1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to and has among its objects the provision of novel apparatus for harvesting vegetable heads which are non-colinear with respect to the stalk line in a row of heads. Further objects of the invention will be evident from the following description wherein parts and percentages are by weight unless otherwise specified.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Vegetable heads, such as cauliflower or cabbage, grown in the United States are presently harvested manually. The harvesters select the head to be harvested by visual observation according to size. The head is then manually cut and thrown into a suitable receptacle, e.g., a trailer drawn by a tractor.
Manual harvesting is fraught with disadvantages such as large consumption of time and expense, inevitable spoilage of mature vegetable heads, etc. For example, during peak growth periods a sufficient number of workers cannot be obtained to pick a cauliflower crop. As a result, the cauliflower heads, which can become over-mature one-day after they are ready for harvest, are lost as a salable product.
Mechanical means for harvesting lettuce heads are known and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,300,954, and 3,300,955. In the known apparatus the maturity of the head is determined by compression rollers, one fixed and the other laterally movable. The compression rollers are composed of a plurality of cylindrical rollers mounted on shafts and projected downwardly. The compression rollers form a V-shaped configuration. A mature lettuce head will laterally displace the movable compression roller thus triggering a cutting mechanism which cuts the mature lettuce head. The cutting mechanism includes a pair of knife baskets vertically rotatable. Each knife basket is equipped with a knife and a basket or cradle portion. The knife severs the lettuce head and the cradle portion conveys the harvested head to a container.
Although the known harvester works well for harvesting lettuce heads, it cannot be used for harvesting vegetable heads such as cauliflower and cabbage. A mature head of cauliflower, for example, is composed of a center or head of cauliflower engulfed in an abundance of large, loose-fitting leafy material. Thus, the cauliflower head is quite different from a lettuce head which is composed of leaves of lettuce tightly formed into a ball-like shape. Cauliflower and cabbage plants also have longer stems and grow further out of line from the row in which they are planted than do lettuce plants. That is to say certain of the heads ar non-colinear with the stalk line in a particular row. Generally, the stalks of the plant remain in a straight line corresponding to that formed when the seeds are planted. The plants, themselves, however, grow out of this stalk line, i.e., they are non-colinear therewith. Lettuce heads, on the other hand, will grow colinearly within the row.
The leaves surrounding the cauliflower and cabbage heads cause the known harvester to function improperly by fouling the compression rollers. In addition, the known selector cannot align itself with non-colinearly growing vegetable plants because one compression roller is fixed. Furthermore, the cutting mechanism is not adequate to sever mature heads of cauliflower or cabbage with their bulky leaf package.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a surface pressure distribution sensor which is suitable for detecting microscopic asperity patterns such as fingerprint patterns by using a flexible conductive film, and also relates to a manufacturing method of such a sensor.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 14A–14B show an example of an active matrix surface pressure distribution sensor for detecting fingerprint patterns. FIG. 14A is a plan view of the device, and FIG. 14B and FIG. 14C are cross sectional views taken along line D—D shown in FIG. 14A.
A conventional sensor 200 for surface pressure distribution includes a substrate 201 which is made of a glass, a ceramic or the like, and a common electrode film 202. The device also has a number of TFTs (thin film transistors) 204a thereon as unit detection elements.
Each of the unit detection elements 204 includes TFT 204a and contact electrode connected thereto. The unit detection elements 204 are arranged in the form of a matrix on the substrate 201. The active layers of the TFTs of the unit detection elements 204 are made of an amorphous silicon film. The contact electrodes 204b are made of ITO (indium tin oxide).
The common electrode film 202 is provided so as to face the substrate 201, and includes a flexible insulator film 202a and a conductive film 202b deposited on the rear side of the film 202a (TFT side). The common electrode film 202 is fixed on a sealing agent 203 applied around the substrate 201 so as not to be in contact with the substrate 201.
An example of a manufacturing method of this surface pressure distribution sensor will be described. After the TFTs are formed on the substrate 201, the sealing agent 203 made of a low temperature thermosetting resin is applied around the substrate 201 in order to affix the common electrode film 202 thereon. The common electrode film 202 is then affixed on the substrate 201 and subjected to a heat treatment. Consequently, the substrate 201 and the common electrode film 202 are fixed to each other.
FIG. 14C shows an example of detecting fingerprint patterns by using this surface pressure distribution sensor. By placing a finger F to press slightly the top of the sensor 200, the common electrode film 202 as a whole is pressed down. However, the difference in pressure between the peaks and the valleys of the fingerprint pattern causes only the contact electrodes 204b of the unit detection elements 204 directly below and in the vicinity of the peaks to come into electrical contact with the common electrode film 202. On the other hand, the contact electrodes 204b of the unit detection elements 204 directly below and in the vicinity of the valleys of the fingerprint pattern are not in electrical contact with the common electrode film 202. Hence, the signals corresponding to the regions in which the common electrode film 202 and the unit detection elements 204 come into contact with each other are generated so as to detect fingerprint patterns.
It is known that a surface pressure distribution sensor with TFTs can be realized by the above-mentioned structure and manufacturing method. However, the reproducibility of such devices is poor when mass-produced.


To meet demands for smaller size and higher performance regarding high-frequency or radiofrequency (RF) component parts of cellular phones and the like, researches and developments of electric equipment using MEMS technologies are being vigorously carried out. In MEMS devices intended for radiofrequency uses, an RF switch, a variable capacitance or the like employs a movable portion that has a cantilever structure or a both-ends-supported beam (bridge shape) structure that is formed from a metal material structure of low resistance. The movable portion is displaced by piezoelectric drive, electrostatic drive, etc. For performing a desired function, the position of the movable portion should be stably controlled.
An MEMS switch is a mechanical switch that has a static or stationary electrode and a movable electrode facing each other and that performs on-off actions by driving or actuating the movable electrode to contact to or separate from the static electrode. The mechanical switch allows reduction in parasitic capacitance, and is low in loss, high in insulation and less in distortion in signal waveform, in comparison with switches that use semiconductor elements.
In a radiofrequency (RF) circuit, an MEMS capacitance is connected in series to or loaded on a RF line so as to define the frequency characteristic or adjust the distributed constant of the RF line. By using a variable capacitance, it is possible to change the resonance frequency or change the distributed constant. Generally, a variable-capacitance element has such a structure that a fixed electrode and a movable electrode face each other and the capacitance between the electrodes is changed by displacing the movable electrode.
Such a movable electrode is formed of a flexible metal structure that is formed by, for example, plating. Electrolytic plating requires an electricity feeding layer. For example, a stack of an adherence layer that provides adherence with a base and a seed layer made of the same material as a plate layer is formed by sputtering or the like. The adherence layer is formed of, for example, a metal layer of Ti, Cr, Mo, etc. The plate layer is formed, for example, of a highly electroconductive metal such as copper (Cu), gold (Au), etc.
In order to provide for a free space below the flexible metal structure, a method including forming a sacrificial film in a free space, forming a metal structure on top of the sacrificial film, and then removing the sacrificial film is employed. The sacrificial film that is used in this method may be, for example, a metal film of copper, aluminum, etc., an inorganic dielectric film of silicon oxide, silicon nitride, aluminum oxide, etc., or an organic dielectric film of a photosensitive resin, etc.
For example, in order to form a cantilever type movable electrode on a ceramics substrate, a pedestal portion is first formed by processes of forming an adherence layer/seed layer by sputtering or the like, forming a structure that defines a plating region by using a resist pattern or the like, forming a pedestal metal layer by electrolytic plating process, removal of a structure such as the resist pattern or the like, removal of the adherence layer/seed layer that is unnecessary, etc., and a sacrificial film that fills a free space is formed through formation of an adherence layer/seed layer by sputtering or the like, formation of a structure that defines a plating region through the use of a resist pattern or the like, formation of a sacrificial metal layer by an electrolytic plating process, removal of the structure of the resist pattern or the like, etc., and a cantilever structure is formed through formation of an adherence layer/seed layer by sputtering or the like, formation of a structure that defines a plating region through the use of a resist pattern or the like, formation of a movable beam portion metal layer by an electrolytic plating process, removal of the structure of the resist pattern or the like, etc. Thereafter, the sacrificial film and the unnecessary adherence layer/seed layer are removed, so that the cantilever type movable electrode is formed.
The cantilever structure, which is mainly formed from a good conductor such as gold or the like, includes an adherence layer and a seed layer as a base. A metal layer formed by sputtering and a metal layer formed by plating are different from each other in purity and the like and exhibit different physical properties even if the two layers are of the same metal. A stack of metal layers having different physical properties is a stack of metal layers whose thermal expansivities are different.
An electric equipment is subjected to a reflow step at about 260° C. or a temperature impact test at −20° C. to +80° C. Due to the different thermal expansivities, stress occurs between the stacked metal layers, and warpage or strain occurs. For example, a distal end of the cantilever structure warps and becomes displaced upward. In some cases, the distal end of the cantilever structure is displaced upward by 10 μm or more. As a result, the electric equipment fails to operate at a predetermined operating voltage. A cause of such warpage is considered to be that the structure is constructed of a stacked layer structure of layers of different metal materials. For example, the adherence layer and the plated layer are formed of different metal layers.
For example, the adherence layer may have a higher resistivity than the plated layer. If a contact surface of a switch is covered with an adherence layer, high resistance results. In order to reduce such resistance, it has been proposed to remove the adherence layer from the contact surface of a switch (e.g., Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-196303 (JP 2007-196303 A) and Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-252672 (JP 2009-252672 A)).


