Abstract: A vacuum cleaner brushroll having angled tuft patterns effective to increase cleanability performance of the vacuum. The brushroll comprises a spindle and at least two patterns of bristled tufts. The patterns may be helical shaped rows. The rows may define tuft pairs, wherein each tuft in a pair is equidistant from a spindle each and shares a common sweeping path. A majority of the pairs are formed by tufts that are alternatively positioned at acute and obtuse angles to the spindle axis of the brushroll. Two tufts within a pair may be positioned at supplementary angles.

Abstract: An over the highway heavy duty vehicle in the form of a selected one of a truck and a tractor is disclosed. The vehicle has a frame rail having a through aperture. A conductive solder ring is bonded to the rail and surrounds the aperture. A fastener extends through the aperture to secure an electrical connector in electrically conductive engagement with the ring. A ground cable is connected to the connector. A process for forming the ring is also disclosed.

Abstract: A generalization of frequent item sets to error-tolerant frequent item sets (ETF) is disclosed, together with its application in data clustering using error-tolerant frequent item sets to either build clusters or as an initialization technique for standard clustering algorithms. Efficient feasible computational algorithms for computing ETF's from very large databases is presented. In one embodiment, a method determines a plurality of weak ETF's, which are strongly tolerant of errors, and determines a plurality of strong ETF's therefrom, which are less tolerant of errors. The resulting clusters can be used as an initial model for a standard clustering approach, or may themselves be used as the end clusters. In one embodiment, the data covered by the strong clusters is removed from the data, and the process is repeated, until no more weak clusters can be found.

Abstract: A support apparatus 10 suitable for supporting a child's car seat 12 on a vehicle seat 14, such that the seat 12 has a required inclination. The apparatus 10 includes first and second planar members 16, 18 pivotally interconnected along one edge by a hinge arrangement 20. A bracing arrangement is engageable between the first and second members 16, 18 to provide a required relative inclination, and hence inclination of the seat 12.

Abstract: A motor vehicle lamp assembly having a lamp bulb for emitting light and a bulb housing having a light transmissive portion for transmitting light from the lamp bulb to an illumination zone. The housing is coated with a coating material which covers a selected region of the light transmissive portion of the housing. The coating material is electrically energized to alter an amount of light transmitted from the bulb to the illumination zone. A drive circuit electrically coupled to the coating material energizes the coating material to control a light output from the lamp assembly.

Abstract: A heavy duty truck includes a grab handle for installation on the exterior of the truck to aid operator access to the vehicle. The handle includes an inner and outer tubular member. The inner tubular member has two opposing ends, a closed end formed to define a first truck mating surface and an open end. The outer tubular member has two opposing ends, a closed end formed to define a second truck mating surface and an open end. The inner tubular member is slideably engaged within the outer tubular member such that the inner and outer tubular members are coaxial and define a length of the grab handle. The length is adjustable over a range by sliding the inner tubular member with respect to the outer tubular member. The handle may include an annular shaped seal mounted on the outer tubular member open end to protect an operator's hand.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a caster assembly for supporting an object. The caster assembly includes a caster, a caster axle and a pair of support pieces, at least one of the support pieces being rotatably mounted on the caster axle. The support pair of support pieces each include at least two perpendicular support surfaces thereby providing for a plurality of support configurations for supporting objects having various shapes.

Abstract: A motor vehicle lamp assembly having a lamp bulb for emitting light and a bulb housing having a light transmissive portion for transmitting light from the lamp bulb to an illumination zone. The housing is coated with a coating material which covers a selected region of the light transmissive portion of the housing. The coating material is electrically energized to alter an amount of light transmitted from the bulb to the illumination zone. A drive circuit electrically coupled to the coating material energizes the coating material to control a light output from the lamp assembly. Alternate materials are disclosed. One of the materials renders the material more light transmissive when activated with a current and a second of the materials renders the material less light transmissive when activated with a current.

