Abstract: A method of authenticating an item and an apparatus for authenticating an item. The items which can be authenticated are typically located in a sales room or other commercial establishment where goods are typically sold. There has been an increasing trend wherein manufacturers are providing items typically on display in sales showrooms with a tag or marking which can serve to authenticate the item or product. The consumer can then determine if the item is genuine or counterfeit by means of the tag or other identifying marking.

Abstract: A label printer, or a printer in general, can have a processor which can be connected to a data storage medium as well as to data input and data output connections for external devices. Such a printer could include a thermal printer for printing labels on self-adhesive materials. To expand the usability of such a printer, and to increase the printing speed, a common interface can be provided, which interface can be activated by the processor and can be configured in a manner such that both the storage medium and the data input and data output connections for external devices can be connected thereto.

Abstract: A bar construction comprising a generally trapezoidal and open cross-sectional configuration which includes a center-flange (6), two webs (7) which embrace the center-flange, and side-flanges (8) which extend outwardly from a respective side of the bar and connect with respective web (7). The bar may optionally include a first section (1) of constant cross-section in the center part of the bar. The bar includes at least one second section (2) which has a center-flange (6) whose width (b) decrease towards one end (5) of the bar. A transition part (3,4) of generally trapezoidal configuration is provided between the second section (2) and the end (5) of the bar. The second section (2) has side-flanges (8) whose widths (c) decrease towards one end of the bar. The second section (2) has a generally constant height (h).

Abstract: The invention is directed to a thermal printer, with a thermal print head having a series of electrically drivable heating elements, with a microprocessor transferring data to be printed into a register associated with the thermal print head. In order to increase the printing speed, a buffer storage connected to the microprocessor via a parallel data line as well as a separate load state monitoring circuit are proposed, the monitoring circuit being connected to the buffer storage and causing data to be transferred from the buffer storage into the register when the data written into the buffer storage from the microprocessor has reached a defined quantity. As an alternative or addition, it is recommended to insert a pulse generator and a stepping motor driver between the output of the microprocessor and the stepping motor for driving the platen roll.

Abstract: A label printer for printing labels can typically have a pressure roller and a corresponding print head, which print head can have a support, a spring base plate, and a spring disposed between the support and the spring base plate to bias the print head into engagement with the pressure roller. The spring base plate can be rotationally mounted on a bearing shaft which is preferably parallel to the pressure roller, and the free end of the bearing shaft can be flattened over a portion of its length to form two parallel key surfaces for engaging with a locking element that adjusts the biasing force of the spring by engaging and positioning the spring base plate.

Abstract: To conserve relatively expensive printing ribbon, in particular a thermal transfer ribbon, when a portion of the medium which is not to be printed, e.g.

Abstract: The machine has a cooled and moving substrate, for example an endless horizontal belt, a feeding device, for example a tundish, and a distributor arranged transversely to the substrate for distributing liquid metal over the substrate. The distributor can have an outlet for permitting a stream of liquid metal to exit the distributor, into a gaseous medium which can be enclosed by a hood or cover, at a substantial angle from the horizontal and vertical axes of the distributor, and the pressure of the liquid metal at the outlet can also be varied.

Abstract: A connecting element for a printer housing has housing parts which are connected to one another by at least one connecting element, into which connecting element is integrated a locator device in the form of a T-slot for anchoring peripheral devices to the housing of the printer. Peripheral devices can be detachably connected to the locator device either directly or indirectly by means of an anchor plate.

Abstract: To be able to set up and operate a printer with a control panel in any position, the printer housing or similar structure of the printer contains a panel receptacle for holding a removable control panel, whereby the latter is connected to the control components of the printer by means of a cable, or at least a wireless infrared transmitter, and that the control panel is fixed at least in the direction of withdrawal in the panel receptacle by means of at least one magnet.

Abstract: On truck frames having three wheelsets, the invention teaches that the middle wheelset is in contact on each side with the vehicle frame by means of actuators in the lateral direction. These actuators are used to adjust the middle wheelset when the train travels through curves toward the outside of the curve, as a function of the angle of rotation of the truck frame, which is determined by means of measurement elements.

