Abstract: The present invention provides an apparatus and method for pre-registering boards for use in, for example, the manufacture of looseleaf binders and packaging products. Boards are dropped onto the base plate by an automatic process. Spine guides enable the spine portion of the boards to be secured for subsequent registering. The movement of the spine guides allows the spine portion of the boards to be placed accurately. The spine guides are attached to a spine guide rack which is located on the underside of the base plate. The spine guide rack operates through the use of pneumatic cylinders and enables the movement of the attached spine guides. The spine guides move along a spine guide trench and secure boards on the base plate. The spine guides are retracted when the boards are initially placed on the base plate and then start moving medially to squeeze the spine portion of the board such that it becomes perpendicular to the x-axis.

Abstract: A monitoring seal system comprises a seal housing, a seal assembly, a temperature sensor and a controller. The seal assembly sealingly engages a rotary shaft to prevent fluid leakage between the shaft and the housing. The seal assembly has at least one seal. The seal has a primary ring and a mating ring. The temperature sensor senses the temperature in the vicinity of the seal. The controller determines whether an upset condition has occurred based on at least the temperature in the vicinity of the seal.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for adjusting the clock delay in systems with multiple integrated circuits has a controller, a programmable clock generator and a plurality of integrated circuits, each integrated circuit including a data flip-flop, a programmable delay and a clock-fanout tree, wherein the clock delay in the integrated circuits is adjusted to match the inherent delay in the integrated circuit having the longest inherent delay.

Abstract: A hopper tee mounting assembly capable of accommodating a valve member within the hopper tee mounting assembly. The hopper tee mounting assembly comprises an upper plate having a plurality of upwardly extending bolts, a lower plate having a plurality of downwardly extending bolts, a hinge assembly allowing the upper plate and the lower plate to pivot relative to each other, and a latch assembly to latch the upper plate together with the lower plate.

Abstract: A goggle has a replaceable plastic lens mounted in a flexible frame containing several air vents for passing external air through the goggle interior. The lens is formed of thermoplastic materials to provide spherical and cylindrical versions of the lens. The thermoplastic resins incorporate dyes which tint the lens to create a transmission curve with a broad flattened peak above a 50% transmission level and steep slopes to couple with the response characteristics of the rods of the human eye retina so as to improve contrast in very low light conditions such as night skiing under artificial light. Inlet and outlet air vents are covered by porous foam to reduce fogging in an outdoor environment.

Abstract: An array module containing an array of electronic units is mounted in an installation frame. The electronic units can be mounted by rails in a hermetically sealed array housing and blind-mate connectors can connect the units to a rear plate. Blind-mate connectors also can connect the rear plate to the installation frame for external connection. A plurality of resilient mounts are fastened to the installation frame to protect the frame and storage array module from external shock. A thermal transfer mechanism transfers thermal energy between the electronic units and a region exterior to the installation frame. The electronic units can be enclosed in hermetically sealed chambers having side rails for rigidly fastened to the unit and a resilient support connecting the side rails to at least one of the covers of the hermetically sealed chamber.

Abstract: A hopper tee mounting assembly adapted to retain a valve member situated between a circular flange and a hopper tee. The hopper tee mounting assembly comprises an upper mounting assembly separate from the circular flange and a hinge assembly. The upper mounting assembly has a flat surface adapted for abutment with the circular flange. The hinge assembly is attached to the upper mounting assembly. The hinge assembly allows the hopper tee to pivot relative to the upper mounting assembly.

Abstract: A coated metal tubing arrangement comprises a metal tube. An inner layer of a first polymeric material is bonded to the tube to provide corrosion protection. The first polymeric material has a high crystallinity, a dampening factor of less than 0.05, and a flexural modulus of at least 100 MPa. An outer layer of a second polymeric material is extruded around the inner layer to absorb impact energies and to eliminate mechanical vibrations and acoustic noises. The second polymeric material has a dampening factor of at least 0.05 and a flexural modulus of less than 50 Mpa. The second polymeric material is a multi-phase polymer having at least one polymer component with a glass-transition temperature below room temperature.

Abstract: A high speed data transfer system includes a WAU (201) which is utilized to provide high speed data access to satellite transferred data. The system is configured such that a plurality of data utilization devices (205) may access the high speed data via wireless links to the WAU (201). Advantageously, high speed data services may be provided to users without the users requiring individual satellite antennas.

Abstract: A mechanical end face seal comprising two relatively rotatable seal rings, a resilient bellows for providing a secondary seal between one seal ring and either a housing or a rotating shaft and a finger spring element nested in the bellows. The resilient bellows comprises an elastomeric material, such as molded rubber, and has a single convolution having a general cross-sectional shape of an inverted “Omega.” The finger spring member comprises a plurality of generally “U” shaped spring fingers which provide the axial biasing force to urge the ring faces in sealing relation. In a preferred embodiment, the spring includes ferrules for providing radially inward force on a flange portion of each end of the bellows to maintain the secondary seal.

