Abstract: A control arm is coupled to a control shaft of a hydraulic pump. A friction shaft extends parallel to the control shaft and is slidably moveable within an arcuate-shaped hole in the control arm. A stop plate is movably supported by the control shaft and the friction shaft. When the stop plate is in the operating position, a friction pad supported by the friction shaft is biased by a pressure plate and a spring against the control arm. When the stop plate is in the braking position, a sloping region of the stop plate engages a pin extending from the pressure plate such that the friction pad is spaced from the control arm and arcuate-shaped grooves in the stop plate engage pins extending from the control arm in a neutral position. The present invention also includes a hydrostatic transmission and a vehicle incorporating the cruise control and neutral return mechanism.

Abstract: A housing cannot be made compact by only securing a space corresponding to a reservoir tank at the upper part of the housing, and the space at the upper part of the housing cannot be utilized if the reservoir tank is integrally provided to the upper part of the housing. An axle driving apparatus comprising a tubular reservoir tank erected on the upper surface of the upper wall surface of the housing for accommodating an HST, wherein, since the reservoir tank is thinly elongated and is freely bendable, it can be disposed in a limited space. The housing is divided into a first room and a second room with which the reservoir tank communicates. Further, a first magnet is disposed at a position where the first and second rooms are connected, and a second magnet is disposed in the proximity of an oil filter connected to a closed circuit of the HST so that impurities can be removed.

Abstract: When a multicolor image indicated by image data is generated, a signal for generation of a monochrome image according to the image data is amended according to the information about the monochrome image contained in the image data and according to the information about a monochrome image of another color contained in the image data. Then, monochrome images are generated according to the amended signals, and the multicolor image is generated by overlapping the generated monochrome images.

Abstract: A hydrostatic transaxle apparatus comprises a housing in which an HST, a pair of axles, a differential unit differentially connecting the axles to each other, and a horizontal counter shaft interposed between the HST and the differential unit. The HST comprises axial piston type hydraulic pump and motor mounted on vertically opposite surfaces of a center section, respectively, so as to be fluidly connected to each other so that pump and motor shafts are disposed vertically coaxially to each other. The center section is disposed adjacently to the differential unit and one of the axles. A cooling fan is fixed on the pump shaft projecting outward from the housing. When along the pump shaft, most of the housing except portions thereof for housing the respective axles is disposed within an area of rotary locus of the cooling fan.

Abstract: A hydrostatic transaxle apparatus comprises a housing in which an HST, a pair of axles, a differential unit differentially connecting the axles to each other, and a horizontal counter shaft interposed between the HST and the differential unit. The HST comprises axial piston type hydraulic pump and motor mounted on vertically opposite surfaces of a center section, respectively, so as to be fluidly connected to each other so that pump and motor shafts are disposed vertically coaxially to each other. The center section is disposed adjacently to the differential unit and one of the axles. A cooling fan is fixed on the pump shaft projecting outward from the housing. When along the pump shaft, most of the housing except portions thereof for housing the respective axles is disposed within an area of rotary locus of the cooling fan.

Abstract: A hydrostatic transmission including a closed fluid circuit is contained together with a deceleration gear mechanism in a housing filled with fluid so as to serve as a fluid sump. The hydrostatic transmission includes a check valve assembly in connection with the closed fluid circuit. The check valve assembly includes a vertically movable valve member, a valve seat, and a draining operation member being movable perpendicularly to the movement of the valve member. The check valve assembly has three functions. A first function of the check valve assembly is to lower the valve member by the gravity and hydraulic pressure in the closed fluid circuit so as to fit the valve member on the valve seat, thereby sealing the closed fluid circuit. A second function of the check valve assembly is to raise the valve member apart from the valve seat because the hydraulic pressure in the closed fluid circuit becomes lower than pressure in the fluid sump, thereby supplying fluid from the fluid sump to the closed fluid circuit.

Abstract: A smoothing method selectively outputs one of an extracted window pattern which is obtained by extracting a region having a predetermined size with a target pixel formed by each pixel of an input image data and an inverted window pattern which is obtained by inverting a polarity of each pixel of the extracted window pattern, collates an output window pattern which is output with a plurality of collating templates, and outputs corrected dot data corresponding to one of the collating templates matching the output window pattern, and selectively outputs one of the corrected dot data and an inverted corrected dot data which is obtained by inverting a polarity of each dot of the corrected dot data.

