Abstract: Selected lengths of a strip of material are cut either continuously in an automatic mode or each selected length is cut in a manual mode by manual activation of a switch. When the thickness of the strip of the material being cut exceeds a predetermined thickness or is less than a predetermined thickness, this difference is sensed so that this portion of the strip of the material is cut as soon as it ceases to exceed the predetermined thickness or be less than the predetermined thickness. In the automatic mode, automatic cutting may be stopped after this portion of different thickness has been cut either every time or every other time, and manual activation is required to start another automatic cutting.

Abstract: A pressure gauge for indicating the fluid pressure at a source of pressure such as a tire, for example, has a chamber formed within a body. When the body is disposed on a tire valve stem, for example, a portion of the body depresses a valve core plunger of the valve stem to enable the pressurized fluid in the tire to flow through a longitudinal passage in the body and past a flap valve, which is an O-ring, into the chamber. This pressurized fluid in the chamber acts on a piston head of a piston, which is slidably disposed in a passage in the body communicating with the chamber, to move the piston against the force of a spring within the body passage. An O-ring is mounted in the piston head to seal the body passage. The O-ring acts as an indicator through cooperation with a scale on the body to indicate the pressure of the fluid in the chamber in the body; this is the same pressure as that in the tire since the tire is communicating with the chamber.

Abstract: One or more magnetic fields having non-uniform gradients is periodically applied to a magnetic liquid stream, which is preferably isotropic and virtually free of remanence, to create perturbations in the stream so as to form droplets therefrom with substantially uniform spacing and of substantially uniform size. If more than one of the magnetic fields is applied, the maximum strength of each field is spaced an integral multiple wave length from the maximum strength of the adjacent magnetic field with each magnetic field having substantially the same maximum strength. The wave length of the perturbation is preferably between 4d and 8d where d is the diameter of the stream.

Abstract: An ink absorbing assembly has a first porous material disposed close to a paper against which ink jet droplets impact to print. Ink from an ink mist, which is produced from the droplets striking the paper, is absorbed by the first porous material and then transferred to a second porous material, which is in contact with the first porous material and of a different porosity than the first porous material. This enables the surface of the first porous material adjacent the paper in the print area to be relatively dry so as to not allow airborne particles to cling to this surface. By making the porous material of smaller porosity relatively thick in comparison with the other porous material, a relatively large quantity of ink can be absorbed by the porous material of smaller porosity without the surface of the porous material adjacent the paper in the print area becoming wet before replacement is necessary.

Abstract: A portable carrier for a semiconductor wafer is detachably connected to an air slide so that the wafer can be propelled from the carrier to the air slide and vice versa by air from the air slide. The carrier has a chamber with an air slide base on which the wafer is supported by air from the air slide when the wafer is to be propelled into or out of the chamber. The carrier has a single wafer port, which is sealed except when the carrier is connected to the air slide, through which the wafer enters or exits when propelled by air from the air slide. When the carrier chamber is sealed, the wafer is retained in position within the chamber by retaining means, which are rendered ineffective when the wafer is to be propelled into or out of the chamber.

Abstract: A housing has two openings to receive the electrically conductive prongs of a plug to mount the housing and a third opening to receive the grounding prong. Electrically conductive strips are disposed within the housing and have the conductive prongs of the plugs, which pass through the two openings in the housing, pass through openings in the electrically conductive strips to be in contact with the strips to provide a source of power to the strips, which are electrically connected to an alarm circuit. The alarm circuit produces an audible signal whenever there is no current through the plug due to a power failure or the plug being removed from its power source and a battery, which is supported within the housing, is connected to this alarm circuit.

Abstract: Whenever power fails, an audio signal is produced by an oscillator, which includes a pair of transistors of opposite conductivity having the collector of each connected to the base of the other and is maintained in an off condition as long as the power is on. When the oscillator is turned on, a rapidly changing surge of current is supplied from a battery, which has a capacitor in parallel therewith, to an audio producing device in the discharge path of the oscillator. This surge of current is produced through utilizing a Zener diode between the battery and one of the two transistors of the oscillator. The parallel combination of a resistor and a capacitor is disposed between the Zener diode and the transistors of the oscillator. A resistor also is disposed between the emitter of the transistor initially turned on and a capacitor, which is charged to a potential to turn on the transistor. This resistor is of substantially lower impedance than a resistor between the capacitor and the battery.

Abstract: A beam of charged particles has its alignment and brightness alternately controlled in accordance with the current of the beam. The measurements of the current and any corrections for alignment or brightness are made when the beam is not applied to a target.

Abstract: A plurality of magnetic liquid streams is simultaneously excited to produce a plurality of streams of magnetic droplets of substantially uniform spacing and substantially uniform velocity. Each of the droplets in each of the streams passes over a separate selector for each stream to determine whether the droplet will be utilized for printing on a paper. A predetermined number of the droplets of each of the streams is subjected to a time periodic deflection to cause a first half of the predetermined number of droplets, which have been selected for printing by the selectors, to engage a paper in a first line and a second half to engage the paper in a second line. A ramp voltage deflection is separately applied to the predetermined number of droplets of each stream subjected to each half of the time periodic deflection to cause the print lines of the droplets to be orthogonal to the direction of movement of the paper.

Abstract: Streams of ink droplets are formed of a material which changes from transparent or colorless to a color when subjected to a selected energy source. A print pattern is produced on a movable paper through selectively controlling the droplets to which the selected energy source is applied. The droplets which remain transparent or colorless because of not being exposed to the selected energy source can be deactivated by a second source of energy so that these droplets will not subsequently print.