Pipe clamps are commonly used to join tubular components together; for example, pipes or tubular housings. These clamps can be used in a variety of applications with some clamps specifically designed for specific components or for use in specific applications, and others of a design intended to make them more generally or universally applicable. One such application of pipe clamps is in connecting pipes or other components in automotive exhaust systems. Often, these exhaust system applications require or at least desirably provide a joint between pipe ends that seals against exhaust gas leakage and that has good resistance against axial separation. One type of pipe clamp is a band clamp which is used with telescopically overlapping pipe ends, and another type is a pipe coupler which is used with end-to-end abutting pipe ends. Both types usually include a metal band to be placed and tightened over the pipe ends, and both types can include a sealing sleeve and/or a gasket to be sandwiched between the band and the pipe ends.


This application relates in general to separation techniques such as capillary electrophoresis and in particular, to apparatus and method for on-column derivatization in capillary electrophoresis.
Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is rapidly emerging as one of the separation methods of choice in resolving a complex mixture into its constituents (see Jorgenson et al., Science 1983, 222, 266; Gordon et al., Science 1988, 242, 224; Ewing et al., Anal. Chem., 1989, 61, 292A). In this procedure an electric field is applied across a capillary structure with typical dimensions of 2-200 .mu.m inside diameter and 10-100 cm length. The medium is an electrolyte or a gel. Because the volumes are small, typically nanoliters of injected sample, a major challenge is to find suitable detection schemes. In past work, many detection schemes have been used, such as optical absorption (see Lauer et al., Anal. Chem., 1986, 58, 166), optical fluorescence (see Gassman et al., Science, 1985, 230, 813), electrochemical (see Wallingford et al., Anal. Chem., 1987, 59, 1762), conductimetric detection (see Huang et al., Anal. Chem.. 1987, 59, 2747), radioactivity (see Pentoney et al., Chromatog., 1989, 4809, 259, refractive index change (see Bruno et al., Appl. Spec., 1991, 45, 462, and mass spectrometry (see Olivares et al., Anal. Chem., 1987, 60, 1230). In each of these procedures, it may be advantageous to attach to the molecular constituent to be detected a label or tag that aids/enables its detection. Examples are labels for fluorescence, absorption, electrochemical detection and radioactivity.
Frequently, the sample is derivatized off-column prior to being injected. In such pre-separation derivatization schemes, usually the sample to be separated is mixed with a labeling agent or compound in a vial where the compound or agent would react chemically with the sample to label or tag the sample. Such method of labeling or tagging is disadvantageous. Small samples will become diluted by the procedure since, for convenient handling, the vials used cannot be too small. After the labeling or tagging process has been completed, a portion of the labeled sample is then injected into a capillary column for separation. Thus, pre-column labeling requires two or more steps before the labeled sample is ready for separation. Post-column separation techniques have also been used, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,947 to Middendorf et al. Post-column labeling techniques share the same disadvantages as pre-column labeling techniques.
In view of the above-described drawbacks of off-column type derivatization techniques, on-column derivatization for fluorescence detection using a specially built T-shaped or "cross"-shaped structure in the capillary is proposed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/235,953, filed Aug. 24, 1988 by Richard N. Zare et al., which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. See also the article entitled "On-Line Connector for Microcolumns: Application to the On-Column o-Phthaldialdehyde Derivatization of Amino Acids Separated by Capillary Zone Electrophoresis," by Pentoney et al., Anal. Chem., 1988, 60:2625-2629.
Another type of on-column derivatization technique is disclosed in a poster presentation by U. R. Tjaden et al., entitled "On-Line Derivatization and High Performance Capillary Electrophoresis," in the Thirteenth Symposium on Column Liquid Chromatography, Stockholm, Sweden, Jun. 25-30, 1989. In the technique proposed by Tjaden et al., a labeling reagent is added to the electrophoresis buffer in the capillary before the sample to be derivatized is introduced into the capillary column. Such technique also has a number of disadvantages. First, if fluorescent detection is used, the reagent present throughout the buffer in the capillary will cause background fluorescence which degrades the signal-to-noise ratio of the fluorescence detector. Furthermore, the reagent used must be carefully chosen so that the background fluorescence caused by the reagent will not be so high as to render fluorescence detection impossible. This severely limits the type of reagent that can be used and is undesirable.
None of the above-described off-column or on-column techniques is entirely satisfactory. It is therefore desirable to provide an improved on-column derivatization scheme in which the above-described difficulties are alleviated.
In particular, it is desirable to provide an improved on-column derivatization scheme where the unreacted reagent, dye or any other labeling compound would not reach the detector.


1. Field of Invention
The present disclosure relates to an electronic system and a routing method. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a network system and a routing method.
2. Description of Related Art
With advances in information technology, various kinds of network systems are widely used in our daily lives. Examples of such network systems include local area network systems, internet network systems, and data center network systems.
Typically, a network system includes a plurality of nodes (e.g., switches). Upon reception of a packet, a node determines whether a characteristic of the received packet matches requirements of packet forwarding rules in the node itself, and forwards the received packet according to the packet forwarding rules. However, the packet forwarding rules may become invalid due to errors or due to having surpassed their effective dates. Therefore, when a node receives a packet, even if the characteristics of the packet are identical to a packet the node forwarded before, the node still has to plan a transmission path again to forward the received packet. As a result, the efficiency of the network system is decreased.
Thus, there is a need to redesign network systems to avoid unnecessary planning of transmission paths that would lead to decreasing the efficiency of the network systems.


The invention relates to sonic ranging and/or object detection systems, in general, and to such systems for aiding visually impaired persons, in particular.
Ultrasonic rangefinders for detecting the presence of or the distance to an object are well-known in the prior art. In, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,246 to MUGGLI, an ultrasonic rangefinder having a combination transmitting and receiving, capacitance-type, electrostatic transducer is incorporated in a photographic camera for the purpose of determining the distance to a subject and subsequently causing the adjustable focus lens of such a camera to be focused in accordance with a subject distance signal derived by said rangefinder.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,280,204 to ELCHINGER, the disclosure of which is specifically incorporated herein, a conventional mobility cane for the blind incorporates ultrasonic object sensing apparatus in order to provide a blind, ambulatory cane user with the capability of remotely sensing the presence of movement-impeding obstacles within a spacial zone produced by said apparatus, whose size is infinitely variable. This sensing apparatus includes an adjustably mounted combination transmitting and receiving capacitance-type electrostatic transducer having an energy transmission pattern that approximates the size of said spacial zone.
The ultrasonic transducers described in the two above-mentioned patents transmit a directional, multiple-lobe pattern of ultrasonic energy whose contours are fairly well understood in the art. The multiple-lobe transducer pattern of a transducer with a circular backplate of 3.5 cm in diameter, for example, consists of a central lobe having a lobe angle of approximately 12.degree. at its half power point (-3dB) when operated at a frequency of 50 KHz, with said central lobe being generally symmetrical about a central axis and with a plurality of smaller magnitude side lobes that are also generally symmetrical about said central lobe axis. This electrostatic transducer, multiple-lobe pattern is described in much greater detail in an article by W. KUHL, et al., entitled "Condenser Transmitters and Microphones with Solid Dielectric Airborn Ultrasonics" in Acoustica, volume 4, 1954, pp. 519-532.
Lobe pattern shape of an electrostatic transducer of the type mentioned above is primarily a function of transducer operating frequency and transducer backplate diameter. The higher the operating frequency, the narrower is the central lobe angle and the lower the operating frequency, the wider is the central lobe angle. The central lobe angle of the object sensing apparatus disclosed in the above-mentioned ELCHINGER patent was purposely narrowed in order to provide a visually impaired person with a cue as to the direction of a particular detected object.
A disadvantage associated with sonic sensing apparatus of the type described, for example, in said above-mentioned ELCHINGER patent is the need to regularly move such sensing apparatus from side-to-side in order to provide a mobility cane user with directional information with respect to laterally positioned objects. Constant movement of a cane of this type can become tiring to a cane user as well as inconvenient to manipulate. Failure to so manipulate such a cane can result in the failure to detect a laterally positioned object and subsequent injury to a blind mobility cane user walking into such an object.
A primary object of the present invention is to provide apparatus for detecting the presence of frontally and laterally positioned objects that does not require the physical movement of said apparatus.
Another object of the present invention is to provide apparatus that can both determine the relative distance to frontally located objects and also detect the presence of laterally located objects.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a mobility cane for the blind that will enable a blind user to determine the presence of and relative distance to frontally located objects as well as determine the presence of laterally located objects.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


Desire to conserve resources have led to efforts to incent users to carpool or use public transportation. Carpooling reduces pollution, and reduces the number of vehicles on the road. Aside from environmental benefits derived from carpooling, there are many “perks” and incentives associated with carpool. For example, special High Occupancy Vehicle (“HOV”) or carpool lanes have been instituted in various locations and countries to provide an incentive to carpool. Vehicles are permitted in the designated carpool lanes if they contain two or more passengers depending on the carpool lane requirement of a particular location. In addition, many public and private establishments offer special parking spots reserved for carpools, certain highways and bridges offer reduced tolls for carpoolers, and employees may subsidize vans and buses to incent employees to carpool. There have also been several “carpool challenge” contests were participants compete for prizes and fame by carpooling.
Recognizing the significant benefits and practical incentives of carpooling many drivers will knowingly violate carpool regulations when they are driving alone. To deter the misuse of carpool incentives, violation of the carpool regulation may result in large fines. For example, in some locations a minimum HOV lane violation can subject a driver to a fine of nearly $500. In recent years, although there are many tools and mobile applications developed to help willing participants to organize carpooling and propose routes for carpools, there are no practical and easy management tools to help monitor and confirm the passengers' actual carpooling status other than by a visual confirmation of the passengers while they are in the vehicle. Therefore, there is a need for a user friendly and safe method and technology to confirm that individuals are actually carpooling in one single vehicle in real time so that carpool incentives can be properly distributed and administered, and the proper carpool participants can be awarded credit and incentives for their participation.