Abstract: A hydrostatic transaxle apparatus comprises a housing in which an HST, a pair of axles, a differential unit differentially connecting the axles to each other, and a horizontal counter shaft interposed between the HST and the differential unit. The HST comprises axial piston type hydraulic pump and motor mounted on vertically opposite surfaces of a center section, respectively, so as to be fluidly connected to each other so that pump and motor shafts are disposed vertically coaxially to each other. The center section is disposed adjacently to the differential unit and one of the axles. A cooling fan is fixed on the pump shaft projecting outward from the housing. When along the pump shaft, most of the housing except portions thereof for housing the respective axles is disposed within an area of rotary locus of the cooling fan.

Abstract: A housing cannot be made compact by only securing a space corresponding to a reservoir tank at the upper part of the housing, and the space at the upper part of the housing cannot be utilized if the reservoir tank is integrally provided to the upper part of the housing. An axle driving apparatus comprising a tubular reservoir tank erected on the upper surface of the upper wall surface of the housing for accommodating an HST, wherein, since the reservoir tank is thinly elongated and is freely bendable, it can be disposed in a limited space. The housing is divided into a first room and a second room with which the reservoir tank communicates. Further, a first magnet is disposed at a position where the first and second rooms are connected, and a second magnet is disposed in the proximity of an oil filter connected to a closed circuit of the HST so that impurities can be removed.

Abstract: Discloses an image formation apparatus capable of achieving a picture quality improvement of a multi-value image without increasing the size of a look-up table to a size larger than the size of a look-up table that is used for the picture quality improvement at the time of forming two-value image data. The image formation apparatus can form an image having at least one density in addition to two values of white and black in pixel units, and includes a density separation section that distributes a multi-value image data to a plurality of density planes according to a predetermined rule, a correction signal generator that outputs correction signals for correcting the layout of pixels in each of the plurality of density planes, and a correction signal combiner that combines the correction signals output from the density planes according to a predetermined combining rule.

Abstract: A hydrostatic transaxle apparatus comprises a housing in which an HST, a pair of axles, a differential unit differentially connecting the axles to each other, and a horizontal counter shaft interposed between the HST and the differential unit. The HST comprises axial piston type hydraulic pump and motor mounted on vertically opposite surfaces of a center section, respectively, so as to be fluidly connected to each other so that pump and motor shafts are disposed vertically coaxially to each other. The center section is disposed adjacently to the differential unit and one of the axles. A cooling fan is fixed on the pump shaft projecting outward from the housing. When along the pump shaft, most of the housing except portions thereof for housing the respective axles is disposed within an area of rotary locus of the cooling fan.

Abstract: A housing cannot be made compact by only securing a space corresponding to a reservoir tank at the upper part of the housing, and the space at the upper part of the housing cannot be utilized if the reservoir tank is integrally provided to the upper part of the housing. An axle driving apparatus comprising a tubular reservoir tank erected on the upper surface of the upper wall surface of the housing for accommodating an HST, wherein, since the reservoir tank is thinly elongated and is freely bendable, it can be disposed in a limited space. The housing is divided into a first room and a second room with which the reservoir tank communicates. Further, a first magnet is disposed at a position where the first and second rooms are connected, and a second magnet is disposed in the proximity of an oil filter connected to a closed circuit of the HST so that impurities can be removed.

Abstract: An economical display data conversion apparatus for reducing the cost of an LED printer includes a switch matrix circuit and a shift register, wherein the switch matrix circuit has the same number of output terminals as the number of LED cells of an LED array and a smaller number of input terminals than the number of output terminals, multiplies an input signal and outputs the multiplied signal when the LED array having high resolution is caused to emit light at the same resolution as resolution of printing data having a plurality of different kinds of low degrees of resolution, and the shift register includes the same number of registers as the number of input terminals of the switch matrix circuit cascaded with one another, and can cut a predetermined number of registers on the rear stage side by a select switch and a short-circuit.

