Abstract: A self-regenerating ion exchange water softener has a lower tank for a resin chamber and an upper tank for a regenerative salt chamber, with an opening positioned between them, and with a restrictive pressure-sensitive valve, sensitive to pressure of water in the resin chamber, having a restricted opening limiting flow of water upwardly into the regeneration chamber or downwardly into the resin chamber.

Abstract: In a method for manipulating particles arranged in a plasma-cristalline state in a plasma of a carrier gas, the particles are at least partially subject to plasma treatment and/or applied to a substrate surface. A device for manipulating of particles in plasma-cristalline state includes a reaction vessel, in which plasma electrodes and at least one substrate are situated. An adaptive electrode for formation of a location selective low frequency or static electrical field in the reaction vessel is described.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for short-term relining or construction of a blast furnace uses a grounding apparatus for grounding of ring-shaped blast furnace segments having shells and a casting floor present as a blast furnace floor for transferring the ring-shaped blocks or shells onto a foundation of the blast furnace, and capable of safely and precisely mounting the ring-like blocks on the casting floor, wherein the grounding apparatus is integrated with a jack system utilizing rod type lift jacks and a sliding apparatus installed with intermittently movable hydraulic cylinders for safe and precision mounting of the ring-shaped blocks or shells on the casting floor.

Abstract: An sintered iron-based powder metal body with outstandingly lower re-compacting load and having a high density and a method of manufacturing an iron-based sintered component with fewer pores of a sharp shape and having high strength and high density, the method comprising mixing, an iron-based metal powder containing at most about 0.05% of carbon, at most about 0.3% of oxygen, at most about 0.010% of nitrogen, with at least about 0.03% and at most about 0.5% of graphite powder and a lubricant, preliminarily compacting the mixture into a preform, the density of which is about 7.3 Mg/m3 or more, and preliminarily sintering the preform in a non-oxidizing atmosphere in which a partial pressure of nitrogen is about 30 kPa or less at a temperature of about 1000° C. or higher and about 1300° C. or lower, thereby forming a sintered iron-based powder metal body with outstandingly lower re-compacting load and having high deformability, the density of which is about 7.

Abstract: A biaxially oriented polyester film with a substantially non-crosslinked polymeric coating consisting essentially of a styrene/acrylate copolymer emulsion, wherein the coating is highly thermally stable with a primary onset temperature of greater than about 350° C., having a glass transition temperature between about 0° C. and about 50° C., having a rapid solubility in a low molecular weight organic solvent, and having a surface energy of greater than about 35 dyne/cm and less than about 40 dyne/cm.

Abstract: A method for producing a secondary lithium cell which has at least one lithium-cycling negative electrode, at least one lithium-intercalating positive electrode, at least one separator disposed between the positive and the negative electrode, and a nonaqueous lithium ion-conducting electrolyte. The method is carried out by the electrodes and/or the separator being coated, by means of electrostatic powder coating, with wax particles which are insoluble in the electrolyte and have a melting temperature of from about 50 to about 150 ° C. and a mean particle size of from about 6 to about 20 &mgr;m, the amount of wax being between about 0.5 and about 2.5 mg/cm2 of electrode area.

Abstract: A water heater including a water container; a combustion chamber adjacent the container, the combustion chamber having at least one air inlet to admit air and extraneous fumes into the combustion chamber and confine ignition and combustion of the extraneous fumes within the combustion chamber; a burner associated with the combustion chamber and arranged to combust fuel to heat water in the container; and an air diverter positioned between the air inlet and the burner and adapted to channel at least a portion of combustion air passing through at least a portion of the air inlet to a position for mixture with the fuel prior to entering the burner to slow combustion and thereby reduce combustion temperatures and NOx emissions.

Abstract: A communication system transmits data between a plurality of locations. The communication system is suitable for use by a utility provider to monitor a plurality of metering devices from a remote location. The communication system in accordance with use by a utility provider to monitor metering devices comprises a control for at least receiving data, a plurality of metering devices arranged in a defined number of metering groups for transmitting data associated with an amount of usage of a utility, and a defined number of concentrators, each operably connected to the control and one metering group for transmission of data between the control and plurality of metering devices.

Abstract: A freely traversable metering head with numerous metering devices, wherein the metering devices are each provided individually or block-by-block with an activating device, and wherein a controller traversable with the metering head is designed for the independent operation of one or more activating devices. Metering devices for such a metering head and procedures for their use are also disclosed.

Abstract: A clip for use on a track of a snowmobile of the type having a suspension system equipped with one or more elongated slide runners, the track consisting of an endless body having an outer face with transverse ground engaging profiles spaced longitudinally thereof and inner surface adapted to receive, on portions of the lower run thereof, a slide runner of the suspension system. The clip has an inner wall and a pair of side walls engaging the body of the track. The inner wall includes a flat face receiving a slide runner thereon during use of the snowmobile. The flat face displays a series of holes whereby snow or ice over which the snowmobile travels, when lodged in these holes during use, provides lubrication for the sliding contact of the slide runner on a clip and cooling of the clip body from heat generated by the frictional contact of the slide runner on the clip.

Abstract: A fluid composition additive for foundry casting sands enabling formation of lustrous carbon, including a liquid support and particles of at least one substance other than coal capable of forming lustrous carbon during metal casting.

Abstract: A process for producing an iron-based powder composition for powder metallurgy having excellent flowability at room temperature and a warm compaction temperature, having improved compactibility enabling lowering ejection force in compaction, and to provide a process for producing a compact of a high density from the iron-based powder composition, wherein the iron-based powder composition comprises an iron-based powder, a lubricant, and an alloying powder, and at least one of the iron-based powder, the lubricant, and the alloying powder is coated with at least one surface treatment agent selected from the group of surface treatment agents of organoalkoxysilanes, organosilazanes, titanate coupling agents, fluorine-containing silicon silane coupling agents, and wherein the iron-based powder composition is compacted at a temperature not lower than the lowest melting point of the employed lubricants, but not higher than the highest melting point of the employed lubricants.

