foreign patent and/or patent application identified in the specification of the present application, is incorporated herein by reference.
The invention relates to improvements in methods of and apparatus for manipulating containers, and more particularly to improvements in methods of and in apparatus for manipulating containers of the type known as trays and often utilized for temporary storage of arrays or groups of rod-shaped articles such as plain or filter cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, filter rod sections and other rod-shaped products of the tobacco processing industry.
Examples of rod-shaped articles which can be confined in containers (hereinafter called trays for short) of the type to which the present invention pertains are filter rod sections or filter mouthpieces which can be united with plain cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars or analogous rod-shaped tobacco-containing products to form therewith filter cigarettes, cigarillos, cigars or the like. Many types of filter mouthpieces contain a rod-like filler of acetate fibers and hardened droplets of a plasticizer which bonds portions of neighboring fibers to each other to thus establish a maze of paths for the flow of tobacco smoke from the lighted end, through the tobacco-containing part, through the filter mouthpiece and into the mouth of a smoker.
Heretofore known and presently utilized plasticizers (such as triacetin) for acetate fibers or the like require a certain period of time to set and to thus establish reliable bonds between neighboring portions of fibers in the mouthpiece of a filter cigarette or the like. Therefore, it is desirable to ensure that filter mouthpieces of unit length or multiple unit length which issue from a filter rod making machine remain unattached to plain cigarettes for certain intervals of time which are required by the plasticizer to set, i.e., which are needed to ensure that the appearance and/or other desirable characteristics of filter-tipped smokers"" products are not affected during transport of filter mouthpieces into and/or during their treatment in a so-called tipping machine wherein plain cigarettes and filter mouthpieces of unit length or multiple-unit length are connected to each other by so-called uniting bands (e.g., webs of cigarette paper, imitation cork or the like) to form therewith filter cigarettes or analogous rod-shaped smokers"" products.
Filter rod making machines which are of the type utilized for the making of continuous filter rods ready to be subdivided into filter rod sections of unit or multiple unit length are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,007 (granted Aug. 10, 1976 to Greve for xe2x80x9cMETHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF FILTER ROD SECTIONS OR THE LIKExe2x80x9d) and in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,412,505 (granted Nov. 1, 1983 to Haxc3xcsler et al. for xe2x80x9cAPPARATUS FOR APPLYING ATOMIZED LIQUID TO A RUNNING LAYER OF FILAMENTARY MATERIAL OR THE LIKExe2x80x9d).
Filter tipping machines which can be utilized to unite filter rod sections with plain cigarettes are known under the name MAX-S (distributed by the assignee of the present application). Reference may also be had to commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,135,008 granted Aug. 4, 1992 to Oesterling et al. for xe2x80x9cMETHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING FILTER CIGARETTESxe2x80x9d.
The apparatus of the present invention can be utilized to transport filter rod sections between a filter rod making machine (such as that disclosed by Greve or by Hxc3xa4usler et al.) and a filter tipping machine (such as that disclosed by Oesterling et al.). Certain presently known transporting apparatus of such character are disclosed in commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,798 granted January 23, 1992 to Glxc3x6ssmann et al. for xe2x80x9cAPPARATUS FOR MANIPULATING TRAYS FOR CIGARETTES AND
THE LIKExe2x80x9d. One presently utilized embodiment of the patented apparatus is designed to manipulate cigarettes, and more specifically to accept the surplus of cigarettes advancing in the form of a mass flow from a cigarette maker to a processing machine (such as a tipping machine of the type disclosed in the patent to Oesterling et al.) and to admit cigarettes into the mass flow when the requirements of the processing machine exceed the output of the maker. Such apparatus employs trays which are filled with cigarettes when the output of the maker exceeds the requirements of the processing machine and which are emptied into the mass flow when the need arises. The just described apparatus employs storage facilities for filled trays at one or more first levels and storage facilities for empty or emptied trays at one or more second levels. A transfer unit is provided to transport trays between various levels and, when necessary, to change the orientation of the trays.
It is also known to employ pneumatic conveyor systems as a means for transporting filter rod sections from a filter rod maker to a filter tipping machine (such as the aforementioned MAX-S machine). As a. rule, a pneumatic conveyor employs a receiving station with magazines which contain supplies of filter rod sections and cooperate with pneumatic senders which propel filter rod sections to the magazine of a filter tipping machine. Such apparatus are rather complex, bulky and expensive because they must be provided with special feeders for admission of filter rod sections into the senders and with special transfer units which advance filter rod sections from the senders into the magazine(s) of one or more tipping machines. On their way from the maker to the magazine of a filter tipping machine, the filter rod sections are subjected to repeated mechanical stressing which is bound or apt to affect their quality if it takes place prematurely, i.e., before the various constituents and/or ingredients of the filter rod sections are ready to withstand such stressing.
An object of the present invention is to provide a novel and improved method of manipulating filled and empty receptacles (such as the aforediscussed trays) for groups of rod-shaped articles of the tobacco processing industry in such a way that filled trays remain intact for periods of time which are required to optimize the quality of their contents prior to admission into the next processing station.
Another object of the invention is to provide a method which can be resorted to with particular advantage in connection with the manipulation of trays for rod-shaped products of the type that require a certain minimum interval of time to xe2x80x9cripenxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cagexe2x80x9d starting with the instant of issuance from a maker and ending with the instant of admission into a processing machine or with the instant of undergoing mechanical stresses.
A further object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved method of manipulating filter mouthpieces for tobacco smoke between a filter rod making machine and a tipping machine wherein filter rod sections are united with plain cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos or the like to form therewith filter cigarettes, cigars or cigarillos of unit length or multiple unit length.
An additional object of the invention is to provide a method which renders it possible to optimally reconcile the need for adequate setting of certain hardenable substances in rod-shaped smokers"" products and the requirements of modern high-speed processing machines or production lines wherein the rod-shaped products undergo further treatment or treatments such as uniting with other types of rod-shaped commodities, packing in containers (such as so-called soft packs and hinged-lid packs for plain or filter cigarettes) and/or others.
Still another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus for the practice of the above outlined method.
A further object of the invention is to provide a compact and relatively simple but highly versatile apparatus for the manipulation of empty, filled and emptied trays for groups of rod-shaped articles, such as filter rod sections, on their way from one or more makers to one or more processing stations.
Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which can select the periods of dwell of certain types of smokers"" products in an economical time and space-saving manner.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide the apparatus with a novel and improved regulating system which renders it possible to prevent premature processing of rod-shaped articles while at the same time avoiding excessive periods of dwell of such articles prior to further processing.
One important feature of the present invention resides in the provision of a method of manipulating trays or analogous receptacles or containers (hereinafter called trays for short) for groups of rod-shaped articles, especially for stacks of parallel plain or filter cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, filter rod sections or analogous smokers+ products. The improved method comprises the steps of filling successive empty trays at a filling station (e.g., at the discharge end of a filter rod making machine), transporting successive filled trays from the filling station to a predetermined storage facility (normally the first of two or more storage facilities for filled trays), monitoring the periods of dwell of filled trays at the predetermined facility (hereinafter called first facility for short), conveying filled trays from the first facility to a tray emptying or evacuating station (e.g., to the magazine of a filter tipping machine if the rod-shaped articles are filter rod sections or plain cigarettes), and regulating the timing of the conveying step as a function of the monitored periods of dwell of the filled trays at the first facility.
As a rule, the regulating step includes initiating the conveying of filled trays to the emptying station (either directly or through one or more additional storage facilities) when the respective monitored periods of dwell at least match a predetermined minimum period of dwell (e.g., a period of dwell which suffices to ensure that the aforediscussed plasticizer for acetate fibers of standard filter mouthpieces has set and/or that the adhesive for the overlapping seams of the tubular wrappers of filter mouthpieces can stand the treatment of filter mouthpieces in the tipping machine). The conveying step of such method preferably includes conveying filled trays from the first facility to the emptying station when the respective monitored periods of dwell at the first facility at least match the predetermined period of dwell.
The regulating step can include comparing the monitored periods of dwell with the predetermined minimum period of dwell and delaying the conveying step when the minimum period of dwell exceeds the monitored periods of dwell. The conveying step of such method can include advancing filled trays from the first facility to the emptying station along a first path when the respective monitored periods of dwell at least match the minimum period of dwell, and advancing filled trays along a longer second path when the minimum period of dwell exceeds the monitored periods of dwell.
The monitoring step can include establishing and assigning to each of the filled trays information denoting the time of entry into the first facility, and monitoring the assigned information on conveying of filled trays from the first facility to thus ascertain the periods of dwell of filled trays in the first facility.
The method can further comprise the steps of establishing a magazine for the delivery of filled trays received, for example, from the first facility to the emptying station within a predetermined interval of time, and the regulating step of such method can include ascertaining for each filled tray the sum of the respective monitored period of time and the predetermined interval; the conveying step of such method preferably includes advancing filled trays from the first facility directly into the magazine when the respective sums at least match the predetermined minimum period of time. Such method can further include the step of ascertaining for each filled tray the aforesaid predetermined interval of time; this further step can comprise establishing and assigning to each filled tray the information denoting the time of entry into the magazine, and monitoring the assigned information upon arrival of the respective filled tray at the emptying station to thus ascertain the predetermined interval of time.
The just described embodiment of the method can further comprise the step of advancing filled trays from the first facility to a second storage facility when the predetermined minimum period of dwell exceeds the respective sum. Such method can further comprise the step of advancing filled trays from a third storage facility to the magazine at the emptying station for at least some of the filled trays which are advanced from the first facility to the second facility. Still further, such method can include the steps of monitoring the periods of dwell of filled trays in the second facility, ascertaining for each filled tray at the second facility the sum total of the predetermined interval of time and the monitored periods of time at the first and second storage facilities, and conveying filled trays from the second facility to the magazine when the respective sums total at least match the predetermined maximum period of time. Each step of monitoring the period of dwell of a filled tray in the second storage facility can include establishing and assigning to each of the filled trays information denoting the time of entry into the second storage facility, and monitoring the assigned information on conveying the filled tray from the second facility to thus ascertain the period of dwell of the. filled tray at the second storage facility. Still further, such method can comprise the step of advancing filled trays from the second storage facility into a third storage facility upon ascertainment that the sum total of the predetermined interval of time and the respective monitored periods of time is less than the predetermined minimum interval or period of time.
The step of advancing filled trays from the second storage facility to the third storage facility can be carried out in automatic response to the ascertainment that the sum total of the predetermined interval of time and of the respective monitored periods of time is less than the aforementioned predetermined minimum period or interval of time.
Such method can further comprise the step of advancing filled trays from the second storage facility, along a preselected bypass route (e.g., by hand), and into the third storage facility upon completion of ascertainment that the sum total of the predetermined interval of time and the respective monitored periods of time is less than the predetermined minimum period of time.
The method can further comprise the steps of establishing a third storage facility for retention of each filled tray during a second interval of time, establishing for each filled tray in the second storage facility a second sum total of the second and predetermined intervals of time and the respective monitored periods of time, and conveying filled trays from the second storage facility directly into the third storage facility when the respective second sum total at least matches the predetermined minimum period of time.
The method can further comprise the steps of establishing a third storage facility for the retention of a filled trays during a second interval of timer establishing for each filled tray in the second storage facility a second sum total of the predetermined and second intervals of time and the respective monitored periods of time, and conveying filled trays from the second storage facility, along a time-consuming route, and into the third storage facility when the respective second sum total is less than the predetermined minimum period of time. Such method can further comprise the step of ascertaining the second interval of time for each filled tray in the third storage facility including establishing and assigning to each filled tray information denoting the time of entry of a filled tray into the third storage facility and monitoring the assigned information on conveying of the filled tray from the third storage facility to thus ascertain the second interval of time.
Another important feature of the invention resides in the provision of an apparatus for manipulating trays for groups of rod-shaped articles which constitute or form part of smokers"" products. The improved apparatus comprises a tray filling unit, a tray emptying or evacuating unit including a magazine for filled trays a source of empty trays, a predetermined (first) storage facility for filled trays, a first conveyor which includes means for feeding a succession of empty trays from the source to the filling unit, a second conveyor which includes means for feeding successive filled trays from the filling unit to the first storage facility, and means for transporting filled trays from the first facility to the emptying unit. The transporting means includes means for monitoring intervals of dwell of successive filled trays in the magazine and/or in the first storage facility, and means for transferring filled trays from the first storage facility to the emptying unit along a path which is one of a plurality of different paths and which is selected in dependency upon the lengths or durations of monitored intervals of dwell of filled trays in the first storage facility and/or in the magazine.
The apparatus preferably further comprises means for regulating the operation of the transferring means; such regulating means includes means for comparing the monitored intervals of dwell with a predetermined minimum period of time. Such apparatus can further comprise a second storage facility which is arranged to receive filled trays from the first facility by way of the transferring means and to deliver filled trays to the magazine by way of the transferring means when the predetermined minimum period of time exceeds the monitored intervals of dwell. Still further, such apparatus can comprise a third storage facility for filled trays; the transferring means of such apparatus is preferably arranged to deliver filled trays from the third facility to the magazine.
The just described embodiment of the improved apparatus can further comprise means for effecting transfer of filled trays between the second and third storage facilities. The second and third storage facilities can be said to jointly provide a depository for filled trays being supplied by the transferring means from the first storage facility to the second or to the third facility and from the second or third facility to the magazine.
The trays art or can be provided with identifying indicia, and the monitoring means preferably includes sensors which can identify the trays on the basis of such indicia.
The first storage facility is or can be disposed at a first level, and the magazine can be disposed at a different second level.
The improved apparatus preferably further comprises a suitable receiver for emptied trays; the source of empty trays and the receiver for emptied trays are or can be disposed at different first and second levels, and the magazine and the first storage facility are preferably disposed at different third and fourth levels The (first) difference between the first and second levels can equal or approximate the (second) difference between the third and fourth levels The transferring means of such apparatus preferably includes an elevator having first and second tray conveying receptacles which are respectively disposed at fifth and sixth levels; the difference between the fifth and sixth levels preferably equals or approximates the first and/or the second difference.
The improved apparatus can further comprise a second source of empty trays; such second source and the aforementioned second storage facility for filled trays can be disposed at different first and second levels, and the first storage facility and the first mentioned source of empty trays can be disposed at different third and fourth levels. The aforementioned elevator of the tray transferring means can be set up in such a way that its first and second tray conveying receptacles are respectively disposed at fifth and sixth levels which are selected in a manner such that the difference between the fifth and sixth levels equals or approximates the difference between the first and second levels and/or the difference between the third and fourth levels. Such selection of various levels renders it possible to further speed up and automate the transfer of empty trays to the filling station, the transfer of emptied trays from the emptying station, the transfer of filled trays from the filling station, and the introduction of filled trays into the first, second or third storage facility and from a selected one of such storage facilities into the magazine at the emptying or evacuating station.
The manner in which empty trays are filled with arrays of preferably parallel rod-shaped articles of the tobacco processing industry and in which such articles are evacuated from filled trays is well known in the relevant art and forms no part of the present invention.
The novel features which are considered as characteristic of the invention are set forth in particular in the appended claims. The improved apparatus itself, however, both as to its construction and the modes of assembling, installing and operating the same, together with numerous additional important and advantageous features and attributes thereof, will be best understood upon perusal of the following detailed description of certain presently preferred specific embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawing.


