Abstract: An external regeneration mechanism including a housing having two chambers and a displaceable member disposed between said two chambers and at least two passages are defined on said housing. The first passage is communicating with the first chamber and the filter outlet and the second passage is communicating with the second chamber and the filter inlet of same filter. A rod having an external handle is coupled to said displaceable member and is adapted to move by an external source of power said displaceable member linearly back and forth in order to dislodge particles and filter aid material from the external surface of the filter element.

Abstract: A portable telephone device with telephone, data terminal and/or heads-up display functions in an integrated package having a size and weight on the order of conventional portable wireless telephones. The device includes a hand-held body structure having a main body portion and a heads-up display body portion. The main body portion may be held in a normal telephone handset position at a side of a user's head to position audio input and output transducers in functional relationship to the user's mouth and adjacent ear. The heads-up display body portion is rotatable from a storage position to an operative position for locating a display in front of the adjacent eye of the user for display of data. The device further comprises, within the hand-held body structure, a processor and associated memory, a keyboard, a transceiver for voice and data communications with a remote telephone and/or data terminal unit, and a battery compartment for housing a battery that supplies power to the device.

Abstract: A flux position sensor for magnetic bearings applications is provided by creating a secondary, or shunt, flux path in parallel with a main flux path of a magnetic bearing. The secondary flux path is formed such that a small amount of bearing magnetic flux is shunted from the main path into the secondary path. The amount of shunted flux varies in a known relationship with the flux density and/or the position of the element being supported by the bearing. By quantifying the amount of shunted flux, using any number of conventional methods, the position of the supported element can be determined. Therefore, the flux position sensor forms an integral part of a closed loop control system for an active magnetic bearing. The same sensor can be used simply for measuring flux density in a magnetic bearing or other device.

Abstract: The optical recording medium of this invention includes: a first substrate having a first information surface; a semitransparent reflection film formed on the first information surface of the first substrate; a second substrate having a second information surface; a reflection film formed on the second information surface of the second substrate; and an adhesive layer for adhering the first substrate and the second substrate so that the first information surface and the second information surface face each other, wherein the thickness of the first substrate is 0.56 mm or more, the thickness of the adhesive layer is 30 .mu.m or more, and the total thickness of the first substrate and the adhesive layer is 0.68 mm or less.

Abstract: This invention relates to a method for forming a low barrier height oxide layer on the surface of a crystalline silicon substrate, comprising: (A) forming spaced field oxide regions on the surface of said crystalline silicon substrate, the space between said field oxide regions comprising a tunnel region; (B) vapor depositing a layer of amorphous silicon on the surface of said field oxide regions and on the surface of said substrate in said tunnel region, the thickness of said layer of amorphous silicon being in the range of about 50 .ANG. to about 100 .ANG.; and (C) oxidizing said layer of amorphous silicon. The oxidized amorphous silicon layer in said tunnel region is a tunnel oxide layer and, in one embodiment, the inventive method includes the step of (D) forming a floating gate over said tunnel oxide layer, said tunnel oxide layer having a barrier height of about 1.6 to about 2.0 eV.

Abstract: The thermosetting composition of the present invention includes an unsaturated polyester, an addition polymerizable monomer, a low shrink agent other than an aliphatic polyester, and an aliphatic polyester decomposed in a decomposing solution containing a base and at least one solvent selected from the group consisting of water, methanol, ethanol, and ethylene glycol at a temperature lower than a boiling point of the decomposing solution after being cured.

Abstract: Line-by-line dataform readers and methods are enabled to operate with reduced buffer memory capacity. Storage and retention of image data are controlled on an interactive basis by concurrent analysis while lines of image data are coupled from a linear scanner. In a first embodiment lines of image data are analyzed for recognition of a feature unique to a type of dataform. Upon successful feature recognition a series of earlier and later lines of image data adequate to include a complete dataform image are retained in memory for decoding purposes. Prior to successful feature recognition, as lines of image data exceeding a limited memory storage capacity are received the earliest stored lines are discarded on a first-in-first-out basis. In a second embodiment, a buffer memory has a storage capacity adequate to store only a partial dataform image.