Abstract: An annular gasket for providing a fluid-tight seal between a corrugated pipe and a smooth annular section of a second member. The gasket includes a support portion and a gasket portion. The support portion is made from a first material having a first hardness. The support portion includes an anchor portion shaped to fit within a recess or groove in a first member and a tip portion that extends radially outward from the anchor portion. The gasket portion is made from a softer elastomeric material. The gasket portion is disposed on the tip portion. The gasket portion is configured to make sealing contact with a ridge of the first pipe and the smooth annular section when the first pipe and the smooth annular section are in a relative surrounded and surrounding relationship.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for efficiently compressing contents of a database system to support ad hoc querying and OLAP type aggregation queries. This invention consists of a new compressed representation of the data cube that (a) drastically reduces storage requirements, (b) does not require the discretization hierarchy along each query dimension to be fixed beforehand and (c) treats each dimension as a potential target measure and supports multiple aggregation functions without additional storage costs. The tradeoff is approximate, yet relatively accurate, answers to queries. We outline mechanisms to reduce the error in the approximation. Our performance evaluation indicates that our compression technique effectively addresses the limitation of existing approaches. The basic method relies on representing the contents of the database by a probability distribution consisting of a mixture of Gaussians.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to optimization of the optical detection system for the use of optical emission spectroscopy in end-point detection. The optimization specifically addresses the needs of a radiant heated wafer system in a downstream process chamber environment. The present invention maximizes signal light from relevant reactions, maximizes signal-to noise and signal-to-background ratios, utilizes very small diagnostics access, collects light from the region of most intense light emission from endpoint processes, collects light from representative parts of an entire wafer with just one diagnostic access port to ensure complete end-point, and eliminates light signals from sources other than the wafer.

Abstract: A machine for forming individual packages from a web of preopened and interconnected bags one at a time is disclosed. A web is fed along a path of travel from a supply to a load station. A pair of nip rolls are positioned along the path near the load station. A printer is positioned along the path between the supply and the nip rolls. A nip roll drive is provided for rotating the nip rolls selectively and one at a time at a printing rate for the feed of the web when the printer is operating and at a faster feed rate for positioning a bag at the load station when the printer is not operating. A supply station tensioner is provided for tensioning a web along the path such that the printer when operating prints a section of a tensioned web.

Abstract: A hydrostatic transmission with an integral actuator for a vehicle having an engine and a frame. The assembly includes a transmission housing for connection to a vehicle frame, a shaft for coupling the hydrostatic transmission to an output of a vehicle engine, a pump driven by the shaft and an actuator operatively coupled to the pump that is attached to the transmission housing.

Abstract: A database server supports weighted and unweighted sampling of records or tuples in accordance with desired sampling semantics such as with replacement (WR), without replacement (WoR), or independent coin flips (CF) semantics, for example. The database server may perform such sampling sequentially not only to sample non-materialized records such as those produced as a stream by a pipeline in a query tree for example, but also to sample records, whether materialized or not, in a single pass. The database server also supports sampling over a join of two relations of records or tuples without requiring the computation of the full join and without requiring the materialization of both relations and/or indexes on the join attribute values of both relations.

Abstract: An oil cooling system is disclosed in the environment of an over the road vehicle having a transmission and an internal combustion engine. A primary liquid to liquid heat exchanger is connected to the engine cooling system and connected to a selected on of, or both, an engine lubricant system and the transmission for cooling circulation of oil. An auxiliary heat exchanger is connected in parallel with the primary heat exchanger for selective additional cooling circulation of the oil.

Abstract: An improved cooling system for a turbo charged internal combustion engine is disclosed. A conduit connects a pressurizing engine air intake to the cooling system to raise the pressure in the cooling system thereby enabling an increase of the maximum temperature which coolant in the cooling system can reach.

Abstract: An inlet protector or guard that prevents jamming and clogging of a molten metal pump. The guard includes a flat surface having a central opening that accepts a shaft of the molten metal pump. A wall extends from the periphery of the flat surface along a longitudinal axis of the shaft. The wall is sized to fit within an inlet opening of the pump. The wall includes a plurality of openings, forming an inlet through which molten metal can enter a base of the pump. The plurality of openings are small enough to prevent solid particles that are larger than a distance between an impeller of the pump and a pump chamber from entering the pump and large enough to prevent the pump from clogging.