Abstract: The invention relates to a process for electrochemically converting anhydrous hydrogen halide, such as hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen bromide and hydrogen iodide, to essentially dry halogen gas, such as chlorine, fluorine, bromine and iodine gas, respectively. In a preferred embodiment, the present invention relates to a process for electrochemically converting anhydrous hydrogen chloride to essentially dry chlorine gas. This process allows the production of high-purity chlorine gas. In this process, molecules of essentially anhydrous hydrogen chloride are transported through an inlet of an electrochemical cell. The molecules of the essentially anhydrous hydrogen chloride are oxidized at the anode of the cell to produce essentially dry chlorine gas and protons, which are transported through the membrane of the cell. The transported protons are reduced at the cathode to form either hydrogen gas or water.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an apparatus for processing materials, a process for mixing, finishing and de-volatizing polyamide to make 66 nylon and the 66 nylon made by this process. The apparatus comprises an agitator section having an outlet adjacent the bottom thereof; a transfer screw disposed adjacent the outlet of the agitator section; a spiral ribbon extending upwardly from the transfer screw; a ring disposed vertically above the spiral ribbon, at least one baffle disposed vertically above the spiral ribbon and connected to the ring and a wall-wiping spur connected to the ring. Preferably, the apparatus has two baffles--an upper one for pumping the material downwardly and a lower one for pumping the material upwardly. The diameter of each baffle is preferably about 80% of the diameter of the agitator section.

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method of identifying and characterizing, by color, at least one valid object having at least one predetermined attribute value in a background. The method generates a plurality of images of a candidate object and the background, where each image is one of three primary color images or a black-and-white image. The method searches the image for a candidate object using an automatically calculated threshold gray level and determines the interior points of the candidate object. The method further determines the gray level value of the interior points in the image and calculates a color parameter for the interior points. The method thus enables one to characterize the candidate object by the color parameter and validate the candidate object having the valid object predetermined attribute value.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an image analysis method for determining the interior points of an object in a background when the contour, or perimeter points, of the object are known. By accessing the interior points of an object, textural and color information can be derived, thereby allowing for object recognition. Further, the ability to determine interior points of an object allows for complete identification of all objects in an image. By determining the interior points, one may "blacken out", or effectively remove previously identified objects from an image, creating a remainder image for further searching.

Abstract: The present invention relates to an apparatus and a process for a half-cell structure to make a hexagonal-cell honeycomb core. The structure has a plurality of peaks and valleys and a diagonal surface between each consecutive peak and valley. The apparatus comprises a stack holder for stacking the structure so that as one sheet is placed on top of a stack comprising at least one sheet, the peaks of one sheet contact the peaks of an adjacent sheet. The apparatus also comprises an air blower disposed beneath the top of the stack for reducing the air pressure surrounding the stack to a pressure below the air pressure on the top of the stack, thereby pressing the layers together to form the core.

Abstract: A cutter blade assembly for cutting a product, such as a carrot, into a plurality of finished end products, such as carrot sticks, comprises a blade holder and a first and second blade group disposed within the blade holder. The blade holder has a longitudinal passage formed therein. The first blade group comprises a plurality of first blades radially disposed about the longitudinal passage for cutting a first group of finished end products from the product as the product is advanced through the longitudinal passage. The second blade group comprises a plurality of second blades radially disposed about the longitudinal passage and angularly displaced with respect to the first blades. The second blades cut a second group of finished end products from the product as the product is further advanced through the longitudinal passage. Since both the first and second blades produce finished end products, the utilization of the product is maximized, and the amount of waste generated from the product is minimized.

Abstract: A method of extracting cellular components, e.g., nucleic acids, particularly DNA, from biological, especially solid tissue, samples, particularly from plants, is provided, whereby all of the steps can be performed in one vessel, and the entire process can be automated. A vessel suitable for this process is provided, as well as a system for the automated performance of the process steps.

Abstract: An apparatus for cutting a honeycomb half-cell structure into sheets includes a blade for cutting the structure and a conveyor for positioning a length of the half-cell structure so that the blade cuts across the diagonal surface of the half-cell structure, thereby forming the sheets. The conveyor comprises platens including a plurality of bars contacting the valleys on one side of the half-cell structure and a space between each consecutive bar. The half-cell structure is cut along the diagonal surface alternating between one side of a first predetermined bar and one side of a second predetermined bar. A process for cutting a half-cell structure into sheets includes positioning a length of the half-cell structure so that the diagonal surfaces of the structure are positioned adjacent a blade for cutting and cutting across the diagonal surface to form the sheets.

Abstract: The present invention relates broadly to a method of image analysis for analyzing the texture of a surface, and to a saxony-type carpet having a tightly tailored surface texture characterized by this method. The method employs a model based on a second order co-occurrence matrix model which calculates a set of textural parameters for image classification. This co-occurrence matrix model examines the statistics of the spatial relationship between gray levels in a homogeneously textured image with calculated textural features which represent measures such as homogeneity and contrast. The method of the present invention uses this model to construct a set of normalized textural parameters from the textural parameters and calculates a value for the normalized textural parameters from this set, where the normalized textural parameters are related to the physical properties of the surface, such as pile lay of a carpet.