Abstract: A carbody of a railcar includes an underframe, a side bodyshell, and a roof bodyshell. At least one of the underframe, the side bodyshell, and the roof bodyshell includes: an outer plate portion facing a car outside; and a reinforced portion joined to an inside surface of the outer plate portion and forming at least one internal space between the reinforced portion and the outer plate portion. At least one sound absorbing hole communicating with the internal space is formed on the outer plate portion.

Abstract: A carbody of a railcar includes an underframe, a side bodyshell, and a roof bodyshell. At least one of the underframe, the side bodyshell, and the roof bodyshell includes: an outer plate portion facing a car outside; and a reinforced portion joined to an inside surface of the outer plate portion and forming at least one internal space between the reinforced portion and the outer plate portion. At least one sound absorbing hole communicating with the internal space is formed on the outer plate portion.

Abstract: Wires (electric wires) 29 and 30 of cars are connected to each other through connecting wires mounted to a truck frame of an articulated truck. The connecting wires are inserted into a flexible protecting pipe member and an intermediate portion thereof is mounted within a concave portion formed on an upper portion of a side frame of the truck frame. And, an upper opening of the concave portion is closed by a cover plate. Connectors 22 and 23 are provided at front and rear end portions of the connecting wire for electric connection with cars. The connectors 22 and 23 are removably connected to connectors 26 and 27 of the wires 29 and 30 of the cars, which are mounted by mounting brackets 24 and 25 under the car bodies 2A and 3A.

Abstract: Wire connection and pipe connection between two cars is easily performed. Wires (electric wires) 29 and 30 of cars are connected to each other through connecting wires 21 mounted to a truck frame 4C of an articulated truck 4. The connecting wires 21 are inserted into a flexible protecting pipe member 28 and an intermediate portion thereof is mounted within a concave portion 4Da formed on an upper portion of a side frame 4D of the truck frame 4C. And, an upper opening of the concave portion 4Da is closed by a cover plate. Connectors 22 and 23 are provided at front and rear end portions of the connecting wire 21 for electric connection with cars. The connectors 22 and 23 are removably connected to connectors 26 and 27 of the wires 29 and 30 of the cars, which are mounted by mounting brackets 24 and 25 under the car bodies 2A and 3A.

Abstract: A method is provided for efficiently finding a pattern in an image using a full curvilinear model having a plurality of sub-models. Generally, the method includes maximizing the percentage of each segment connected to each vertex of each sub-model, and finding the pattern in the image using the model so-constructed. The invention permits the rapid determination of characteristics, such as dimensions, position, and orientation, of rectilinear and other polygonal objects, and is particularly well-adapted for analyzing images of back-lit objects.

Abstract: A method for determining spatial characteristics of a selected object in an image that has pixel values representing heights of corresponding portions thereof is characterized by the steps of finding one or more heights of portions of the object, determining a volume of the object at and above (or below) a selected height by summing a count representing a cross-sectional area of the object at that height with a count representing a volume of the object at a greater (or lesser) height, and outputting the volume so determined. A related method determines a cross-sectional area of an object in such a "height" image by finding one or more heights of portions of the object and summing a count of pixels in the object at the selected height with a count representing a cross-sectional area of the object above that height.

Abstract: In an encapsulated contact material which varies little in contact resistance and has good working life performance, at least one contact coating layer is formed covering the surface of a contact substrate. The contact coating layer includes a substantial matrix formed of at least one element selected from a group including Mo, Zr, Nb, Hf, Ta, and W, the matrix being loaded with 0.5 to 50 atom % of at least one element selected from a group including Zn, Cd, Hg, Al, Ga, In, Tl, Ge, Sn, Pb, As, Sb, and Bi. The contact coating layer has a thickness of 0.1 .mu.m or more.

Abstract: A system for edge-based image histogram analysis permits identification of predominant characteristics of edges in an image. The system includes an edge detector that generates an edge magnitude image having a plurality of edge magnitude values based on pixels in the input image. The edge detector can be a Sobel operator that generates the magnitude values by taking the derivative of the input image values, i.e., the rate of change of intensity over a plurality of image pixels. A mask generator creates a mask based upon the values output by the edge detector. The mask can be used for masking input image values that are not in a region for which there is a sufficiently high edge magnitude. A mask applicator applies the pixel mask array to a selected image, e.g., the input image or an image generated therefrom (such as an edge direction image of the type resulting from application of a Sobel operator to the input image). A histogram generator generates a histogram of the pixel values in the masked image, i.e.

Abstract: A machine vision method for identifying a convex hull (i.e., a perimeter) around a set of points (e.g., such as may be found in an image of a ball grid array, or BGA, device) involves finding several "extreme" points on the convex hull. Points in the set that are outside a closed polygon defined by those extreme points are ordered to form a hull by, sorting them, identifying a line defined certain minimum and maximum coordinate values, and re-ordering the sorted points according to their position with respect to that line. The method further calls for testing successive points on the hull and removing those that do not define a convex hull using aspects of a Graham scan technique. The invention also provides a method for finding the angular orientation of a convex hull. The methods of the invention can be beneficially applied to the inspection of images of ball grid array devices, as well as other machine vision applications.

Abstract: A method of forming three dimensional displays (100) from a series of two dimensional sections (102) by interpolation using image algebraic operations or distance measurements on the two dimensional sections to generate interpolation sections (104). The interpolating region between two regions in successive sections is generated automatically. Multiple interpolation regions connecting the original two regions may be included.