Abstract: A hydrostatic transmission including a hydraulic pump and a hydraulic motor fluidly connected with each other, being immersed in an oil sump formed in a housing. A pair of oil passages for fluidly connecting the hydraulic pump with the hydraulic motor are formed in a center section on which the hydraulic pump and the hydraulic motor are mounted. The center section is provided on an outer surface thereof with a pair of openings of the respective oil passages. A control arm is disposed in the housing so as to interlock with a pump capacity changing member like a movable swash plate, thereby enabling the pump capacity changing member to be moved to various actuation positions including a neutral position in association with rotation of the control arm rotated to various actuation positions including a neutral position. A contact member having a surface abutting against the pair of openings of the center section is formed integrally with the control arm. A pair of oil passages are provided in the contact member.

Abstract: A smoothing method selectively outputs one of an extracted window pattern which is obtained by extracting a region having a predetermined size with a target pixel formed by each pixel of an input image data and an inverted window pattern which is obtained by inverting a polarity of each pixel of the extracted window pattern, collates an output window pattern which is output with a plurality of collating templates, and outputs corrected dot data corresponding to one of the collating templates matching the output window pattern, and selectively outputs one of the corrected dot data and an inverted corrected dot data which is obtained by inverting a polarity of each dot of the corrected dot data.

Abstract: A housing cannot be made compact by only securing a space corresponding to a reservoir tank at the upper part of the housing, and the space at the upper part of the housing cannot be utilized if the reservoir tank is integrally provided to the upper part of the housing. An axle driving apparatus comprising a tubular reservoir tank erected on the upper surface of the upper wall surface of the housing for accommodating an HST, wherein, since the reservoir tank is thinly elongated and is freely bendable, it can be disposed in a limited space. The housing is divided into a first room and a second room with which the reservoir tank communicates. Further, a first magnet is disposed at a position where the first and second rooms are connected, and a second magnet is disposed in the proximity of an oil filter connected to a closed circuit of the HST so that impurities can be removed.

Abstract: Disclosed is a data sequence conversion circuit for converting a plurality of input data sequences having different data widths into output data sequences having a prescribed data width without converting the input data sequences into serial data. The data sequence conversion circuit, which takes as an input any one of a plurality of input data sequences having different data widths and converts the input data sequence into an output data sequence having a prescribed data width for output, includes: a first parallel shift register for holding the input data sequence; a switch matrix for taking the data held in the first parallel shift register as input data, and for outputting the input data in distributing fashion in accordance with a rule selected by a control signal from a plurality of predetermined rules; and a second parallel shift register for taking the data output from the switch matrix as input data, and for outputting the input data as a data sequence having the prescribed data width.

Abstract: A housing cannot be made compact by only securing a space corresponding to a reservoir tank at the upper part of the housing, and the space at the upper part of the housing cannot be utilized if the reservoir tank is integrally provided to the upper part of the housing. An axle driving apparatus comprising a tubular reservoir tank erected on the upper surface of the upper wall surface of the housing for accommodating an HST, wherein, since the reservoir tank is thinly elongated and is freely bendable, it can be disposed in a limited space. The housing is divided into a first room and a second room with which the reservoir tank communicates. Further, a first magnet is disposed at a position where the first and second rooms are connected, and a second magnet is disposed in the proximity of an oil filter connected to a closed circuit of the HST so that impurities can be removed.

Abstract: In a housing of an axle driving apparatus whose interior space serves as a fluid sump is disposed a center section in which a pair of fluid passages are formed so as to serve as a closed fluid circuit connecting a hydraulic pump and a hydraulic motor therethrough. In the housing are also disposed a movable swash plate for adjusting an amount of fluid discharged from the hydraulic pump, and a pivotal control arm for operating the swash plate. The control arm includes a fluid groove in constant communication with the fluid sump. Either of a pair of orifices is brought into communication with the fluid groove of the control arm when the control arm is located in a certain range. Each of a pair of check valves is interposed between each of the orifices and each of the fluid passages. The check valve allows fluid to flow from the fluid passage to the orifice, and stops flow of fluid from the orifice to the fluid passage.

Abstract: A hydrostatic transmission is provided comprising a hydraulic pump and a hydraulic motor fluidly connected with each other through a closed fluid circuit. Pistons press against a control arm connected with a movable swash plate of the hydraulic pump and generate a friction force when the movable swash plate, which has been rotated slantwise, automatically returns toward the neutral position by a neutral return spring. The movable swash plate gradually returns to the neutral position by pressure of the piston. A discharging oil hole is open at the utmost end of each of the pistons for draining a portion of operating oil which operates the piston in the closed fluid circuit to the interior of a housing. Grooves are formed along a surface of the control arm abutting against the pistons.