Abstract: A floating, drive-on dry dock assembly for a small craft is assembled from two kinds of hollow floatation units, tall units and short units. The units are interconnected so that their top surfaces are substantially coplanar. The units are arranged to form two arms which support the hull of the craft on each side of the longitudinal center line of the craft. The entire length of each arm is made up of tall units except the distal end portions of each arm which may be made up of short units. The short units are able to flex downward as a craft begins to ride up on the dock because of the location of the connection between adjacent units. The tall units, however, cannot flex relative to each other nearly to the same extent as the short units, and so they form a stable generally planar surface. The distal ends of the arms are connected to each other by an upside down short unit.

Abstract: A floating, drive-on dock for personal or commercial watercraft is assembled from a combination of hollow, air-tight floatation units. The dock includes a beam formed from a plurality of floatation units coupled together positioned underneath and attached to the dock to provide transverse support and lift for the floatation units and thereby reduce bowing or flexion when substantial forces are exerted, such as by large size watercraft, on the dock surface. Additionally, at least one of the floatation units that form the beam includes an aperture so that the buoyancy of that unit can be adjusted.

Abstract: Passive, self-adjusting and tracking optical wavelength filters are described. The filters are absorptive and can be of either transmissive or reflective type. The filters comprise an unpumped doped optical waveguide configured so that signals of different wavelength are spatially decoupled to some extent. The self-adjustment of the filter centre wavelength is achieved by the combined effects of the power-dependent saturable absorption, provided by an appropriate dopant, and partial longitudinal hole burning provided by the spatial decoupling of the different wavelengths. External cavity lasers using this type of filter in the external cavity are also described. This external cavity configuration can provide stable single frequency operation of, for example, a semiconductor laser. By using a saturable absorber for the external cavity (e.g. an erbium doped fibre), longitudinal mode-hopping can be suppressed, ensuring single frequency operation.

Abstract: A pull ring to facilitate opening of pop-top or pull-top cans. The pull ring consists of a flat portion with two attached arms. The two arms defining an opening large enough to accommodate entry of a portion of the tab of the closure of the pull-top or pop-top can. The two arms and the flat portion define a aperture in communication with the opening which is large enough to contain the handle portion of the tab. The ring has one or more protrusions on the arms, opposite the flat portion, to aid gripping. The ring is movable from a down position, where it protrudes minimally from the can surface, to a deployed position, where it remains in place by means of a flat outer surface of the flat portion resting on the can's surface.

Abstract: A cushioning conversion machine (10) comprises a frame (36), conversion assemblies (50, 52, 54, 56) which convert a stock material into a cushioning product, and a length measuring device (12) which determines the length of the cushioning product as it is being produced. The conversion assemblies include a rotating assembly (54) and the angular movement of this assembly directly corresponds to the length of the cushioning product. The length measuring device (12) is positioned to monitor the angular movement of the rotating conversion assembly (54) and thus the length of the cushioning product. In the preferred embodiment, the rotating conversion assembly (54) is a gear assembly.

Abstract: A semi-automated method of classifying a histological specimen for the presence of premalignant or malignant cells, including the steps of treating a specimen with an immunohistochemical marker to provide a visual indication of cell proliferation, ranking individual objects in the specimen in an order according to the likelihood that each object has attributes consistent with a premalignant or malignant cell or cell cluster, selecting for display a set of said objects according to said ranking, and displaying images of said selected objects to facilitate review by an operator.

Abstract: A packaging system comprising a cushion-creating machine (10) and a slide (12) positioned adjacent to the machine (10). The cushion-creating machine (10) includes a frame (36) and cushion-creating assemblies (50, 52, 54, and 56) which are mounted to the frame (36) and which create cushioning products (32). The machine frame (36) includes an exit through which the cushioning products (32) are discharged in a predetermined discharge direction D. The slide (12) includes a smooth sloped surface (60) with a top portion positioned proximate to the machine's exit so that the discharged cushioning products (32) will be deposited thereon. The smooth sloped surface (60) has a pitch angle which is sufficient to insure that cushioning products placed on the top portion of the surface will slide in a predetermined slide direction S. The smooth sloped surface (60) is oriented relative to the machine (10) in such a manner that the slide direction S is substantially perpendicular to the discharge direction D.