Concentrated oil-in water emulsions of liquid active ingredients or active ingredients dissolved in a solvent are commonly used in agricultural compositions due to certain advantages provided over other formulation types. Emulsions are water based, contain little or no solvent, allow mixtures of active ingredients to be combined into a single formulation and are compatible with a wide range of packaging material. However, there are also several disadvantages of such agricultural emulsions, namely that they are often complex formulations which require high amounts of surface-active agents for stabilization, are generally very viscous, have a tendency for Oswald ripening of the emulsion globules and separate over time. Therefore, improvements in such emulsion formulations are needed in the agricultural field.
Several oil-in-water emulsion compositions for cosmetics and dermatological applications have been described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,658,575; U.S. Pat. No. 5,925,364; U.S. Pat. No. 5,753,241; U.S. Pat. No. 5,925,341; U.S. Pat. No. 6,066,328; U.S. Pat. No. 6,120,778; U.S. Pat. No. 6,126,948; U.S. Pat. No. 6,689,371; U.S. Pat. No. 6,419,946; U.S. Pat. No. 6,541,018; U.S. Pat. No. 6,335,022; U.S. Pat. No. 6,274,150; U.S. Pat. No. 6,375,960; U.S. Pat. No. 6,464,990; U.S. Pat. No. 6,413,527; U.S. Pat. No. 6,461,625; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,902,737; all of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference. However, although these types of emulsions have found advantageous use in personal care products, these types of emulsions have not been used previously with agriculturally active compounds, which are typically present in emulsions at much higher levels than cosmetic active ingredients.
One example of an agricultural oil-in-water emulsion composition that is suitable for agriculturally active ingredients that are liquid or soluble in suitable solvents at relevant storage temperatures is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/495,228, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention is related to agricultural compositions comprising an oil-in-water emulsion, the oil-in-water emulsion composition having an oil phase and water phase, the oil-in-water emulsion composition comprising an oil adapted to form oily globules having a mean particle diameter of less than 800 nanometers, a polymeric modifier that is compatible with the oil phase, at least one agriculturally active compound, at least one non-ionic lipophilic surface-active agent, at least one non-ionic hydrophilic surface-active agent, at least one ionic surface-active agent, and water.


The invention relates to a method of severing or removing a biological structure, in particular bone, having a water-jet cutting system from which a severing medium under high pressure is discharged, and to a cutting-nozzle element and a water-jet cutting system.
Such methods are known on the market and are in use in many different forms and designs. In particular in medicine, it is known to sever, for example from outside, a bone by water-jet cutting. A disadvantage with this is that, in conventional water-jet cutting methods, the soft tissue, and not only the bone, is destroyed. The vascular system in the soft tissue at the bone is important in particular for the knitting of the bone or for the regeneration of the callus. It is therefore necessary during the water-jet removal or severing of biological substances, in particular of bones, to carry out the removal or severing of the bone as carefully as possible. In conventional water-jet cutting methods, the water is applied directly to the exposed bone via a cutting nozzle, in the course of which the vascular system in the bone is also damaged.
An arrangement for cutting by means of a liquid jet has been disclosed by EP 0 636 345 A1, in which arrangement an additional medium is added to a liquid jet by means of vacuum. In this case, pulsing of a liquid jet is produced in a handle, the liquid jet being discharged under pressure losses via an elongated cannula adjoining the handle.


During the last half century, considerable research has been devoted to the development of feedback engine control strategies which incorporate in-cylinder transducers for the measurement of selected values. In recent years, the primary focus of renewed interest has been in the possible development of practical on-board systems, for individual cylinder feedback trimming control of spark timing to MBT (Minimum Spark Advance For Best Torque) or to the knock limit, analogous to EGO (Exhaust Gas Oxygen) sensor feedback trimming control of air/fuel ratio to stoichiometry.
For the most part, prior art implementations have relied strictly on the use of vibration sensors in conjunction with elaborate signal processing to obtain the desired feedback result. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,040,510 entitled "Method For Controlling Knocking In Internal Combustion Engines," issued to Krebs et al on Aug. 20, 1991 and assigned to Siemens Aktiengesellschaft. See also, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,993,387 and 5,134,980 issued to Sakakibara et al on Feb. 19, 1991 and Aug. 4, 1992, respectively. Both the '387 and '980 patents are assigned to Nippondenso Co., Ltd. and relate to statistical based knock control systems for engines.
As previously indicated, each of the referenced prior art disclosures utilize vibration sensors to detect structure borne vibrations resulting from combustion chamber acoustic pressure oscillations (produced by knock or detonation). Vibration sensors of the type referenced above have generally proven inadequate as they also detect other structure borne vibrations and usually exhibit poor signal-to-noise ratios--particularly at high engine speeds. Similarly, the elaborate signal processing of the referenced prior art has proven expensive and temperamental and thus not desirable for non-laboratory based use.


A conventional saw blade clamping device 10 is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,133 and FIGS. 1 and 2, wherein the clamping device includes a body 11 having a slot 111 for receiving a blade 20 therein and a passage 112 defined in communication with the slot 111. A tube 14 has a rod 13 received therein and the rod 13 includes a rectangular end 131 which fits an inner periphery of the tube 14. A spring 15 is mounted to the rod 13 and biased between the rectangular end 131 and the inside of the tube 14. The rod 13 threadedly extends through the body 11 and further has a contact end 12 which is able to contact a side of the blade 20. The body 11 includes a serrated surface 113 and the tube 14 is firmly urged by the spring 15 to contact the serrated surface 113. A user has to pull the tube 14 to remove the tube 14 away from the serrated surface 113 and then rotate the tube 14 so as to move the rod 13 to urge the blade 20 or disengage from the blade 20. The user has to use a force that overcomes the force of the spring 15 and simultaneously, rotate the tube 14. This is inconvenient for the user to operate the tube 14 in two different directions. Furthermore, it is difficult to estimate the force that the contact end 12 contacts the blade 20.
FIGS. 3 and 4 show the disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 6,023,848 illustrating a blade clamping device 30 including a casing 31 and a base member 32 located in the casing 31. A first end of a biasing member 33 is connected to the base member 32. A blade 40 is engaged with the base member 32 and the biasing member 33 includes a protrusion portion 331 which urges against the blade 40. A lever 34 is pivotally connected to the casing 31 and includes an end that may push a free second end of the biasing member 33 to remove the protrusion portion 331 away from the blade 40. Although the biasing member 33 is easy to operate by operating the lever 34, the biasing member 33 quickly looses its biasing force after frequent operation by the lever 34.


In current display panels, a common pixel design is that a physical pixel is formed by three sub-pixels (a red sub-pixel, a green sub-pixel and a blue sub-pixel) or four sub-pixels (a red sub-pixel, a green sub-pixel, a blue sub-pixel and a white sub-pixel) for displaying, so that a physical resolution is a visual resolution. In practical applications, sometimes the visual resolution may be low, for example, in a process of continuously viewing images; and sometimes a high visual resolution is required, for example, at the time of viewing details of a fine image. Since the visual resolution of the display panel is fixed, requirements on different visual resolutions cannot be met.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for collectively connecting a plurality of grounding wires included in a wire harness for a vehicle to a given ground site inside the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, as a ground connecting device for collectively connecting a plurality of grounding wires included in a wire harness for a vehicle, to a ground site of the vehicle, there has been known a type described in JP 10-208815A.
FIG. 10 shows an outline of this device. The device comprises a harness-side connector 7 to be provided at a terminal end of a wire harness including a plurality of grounding wires, and a ground joint connector 1 to be fixed to a given ground site (in FIG. 10, a bolt 6) provided on a vehicle body 3. The harness-side connector 7 includes a plurality of non-illustrated female terminals to be attached to respective terminal ends of the grounding wires and a connector housing 8 for collectively holding the female terminals. The harness-side connector housing 8 has a plurality of built-in terminal locking portions for holding the female terminals respectively. The ground joint connector 1 includes a grounding conductor 5 and a connector housing 2 which holds the grounding conductor 5, the grounding conductor 5 integrally having a grounding terminal portion 4 to be fixed to the ground site and a plurality of non-illustrated male terminals provided inside the connector housing 2.
According to this device, interconnecting the ground joint connector 1 and the harness-side connector 7 and fixing the grounding terminal portion 4 in the ground joint connector to the bolt 6 as the ground site establish a collective connection of the grounding wires to the ground site. Specifically, the female terminals held by the connector housing 8 of the harness-side connector 7 and the male terminals of the grounding conductor 5 held by the connector housing 2 of the ground joint connector 1 are fitted to each other respectively, thus electrically connecting the grounding wires to which the female terminals are attached to the ground site through the female terminals and the grounding conductor 5; simultaneously, the connector housing 8 of the harness-side connector 7 and the connector housing 2 of the ground joint connector 1 are fitted to each other, and this fitting is locked by engagement between respective engagement portions provided in the two connector housings 8 and 2, the lock keeping the female and male terminals fitted to each other respectively.
However, this ground connecting device, occupying a large space, is difficult to use in a little space in a vehicle. Specifically, the harness-side connector 7 and the ground joint connector 1 of the device require the connector housings 8 and 2 for holding the terminals respectively; furthermore, the connector housings 8 and 2 occupy a large space as a whole for their mutual fitting and the lock of the fitting. To avoid interference between the connector housings 8 and 2 and the vehicle body 3, the connectors 7 and 1 are required to protrude in a large size from an inner surface of the vehicle body 3. Particularly, the case of connecting a grounding terminal 9 attached to an extra grounding wire W to the grounding terminal portion 4 so as to superimpose them to each other as shown in FIG. 10 requires a large gap size L between the vehicle body 3 and each of the connector housings 8 and 2 as shown in FIG. 10, in order to avoid the interference between the grounding terminal and each of the connector housings 8 and 2; this causes the entire device to occupy a larger space.