An operator of an aircraft must often maneuver the aircraft while on the ground. This may happen during ground operations such as when the aircraft is taxiing, being maneuvered to or from a hangar, or backing an aircraft away from a terminal.
Obstacles on the ground, such as structures, other vehicles and other obstacles, may lie in the path of a vehicle. These obstacles can be detected by a person using their sense of sight. However, in many cases, due to the dimensions of the aircraft (e.g., large wing sweep angles, distance from cockpit to wingtip, etc.) and the operator's limited field of view of the areas surrounding the aircraft, it can be difficult for an operator to monitor extremes of the aircraft during ground operations. As a result, the operator may fail to detect obstacles that are located in “blind spots” in proximity to the aircraft. In many cases, the operator may only detect an obstacle when it is too late to take evasive action needed to prevent a collision with an obstacle.
Collisions with an obstacle can not only damage the aircraft, but can also put the aircraft out of service and result in flight cancellations. The costs associated with the repair and grounding of an aircraft are significant. As such, the timely detection and avoidance of obstacles that lie in the ground path of a vehicle is an important issue that needs to be addressed.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide methods, systems and apparatus that can reduce the likelihood of and/or prevent collisions with the detected obstacles. It would also be desirable to assist the operator with maneuvering the aircraft and to provide an operator with aided guidance while maneuvering the aircraft so that collisions with such obstacles can be avoided. It would also be desirable to provide technologies that can be used to detect obstacles on the ground and identify aircraft position with respect to the detected obstacles (e.g., proximity of it's wings and tail or other portions that the operator can not directly observe). It would also be desirable to provide the operator with an opportunity to take appropriate evasive action to prevent a collision from occurring between the aircraft and the detected obstacles. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.


A computer network is a telecommunications network that allows computers to exchange data. Network devices that originate, route, and terminate the data are called network nodes. Network nodes can include hosts, such as personal computers, phones, and servers, as well as networking hardware. In computer networks, network nodes pass data to each other along data connections. Data is typically transferred in the form of packets. Connections between network nodes are established using various media, such as fiber optic cable, coaxial cable, and wireless links.
Computer network analytics can be used to monitor the performance of a network (for example, quality of service, network congestion, and network resilience), to monitor and enforce network security, to provide visualizations of network operation, and to support network configuration activities. Analytics applications that operate on data obtained from a network typically require the network to be configured to generate the necessary input data, in addition to aggregating that data and performing queries over that data. One aspect that typical computer network analytics applications have in common is that users need to decide beforehand which information to generate and which aggregation queries to perform. Typically, a user needs to initiate a separate query or analytics task and configure data sources to generate the data that is needed.