Abstract: A watercraft of the jet propulsion type comprising a steering mechanism, a throttle control mechanism, a thrust mechanism, a throttle regulator and a controlled thrust steering system. The steering mechanism has a straight-ahead position. The steering mechanism is able to rotate in a clockwise direction from the straight-ahead position to a clockwise position and in a counter-clockwise direction from the straight-ahead position to a counter-clockwise position. The throttle control mechanism is biased toward an idle position. The thrust mechanism provides jet propulsion thrust for the watercraft. The throttle regulator regulates thrust provided by the thrust mechanism. The controlled thrust steering system causes the throttle regulator to increase thrust upon the steering mechanism rotating from the straight-ahead position to the clockwise position or the counter-clockwise position.

Abstract: An ion trap mass spectrometer uses electrospray ionization to introduce multiply-charged positive ions in an axial direction into a quadrupole ion trap and glow discharge ionization to introduce singly-charged negative ions in a radial direction into the ion trap. Methods of controlling ion-to-ion charge transfer reactions include applying dipolar DC voltage across endcap electrodes to allow partial charge state neutralization reactions to occur between the positive and negative ions and then suspending further charge state neutralization reactions. The remaining ions can be further processed and transformed and a mass spectrum created by scanning a quadrupolar RF field.

Abstract: A deflector assembly located within the interior of a trailer for distributing dry bulk during loading of the dry bulk into the interior of the trailer. The deflector assembly comprises a deflector and an air cylinder. The deflector has a deflecting surface capable of deflecting the dry bulk being loaded into the interior of the trailer. The deflector moves from an opened position to a deflecting position upon a flow of compressed air from an air source to the air cylinder.

Abstract: A satellite vehicle compensation system (100) predicts the motion of two satellite vehicles and enhances the predictions with real-time updates of one or both of the vehicles. Using feedback loops (132, 134), the differences between the prediction and the actual motions are looped back to improve the accuracy of the motion predictor.

Abstract: A ring protector for preventing unauthorized access through the dome port openings of a railcar dome. The ring protector defines a plurality of approximately equally spaced holes. The ring protector has an opened position in which each of the dome port openings is in-line with one of the access holes and a closed position in which each of the port openings is not in-line with one of the access holes. The ring protector is adapted to be rotatable from the opened position to the closed position.

Abstract: A new modulation/demodulation method and apparatus are described for use with RF communication. A transmitter (1001T) modulates information onto a plurality of carrier signals transmitted simultaneously over a corresponding plurality of frequencies using cepstral modulation. A receiver (1003R) receives the plurality of carrier signals and demodulates the signals utilizing cepstral demodulation. Receiver (1003R) monitors the carrier signals and in response to predetermined conditions selects a cepstral constellation to be utilized. Receiver (1003R) provides the cepstral constellation information to a transmitter (1003T) that, in turn, transmits the cepstral constellation information to a receiver (1001R), in turn, provides the cepstral constellation information to transmitter (100T). Transmitter (1001T) utilizes the selected cepstral constellation information to modulate the next transmission of the plurality of carrier signals.

Abstract: A watercraft of the jet propulsion type comprising a steering mechanism, a throttle control mechanism, a thrust mechanism, a throttle regulator and a controlled thrust steering system. The steering mechanism has a straight-ahead position. The steering mechanism is able to rotate in a clockwise direction from the straight-ahead position to a clockwise position and in a counter-clockwise direction from the straight-ahead position to a counter-clockwise position. The throttle control mechanism is biased toward an idle position. The thrust mechanism provides jet propulsion thrust for the watercraft. The throttle regulator regulates thrust provided by the thrust mechanism. The controlled thrust steering system causes the throttle regulator to increase thrust upon the steering mechanism rotating from the straight-ahead position to the clockwise position or the counter-clockwise position.

Abstract: A hyperspectral image encoder (10) for compressing hyperspectral imagery includes a differential pulse code modulation (DPCM) loop (26) to perform data decorrelation in the spectral domain and a discrete wavelet transform (DWT) processing means (28) to perform decorrelation in the spatial domain. The DPCM loop (26) determines an error image between a present image at the input of the encoder (10) and a predicted image. The DWT processing means (28) then divides the error image into a plurality of frequency subbands and quantizes information within the subbands in accordance with a plurality of predetermined quantization states to provide a coded output signal. In one embodiment, an interband predictor (24) is provided to predict an image, for use in calculating the error image, using the coded output signal.

Abstract: A system is presented for compression of hyperspectral imagery. Specifically, DPCM is used for spectral decorrelation, while an adaptive 2-D discrete cosine transform (DCT) (22) coding scheme is used for spatial decorrelation. Trellis coded quantization (23) is used to encode the transform coefficients. Side information and rate allocation strategies (36) are discussed.

Abstract: A method of determining the position of a satellite in a near geosynchronous orbit includes receiving at least one main lobe signal from an antenna on a first GPS satellite. A GPS signal, including GPS time and Doppler, is received from a pseudolite positioned on the Earth and an approximate position of each of a plurality of second GPS satellites is determined from an onboard almanac. Side lobe signals and accompanying noise are received from antennas on the plurality of second GPS satellites. The GPS signal and known sequential data bits are used for sorting or integrating the side lobe signals from the accompanying noise and the position of the satellite in a near geosynchronous orbit is determined using the one or more main lobe signals and the sorted side lobe signals.