The invention relates to wound metallized film capacitors and more particularly to adding an additional auxiliary capacitor onto a first wound capacitor section to produce a dual value capacitor.
One method of making a dual value capacitor is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,921,041 issued to Stockman on Nov. 18, 1975. In this capacitor, one of the two basic metallized films has the metallized layer burned from its surface for a selected distance and an insulated sheet is inserted to encircle the capacitor at least once and to extend from one end of the roll. The winding is then completed around the insulated sheet and then both ends of the capacitor are shooped with one end providing the base plate and the other end, being divided into two sections by the extending insulated sheet, providing the other two sections of the dual value capacitor.
This method is not practical; however, when a small number of turns is desired to be added to the first section since there will be an insufficient end area on the auxiliary capacitor to attach a contact to. If a metal contact tab is added to the metallized film it will cause the film to burn away around the contact tab because of the small area involved. If the auxiliary section is end sprayed with metal, even if there is sufficient area to provide good electrical contact, the metallized film will burn away because of the small area involved.
Current technology generally makes use of a separate capacitor if an auxiliary capacitor having a small number of turns is required in conjunction with a large capacitor. One such application of a large capacitor with an auxiliary small capacitor is in the fluorescent lighting ballast which requires a large 3.95 microfarad capacitor and a small 0.05 microfarad capacitor for a typical rapid start design. It would be desirable to utilize a wound metallized film construction to take advantage of the self-healing or clearing properties of the metallized film. When a short occurs the metallized film will self-heal and clear itself so that a short is only temporary and does not destroy the whole capacitor as happens in conventional metal foil capacitors. The need has thus developed for a wound metallized film capacitor having first and second sections which may be easily constructed to provide a compact capacitor having both a core capacitor and an auxiliary capacitor having a small number of turns within the same unitary structure.


1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for applying a plurality of surgical fasteners to body tissue, and more particularly, to a surgical stapler including a staple cartridge assembly having a lockout mechanism for preventing refiring of the apparatus after the staples have been ejected from the cartridge.
2. Description of the Related Art
Surgical stapling apparatus for simultaneously applying a plurality of surgical fasteners to body tissue are well known in the art. Typically these apparatus include a fastener holder disposed on one side of the tissue to be fastened, an anvil assembly substantially parallel to the fastener holder on the other side of the tissue to be fastened, a mechanism for linearly translating the fastener holder and the anvil assembly toward one another so that the tissue is clamped therebetween, and a mechanism for driving the fasteners from the fastener holder so that the ends of the fasteners pass through the tissue and form finished fasteners as they make contact with the anvil assembly, thereby producing an array of finished fasteners in the tissue.
In common use are devices such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,354,628 and 4,665,916. More particularly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,354,628 discloses a surgical stapler apparatus for forming an array of surgical staples in body tissue including an anvil member against which the staplers are crimped, and a staple holder pivotally mounted adjacent one end of the anvil member.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,916 discloses a surgical stapling apparatus comprising an anvil assembly against which fasteners are formed and a fastener holder pivotally mounted adjacent one end of the anvil assembly, a spacer member at the other end so constructed to displace tissue that would otherwise obstruct the spacer member from properly positioning the fastener holder relative to the anvil assembly to insure proper fastener formation, and a knife assembly to cut the tissue between the rows of formed fasteners.
In use, a surgeon selects the body tissue to be fastened, positions the instrument so that the tissue is between the anvil assembly and the fastener holder (or cartridge), then actuates the stapler. In some surgical applications, it is necessary to perform several stapling tasks and thus it is not uncommon for a surgeon to replace the cartridge several times during such procedures. In the course of an operation, however, a surgeon or nurse may, inadvertently try to reuse the apparatus with a spent cartridge in the apparatus or select a spent cartridge for placement into the apparatus. In such an instance, operation of the apparatus would be ineffective and would result in a prolongation of the procedure.