PCT Publications WO2008/151149, WO2010/06032, WO2011/150410, WO2011/150411, WO2012/061647, and WO2012/106560 disclose oils and methods for producing those oils in microbes, including microalgae. These publications also describe the use of such oils to make oleochemicals and fuels.
Tempering is a process of coverting a fat into a desired polymorphic form by manipulation of the temperature of the fat or fat-containing substance, commonly used in chocolate making.
Certain enzymes of the fatty acyl-CoA elongation pathway function to extend the length of fatty acyl-CoA molecules. Elongase-complex enzymes extend fatty acyl-CoA molecules in 2 carbon additions, for example myristoyl-CoA to palmitoyl-CoA, stearoyl-CoA to arachidyl-CoA, or oleyl-CoA to eicosanoyl-CoA, eicosanoyl-CoA to erucyl-CoA. In addition, elongase enzymes also extend acyl chain length in 2 carbon increments. KCS enzymes condense acyl-CoA molecules with two carbons from malonyl-CoA to form beta-ketoacyl-CoA. KCS and elongases may show specificity for condensing acyl substrates of particular carbon length, modification (such as hydroxylation), or degree of saturation. For example, the jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) beta-ketoacyl-CoA synthase has been demonstrated to prefer monounsaturated and saturated C18- and C20-CoA substrates to elevate production of erucic acid in transgenic plants (Lassner et al., Plant Cell, 1996, Vol 8(2), pp 281-292), whereas specific elongase enzymes of Trypanosoma brucei show preference for elongating short and midchain saturated CoA substrates (Lee et al., Cell, 2006, Vol 126(4), pp 691-9).
The type II fatty acid biosynthetic pathway employs a series of reactions catalyzed by soluble proteins with intermediates shuttled between enzymes as thioesters of acyl carrier protein (ACP). By contrast, the type I fatty acid biosynthetic pathway uses a single, large multifunctional polypeptide.
The oleaginous, non-photosynthetic alga, Protetheca moriformis, stores copious amounts of triacylglyceride oil under conditions when the nutritional carbon supply is in excess, but cell division is inhibited due to limitation of other essential nutrients. Bulk biosynthesis of fatty acids with carbon chain lengths up to C18 occurs in the plastids; fatty acids are then exported to the endoplasmic reticulum where (if it occurs) elongation past C18 and incorporation into triacylglycerides (TAGs) is believed to occur. Lipids are stored in large cytoplasmic organelles called lipid bodies until environmental conditions change to favor growth, whereupon they are mobilized to provide energy and carbon molecules for anabolic metabolism.


This invention relates to boiling and condensing heat transfer type cooling devices, and more particularly to such boiling type cooling devices for cooling power semiconductor switching elements of inverters and choppers, etc., of electric components mounted on railroad vehicles.
FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a conventional boiling and condensing heat transfer type cooling device (hereinafter referred to as a boiling type cooling device or simple as a boiling cooling device) for cooling thyristors, which is disclosed, in Mitsubishi Denki Giho (Mitsubish Electric Corporation's Techinical Journal), Vol. 48, No. 2, 1974, p. 231.
In FIG. 1, flat thyristor elements 1 coupled to fins 2 in pressured contact therewith are accomodated within an evaporator 3 containing a liquid fluorocarbon 4. A condenser 5 is disposed above the evaporator 3 such that the fluorocarbon vapor 4a generated within the evaporator 3 is introduced via a vapor conduit pipe 6 to the condenser 5. A liquid return conduit pipe 7 carries to the evaporator 3 the liquid fluorocarbon 4 condensed from the fluorocarbon vapor 4a within the condenser 5.
The operation of the device of FIG. 1 is as follows. When the thyristors 3 are in operation, the electrical power loss taking place therein results in the generation of an amount of heat as large as several hundred watts. The heat thus generated is transferred to the fluorocarbon 4 via the fins 2 in pressured contact with the cooled surfaces of the thyristors elements 1. The flux of heat flowing through the fins 2 reaches as high a value as 10.sup.5 W/m.sup.2. As a result, the fluorocarbon 4 boils, and the thyristors elements 1 are cooled by means of the so-called boiling fluorocarbon cooling. The fluorocarbon vapor 4a generated within the evaporator 3 by the boiling of the fluorocarbon proceeds via the vapor pipe 6 into the condenser 5 to be cooled and condensed therein by means of an exterior cooler fan (not shown), and then returns in the form of liquid fluorocarbon 4 to the evaporator 3 via the liquid return pipe 7. The fluorocarbon boils and condenses repeatedly as described above, such that the thyristors 1 are cooled efficiently.
FIG. 2 shows the principle of the conventional boiling type cooling device disclosed in the above mentioned journal (Mitsubishi Denki Giho vol. 148, No. 2). The heat generating element 1 such as thyristors is immersed in the pool of cooling medium, such as fluorocarbon R113 (trifluorotrichloroethane C.sub.2 Cl.sub.3 F.sub.3) contained in the evaporator 3. When the fluorocarbon boils or evaporates, the pressure within the evaporator 3 increases. Thus, the vapor generated within the evaporator 3 proceeds into the condenser 5 to be condenser therein. The latent heat of evaporation absorbed by the vapor within the evaporator 3 and carried by it through the vapor pipe 6 is discharged in the condenser 5 by the condensing vapor. The condensed cooling medium 4 returns to the evaporator 3 via the liquid return pipe 7. Thus, continuous heat transport by means of evaporation and condensing is established, and the thyristor elements 1 are cooled continuously.
FIG. 3a and 3b show another conventional boiling type cooler device disclosed, for example, pressed Japanese patent publication No. 59-41307. Semiconducts 1 are in into contact with the evaporator 3, and the heat generated in the semiconducts 1 is transmitted to the liquid cooling medium 4 via the cooling fins 3a disposed within the evaporator 3. The vapor 4a generated in the evaporator 3 is guided via the vapor pipe 6 to the condenser 5 having radiation pipes 5a provided with radiation fins 5b. The condensed liquid cooling medium 4 returns to the evaporator 3 via the liquid return pipe 7.
FIG. 4 shows a deaeration device for the cooling medium (e.g., fluorocarbon 113) of a conventional boiling type cooling device. Coupled to a deaeration bath 8 containing cooling medium 4 are a plurality of pipes 11, 13, and 16, having valves 12, 14, and 17, respectively a sealed container 15 accomodating a heat-generating electrical device such as thyristor elements is coupled to the outer end of the pipe 16. Further a branch pipe 18 having a valve 19 is coupled to the cooling medium sealing pipe 16. The bath 8 is provided with an agitator 9 comprising a motor 9a, a shaft 9b, and agitation wings or spoons 9c. Further, the bath 8 is surrounded by a cooling shell (cooling box) 10.
The deaeration is effected as follows. First, keeping valves 12 and 17 in the closed state, valve 14 is opened to exhaust the interior of the bath 8 by means of an exhaust pump (not shown) coupled to pipe 13. Next, valve 14 is closed and valve 12 is opened to introduce liquid fluorocarbon 4 into the bath 8 via the pipe 11. After the bath 8 is filled to a predetermined level with the liquid fluorocarbon 4, valve 12 is closed again. Then, the liquid fluorocarbon 4 is cooled by the cooling shell 10 and is agitated by the agitator 9. Thereafter, valve 14 is opened to remove the non-condensing gas such as air from the liquid fluorocarbon 4. When the deaeration is over, valve 14 is closed.
Next, valve 19 is opened to exhaust the interior of the electrical device container 15 via the branch pipe 18. Thereafter, valve 19 is closed and valve 17 opened such that the liquid fluorocarbon 4 is introduced into the electrical device container 15.
The above conventional boiling type cooling devices all utilize fluorocarbons as the cooling medium for boiling and condensing heat transfer. However, recent research has shown that the fluorocarbons discharged into the atmosphere reach the stratosphere and destruct the ozonosphere. Thus, there is an urgent need for a substitute for fluorocarbons. Water has good cooling characteristics when boiled and is an obvious candidate for a substitute. However, the operating temperature of chopper devices, etc., (typical electrical devices mounted on railroad vehicles) usually ranges from -20.degree. C. to 80.degree. C. Thus, water may freeze and cause failure in the cooling device if it is used as the cooling medium.
It is conceivable to add an antifreeze such as ethylene glycol to water. This, however, still leaves the following problems unsolved. Water boils and evaporates more easily than the glycol. Thus, the concentration of water decreases in the evaporator, while that in the condenser increases. As a result, the cooling efficiency is progressively reduced. In addition, the dilute condenser water may freeze in the condenser 5 or in the liquid return pipe 7 to cause a failure thereof at a low ambient temperature.


