Abstract: Construction materials such as 4-foot by 8-foot sheets of plywood, drywall, and similar materials have fiducial markings for quick visual reference of the user. Imprinted lines of equal spacings indicate to the user the location of wall studs at 16-inch or 24-inch spacings, and the sheet of material can also include oblique lines and one or more circles, for reference of the user in quickly determining the size of remnants. Similar markings may also be applied to roll-stored materials such as carpeting.

Abstract: A deck structure is assembled of a plurality of modular panels including one or more hinged, openable access panels. The panels, comprised of extruded deck planks and framing channels are interconnected at edges. At each access panel a gear hinge connects the panel with the adjacent fixed panel, through the width of the panels. Hinge gears are integrally formed on edges of a hinged plank and a fixed plank of the adjacent hinged and fixed panels, with a keeper member holding the gears enmeshed during opening and closing of the panel. In a preferred embodiment a gas tight seal is formed when the access panel is closed. The gear hinge comprising the hinged and fixed planks is the same width as other planks in the deck structure thereby allowing interchangeability and modularity in building the deck structure and allowing the hinge to be placed anywhere in the deck structure. An articulated, sliding cover using similar gear hinge components is also disclosed.

Abstract: The output of a continuous wave modelocked Nd:YAG laser is first pulse compressed and then frequency doubled from infrared to green, to provide a new pumping source for a synchronously pumped dye laser. The disclosed apparatus and methods can achieve tunable subpicosecond pulses at relatively high average power, over 300 milliwatts. The 1064 nanometer output of the pulse compressor is frequency doubled to 532 nanometers so as to provide 3.5 picosecond pump pulses at 82 MHz and average power exceeding one watt. When this is used to pump a Rhodamine 6G dye laser, tunable pulses as short as 190 femtoseconds output can be obtained from the dye laser, with average power over 300 milliwatts. With the addition of a cavity dumper, tunable subpicosecond pulses of 80 kilowatt peak power have been generated.