Abstract: A first mist having at least one material is selectively applied to selected portions of a recording surface to form desired characters or other information thereon. A second mist of a material which reacts with the one material is applied to the recording surface. The reaction of the two materials forms a compound on the selected portions of the recording surface having a sufficient contrast with the recording surface to produce characters or other information on the recording surface. If the one material has an ink applied therewith to the recording surface, the material in the second mist reacts with the one material to enhance the contrast of the ink on the recording surface.

Abstract: A stream of magnetic ink droplets is directed towards a recording surface and initially passes through a selector, which selects the droplets for application to the recording surface to form characters thereon. Each of the selected droplets passes through first and second magnetic deflectors in which each of the selected droplets is deflected in directions orthogonal to each other and orthogonal to the direction in which the droplets are moving toward the recording surface. Each of the selected droplets is subjected to a magnetic field gradient varying with respect to time during the passage of the droplet through one or both of the magnetic fields depending on the desired position of the droplet on the recording surface relative to the prior droplet.

Abstract: A semiconductor wafer, which has chips formed thereon, is moved from a class 100 environment into a vacuum chamber in which pattern writing is performed on the chips by an electron beam without significantly affecting the vacuum level in the vacuum chamber. The wafer is initially disposed on an elevator, which is within the vacuum chamber, through an opening, which is vacuum sealed by the elevator at this time, in the top wall of the vacuum chamber. A lid is then placed over the opening from the exterior to cooperate with the elevator to form an ante chamber which the wafer disposed therein. The ante chamber, which is purged prior to the lid being placed over the opening, is then reduced to a vacuum of 5 .times. 10.sup..sup.-2 torr. The elevator then lowers the wafer into a horizonal plane in which a transfer mechanism is located to transfer the wafer from the elevator to an X-Y table on which the wafer is mounted for pattern writing of the chips. The transfer mechanism includes an arm, which is indexed 180.

Abstract: A bar formed of a material having a known coefficient of expansion has probe holders arranged thereon with each of the probe holders being at a selected distance from each of the adjacent probe holders. The distance between adjacent probe holders is selected in accordance with the design distance between adjacent chip sites on a substrate so that the probes in each probe holder will contact the pads of a particular chip site. During processing, the overall dimensions of the substrate can shrink more or less than the design shrinkage so as to shrink the distances between the adjacent chip sites from the design distances. The support bar is heated to a selected temperature at which the probe holders are spaced the design distances. If the substrate has shrunk less than the design shrinkage, then additional heating of the support bar from its selected temperature expands the support bar.

Abstract: A metallized ceramic substrate has a slot provided in one quandrant on one side thereof. The substrate is disposed in receiving means having either two or four restrictive openings therein and over which the substrate is disposed. Fluid pressure is supplied from a pressure source in a separate path to each of these openings. The opening, which has the slot disposed thereover, has a different pressure in its path from the pressure source than the other openings so that the location of the slot, if it is in the surface of the substrate disposed next to the openings, can be ascertained.

Abstract: A spot of collimated monochromatic radiation is applied to a semiconductor wafer to obtain a diffraction pattern from two edges within an area, which is the size of the spot, on the wafer. The diffraction pattern is reflected to a photodiode array wherein the light intensity of the diffraction pattern at each of a plurality of positions is obtained. Each of the photodiodes is scanned separately for the same period of time to determine the light intensity at its location. The distance between the zero intensity positions on the photodiode array is determined very precisely and utilized with the wavelength of a laser, which supplies the spot of collimated monochromatic radiation, and the effective focal length of the lens system, which images the diffraction pattern to the photodiode array, to calculate the linear distance between the edges.

Abstract: A monocrystalline silicon ingot is grown from molten silicon by progressively lifting a monocrystalline seed from the molten silicon, which is disposed within a crucible in a furnace, through mounting the seed on a graphite pull shaft. The pull shaft is surrounded by a bellows, which is connected to a carriage to which the pull shaft also is connected. A seal, which is carried by the bellows structure, seals the pull shaft in its rotary motion. Because the bellows structure and the pull shaft are both connected to the carriage, there is no relative linear motion therebetween so that there is no necessity to seal for linear motion of the pull shaft. A pair of lifting mechanisms is connected to diametrically opposite sides of the carriage to support the carriage and to exert a lifting force on the pull shaft along its longitudinal axis. The crucible also must be raised as the level of the molten silicon is depleted due to the formation of the ingot on the seed at the end of the pull shaft.

Abstract: A square-shaped electron beam is stepped from one predetermined position to another in a line-by-line scan to form a desired pattern on each chip of a semiconductor wafer to which the beam is applied. At each of the predetermined positions, the beam is on, off, or on for a portion of the time period at which the beam is disposed at the predetermined position. The beam also can be offset both along its direction of movement and perpendicular thereto at each of the predetermined positions. Control of this movement of the beam is obtained through utilizing a memory with no change being made in the memory if the predetermined position at the next line does not have any change from the predetermined position at the line along which the beam is moving.

Abstract: A combined gauge and inflator for a tire includes a support member threaded on the tire stem with a body slidably disposed within the support member and locked in a first position. The body has a passage extending therethrough with a spring-biased piston slidably disposed therein. With the body in the first position, the piston rests against a spring-biased plunger, which opens the valve in the tire stem when the plunger spring is overcome. The plunger spring is overcome either by an air chuck acting on the piston to move the piston against the plunger or when the body is moved from its first position to a second position in which the body engages the plunger. When the body is moved against the plunger, sealing means on the piston seal the body passage so that air pressure in the tire moves the piston relative to the body. A scale on the piston cooperates with a marker on the body to indicate the pressure of the tire.