This invention relates to baseball, and more particularly to a method and playing field for conducting a baseball hitting game.
Baseball is a game that has been enjoyed by young and old for many years. Even the most casual sports fan knows the rules of baseball and almost everyone has played the game at one time in their life.
The object of baseball is to hit a pitched ball into the boundaries of a playing field and safely reach base. If a player can successfully round the bases, his team scores a run. The team with the most runs at the end of the game wins.
The present invention involves utilizing one of the basic elements of baseball--hitting a pitched ball into the baseball playing field. Sports fans have long admired the ability of athletes to hit a pitched baseball and there have been many long debates over whether a power hitter or a placement hitter is the better athlete at hitting a baseball. It has also been said that the most difficult feat in sport is to hit a round ball with a round bat.
Many baseball game have been developed utilizing the hitting element of baseball. For example, a game known as "Home Run Derby" involved two players competing against each other to see who can hit the most home runs. Each game consisted of nine innings. Each inning comprised the first player batting against a pitcher until the first player made three outs, then the second player would bat until he made three outs. An out was any ball that was swung at by the player and was not hit over the fence for a home run. Whichever player had the most home runs at the end of nine innings won the game.
While "Home Run Derby" was a very successful game and was even a television series in the 1950's, "Home Run Derby" rewarded power hitters and did not give appropriate credit to batters who could not hit home runs but could control the placement of the ball in the playing field.
It is an object of the present invention to create a baseball hitting game that rewards equally the ability to hit a baseball a long distance and the ability to hit a baseball to a particular location. It is a further object of the present invention to create a playing field that can be used to play the game of the present invention.
It is a feature of the present invention that a hitter score points for hitting home runs and also scores points for hitting the ball to a particular location.
It is an advantage of the present invention that power hitters and placement hitters can compete on an equal basis in a contest of skill related to the ability to hit a baseball.


Aluminum nitride (AlN) is a refractory material melting at 2400.degree. C., which exhibits several unique chemical and physical properties, e.g., it has a density of 3.26 g/cm.sup.3, a Young's modulus of 280 GPa, a flexural strength of 400 MPa and a Knoop hardness of 1200 kg/mm.sup.2.AlN is very stable in the presence of molten metals and therefore can be used, for example, for making crucibles to hold molten metal.
Aluminum nitride is also an electrical insulator with a bandgap of 6.2 electron volts, which makes it an attractive alternative substrate material to replace alumina and beryllia in electronic packaging. The thermal expansion coefficient of AlN is nearly identical to that of silicon. This is an important property in high power applications where thermal distortion can occur between a silicon chip and the substrate due to a mismatch in the coefficients of thermal expansion of the two materials. The thermal conductivity of aluminum nitride is nearly ten times higher than alumina and approximately equal to that of beryllia. Unlike beryllia, aluminum nitride is not restricted by processing constraints because of its toxicity.
There is currently a great deal of interest in polymer precursor materials that can be pyrolyzed to yield ceramic materials, including aluminum nitride. Aluminum-nitrogen polymers containing no alkyl substitution on the aluminum or nitrogen atoms are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,767,607, in which thermolysis of a mixture of aluminum chloride and hexamethyldisilazane results in formation of a polymer with the repeating unit --(Cl)Al--N(H)].sub.n. Pyrolysis of the polymer in ammonia or under vacuum yields crystalline AlN. An infusible polymeric aluminum amidimide--(NH.sub.2)Al--N(H)].sub.n that can be pyrolyzed to form AlN is described by L. Maya, Adv. Ceram. Mat., 1986, 1, 150-153.
Polymers having the repeating unit --(R)Al--N(H)].sub.n are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,696,968 and European Patent Application 259,164. Fibers can be melt spun from the thermoplastic precursor and pyrolyzed to. AlN. L. V. Interrante et al., Inorganic Chem., 1989, 28, 252-257 and Mater, Res. Soc. Symp. Proc., 1986, 73,359-366 reported the formation of volatile crystalline precursors that can be sublimed under vacuum. A two step pyrolysis of these precursors in ammonia resulted first in an insoluble aluminum imide polymer of the form --(R)Al--N(H)].sub.n and ultimately AlN containing less than 0.5% residual carbon and oxygen. U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,430 discloses the formation of --(CH.sub.3)Al--N(H)].sub.n, which can be pyrolyzed under helium, argon or vacuum to form hexagonal AlN.
Polymers having the repeating unit --(H)Al--N(R)].sub.n are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,505,246 and are formed by the reaction of the alane adduct H.sub.3 Al .rarw.N(C.sub.2 H.sub.5).sub.3 with a reagent such as acetonitrile. U.S. Pat. No. 4,687,657 discloses the preparation of a poly-N-alkyliminoalane that can be pyrolyzed in argon or under vacuum to form AlN.
Reacting an organic nitrile with diisobutylaluminum hydride produced organoaluminum imines having the formula RCH.dbd.NAl(i--C.sub.4 H.sub.9).sub.2, which were not isolated (L. I. Zakharkin and I. M. Khorlina, Bull. Acad. Sci. USSR, Engl. Transl., 1959, 523-524 and Proc. Acad. Sci. USSR, 1957, 112, 879). A gas containing 85% isobutene and polymers having the repeating unit ##STR1## were produced on heating the organoaluminum imine to 220.degree. to 240.degree. C. During the formation of the polymer, aluminum alkyl groups of the organoaluminum imine are eliminated as isobutene, and aluminum-nitrogen bonds are formed.
European Patent Application 331,448 discloses that AlN can be deposited on a substrate by heating the substrate and contacting it with the vapor of an aluminum-nitrogen compound having the formula CH.sub.3 (R.sup.1)Al--N(R.sup.2)(C.sub.3 H.sub.7), where R.sup.1 is alkyl and R.sup.2 is H, alkyl or aryl. A polymer of this compound is claimed, but the structure of the polymer is not disclosed.


Paint rollers are very popular for painting articles of all sorts, and a variety of special paint rollers have been proposed for unusual situations. U.S. Pat. No. 2,799,884 (Bedford, July, 1957) proposes a roller assembly having two roller-receiving leg portions joined at angles to each other for painting outside corners. U.S. Pat. No. 2,813,392 (McLendon, November, 1957) describes and shows a collection of three rollers arranged to embrace a portion of a cylindrical surface. U.S. Pat. No. 2,904,813 (Schleicher, September, 1959) shows a variety of arrangements of very narrow discs on supporting rods for rolling paint onto the entire peripheral surfaces of rod-like objects. Another three-roller system is proposed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,022 (Iuliano et al., July, 1991).
The paint roller arrangements of the above-mentioned patents are relatively complicated in construction, and the positions of the rollers relative to each other are such that while they may be effective to apply paint to the intended objects, applying the paint to the rollers from the usual paint tray by rolling each roller or groups of rollers in the tray is not possible. Moreover, the paint roller systems of those patents are intended primarily for painting surfaces that face the user or face laterally of the user.


In U.S. Pat. No. 4,530,622 to Mercer, fill is disclosed as being retained in a geotechnical structure. A plastic material mesh, which has spaced, longitudinal, oriented strands, is used to form a retainer construction for retaining fill, such as sand. Triangular compartments are formed by a number of parallel elongate portions of the mesh which are interconnected by zig-zag portions. Each zig-zag portion is contained between two respective elongate portions and is joined to an adjacent zig-zag portion at respective corners of the formed compartments. The connections are made by transversely bending strands of one portion to form loops which project out of the opposite side of the other portion, and passing a connecting member through the loops to prevent the loops from being pulled back.
The geotechnical structure of the Mercer patent includes a retainer construction which need not be closed on all sides and need not have a bottom or top closure. When making up the container construction, a backing of textile material may be secured against the inner side of outer faces of the geotechnical structure, depending upon the location of the structure and in fill material to be used.


Computers and other electronic devices contain numerous electronic components such as processors, memory and graphics products, and other integrated circuits (ICs) that give off heat. Most electronic components are heat-sensitive and may malfunction or become physically damaged if they become too hot. However, the heat threshold within which each component in a given electronic device can safely operate varies from component to component. Thus, system level cooling elements as well as cooling elements attached to individual ICs within an electronic device are vital to the functionality of many electronic devices. These cooling elements may be heat spreaders, fans, blowers, heat sinks, and others.
Some cooling elements can be controlled manually or by a control system that is part of an electronic device. For example, a fan can be controlled to operate at varying speeds. Controllable cooling elements are advantageous in many electronic devices because they save power and reduce overall system noise by not always operating at full speed.
Some electronic devices rely solely on system level cooling elements for their thermal management. In many electronic devices, however, system-wide cooling requires expensive and space-consuming overhead. Thus, in many instances, individual cooling solutions for some or all of the ICs within a particular electronic device are more efficient, require less space, and are less expensive than a system level cooling solution.
Most thermal control systems that are controllable are based on the temperature of the ICs that they cool. For example, a fan's speed may be increased if a particular IC's temperature rises to an undesirable level. However, a thermal control system that is based solely on an IC's temperature is sometimes inaccurate, inefficient, and unable to recognize and react to certain trends in the IC's power usage.