1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to antennas. Particularly, the subject invention relates to microstrip antennas for circular polarization applications.
2. Description of the Related Art
Antennas for receiving signals from a satellite, such as Satellite Digital Audio Radio Service (SDARS) signals, are well known in the art. These antennas are routinely carried on vehicles for use with the vehicle's radio receiver. Typically, these antennas are mounted on a metallic roof of the vehicle such that the roof acts as a ground plane for the antenna. Furthermore, these antennas often have a bulky appearance that is not aesthetically pleasing from the outside of the vehicle.
Many modern vehicles incorporate glass into their roof. The amount of glass used can range from a typical sunroof that provides glass over a small portion of the vehicle roof to a panoramic-style glass that spans the entire roof area of the vehicle. Unfortunately, the use of glass in vehicle roof structures reduces the amount of sheet metal that can be used as a ground plane for a satellite antenna. As such, typical satellite antennas suffer from lower performance when disposed on glass.
Therefore, there remains an opportunity for an antenna that may be integrated with glass, such as a glass roof of a vehicle, for receiving signals from a satellite.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data readout circuit, a data readout method, and a data storage device.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram showing the structure of a conventional ferroelectric memory. As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional ferroelectric memory comprises a word line WL, a bit line BL, a ferroelectric capacitor CF, n-channel MOS transistors 12, 14, 17A, 17B, 18A, 18B, and T1, p-channel MOS transistors T8 to T10, capacitors 19 and 22, and nodes NA and NB. The bit line BL has a bit line stray capacitance CBL.
Here, the gate of the n-channel MOS transistor 14 is connected to the word line WL. One terminal of the source/drain of the n-channel MOS transistor 14 is connected to the bit line BL, while the other terminal is connected to the ferroelectric capacitor CF. A plate line CP is connected to one terminal of the ferroelectric capacitor CF.
A voltage VCON is supplied to the n-channel MOS transistors 17A and 17B, while a reference voltage Vref is supplied to the source/drain of the n-channel MOS transistor 17A. A voltage VN is supplied to the gate of the n-channel MOS transistor 12, and a voltage RES is supplied to the gate of the n-channel MOS transistor T1. A voltage VP is supplied to the gate of the p-channel MOS transistor T8.
In the above ferroelectric memory, the single n-channel MOS transistor 14 and the single ferroelectric capacitor CF constitute one ferroelectric memory cell, as shown in FIG. 1. This ferroelectric capacitor CF holds digital information consisting of 1 or 0 in a non-volatile state by taking a reverse polarized state.
Next, an operation to write the data in the ferroelectric memory cell will be described. When the information of xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d is written in the ferroelectric memory cell, the potential of the bit line BL serves as a ground potential. When the information of xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d is written in the ferroelectric memory cell, the potential of the bit line BL serves as a power potential Vcc. The word line WL is then activated, so that the n-channel MOS transistor 14 is energized and that the potential of the plate line CP changes from the ground potential to the power source potential Vcc and returns to the ground potential. Receiving the voltage, the ferroelectric capacitor CF shifts to a predetermined polarized state, and holds the information of xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d. When the data write operation is completed, the potential of the bit line BL is returned to the ground potential.
Next, an operation to read out data from the ferroelectric memory cell will be described. In this case, the potential of the bit line BL serves as the ground potential. The word line WL is activated, so that the n-channel MOS transistor 14 is energized, and that the potential of the plate line CP shifts from the ground potential to the power source potential Vcc, thereby moving the charges polarized to the ferroelectric capacitor CF to the bit line BL. Here, the potential of the bit line BL greatly or slightly rises depending on the polarized state of the ferroelectric capacitor CF.
For instance, a latched sense amplifier circuit compares the potential of the bit line BL with the reference potential. In the initial state, the power source to the sense amplifier circuit is off, and when voltage is applied to the two input terminals, the power is supplied to the sense amplifier circuit. At this point, the input terminal having the potential higher than the other rises to the power source potential Vcc, and the input terminal having the potential lower than the other drops to the ground potential. By this sense amplifier circuit, data held by the ferroelectric capacitor CF can be read out.
FIGS. 2A to 2I are timing charts showing the data read-out operation performed by the conventional ferroelectric memory shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B, a voltage VCON and a signal RES are activated from 0 V (low level) to 3 V (high level) at time t1. By doing so, the potential of the bit line BL is initialized to 0 V, as shown in FIG. 2G. As shown in FIG. 2A, the voltage VCON is high until time t4.
As shown in FIG. 2C, the word line WL is activated at time t2, and the n-channel MOS transistor 14 is switched on. As shown in FIG. 2D, the potential of the plate line CP rises from 0 V to the power source potential (3 V) at time t3. Here, the potential of the bit line BL rises depending on the polarized charge amount of the ferroelectric capacitor CF, as shown in FIG. 2G.
In FIGS. 2G to 2I, each converted capacitance value, 0.2 pF, of the ferroelectric capacitor CF is indicated by a solid line, while each converted capacitance value, 0.05 pF, is indicated by a broken line. As can be seen from the timing charts, the larger the polarized charge amount, the higher the potential of the bit line BL. When the converted capacitance value of the ferroelectric capacitor CF is 0.2 pF, the potential of the bit line BL rises up to 0.5 V, which will be described more later.
Next, as shown in FIG. 2E, the voltage VN to be supplied to the gate of the n-channel MOS transistor 12 that serves as a power switch for a sense amplifier is shifted to the high level at time t5. Here, as shown in FIGS. 2H and 2I, if the potential of the node NA (the potential of the bit line BL) is lower than the potential of the node NB (the reference voltage Vref), the potential of the node NA becomes 0 V while the potential of the node NB becomes equal to the reference voltage Vref, as indicated by the broken lines. On the other hand, the potential of the node NA is higher than the potential of the node NB, the potential of the node NA does not fluctuate, but the potential of the node NB shifts to 0 V, as indicated by the solid lines.
Next, as shown in FIG. 2F, a voltage VP to be supplied to the gate of the p-channel MOS transistor T8 that serves as a VCC power switch for a sense amplifier is shifted to the low level at time t6. As shown in FIGS. 2H and 2I, if the potential of the node NA is lower than the potential of the node NB, the potential of the node NA is 0 V while the potential of the node NB becomes 3 V, as indicated by the broken lines. On the other hand, if the potential of the node NA is higher than the potential of the mode NB, the potential of the node NA becomes 3V while the potential of the node NB remains 0 V, as indicated by the solid lines.
As described above, after one of the potentials of the node NA and the node NB is shifted to 0 V while the other one of the potentials is shifted to 3 V, the potential of the node NA is transmitted via the bit line BL, so that the information stored in the ferroelectric memory cell is read out.
In the process of reading out information from the conventional ferroelectric memory shown in FIG. 1, the potential of the bit line rises depending on the polarization of the ferroelectric capacitor. Assuming that a cell capacitance value determined from the polarized charge amount of the ferroelectric capacitor and the voltage supplied between the electrodes is about 0.2 pF, the parasitic capacitance of the bit line is 1 pF, and the power source voltage is 3 V, the voltage of the bit line rises, by 0.5 V, which is calculated by 3 Vxc3x970.2 pF/(0.2 pF+1 pF), when the plate line rises from 0 V to 3 V. The potential of the bit line is shown in FIG. 2G. Accordingly, the voltage to be supplied to the ferroelectric capacitor becomes 2.5 V, which is calculated by 3 Vxe2x88x920.5 V.
Intensive studies have been made on lowering the read-out voltage of the properties of the ferroelectric capacitor. However, polarized electric charge cannot adequately read out with a low read-out voltage, which results in inaccurate information read-out and reduction of read-out margins.
Meanwhile, to reduce the power consumption of portable telephones and mobile electronic equipment, there has been a strong demand for lowering the power source voltage as well. If the bit line capacitance is increased, a rise of the voltage of the bit line can be reduced and a larger voltage difference can be applied across a ferroelectric capacitor. However, a read-out signal becomes smaller at the same time. As a result, in a latch-type sense amplifier circuit in a ferroelectric memory, a wrong operation is often caused due to an error in the input offset voltage.
Therefore, it is necessary to design the latch-type sense amplifier circuit, so that a rise of the voltage of the bit line can be restricted to about 0.5 V. However, when the power source voltage drops to 2 V or 1 V, it is difficult to supply sufficient voltage across the ferroelectric capacitor.
A general object of the present invention is to provide data storage devices in which the above disadvantages are eliminated.
A more specific object of the present invention is to provide a data storage device that has high reliability and less power consumption, and a data read-out circuit and a data read-out method employed in the data storage device.
The above objects of the present invention are achieved by a data storage device that comprises: a memory cell connected between a plate line and a bit line; and a potential holding unit that maintains a potential of the bit line at a predetermined potential so as to prevent a fluctuation of the potential of the bit line even when a voltage is supplied to the plate line.
With this data storage device, the electric charge accumulated in the memory cell can be read out without fail.
The above objects of the present invention are also achieved by a data read-out circuit that reads out data from a memory cell, comprising: a charge accumulating unit that accumulates electric charge supplied; a charge transfer unit that transfers the electric charge accumulated in the memory cell to the charge accumulating unit in accordance with the data; and an amplifier unit that amplifies a voltage generated by the electric charge accumulated in the charge accumulating unit, and reads out the data from the memory cell.
The above objects of the present invention are also achieved by a data storage device that comprises: a bit line; a memory cell that is connected to the bit line; a charge accumulating unit that accumulates electric charge supplied; a charge transfer unit that transfers electric charge to the charge accumulating unit, the electric charge being accumulated in the memory cell based on stored data and then outputted onto the bit line at the time of reading out the data; and an amplifier unit that amplifies a voltage generated by the electric charge accumulated in the charge accumulating unit, and reads out data from the memory cell.
With this data storage device, data can be read out without fail, in accordance with the electric charge accumulated in the memory cell and outputted onto the bit line.
The above objects of the present invention are also achieved by a method of reading out data from a memory cell, comprising the steps of: transferring electric charge accumulated in the memory cell to a charge accumulating unit in accordance with the data; and amplifying a voltage generated by the electric charge accumulated in the charge accumulating unit, so as to reading the data from the memory cell.
The above and other objects and features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


The present invention relates to a powder accommodation container and an image forming apparatus.


1. Field
The present disclosure relates to an antiseptic applicator and method of use thereof, and more particularly, to a cap plug antiseptic applicator that requires the application of opposing forces to actuate release of a sealed solution, preferably an antimicrobial solution, from a self-contained reservoir toward a material arranged at a distal end of the applicator for receiving the solution.
2. Description of Related Art
Antiseptic applicators for the preparation of a patient prior to surgery, for example, are known and common in the prior art. Conventional applicators rely on various means of actuation to release a self-contained reservoir of antimicrobial solution for sterilization of the patient's skin. For example, a number of applicators are designed with a puncturing means. These applicators typically include a head with a spike, for example, and a sealed container or cartridge. A push or screw motion is employed to axially translate the head toward the sealed container so that the spike may pierce the sealed container and effectuate the release of the solution contained therein. Some examples of applicators using a puncturing means include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,415,288; 4,498,796; 5,769,552; 6,488,665; and 7,201,525; and U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2006/0039742.
Other conventional applicators rely on breaking an internally situated frangible container or ampoule through the application of a one-way directional force or a localized application of pressure. The directional force is typically applied longitudinally to one end of the ampoule by a pushing motion designed to force the ampoule to break under a compressive stress, sometimes at a predetermined area of stress concentration. Alternatively, a pressure may be applied to a localized section of the ampoule through a squeezing motion designed to crush a section of the frangible ampoule in order to release the antimicrobial solution contained therein. Some examples of applicators using frangible ampoules in the manner discussed above include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,757,782; 5,288,159; 5,308,180; 5,435,660; 5,445,462; 5,658,084; 5,772,346; 5,791,801; 5,927,884; 6,371,675; and 6,916,133.
Conventional antiseptic applicators, as described above, often require special packaging and/or handling during shipping and prior to use. For example, with the puncture type applicators, preventive measures are required to prevent an inadvertent push against either end of the device that may result in the puncturing of the sealed container and the premature discharge of the solution. A user must often use both hands to effectively overcome the preventive measures and activate the applicator for use. In addition, conventional antiseptic applicators often rely on the exertion of pressure on the walls of an applicator, for example, to break a frangible ampoule or squeeze the solution from the container toward an application material. The use of frangible ampoules requires special care to avoid breaking as a result of inadvertent pressure or dropping during shipping or prior to use. Furthermore, the components of a conventional applicator, such as the broken ampoule or the puncture spike, often impede the free flow of the solution from the container. There exists a need in the field for a novel antiseptic applicator that avoids the complications associated with conventional applicators, especially an applicator that will allow for effective one hand actuation and application of a solution without impediments to the free flow of the solution from the container to the application material.


The present invention relates generally to chemical mechanical polishing of substrates, and more particularly to methods and apparatus for monitoring a metal layer during chemical mechanical polishing.
An integrated circuit is typically formed on a substrate by the sequential deposition of conductive, semiconductive or insulative layers on a silicon wafer. One fabrication step involves depositing a filler layer over a non-planar surface, and planarizing the filler layer until the non-planar surface is exposed. For example, a conductive filler layer can be deposited on a patterned insulative layer to fill the trenches or holes in the insulative layer. The filler layer is then polished until the raised pattern of the insulative layer is exposed. After planarization, the portions of the conductive layer remaining between the raised pattern of the insulative layer form vias, plugs and lines that provide conductive paths between thin film circuits on the substrate. In addition, planarization is needed to planarize the substrate surface for photolithography.
Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is one accepted method of planarization. This planarization method typically requires that the substrate be mounted on a carrier or polishing head. The exposed surface of the substrate is placed against a rotating polishing disk pad or belt pad. The polishing pad can be either a “standard” pad or a fixed-abrasive pad. A standard pad has a durable roughened surface, whereas a fixed-abrasive pad has abrasive particles held in a containment media. The carrier head provides a controllable load on the substrate to push it against the polishing pad. A polishing slurry, including at least one chemically-reactive agent, and abrasive particles if a standard pad is used, is supplied to the surface of the polishing pad.
One problem in CMP is determining whether the polishing process is complete, i.e., whether a substrate layer has been planarized to a desired flatness or thickness, or when a desired amount of material has been removed. Overpolishing (removing too much) of a conductive layer or film leads to increased circuit resistance. On the other hand, under-polishing (removing too little) of a conductive layer leads to electrical shorting. Variations in the initial thickness of the substrate layer, the slurry composition, the polishing pad condition, the relative speed between the polishing pad and the substrate, and the load on the substrate can cause variations in the material removal rate. These variations cause variations in the time needed to reach the polishing endpoint. Therefore, the polishing endpoint cannot be determined merely as a function of polishing time.
One way to determine the polishing endpoint is to remove the substrate from the polishing surface and examine it. For example, the substrate can be transferred to a metrology station where the thickness of a substrate layer is measured, e.g., with a profilometer or a resistivity measurement. If the desired specifications are not met, the substrate is reloaded into the CMP apparatus for further processing. This is a time-consuming procedure that reduces the throughput of the CMP apparatus. Alternatively, the examination might reveal that an excessive amount of material has been removed, rendering the substrate unusable.
More recently, in-situ monitoring of the substrate has been performed, e.g., with optical or capacitance sensors, in order to detect the polishing endpoint. Other proposed endpoint detection techniques have involved measurements of friction, motor current, slurry chemistry, acoustics and conductivity. One detection technique that has been considered is to induce an eddy current in the metal layer and measure the change in the eddy current as the metal layer is removed.