Abstract: Permeable membrane porous substrate and a functional layer provided on the surface of and/or inside the porous substrate, the functional layer having a hydrogen permeation rate of 1×10−10 mol/s·m2·Pa or more, and satisfying at least one of the following properties (1) through (3): (1) Hydrogen is selectively caused to permeate preferentially to water vapor. (2) When a test tube containing ethylene glycol and sealed with the permeable membrane is placed in a 85° C. oven, the ethylene glycol decrease rate measured is 1×10−2 g/hour or less, per square centimeter (1 cm2) of the permeable membrane. (3) When a test tube containing 5% ammonium adipate ethylene glycol solution and sealed with the permeable membrane is placed in a 85° C. oven for 2 days, the acid quantity of the solution is 5×10−3 equivalent or less, per square centimeter of the permeable membrane.

Abstract: A two-stroke engine including a cylinder body having an air intake and an air vent, a piston slidably positioned in a portion of the cylinder body and having an admission passage and an air channel located in an upper portion of the piston, a crankshaft rotatably positioned in another portion of the cylinder body and having a cam, a connecting rod connected between the piston and the cam shaft, the connecting rod comprising an upper portion connected to the piston and a lower portion connected to the crankshaft at the cam, the upper and lower portions connected to each other and being rotatable with respect to each other, and a spring actuated tappet slidably locted in slots in the upper and lower portions and biased against the cam on one end of the tappet, another end of the tappet connected to the upper portion such that sliding action of the tappet in response to rotation of the cam causes the upper portion to rotate a selected amount with respect to the lower portion, which causes the piston to rotate wi

Abstract: A method for processing a sound signal y in which redundancy, consisting mainly of almost repetitions of signal profiles, is detected and correlations between the signal profiles are determined within segments of the sound signal. Correlated signal components are allocated to a power component and uncorrelated signal components to a noise component of the sound signal. The correlations between the signal profiles are determined by methods of nonlinear noise reduction in deterministic systems in reconstructed vector spaces based on the time domain.

Abstract: Producing a ferritic Cr-containing steel sheet having excellent ductility, formability, and anti-ridging properties, and exhibiting excellent surface quality after forming, wherein a ferritic Cr-containing steel sheet contains, by mass %, about 0.001 to 0.12% of C, about 0.001 to 0.12% of N, and about 9 to 32% of Cr, and has a crystal grain structure in which in a section of a hot-rolled annealed steel sheet in the thickness direction parallel to the rolling direction, an elongation index of crystal grains is 5 or less at any position, and in a section of a cold-rolled annealed steel sheet in the thickness direction parallel to the rolling direction, any colony of coarse grains oriented in the rolling direction has an aspect ratio of 5 or less. The production method includes hot rolling, pre-rolling by cold or warm rolling with a rolling reduction of about 2 to 15%, hot-rolled sheet annealing, cold rolling, and finish annealing; preferably the FDT of hot rolling is 850° C., and 0.0002 to 0.

Abstract: A device for imaging a beam of particles composed of charged particles with a certain energy and angle distribution on a detector device using a device, including a deflection unit with at least one deceleration lens provided for forming essentially parallel particle paths in the particle beam, whose reciprocal distances correspond to the angle distribution of the particles, and a filtering unit, which is located between the deflection unit and the detector facility, whereby the filtering unit may be biased with a potential for formation of a braking field and is adapted to be energy-selectively permeable for the particles, on the sample side before the deflection unit, an entry window in the form of an axial-symmetrical staged aperture or an entry grid is located, which is electrically separated from the deflection unit and at ground potential.

Abstract: This invention provides a process for producing a free hydroxylamine aqueous solution, by letting an alkali react with separated sulfates, for conversion into ammonia and sulfates not containing any nitrogen atom, recovering the valuable ammonia and recycling it in the reaction system for effective use. This invention is a process for producing a free hydroxylamine aqueous solution, in which a free hydroxylamine aqueous solution is obtained by letting an aqueous solution or slurry containing hydroxylammonium sulfate and a gas mainly containing ammonia react with each other, mixing a solution mainly containing a lower alcohol with the produced aqueous solution or slurry, and separating the precipitated sulfates containing ammonium sulfate, comprising the steps of mixing an alkali with the separated sulfates, to produce ammonia gas, and recycling the ammonia in the reaction system.

Abstract: A process for velocimetric measurement of a target including causing interference in a dynamic holographic material of a reference laser beam and a beam diffused by the target, and measuring variations in luminous intensity transmitted by the material with a photoelectric detector, wherein the target vibrates with a displacement greater than the wavelength and with an extension limited around a mean position.

Abstract: Multilayered moldings, which comprise a laminate structure of (A) a layer of a polyphenylene sulfide resin (hereinafter referred to as PPS resin) composition and (B) a layer of a thermoplastic resin except PPS resins and which are characterized in that the PPS resin composition constituting the layer (A) comprises (A1) 100 parts by weight of a PPS resin, (A2) from 1 to 80 parts by weight of a thermoplastic resin having at least one functional group selected from epoxy groups, acid anhydride groups, carboxyl group and its salts, and carboxylate groups, and (A3) from 5 to 80 parts by weight of a thermoplastic resin that is similar in kind to the thermoplastic resin constituting the layer (B), have good hot water resistance, antifreeze resistance, chemical resistance, heat resistance, abrasion resistance, gas permeation resistance and interlayer adhesion.