This invention relates to a method and apparatus for applying a nanoliter quantity of liquid to a target object without solid contact.
In the field of testing optical fibers using an optical time domain reflectometer (OTDR), it is desirable to be able to couple a buffer fiber, which is connected to the optical I/O port of the OTDR, to the test fiber (the fiber that is to be tested). The OTDR launches pulses of optical power into the test fiber by way of the buffer fiber, and measures the level of return optical power received from the test fiber by way of the buffer fiber.
In order to avoid or minimize high amplitude reflections at the interface between the buffer fiber and the test fiber, it is known to provide index-matching liquid between the end faces of the two fibers. In a known machine, this is accomplished by placing the proximal (relative to the OTDR) end segment of the test fiber in a V-shaped groove formed in a fixture that is immersed in a bath of index-matching liquid. The groove extends beyond the proximal end of the test fiber so that part of the groove is not occupied by the test fiber. The distal (relative to the OTDR) end segment of the buffer fiber is placed in the groove, so that it is essentially coaxial with the test fiber end segment, and the distal end of the buffer fiber is advanced toward the proximal end of the test fiber until the two ends are very close together. The index-matching liquid then provides good optical coupling between the two fibers.
A disadvantage of this known technique for coupling optical fibers is that it is rather cumbersome and inconvenient to carry out the coupling operation with the end segments of the fibers submerged in liquid. Further, particles of dirt can become lodged in the groove and either interfere with seating of the distal end segment of the buffer fiber or be trapped between the end faces of the two fibers and interfere with the optical coupling of the fibers.


The present invention relates generally to optical communications and, more particularly, to multiple symbol polarization switching differential-detection modulation formats.
As Internet traffic grows exponentially because of a variety of user terminals and internet services, it has prompted strong research interests on high-speed optical networks, which are the backbone infrastructure of current “Globe Village”. The data rate for optical fiber communications has moved from 10 Gbits/s to 40 Gb/s and 100 Gbits/s or even 1 Tbits/s per channel. However, one of the major challenges facing the ultra-high-data-rate dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) optical fiber transmissions is the fiber nonlinearity, which causes optical signal distortions due to the various nonlinear effects in optical fiber and sets the limit of the maximal reach. DQPSK modulation is an important format for high-speed optical communications by transmitting 2 bits per symbol. At 40 Gb/s, DQPSK systems employing direct detection are attractive by having low complexity and being generally available.
In a digital coherent optical communication system, different types of digital signal processing (DSP) functions can be applied, to mitigate the fiber nonlinearity, such as digital back-propagation algorithms. However, the existing DSP-based fiber nonlinearity mitigation algorithms are demanding on the hardware resources, which are relatively limited and sophisticated due to the requirements of very high electronic processing bandwidth. Meanwhile, most of the existing nonlinearity mitigation algorithms show very limited system performance improvements in real experimental testing.
In another approach, the phase conjugation scheme has been proposed to improve the systems' nonlinearity tolerance. However, the deployment of this scheme requires at the exact middle point of the entire transmission link, thus imposing a strict and thus unpractical restrictions on the system deployment. Its spectrum efficiency would be halved because of the fiber four-wave mixing effects. In another prior effort, the polarization states for adjacent symbols are arranged in orthogonal states for improving fiber nonlinearity tolerance.
Accordingly, there is a need for a low-cost solution to increase the nonlinearity tolerance of a direct-detection optical DQPSK system


Several types of communication techniques, including telephone calls, video conference, Voice over IP (VoIP), and instant messaging are valued because they allow persons to communicate in real-time, without delays associated with communication techniques such as letter writing, email, and other types of messaging. Because people often turn to real-time communication techniques with the hope that they can establish immediate contact with persons they are trying to reach, it is often frustrating when a communication attempt of this type fails (e.g., because a person to is unavailable to respond to an incoming call or message). In such a case, the person attempting to establish the communication has few other options but to try again later, leave a voice message, leave an email, try contacting the person on another device, etc.


Multicomponent membranes are known as are processes for the separation of gases therewith. Such membranes employ a polymer membrane porous to gases which carries a polymer coating occluding the pores of the first. U.S. Pat. No. 4,230,463 describes in detail these multicomponent membranes and discloses a plurality of organic polymers for use as the porous separation membrane including polysulfone, copolymers of styrene and acrylonitrile, polycarbonate and cellulose acetate. Coating materials also include a variety of polymers such as polysiloxane, polyisoprene, alpha-methylstyrene and polysiloxane copolymers and polystyrene. The multicomponent membrane can be employed to separate selectively at least one gas such as hydrogen from a mixture comprising carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, helium, nitrogen, oxygen, argon, hydrogen sulfide, nitrous oxide, ammonia and C.sub.1 to C.sub.5 hydrocarbons.
An earlier U.S. Pat. No. 3,350,844 provides a process for the separation of helium, hydrogen or oxygen from a mixture of gases containing nitrogen or a hydrocarbon such as methane and one of the foregoing. The process employs a polyarylene oxide membrane. The polymer film is not crosslinked and therefore has poor solvent resistance necessitating that the gas mixtures be relatively pure. Crosslinking of polymeric materials for use as semipermeable membranes is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,353,802, however, the membranes are employed for desalination of water by reverse osmosis rather than for gas separation.
Thus, the art of which I am aware has not provided a semipermeable membrane, highly selective for certain gases in a mixture, particularly mixtures of carbon dioxide and methane. Nor, have existing membranes possessed improved strength, flexibility and solvent resistance.


The storage system is one of the most limiting aspects of performance of modern enterprise computing systems. Performance of hard drive based storage is determined by seek time and time for half rotation. The performance is increased by decreasing seek time and decreasing rotational latency. However, there are limits on how fast a drive may spin. The fastest contemporary drives are reaching 15,000 rpm.
FIG. 1 illustrates a system 100 in accordance with the prior art. In the system 100, at least one computer 102-108 is coupled to a host controller 110 and 112. The host controllers 110 and 112 are coupled to a plurality of disks 114-120.
Often, the system 100 is configured as redundant array of independent disks (RAID)-1, storing mirrored content of the disks 114-116 in the disks 118-120. The disks 114-116 are said to be mirrored by the disks 118-120.
Increased reliability of the computer system is achieved by duplicating the disks 114-116, the host controllers 110 and connections therebetween. Therefore, a reliable computer system is able operate at least in presence of single failure of the disks 114-120, the RAID controllers 110 and 112, the computers 102-108, and the connections therebetween. However, storage system performance may still be inadequate using the system 100. Additionally, increasing the performance of such system is currently costly and often times is not feasible.
Furthermore, one limiting aspect of current storage systems is the fact that many types of storage devices exhibit a limited lifetime. For example, a lifetime of non-volatile memory such as flash is reduced each time it is erased and re-written. Over time and thousands of erasures and re-writes, such storage systems may become less and less reliable.
There is thus a need for addressing these and/or other issues associated with the prior art.


A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to digging implements, and in particular a backhoe.
B. Background of the Art
Backhoes are used extensively for excavating and for carrying objects from one area to another. Backhoes have typically been used to dig holes in the ground for trenches and for the placement of building structural components, road substructures, cables, pipes, etc.
Heretofore, backhoes have included a first arm pivotally attached to a tractor and a second arm pivotally attached to the first arm in a scissors-like manner. A bucket is attached to the second arm for digging. Separate hydraulic actuators have typically been used to move each of the arms and the bucket. Some of these backhoes have included an extendable second arm. Furthermore, some backhoes have included a gripping device positioned opposite the bucket for gripping objects between the gripping device and the bucket. One of the gripping devices has included a gripping device statically attached to an arm of the backhoe that does not rotate relative to the arm. These gripping devices have been difficult to use because the arm and the bucket have to properly position relative to the gripping device before the gripping device can be used to pick up objects. Another gripping device includes a separate hydraulic actuator for moving only the gripping device. These backhoe are expensive to manufacture because of the cost for the extra hydraulic actuator and the cost for connecting the gripping device to the controls in the tractor. A third gripping device includes thumbs that rotate simultaneously with the bucket. These backhoes are also difficult to use because the bucket and the gripping device must be properly positioned before the gripping implement can be used. Furthermore, these backhoes are difficult to operate because the rotating gripping implement can get in the way of the rotating bucket, thus making the ground difficult to dig.