Such methods, as well as corresponding devices are generally known. They are used for so-called cell harvesting, in other words, for separating and concentrating bacteria, for example, from liquid nutrient media. For this purpose, the centrifuges that are used are operated in the continuous flow mode. Solids are collected in the centrifuge rotor and the liquid components form the supernatant which is pumped out of the rotor and may be collected.
In this manner, very large quantities of suspension are centrifuged and separated. The liquid components, separated from the solids, are then separated into the high-molecular-weight and low-molecular-weight components in a separate process and/or a separate device using the so-called membrane filtration method. Various types of filters are used for the filtration technology, for example ultrafilters or microfilters which differ in the type of membrane used. Microporous membranes separate components in the 1/10 micron range, bacteria for example, while ultramembranes can separate much smaller components, proteins for example.
The known methods are also viewed as disadvantageous because they incorporate several separate method steps whose method parameters must be selected individually and therefore cannot be adjusted to one another, or can be adjusted only unsatisfactorily. In addition, these methods and/or the corresponding devices suffer from the disadvantage that the tanks with the components to be centrifuged or filtered must be moved around.


The present invention relates to an arrangement for mounting a restraint belt mounted vehicle seat to a vehicle floor and more particularly, to an arrangement for mounting a restraint belt mounted vehicle seat in an automotive vehicle that has an air bag system with multiple modes of inflation.
A typical automotive vehicle seat has a seat bun or cushion that supports the buttocks and upper thigh region of a seated occupant. Adjustably and pivotally connected to the seat cushion is a seat back. The seat back supports the back region of a seated occupant. The seat cushion is connected to a seat riser. To allow the seat to have fore and aft adjustment, a seat adjuster is provided. The seat adjuster includes a seat channel, also referred to as a seat rail. The seat rail is slidably mounted on a lower rail, often referred to as a floor rail. The floor rail is typically connected to the floor pan of the vehicle. Typically, the seat rail is interlocked along its length with the floor rail to prevent vertical separation. To ease the sliding movement between the seat rail and the floor rail, ball bearings or rollers spaced between the seat rail and floor rail are provided. The seat rail has a spring-biased locking mechanism that engages with a connected or integral rack provided on the floor rail to lock the relative fore and aft position between the seat rail and floor rail. Typically, the vehicle seat will have two parallel sets of floor rails and seat rails. A master floor rail and seat rail combination will have a master latch which manipulates a slave latch unit on a parallel spaced slave floor and seat rail assembly.
In the most recent quarter-century, to facilitate vehicle safety, seatbelts have been added to vehicles. As a further enhancement of vehicle safety, three-point seatbelts have been provided which include shoulder restraints. Most front seatbelts have one end anchored to a B-pillar of the vehicle. The belt extends downward across the torso of a seated occupant through a loop. From the loop, the belt is routed across the seat occupant""s lap and is then anchored to the vehicle floor. In a frontal crash, the load placed on the belt by a front seat occupant is mainly taken up by the B-pillar and/or the floor pan which the belt is anchored to.
In the most recent decade, a new type of anchoring system has been developed, commonly referred to as a belt-to-seat anchor restraint system. In the belt-to-seat anchor restraint system, one end of the belt is anchored to the B-pillar or to an upper region of the vehicle seat. The opposite extreme end of the belt is anchored to the upper portion of the seat riser which is fixably connected to the seat rail. The inner connection between the seat rail and the floor rail is strengthened to withstand the forces applied during a frontal crash situation.
Many vehicles on the road today have airbags installed in steering wheels, dashboards, and more recently, doors. These airbags are designed to protect a vehicle occupant against both front and side impact collisions by rapidly inflating the airbag to absorb much of the collision energy that would otherwise be transferred to the occupant.
Such conventional airbags are inflated based on a single threshold test: if a predetermined vehicle deceleration occurs in a collision, airbag inflation is triggered. Thereafter, airbag deployment occurs at a predetermined inflation rate. Both the triggering threshold and the inflation rate are typically not modified based on the type of vehicle collision, or the many different occupant variables, such as occupant weight, occupant position at the moment of impact, etc.
There has been a desire to modify air bag deployment based upon occupant weight and position. Typically, the larger the occupant, the greater the desired inflative force. For smaller occupants, a lowered inflative force response is desired.
There are two major approaches to determine occupant weight on a vehicle seat. One approach is to have a pressure sensitive pad or bladder mounted somewhere within the seat cushion. Another approach is to place weight sensors between the floor pan and floor rail to sense the weight distribution on the vehicle seat and at a predetermined time sequence, inform the seatbelt inflater controller of the weight placed upon the vehicle seat. When using the weight sensor system, a new problem has occurred. The weight sensor typically adds a fixed link between the vehicle floor pan and the floor rail. Although this link is typically very strong in compression, there are limitations of this link in tension. Some vehicle occupant weight sensor systems rely upon a cantilevered support arrangement between the floor rail and floor pan of the vehicle. Cantilevered support arrangement weight sensors are typically very weak in tension.
It is desirable to provide a seat mounting system which allows for the utilization of a weight sensor element spaced between the floor rail of the vehicle seat and the floor pan of the vehicle, while at the same time allowing the vehicle to utilize a belt restraint seat anchoring system that anchors the restraint belt to the seat.
In a preferred embodiment, the present invention brings forth an arrangement for mounting a restraint belt mounted vehicle seat to a floor of an automotive vehicle. The arrangement includes a floor rail that supports the vehicle seat typically by a fore and aft seat adjuster that includes an interlocking seat rail. A load cell provides a supporting platform for the floor rail above the vehicle floor. Connected to the floor rail is a force transmittal member.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the force transmittal member has an aperture. Inserted through the aperture is a headed fastener that is connected to the vehicle floor. Additionally, a lower riser is provided which is connected to the floor rail via the load cell. The lower riser is connected to and held in position on the vehicle floor by the aforementioned fastener. The head of the fastener restrains a capture member and connects the capture member to the vehicle floor. In a preferred embodiment the capture member has a generally U-shaped cross-section with extending flanges. The capture member is positioned adjacent the aperture in the force transmittal member.
During normal operation, the compressive load of the vehicle seat is transmitted from the floor rail via the load cell to the lower riser and then to the vehicle floor. Upon a frontal crash situation, the floor rail will displace in an upward vertical motion and cause the force transmittal member to come into an interference situation with the capture member and thereby be retained to the vehicle floor. The floor rail will not be dependent upon the tensile strength of the load cell to return the vehicle seat to its position. The vehicle seat designer is now free to provide a load cell arrangement which can give sensory data to an air bag deployment system, while at the same time allow the vehicle seat to have a belt-to-seat mounting arrangement.
It is a feature of the present invention to provide an arrangement for mounting a restraint belt mounted vehicle seat to a floor of an automotive vehicle.
It is also a feature of the present invention to provide a method of retaining a vehicle seat to the floor of an automotive vehicle in a frontal crash situation wherein the vehicle seat utilizes load cells to sense the weight distribution upon the vehicle seat to inform a dual mode airbag inflation system.
Other features of the invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings.


The present invention relates to industrial fasteners and more particularly to an over-center toggle latch.
Latches to join two members, for example, two panels, so that they may be separated and rejoined, have been developed over many years. Such latches are commonly used to secure container lids, trunk lids, panel doors and for industrial applications. A toggle latch provides the advantage of being relatively secure against accidental opening after it has been closed.
At the present time toggle latches are generally constructed with a bracket, an operating lever, a pivotable hasp (drawbar), an internal spring means if spring-loaded, and one or two pins pivotally mounting the lever and movable hasp on the bracket. That construction is relatively complex and expensive.
A relatively simple fastener is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,049,301 to Peter Schenk which is entitled "Toggle Latch". The operating lever (handle) is pivotally mounted on the bracket by a first pin and the drawbar is mounted to the lever by a second pin. The drawbar is spring metal which is corrugated to provide spring action.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,025,094 entitled "Overcenter Latch" a handle member is pivoted on one pin and a tension member pivots on a second pivot pin. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,026,133 to Swanson, the handle member pivots on a first pin, a coil spring in a housing pivots on a second pin on the handle member, and the movable hasp (link) pivots on a third pin on the handle member. Two patents (U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,847,423 and 4,243,255) to Rexnord, Inc. show the use of an internal coil spring in a toggle latch, both of which are relatively complex. U.S. Pat. No. 4,065,161, entitled "Container Or Panel Clamp", shows a simpler device in which the movable hasp (drawhook) is a wire member with a spring loop along its length. U.S. Pat. No. 2,820,995 to E. Schlueter, entitled "Spring Loaded Lock Fastener", shows a slidable hasp pivotally mounted, and spring-loaded, by spring wire pivot members. It is not a toggle latch, but rather operates by a cam mechanism.


This invention relates to an apparatus and method for aligning shafts. Particularly, this invention is useful in the new construction or maintenance fields in cases of setting and aligning the working or drive shafts of motors so that they can be coupled to the driven shafts of equipment, such as agitators, pumps, drive shafts, compressors and the like.
Whenever a motor is attached to a piece of equipment to be operated the motor working or drive shaft must be attached to the equipment or driven shaft so that both are in perfect or near perfect alignment. If alignment is unsatisfactory, when the drive and driven shafts are coupled together by known conventional methods, the stresses resulting from operation in coupled misalignment will cause premature bearing failure in the motor or equipment or both. Often such failure will occur before operating speeds are attained in high speed electric motors or soon thereafter in lower speed motors. For these reasons engineering specifications often require alignment both horizontally and vertically of the drive and driven shafts within on thousandth (1/1000) of an inch.
Shaft alignment can be satisfactorily accomplished using a conventional alignment indicator which is fixed to one shaft and rides the other with a spring loaded stem capable of registering differences up to 200,000ths over two full turns on the indicator dial. When the shaft to which the indicator is attached is rotated through 360.degree., the variation in alignment is read at 90.degree., 180.degree., 270.degree. and 360.degree. or 0.degree.. A skilled man can then adjust one of the shafts until alignment indicator readings throughout the 360.degree. rotation are identical or within the specified tolerance. However, in order to have accurate readings, the indicator must be rigidly fixed to one of the shafts. Thus, one of the objects of the present invention is to provide an apparatus which can be rigidly fixed to a shaft to which the alignment indicator can be secured. Another object is to provide an alignment indicator clamp apparatus with more than one shaft engaging member. A further object of this invention is to provide an alignment indicator clamp apparatus which is easily attached and removed from the shaft without special tools. Another object of this invention is to provide an alignment indicator clamp apparatus which can handle shafts of widely varying diameter. A still further object of this invention is to provide an alignment indicator clamp apparatus which can be rigidly fixed to a shaft but is not cumbersome or bulky in size. These and other objects of the invention are accomplished by means of the apparatus of this invention.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to typing recognition systems and methods, and more particularly to recognition of typing in air or on a relatively smooth surface that provides less tactile feedback than conventional mechanical keyboards.
2. The Related Art
Typists generally employ various combinations of two typing techniques: hunt and peck and touch typing. When hunting and pecking, the typist visually searches for the key center and strikes the key with the index or middle finger. When touch typing, the fingers initially rest on home row keys, each finger is responsible for striking a certain column of keys and the typist is discouraged from looking down at the keys. The contours and depression of mechanical keys provide strong tactile feedback that helps typists keep their fingers aligned with the key layout. The finger motions of touch typists are ballistic rather than guided by a slow visual search, making touch typing faster than hunt and peck. However, even skilled touch typists occasionally fall back on hunt and peck to find rarely-used punctuation or command keys at the periphery of the key layout.
Many touchscreen devices display pop-up or soft keyboards meant to be activated by lightly tapping a displayed button or key symbol with a finger or stylus. Touch typing is considered impractical on such devices for several reasons: a shrunken key layout may have a key spacing too small for each finger to be aligned with its own key column, the smooth screen surface provides no tactile feedback of finger/key alignment as keys are struck, and most touchscreens cannot accurately report finger positions when touched by more than one finger at a time. Such temporal touch overlap often occurs when typing a quick burst of keys with both hands, holding the finger on modifier keys while striking normal keys, or attempting to rest the hands. Thus users of touchscreen key layouts have had to fall back on a slow, visual search for one key at a time.
Since touchscreen and touch keyboard users are expected to visually aim for the center of each key, typing recognition software for touch surfaces can use one of two simple, nearly equivalent methods to decide which key is being touched. Like the present invention, these methods apply to devices that report touch coordinates interpolated over a fine grid of sensors rather than devices that place a single large sensor under the center of each key. In the first method, described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/236,513 by Westerman and Elias, the system computes for each key the distance from key center to the sensed touch location. The software then selects the key nearest the finger touch. In the second method, described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,463,388 to Boie et al., the software establishes a rectangle or bounding box around each key and decides which, if any, bounding box the reported touch coordinates lie within. The former method requires less computation, and the latter method allows simpler control over individual key shape and guard bands between keys, but both methods essentially report the key nearest to the finger touch, independent of past touches. Hence we refer to them as ‘nearest key’ recognizers.
Unlike touchscreens, the multi-touch surface (MTS) described by Westerman and Elias in Ser. No. 09/236,513 can handle resting hands and temporal finger overlap during quick typing bursts. Since the MTS sensing technology is fully scalable, an MTS can easily be built large enough for a full-size QWERTY key layout. The only remaining barrier to fast touch typing on an MTS is the lack of tactile feedback. While it is possible to add either textures or compressibility to an MTS to enhance tactile feedback, there are two good reasons to keep the surface firm and smooth. First, any textures added to the surface to indicate key centers can potentially interfere with smooth sliding across the surface during multi-finger pointing and dragging operations. Second, the MTS proximity sensors actually allow zero-force typing by sensing the presence of a fingertip on the surface whether or not the finger applies noticeable downward pressure to the surface. Zero-force typing reduces the strain on finger muscles and tendons as each key is touched.
Without rich tactile feedback, the hands and individual fingers of an MTS touch typist tend to drift out of perfect alignment with the keys. Typists can limit the hand drift by anchoring their palms in home position on the surface, but many keystrokes will still be slightly off center due to drift and reach errors by individual fingers. Such hand drift and erroneous finger placements wreak havoc with the simple ‘nearest key’ recognizers disclosed in the related touchscreen and touch keyboard art. For example, if the hand alignment with respect to the key layout drifts by half a key-spacing (˜9 mm or ⅜″), all keystrokes may land half-way between adjacent keys. A ‘nearest key’ recognizer is left to choose one of the two adjacent keys essentially at random, recognizing only 50% of the keystrokes correctly. A spelling model integrated into the recognizer can help assuming the typist intended to enter a dictionary word, but then actually hinders entry of other strings. Thus there exists a need in the touchscreen and touch keyboard art for typing recognition methods that are less sensitive to the hand drift and finger placement errors that occur without strong tactile feedback from key centers.
For many years, speech, handwriting, and optical character recognition systems have employed spelling or language models to help guess users' intended words when speech, handwriting, or other input is ambiguous. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,812,698 Platt et al. teach a handwriting recognizer that analyzes pen strokes to create a list of probable character strings and then invokes a Markov language model and spelling dictionary to pick the most common English word from that list of potential strings. However, such systems have a major weakness. They assume all user input will be a word contained in their spelling or language model, actually impeding entry of words not anticipated by the model. Even if the user intentionally and unambiguously enters a random character string or foreign word not found in the system vocabulary, the system tries to interpret that input as one of its vocabulary words. The typical solution is to provide the user an alternative (often comparatively clumsy) process with which to enter or select strings outside the system vocabulary. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,818,437 to Grover et al. teaches use of a dictionary and vocabulary models to disambiguate text entered on a ‘reduced’ keyboard such as a telephone keypad that assigns multiple characters to each physical key. In cases that the most common dictionary word matching an input key sequence is not the desired word, users must select from a list of alternate strings. Likewise, users of speech recognition system typically fall back on a keyboard to enter words missing from the system's vocabulary.
Unfortunately, heavy reliance on spelling models and alternative entry processes is simply impractical for a general-purpose typing recognizer. Typing, after all, is the fallback entry process for many handwriting and speech recognition systems, and the only fallback conceivable for typing is a slower, clumsier typing mode. Likewise, personal computer users have to type into a wide variety of applications requiring strange character strings like passwords, filenames, abbreviated commands, and programming variable names. To avoid annoying the user with frequent corrections or dictionary additions, spelling model influence must be weak enough that strings missing from it will always be accepted when typed at moderate speed with reasonable care. Thus a general-purpose typing recognizer should only rely on spelling models as a last resort, when all possible measurements of the actual typing are ambiguous.


A particular type of inflatable vehicle occupant protection device is commonly referred to as an air bag. An air bag is stored in a vehicle in a folded, uninflated condition at a location adjacent to the vehicle occupant compartment. When the air bag is to be inflated, inflation fluid is directed to flow from a source of inflation fluid into the air bag. The inflation fluid inflates the air bag from the folded, uninflated condition to an unfolded, inflated condition in which the air bag extends into the vehicle occupant compartment.
When the air bag is being inflated into the vehicle occupant compartment, it engages an occupant of the vehicle to help protect the occupant from a forceful impact with parts of the vehicle. The manner in which the air bag engages the occupant is determined in part by the configuration and location of the air bag relative to the occupant as the air bag unfolds and moves into the vehicle occupant compartment.