I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communications. More particularly, the present invention relates to a novel and improved method and apparatus for increasing the available data rate to and from a wireless station by multiplexing signals onto multiple carriers, multiple spread spectrum code channels and/or from multiple base stations.
II. Description of the Related Art
The present invention is concerned with transmitting data at rates which are higher than the capacity of a single CDMA channel. Many solutions to this problem have been proposed. One solution is to allocate multiple channels to the users and allow those users to transmit and receive data in parallel on the plurality of channels available to them. Two methods for providing multiple CDMA channels for use by a single user are described in co-pending U.S. Pat. No. 6,005,855, entitled xe2x80x9cMETHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING VARIABLE RATE DATA IN A COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM USING STATISTICAL MULTIPLEXINGxe2x80x9d, issued Dec. 21, 1999, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,777,999, entitled xe2x80x9cMETHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING VARIABLE RATE DATA IN A COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM USING NON-ORTHOGONAL OVERFLOW CHANNELSxe2x80x9d, issued Jul. 7, 1998, both of which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention and are incorporated by reference herein. In addition, frequency diversity can be obtained by transmitting data over multiple spread spectrum channels that are separated from one another in frequency. A method and apparatus for redundantly transmitting data over multiple CDMA channels is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,166,951, entitled xe2x80x9cHIGH CAPACITY SPREAD SPECTRUM CHANNELxe2x80x9d, which is incorporated by reference herein.
The use of code division multiple access (CDMA) modulation techniques is one of several techniques for facilitating communications in which a large number of system users are present. Other multiple access communication system techniques, such as time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA) and AM modulation schemes such as amplitude companded single sideband (ACSSB) are known in the art. However, the spread spectrum modulation technique of CDMA has significant advantages over these modulation techniques for multiple access communication systems. The use of CDMA techniques in a multiple access communication system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,901,307, entitled xe2x80x9cSPREAD SPECTRUM MULTIPLE ACCESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM USING SATELLITE OR TERRESTRIAL REPEATERSxe2x80x9d, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein. The use of CDMA techniques in a multiple access communication system is further disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,459, entitled xe2x80x9cSYSTEM AND METHOD FOR GENERATING SIGNAL WAVEFORMS IN A CDMA CELLULAR TELEPHONE SYSTEMxe2x80x9d, assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein.
CDMA by its inherent nature of being a wideband signal offers a form of frequency diversity by spreading the signal energy over a wide bandwidth. Therefore, frequency selective fading affects only a small part of the CDMA signal bandwidth. Space or path diversity is obtained by providing multiple signal paths through simultaneous links from a mobile user through two or more cell-sites. Furthermore, path diversity may be obtained by exploiting the multipath environment through spread spectrum processing by allowing a signal arriving with different propagation delays to be received and processed separately. Examples of the utilization of path diversity are illustrated in copending U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,501 entitled xe2x80x9cSOFT HANDOFF IN A CDMA CELLULAR TELEPHONE SYSTEMxe2x80x9d, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,109,390 entitled xe2x80x9cDIVERSITY RECEIVER IN A CDMA CELLULAR TELEPHONE SYSTEMxe2x80x9d, both assigned to the assignee of the present invention and incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention is a novel and improved method and apparatus for the transmission of high speed data in spread spectrum communication systems. In the present invention, high speed data is provided by transmitting data on multiple carrier frequencies, multiple code channels and/or from multiple base stations. In a first embodiment of the present invention, multiplexed code symbols are transmitted on a plurality of carrier frequencies from the same base station. In second embodiment, code symbols are transmitted on multiple carrier frequencies with at least one corner frequency providing the code symbols is a multiple code channels. In a third embodiment, a subset of the multiplexed code symbols are redundantly provided on a different carrier from at least one additional base station. In a fourth embodiment, multiplexed symbols as transmitted on different carriers from the same base station and are redundantly transmitted on another set of carriers from a different base station. In a fifth embodiment, code symbols are multiplexed onto carriers from a plurality of base stations for increased throughput. In a sixth embodiment, code symbols are transmitted on carriers from a first base station and redundantly provided on at least one additional base station on the same carriers as used by the first base station.
The present invention further describes a method wherein a receiver can demodulate data on a plurality of channels and can allocate a demodulator or set of demodulators to search for other available systems, while maintaining the current level of data throughput. In addition the present invention describes a method for receiving multiple paging channels on a plurality of frequencies and code channels.


1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to an image forming apparatus. More particularly, the present general inventive concept relates to a printing media loading apparatus usable with an image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an image forming apparatus includes a printing media loading apparatus that stores a certain amount of printing media and allows a pickup unit to pick up a printing medium. The printing media loading apparatus may include a main printing media loading means, a printing medium feeding cassette, an auxiliary printing media loading means, and a multi-purpose tray that can load a sheet or less than 50 sheets of printing media.
In order to allow a control portion of the image forming apparatus to know whether at least one printing medium is loaded on the printing medium feeding cassette and the multi-purpose tray, a paper sensor that can detect the presence of printing medium is disposed in each of the printing medium feeding cassette and the multi-purpose tray.
By using the paper sensor, the control portion can detect whether there is a printing medium on the printing medium feeding cassette and the multi-purpose tray, indicate the result to a user, prevent trouble due to malfunction, and perform a certain printing on a printing medium.
However, in a conventional printing media loading apparatus usable with an image forming apparatus, material cost is increased since sensors are disposed in both the printing medium feeding cassette and the multi-purpose tray to detect loading of the printing media. Also, since space is needed for disposing the two sensors, it is difficult to miniaturize the image forming apparatus.


This invention relates to control of operation of magnetic disk drives of the type in which the disk is divided into "hard" sectors; that is, one in which the format of the disk is permanently defined at the time of manufacture of the disk. In particular the disk is divided into sectors by radial index marks followed by information defining the various tracks extending circularly around the disk. Each track is thus divided by the index mark into a plurality of sectors. Within each sector there are various permanently written data used for identification of the track and of the sector and for, e.g., timing of the data read and write operations as well as areas left for the actual storage of data on the disk. In order that the head can be properly controlled to read and write the data at the appropriate time, a format sequencer is required in order to keep track of the position of the head with respect to the disk. That is, to provide a signal indicating that, for example, the head is currently juxtaposed to the data field. Clearly, it would be desirable that such a format sequencer be capable of performing as many operations with as little hardware as possible. Further, it would be desirable if such a format sequencer could be used as well as for actual format sequencing, for example, for data read and write control.


Many networking applications require secure and authenticated communications. SSL and its related protocols are often used to enable secure communications between a client and a server. One drawback of SSL is that the handshake required to initiate an SSL connection may require significant computing resources, slowing down client access. One solution to this problem is to offload the task of SSL processing to a network appliance, which may sit in front of a server on a network and handle SSL connection requests. The appliance may then transmit data received via the SSL communications to the server either via a nonsecure channel or via a single SSL connection using connection pooling techniques.
However, this solution may not be adequate for all networks. Computing SSL handshake messages may be a processor intensive task, and thus reduce the number of appliance processor cycles available for other tasks, such as servicing existing connections, load balancing, and caching. Thus there exists a need for systems and methods which accelerate the generation and processing of SSL handshake messages on a network appliance.


The phytopathogenic fungus Ashbya gossypii is a filamentously growing ascomycete that was first isolated as a plant pathogen in tropical and sub-tropical regions. It infects the seed capsule of cotton plants (Ashby S. F. and Nowell W. (1926) Ann. Botany 40: 69-84) and has also been isolated from tomatoes and citrus fruits (Phaff H. J. and Starmer W. T. (1987) In "The Yeasts", Vol. I Rose A. H., Harrison, J. S. (eds), Academic Press, London, 123 ff; Dammer K. H. and Ravelo H. G. (1990). Arch. Phytopathol. Pflanzenschutz, Berlin 26: 71-78 Dammer and Ravelo, 1990). The infection of the seed capsule is caused by transmission of A. gossyppii mycelium pieces or spores by stinging-sucking insects and causes a disease called stigmatomycosis.
Studies characterising the karyotype of A. gossypii have been performed (Wright, 1990; Wendland, 1993; Gaudenz, 1994, "The small genome of the filamentous fungus Ashbya gossypii: Assessment of the karyotype", Diploma Thesis, Department of Applied Microbiology, Biocenter, University Basel). It has been found using yeast chromosomes of precisely known length as size markers that the genome of A. gossypii has a total nuclear genome size of 8.85 Mb. Presently, A. gossypii represents the most compact eukaryotic genome, compared to genome sizes of 12.5 Mb for Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Chu et al. (1986) Science, 234:1582-1585), 31.0 Mb for Aspergillus nidulans (Brody and Carbon (1989) Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 86:6260-6263), and 47.0 Mb for Neurospora crassa (Orbach et al.(1988) Mol Cell Biology, 8:1469-1473).
A. gossypii is systematically grouped to the endomycetales belonging to the family of spermophthoraceae. This classification is based on the observation that the spores that develop in hyphal compartments called sporangia look like ascospores, which are defined as end products of meiosis.
Since A. gossypii is a filamentous ascomycete, and is capable of growing only by filamentous (hyphal) growth, fungal targets found in this model organism are predictive of targets which will be found in other pathogens, the vast majority of which grow in a filamentous fashion.