1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power driven screwdriver having a clutch mechanism for transmitting rotation of a drive motor to a spindle with a driver bit.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a power driven screwdriver, a clutch mechanism is provided for transmitting and disconnecting the rotation of a drive motor to a spindle with a driver bit. The clutch mechanism is normally constructed as a claw clutch and includes a pair of clutch members, one of which is mounted on the spindle and the other of which is mounted on a main gear driven by the drive motor. The spindle is movable in an axial direction for engaging and disengaging the clutch members. With such a clutch mechanism constructed by a simple claw clutch, since the rotation of the spindle is restrained, for example, at the completion of a screw driving operation, the clutch mechanism temporarily repeats its engaging and disengaging operation. This will generate clanging sounds, giving unpleasant feeling to the operator, and cause early wear of the clutch mechanism.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,103 discloses a power driven screwdriver including stopper for adjusting the driving
a amount of a screw by a driver bit. A claw clutch mechanism is provided between a driver shaft and a spindle movable in an axial direction. The claw clutch mechanism includes a first and a second clutch member formed on the driver shaft and the spindle, respectively. A clutch disc is interposed between the driver shaft and the spindle and includes a third and a fourth clutch member for engagement with the first and second clutch members respectively. A spring is interposed between the first and third clutch members for normally keeping them at a disengaging position. The second and fourth clutch members includes relief portions which serves not to transmit rotation. When the stopper abuts on a work to be screwed, the driver shaft continues rotation while the rotation of the spindle is prevented. This may cause the operation of the relief portions of the second and fourth clutch members to positively disengage the first and the third clutch members with the aid of the spring.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,809,572 discloses a power driven screwdriver including a stopper sleeve for adjusting the driving amount of a screw and a claw clutch mechanism having a pair of clutch members, one of which is mounted on a main gear driven by a drive motor, while the other of which is mounted on a spindle. A spring is provided for normally keeping the clutch member of the spindle out of engagement with the clutch member of the main gear. A control mechanism is provided between the spindle and the clutch member mounted on the spindle. The control mechanism includes oblique recesses and a ball for engagement with the recesses. With such construction, when the stopper sleeve abuts on a work to be screwed, the main gear continues its rotation while the rotation of the spindle is prevented. In this stage, the control mechanism operates to positively move the clutch member of the spindle out of engagement with the clutch member of the main gear with the aid of the spring.
However, with the above prior U.S. Patents, the operation of the clutch mechanism must accompany a reciprocal movement of the spindle at a long distance. In general, a power driven screwdriver is provided with a seal member for sealing between a spindle and a housing to prevent entry of dust within the housing. In case the spindle reciprocally moves at a long distance, the dust may be absorbed into the housing through the ga between the seal member and the spindle or the housing by the pumping effect. Thus, when the spindle moves into the housing, negative pressure will be created in the housing. Such dust entered into the housing may cause early wear or damage of the clutch mechanism or bearings disposed within the housing.
Further, with the clutch mechanism of the above U.S. Patents, after the stopper or the stopper sleeve has abutted on the work, no further driving operation cannot be made even if the driving of a screw wa insufficient.


Such a cartridge is known from DE 10 2008 057 443 A1, where the functional element is a valve device.
It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,391,590 B1 that a functional element is designed as a cap, which is pulled over a cannula opening of a cannula duct to close the cannula section. It is disadvantageous here that the cartridge and the cap for the cartridge must be manufactured in two mutually independent manufacturing steps, wherein the cap is placed, as a rule, by hand by a person or in an automated manner on the cannula opening of the cannula section. This causes high manufacturing costs. In addition, with the cap already placed, there is a risk of air inclusions during the filling of the cartridge with the dental material, as result of which the shelf life of the dental material may be reduced and/or the quantity of the filling may show undesired variations in a comparison of a plurality of cartridges. Such air inclusions may lead to the loss of the cap, especially during transportation, because of the expansion of the air, as a result of which the storage stability is reduced. Even though the inclusion of air can be reduced when filling the cartridge without cap, there is a risk now that dental material will escape from the cannula opening of the cannula section, as a result of which dental material will be lost. This leads to higher manufacturing costs. Such cartridges are intended for single-time use especially in the field of dentistry. However, there is a risk when using caps that the cannula section will be reclosed with the cap in order to use a residual material that is preset later. There is a risk of contamination of the dental material and/or of an increased risk for infection because of its undesired reclosing of the cartridge that was once opened.
A cartridge, in which fibers or a flocking are connected to the cartridge in the area of an outlet of the cannula section, is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,059,570. This functional element is used to apply, spread and/or burnish the dental material. It is disadvantageous here that the application of the fibers or of the flocking is carried out in an independent manufacturing step and fully independently from the manufacture of the cartridge. It is also disadvantageous that the cannula section is rigid in the area of the fibers or flocking. As a result, there is a risk that a treatment with the functional element is perceived by a patient as being unpleasant and/or painful. In addition, there is a risk that undesired injuries will develop because of the rigid design. The spreading and/or burnishing of the dental material is also made difficult by the rigid design of the cartridge and of the cannula section.
Furthermore, it is disadvantageous in prior-art cartridges that there is a risk of an especially abrupt rupture of material in case of an overstressing due to an excessively strong force or an excessively high pressure being applied to press the dental material out of the cartridge and/or the reservoir.


A polymer electrolyte fuel cell in which a hydrogen-containing fuel gas and oxygen-containing oxidizing gas are supplied to an anode and cathode, respectively, and an electromotive force is generated by an electrochemical reaction occurring at both poles is generally constituted by sequentially laminating a bipolar plate, a gas diffusion electrode substrate, a catalyst layer, an electrolyte membrane, a catalyst layer, a gas diffusion electrode substrate, and a bipolar plate. The gas diffusion electrode substrate is required to have high gas diffusivity for allowing a gas supplied from the bipolar plate to be diffused into the catalyst layer and high water removal performance for discharging liquid water generated by the electrochemical reaction to the bipolar plate, as well as high electrical conductivity for extracting generated electric current, and gas diffusion electrode substrates composed of carbon fibers and the like are widely used.
However, the following problems are known: (1) when the polymer electrolyte fuel cell is operated at a relatively low temperature of below 70° C. in a high current density region, as a result of blockage of the electrode substrate by liquid water generated in a large amount and shortage in the fuel gas supply, the fuel cell performance is impaired (this problem is hereinafter referred to as “flooding”) ; and (2) when the polymer electrolyte fuel cell is operated at a relatively high temperature of 80° C. or higher, as a result of drying of the electrolyte membrane due to water vapor diffusion and a reduction in the protonic conductivity, the fuel cell performance is impaired (this problem is hereinafter referred to as “dry-out”). In order to solve these problems of (1) to (2), various efforts have been made. A method of improving gas diffusivity and water removal performance by forming a microporous part on the surface of the gas diffusion electrode substrate, and forming pores in the microporous part is the basic solution to these problems.
Patent Document 1 discloses that stable fuel cell performance can be obtained in a low humidity condition and high humidity condition by having a structure in which a carbon porous material, i.e., a microporous part, is impregnated in an electrode substrate, and the density of the impregnated layer is set to a predetermined range. However, by the structure in which a microporous part is impregnated in an electrode substrate, obtained by the above method, high gas diffusivity and high water removal performance cannot be simultaneously satisfied, and particularly, fuel cell performance has been insufficient at low temperatures.
Patent Document 2 discloses a technology to form a through hole by putting a large quantity of pore-forming particles into the inside of the microporous part, and obtaining high performance in the drying conditions and humidified conditions by separating the paths of water and gas. However, while water removal performance is improved by the microporous part in the method disclosed in Patent Document 2, there is a problem that discharged water accumulates in carbon paper and inhibits diffusion of gas, and sufficient properties could not be obtained.
As described above, a variety of efforts have been made; however, one that can be satisfied as a gas diffusion electrode substrate which has excellent anti-flooding characteristic particularly at low temperatures without deteriorating anti-dry-out characteristic is yet to be discovered.


Typical electrical connector assemblies include a pair of connector housings of dielectric material, such as male and female connector housings, which mount complementarily interengaging terminals so that the terminals complete electrical circuits when the housings are fully mated in some applications, the male and female connector housings are relatively easy to separate or unmate to disconnect the electrical circuit. In other applications, it may be desirable to prevent separation or unmating of the connectors if at all possible.
For instance, in automotive applications, it may be desirable to unmate a pair of electrical connectors for purposes of servicing a vehicle, but unintentional separation of the connectors could lead to serious consequences. Similarly, in various appliance applications, such as refrigerators or food freezers, again it may be desirable to separate or unmate the connectors for purposes of servicing the appliances, but unintentional separation of the connectors could lead to loss or spoilage of the appliance contents.
Consequently, various approaches have been made to design mating electrical connectors with security locking systems which prevent separation of the connector housings of a male and female connector assembly.
For example, many electrical connector assemblies employ latching devices between the housings of the male and female connectors. The latching devices often are provided in the form of flexible latch arms on one connector housing for snapping into engagement with latch bosses or detents on the mating connector housing. It has been found that such flexible latch arms, themselves, can be unintentionally separated through handling or by other means. Consequently, security locking keys have been employed in conjunction with such latching devices to prevent the latching devices, themselves, from becoming disengaged.
Heretofore, one of the problems with security locking key systems has been that the locking keys are difficult, if not impossible, to remove should it be desirable to separate the connectors, without destroying the keys or associated portions of the connector housings. It would be desirable to provide a simple security locking key system wherein the locking keys can be easily removed to separate the connectors if desired.
Another problem with security locking key systems in electrical connector applications is that the keys often are misplaced or simply difficult to handle while manipulating the connector housings of the connector assembly.
This invention is directed to providing a simple, yet effective security locking key system for electrical connectors, wherein a locking key can be readily removed without destroying the key or associated portions of the electrical connectors, and also to providing a security locking key system wherein the locking key is tethered to the electrical connector assembly so that it cannot be misplaced and is readily available for use.