Yo-yo players, especially beginners, have been assisted by the development of yo-yos provided with a means to automatically return the yo-yo to the player's hand before the yo-yo spins out completely. Such an arrangement is described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,332,102 to Caffrey.
The Caffrey patent discloses a yo-yo having a rotatable bearing pulley mounted on the axle to which the yo-yo string is attached. Adjacent the pulley section of the bearing there is provided a cylindrical friction or braking means that interacts with two clutch mechanisms. The surface of the friction or braking means has a slip resistant characteristic and is in practice one or a series of O-rings, which are subject to wear. The clutch mechanism is provided with weighting means such that when the yo-yo is thrown the clutch is released by the development of centrifugal forces. The centrifugal forces are counterbalanced by a spring-loaded force such that the clutch is activated when the yo-yo slows down. The clutch engages the cylindrical friction surface of the pulley extension while the yo-yo still has sufficient momentum to enable the automatic return of the yo-yo to the player's hand. The successful development of an automatically returning yo-yo has proven to be especially valuable to beginners. It is also viewed as a valuable assistance to less gifted or handicapped players.
The nature of the arrangement shown in Caffrey, however, is such that it tends to critically weaken the structural integrity of the yo-yo. The pulley bearing to gain access to the clutch mechanism housed within a yo-yo half requires part of the boss enclosing the axle to be removed in the plastic mold. To enable sufficient braking capacity to be applied, up to 80% of the plastic boss must be removed where the pulley extension friction surface meets the clutch mechanisms.
Also, because the pulley is also the string bearing means, problems occur when bearing lubrication applied in excess finds its way with the aid of centrifugal forces to the nearby contact area between clutch and pulley such that the clutch slips and fails to return the yo-yo successfully.
The arrangement disclosed in Caffrey, by linking the centrifugally operated clutch to a coaxial extension of the string bearing means, has intrinsically restricted options on varying the quality of the string bearing means. The use of a dual purpose bearing that combines a string securing means as well as a clutch interfacing means where the clutch means is operatively enclosed in the yo-yo half must by nature expand laterally along the axial member to accommodate both functions. Caffrey achieves a superior spinning automatically returning yo-yo is achieved by narrowing the string bearing means thereby reducing the area frictionally contacting the axial member. Having the centrifugally activated clutch operatively engage an integral extension of the string bearing means also necessitates the use of double-loop string attachment to inhibit the string from slipping on the bearing means and thereby reducing the clutch effectiveness. The general public have difficulty in tying a double-loop attachment.
Also, the Caffrey arrangement, at least in its commercial embodiments in which the clutch mechanism occupies only one yo-yo half, exhibits a weight differential between the two yo-yo halves that is believed to shorten free spinning time.
Another problem experienced with a conventional automatically returning yo-yo which has a static spacing between yo-yo halves is that different yo-yo manoeuvres, to be performed efficiently, require different yo-yo response tolerances. Tom Kuhn in his publication "SB2Flight Manual" in "The Art of Yo-Yo Choreography", indicates a narrower string gap is better for loop-the-loops and a wider string gap is better for complex spin tricks.


The present invention relates to a specimen-holder system for upright microscopes.
Upright microscopes used at the present time have a stage upon the surface of which the specimen to be examined is placed and which is generally displaceable, for focusing purposes, in the direction of the optical axis. For this purpose, two separate adjustments, a so-called coarse adjustment and a so-called fine adjustment, are required in order, on the one hand, to adapt the focal plane to greatly varying dimensions of the specimens and, on the other hand, to permit accurate focusing in the range of high magnification.
Since coarse and fine adjustments are effected coaxially, this focusing mechanism is relatively expensive to manufacture, particularly if value is placed on high stability of the stage. Manipulations of the specimen or displacements of the specimen upon scanning should cause the specimen to migrate as little as possible out of the focal plane of the microscope.
In inverse-type microscopes, the specimens to be examined are placed almost generally on a fixed stage so that the surface of the specimen in the case of reflected-light specimens always falls in the focal plane of the microscope. For small focusing strokes, merely a fine adjustment is required, whereby the lens turret can be displaced vertically.
This has the disadvantage that the user cannot directly observe the specimen surface which is being examined at the time, as is for instance very useful when seeking specimen regions of interest. When operating with oil immersion, the oil must be applied to the downward-facing preparation-side of the specimen slide and therefore, upon scanning of the specimen, the oil easily flows into the mechanism of preparation protection of the objective lens.
The focusing by displacement of the lens turret which is known in inverse-type microscopes cannot be applied directly to upright microscopes since larger focusing strokes (such as are required to enable examination of specimens of different dimensions) require the use of a special optical system. With the lenses widely used up to the present time, and designed for a finite tube length, only slight focusing strokes can be effected without negatively affecting the quality of the intermediate image.
West German Pat. No. 2,449,291 discloses a device for applying specimen slides to microscopes. The device consists of a fixed stage against the lower edge of which standardized transmitted-light specimen slides can be applied by means of a suction unit; as a result, specimen planes of the specimens always agree with the focal plane of the microscope used. Aside from the fact that this device requires a vacuum conduit, which is not available in the case of simple microscopes, other specimens, for instance reflected-light specimens of different dimensions, cannot be used in this apparatus. Even examinations of blood-count chambers, which are frequently viewed in clinical operations alternately with standard specimen slides, cannot be carried out on this apparatus since normal blood-count chambers differ in all dimensions (i.e., thickness, cover-glass thickness, width, length) from the corresponding values for standard specimen slides.
West German utility model Pat No. 1,973,676 discloses a so-called auto-levelling stage for reflected-light specimens; this auto levelling stage is placed on the actual stage of an upright microscope and within it specimens of different thickness are pressed, in each case by spring force, against the lower side of an annular diaphragm. With such auto-levelling stages, the specimen plane is moved upward by a constant amount, namely the height of the auto-levelling stage, and remains the same for all specimens which vary within the height of the auto-levelling stage. Of course, the use of this auto-levelling stage is possible only on microscopes which have a coarse adjustment or some other stage adjustment by which the focal plane of the microscope can be readjusted by that amount which corresponds to the displacement of the specimen plane which is attributable to the height of the auto-levelling stage.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a brush holding device, and more particularly to a brush holding device for holding a brush for making electrical contact with a commutator of a small electric motor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a small electric motor, brushes for making electrical contact with commutators are resiliently supported by brush holding plates made of a resilient, electrically conductive material and electrically connected to the brush holding plates. In this type of brush holding device having a brush holding plate, which is constructed so as to hold the top of a brush in position by the resiliency of lanced and raised pieces, damages are often caused to the top of the brush. That is, lanced and raised pieces of an L-shaped cross section are provided as a means for holding a brush on a brush holding plate by lancing and raising a part of the brush holding plate made of an electrically conductive, resilient material, and the brush is held in position between the edges of the lanced and raised pieces by forcing the brush in between the lanced and raised pieces. This construction often causes the edges of the lanced and raised pieces to cut into the engaging surfaces of the brush which is usually of brittle nature, resulting in damages to the top of the brush. On the other hand, to reduce the contact pressure of the brush to the commutators, the recent trend is toward the use of thinner materials for the brush holding plate, and consequently toward the increased width of the brush holding plate to increase the mechanical strength of the brush holding plate itself. However, an excessive increase in the width of the brush holding plate relative to the width of the brush proper is not desirable in terms of limited space inside the motor. It is necessary, therefore, to devise an effective means for holding a brush on a brush holding plate while maintaining the mechanical strength of the brush holding plate itself.


Automatically calculating the volumetric breast density (VBD) from an x-ray image produced during mammography is known. The volumetric breast density is defined as the ratio of the volume of the fibroglandular tissue to the overall volume of the breast. Below, the terms “fibroglandular tissue,” “glandular tissue,” and “mammographically dense tissue” or “dense tissue” are used synonymously. On the basis of this VBD value, the breast has until now been assigned a specific breast density category using fixed thresholds, e.g., a BI-RADS value from “1” to “4” according to the classification by the American College of Radiology (ACR). By way of example, this is described in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2011/0026791 A1 and in DE 10 2006 021 042 A1.
Women whose breast has a high VBD value have an increased risk of getting breast cancer. The increase in this risk is partly traced back to the fact that cancerous tissue is masked by mammographically dense tissue and therefore it is not identified during mammography.
It is known that the masking risk does not always correlate with the VBD value. FIGS. 1 and 2 depict a breast 3 compressed between two plates 1, 2 during mammography. After passing through the tissue of the breast 3, x-ray radiation 5 emanating from an x-ray source 4 is incident on an x-ray detector 6. As depicted in FIGS. 1 and 2, the same volume of fibroglandular tissue 7, 8 may cover small masses 9 in different ways. In the example depicted in FIG. 1, the fibroglandular tissue 7, which has a specific volume, is localized at a single position such that the small mass 9 is covered by the dense tissue 7. As a result of the volume of the fibroglandular tissue 7, the depicted region of the breast 3 is characterized by a specific VBD value. By contrast, the fibroglandular tissue 8, which has an identical volume, is distributed more uniformly in the volume of the breast 3 in the example depicted in FIG. 2, and so it is less likely for the small mass 9 to be covered by the dense tissue 8. Despite the VBD values being identical, the risk of masking of the small mass 9 is lower in FIG. 2. Therefore, the sole use of the VBD value is not sufficient for an accurate description of the masking effect by mammographically dense tissue 7, 8.
It is for this reason that the 5th edition of the ACR BI-RADS Atlas proposes new categories “a” to “d” with a verbal description of the breast density category, defined by the visually estimated portion of fibroglandular tissue in the breast. Taking into account the masking risk was proposed for the first time in this context. Thus, the category “c” may be assigned if small masses may be obscured as a result of a heterogeneous density distribution. It is proposed that the radiologist in such a case describes the position of the dense tissue in a further sentence.
Moreover, the nature of the breast may be described with the category “a” if the breasts are almost entirely fatty. The category “b” may be present if there are scattered areas of fibroglandular density. The category “d” may be assigned if the breasts are extremely dense, which lowers the sensitivity of mammography.
As depicted in FIG. 3, a glandularity map was previously calculated in act 101 using the x-ray image produced during mammography, with the glandularity denoting the proportion of the fibroglandular tissue in the overall tissue. The glandularity map defines the amount of glandular tissue in each image pixel of the x-ray image, either as a specification in millimeters or as a percentage specification, with the value lying in a range from, e.g., 1% to 50%. Then, the mean glandularity, the VBD value, is established in act 102. Subsequently, the categories “a” to “d” are determined in act 103 based purely on the VBD value. The acts are carried out either manually by a radiologist or already in an automated form with the aid of available systems. However, only experienced radiologists may undertake a reliable assessment of the masking risk and generate a complete breast density report, taking into account the masking risk, in accordance with the prescriptions of the ACR. Here, there is a risk of errors of judgment.


Information associated with objects is typically collected using information carrying devices affixed to the objects. Information carrying devices include bar code symbols or other optically read symbols. A laser scanner, optical imager or other device scans or images the bar code symbol and decodes information encoded within the symbol.
One disadvantage of bar code symbols is that they may not be altered once printed. For example, if a bar code symbol encodes information about objects contained within a box, and then one of the objects is removed from the box, the bar code symbol may not be updated. Instead, a new bar code symbol must be printed and affixed to the box. Another disadvantage of bar code symbols is that they typically must be visible to the scanner or imager. If they are obscured (e.g., within a box), the scanner/imager may not read the symbol.
Radio frequency (RF) tags overcome these limitations of bar code symbols. Certain RF tags may be electronically rewritten with data, thereby overcoming the permanency of bar code symbols. Additionally, RF tags may be interrogated or polled through opaque surfaces, such as through boxes, to exchange data therewith.
One shortcoming of RF tags, however, is that they are expensive to manufacture. Often, RF tags are constructed using a small semiconductor chip with an associated antenna, both of which may be expensive to manufacture.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,204,681, 5,291,205, and 5,581,257 describe radio frequency automatic identification systems that overcome some shortcomings of RF tags. These patents describe radio frequency automatic identification systems that initially detect targets having numerous radio frequency resonators, such as quartz crystals. The quartz crystals may be made by a process of heating quartz to soften it and cutting crystals of approximate size and resonant frequency. The resonators are then produced by a process where resonance is measured to determine actual resonant frequency, and then the crystals are sorted based on certain predetermined frequency windows. The resonators may then be incorporated into a variety of objects, such as in paper. Information is attributed to the target (e.g., the paper), under the RF response characteristics of the target, such as the resonant frequencies of the resonators present, and/or the spatial locations of the resonators within the target.
In addition to quartz crystals, thin dipoles may be employed, which may be metallizations on a plastic film substrate. Information may be attributed to a target by fabricating the target with the resonators disposed at locations to encode information under a predetermined encoding system. Readers then read the radio frequency response characteristics of a target in a field near thereto of a radiating aperture that is activated by a radio frequency source.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of electrically-driven reciprocating pumps. More particularly, the invention relates to a pump which is particularly well suited for use as a fuel pump, driven by a solenoid assembly employing a permanent magnet and a solenoid coil to produce pressure variations in a pump section and thereby to draw into and express from the pump section a fluid, such as a fuel being pumped. The invention also relates to a fuel injector assembly employing such a pump.
2. Description of the Related Art
A wide range of pumps have been developed for displacing fluids under pressure produced by electrical drives. For example, in certain fuel injection systems, fuel is displaced via a reciprocating pump assembly which is driven by electric current supplied from a source, typically a vehicle electrical system. In one fuel pump design of this type, a reluctance gap coil is positioned in a solenoid housing, and an armature is mounted movably within the housing and secured to a guide tube. The solenoid coil may be energized to force displacement of the armature toward the reluctance gap in a magnetic circuit defined around the solenoid coil. The guide tube moves with the armature, entering and withdrawing from a pump section. By reciprocal movement of the guide tube into and out of the pump section, fluid is drawn into the pump section and expressed from the pump section during operation.
In pumps of the type described above, the armature and guide tube are typically returned to their original position under the influence of one or more biasing springs. Where a fuel injection nozzle is connected to the pump, an additional biasing spring may be used to return the injection nozzle to its original position. Upon interruption of energizing current to the coil, the combination of biasing springs then forces the entire movable assembly to its original position. The cycle time of the resulting device is the sum of the time required for the pressurization stroke during energization of the solenoid coil, and the time required for returning the armature and guide to the original position for the next pressure stroke.
Where such pumps are employed in demanding applications, such as for supplying fuel to combustion chambers of an internal combustion engine, cycle times can be extremely rapid. Moreover, repeatability and precision in beginning and ending of pump stroke cycles can be important in optimizing the performance of the engine under varying operating conditions. While the cycle time may be reduced by providing stronger springs for returning the reciprocating assembly to the initial position, such springs have the adverse effect of opposing forces exerted on the reciprocating assembly by energization of the solenoid. Such forces must therefore be overcome by correspondingly increased forces created during energization of the solenoid. At some point, however, increased current levels required for such forces become undesirable due to the limits of the electrical components, and additional heating produced by electrical losses.
There is a need, therefore, for an improved technique for pumping fluids in a linearly reciprocating fluid pump. There is a particular need for an improved technique for providing rapid cycle times in fluid pumps, such as fuel pumps without substantially increasing the forces and current demands of electrical driving components.


Pressure swing adsorption is a well-known method for the separation of bulk gas mixtures and for the purification of gas streams containing undesirable impurities. The method has been developed and adapted for a wide range of feed gases, operating conditions, product recovery, and product purity. Most large pressure swing adsorption (PSA) systems utilize multiple parallel adsorber beds operated in staggered sequential cycles using typical process steps of feed/adsorption, pressure equalization, depressurization, evacuation, purge, and repressurization. These PSA systems are widely used in the chemical process industries for the recovery and purification of valuable gaseous products such as hydrogen, carbon oxides, synthesis gas, light hydrocarbons, and atmospheric gases.
The design and operation of these PSA systems can present complex engineering challenges because of the large number of variables and parameters involved. These variables and parameters may include, for example, adsorbent type, adsorbent particle size, bed length/diameter ratio, gas flow velocities, gas residence times, type of PSA operating cycle, duration of steps in the PSA cycle, number of adsorbent beds, feed gas pressure, feed gas composition, product throughput, and product purity.
A large worldwide market exists for the supply of high-purity hydrogen in the chemical process, metals refining, and other related industries. A typical commercial method for the production of hydrogen to satisfy this market is the reforming of natural gas or other methane-rich hydrocarbon streams. The reforming process is carried out by reacting the hydrocarbon with steam and/or an oxygen-containing gas (e.g., air or oxygen-enriched air), producing a crude reformate gas containing hydrogen, carbon oxides, water, residual hydrocarbons, and nitrogen. If carbon monoxide recovery is not required and hydrogen is the main product, the carbon monoxide may be converted to additional hydrogen and carbon dioxide by the water gas shift reaction to yield a shifted synthesis gas. Hydrogen recovery from this shifted synthesis gas typically includes a multiple-bed PSA process in which each adsorbent bed uses a layer of activated carbon for the removal of CO2 and CH4 followed by a layer of zeolite or molecular sieve adsorbent for the removal CO and N2. Other hydrogen-rich gas sources that can be upgraded by PSA technology to provide a high purity hydrogen product include refinery off-gases containing hydrogen and C1-C6 hydrocarbons, and include effluent streams from hydrocarbon partial oxidation units.
The overall cost of hydrogen from integrated reformer/PSA systems includes both capital and operating cost components. The economic production of high-purity hydrogen requires low operating and capital costs, wherein the capital costs depend largely upon the size of the reformer and the size of the vessels containing the PSA adsorbent beds. PSA bed size typically decreases as the hydrogen productivity (i.e., the amount of hydrogen produced per unit bed volume) of the PSA system increases, and the bed size also decreases as the hydrogen bed size factor (i.e., the volume of adsorbent bed required to produce a given amount of hydrogen product) of the PSA system decreases. Clearly, a smaller bed size factor and a larger hydrogen productivity are preferred.
Hydrogen productivity and recovery in PSA systems can be increased by improved process cycles and/or improved adsorbents. For example, the use of improved rapid cycle PSA processes can improve the overall economics of hydrogen production, since the size and cost of the reformer is impacted significantly by the performance of the PSA system, and improvements in PSA hydrogen recovery result directly in a smaller reformer. Improvements in PSA hydrogen recovery also result in a reduced demand for reformer feed gas, i.e. natural gas, which constitutes the largest operating cost of the reformer.
There is a need in the field of hydrogen production for improved design and operating methods to reduce overall capital and operating costs. This may be achieved by the use of improved PSA systems for final hydrogen recovery and purification, particularly by the application of improved rapid cycle processes in these PSA systems. This need is addressed by the embodiments of the present invention described below and defined by the claims that follow.


Generally speaking, a conventional case assembly for electronic appliance relies on the connection of multiple bolts which decide the quality of the case assembly. For instance, the reliability of the case assembly depends on the connection of the bolts and the cases, however, the bolts have to be threadedly connected to the cases one by one and which is a time-consuming task. The threaded holes can be easily broken and affect the connection of the bolts which may drop from the cases. U.S. Pat. No. 7,092,520 to Fuhrmann discloses the invention related to the connection of the bolts and the cases.