Abstract: A label for use as a price tag on products has a printable recording medium which can be attached by adhesive to a carrier foil. The adhesive attachment can be provided by means of a laminated material having an adhesive action. To create a label which, by means of its adhesive layer, properly adheres to the product to be labelled, and which, after removal from the product, leaves behind no adhesive residue, the laminated material can be made to have an intermediate layer coated on both sides with adhesive, and which intermediate layer is configured to exert a stronger adhesive force on adhesive than the products to be labelled will exert on the adhesive. Further, the adhesive deposited on the side of the intermediate layer facing the carrier foil preferably has a lower adhesive strength than the adhesive deposited on the side of the intermediate layer facing the recording medium.

Abstract: On undercarriages for railway vehicles with at least four wheelsets which are combined into trucks, the invention teaches that force-controlled or displacement-controlled actuators are located on the end wheelsets of the trucks. These actuators thereby act on the wheelset bearings, and in terms of their effect, they are connected in parallel, in the case of the force-controlled actuators, and in series, in the case of the displacement-controlled actuator with a wheelset restraint. This system makes possible a controlled rotation of the wheelset in relation to the truck frame.

Abstract: Sewage sludge from municipal and industrial sewage systems can be incinerated in conjunction with the incineration of refuse in a refuse incinerator as environmentally safely as possible, with a favorable energy balance and low expenditures for technology and equipment. The sewage sludge can be fed into a rotary tubular kiln, while in a countercurrent, flue gas from a refuse incinerator can be passed through the rotary tubular kiln. The resulting vapors from the sewage sludge incineration can then be injected back into the refuse incinerator for afterburning, while the components of the vapors are useful for the reduction of the formation of nitrogen oxide during the incineration of the refuse.

Abstract: An apparatus for printing labels can have a printing area, a deflector area designed as a shaft or an edge located behind the printing area in the transport direction of the labels, around which deflector the carrier strip can be guided, and where the labels, on account of their stiffness, can be detached from the carrier strip, while the adhesive glue remains on the underside of the label. In addition, the printing apparatus can also have a supporting apparatus with a contact area near the output opening for the labels, against which supporting area the labels, output via the output opening, come into contact with their underside. The contact area of the support apparatus can preferably be formed by the exposed surfaces of balls mounted so that they can rotate in at least one retaining strip, so that during the label output, the labels preferably do not stick to the support apparatus, as such sticking would significantly interfere with the output of the labels.

Abstract: A modular electrical-energy distribution system has at least one conductor and a contacting device which makes it possible to establish, at essentially any point in the conductor system, a contact with the conductor. The tap or contacting devices essentially clamp onto or between conductor bars and therefore essentially permit all contacts to be made simply from one side of the conductor bars thereby reducing installation time.

Abstract: In handling machines, in particular punching machines, operating in discrete steps, for sheets of paper or similar objects, a warping, waving or wrinkling of the sheets occurs during the deceleration movements of the sheets ahead of the delivery station. These deformations are smoothed by the hold-down device according to the invention, which consists of a circulating perforated endless belt, to which an underpressure is applied from below. There is also synchronization between the feed movement of the sheets and the movement of the endless belt.

Abstract: Parasite arcs which occur during the operation of plasma torches have an adverse economic effect and endanger important parts of the torch. Countermeasures of the prior art are only partly effective. Equipping the annular passage between the electrode and the surrounding nozzle which carries the plasma gas with an electrically insulating lining on the inside of the nozzle provides only partial protection. To insulate the segment of the inner wall part of a water-cooled nozzle adjacent to the end wall part by means of insulating parts penetrating the wall part in question from the outer segment is very expensive and complex, depending on the design and the choice of insulation materials. The invention proposes that secondary passages be distributed uniformly between the annular passage for the plasma gas and an annular passage between the nozzle endpiece and the torch casing, uniformly over the circumference.

Abstract: Fuel and combustion gas are supplied to the blast pipes and tuyeres of a blast furnace through injection lances which have an inner tube and an outer tube. The inner tube is generally used to carry the fuel, while the space formed between the inner and outer tubes is used to carry the combustion gas. Such a lance can have a heat resistant tip which has a bore for forming an extension of the inner fuel supply tube, and which also has a number of helical channels disposed about the bore for forming an extension of the space between the tubes. It is advantageous to have more than one such lance in each blast pipe and to have the lances extend obliquely into the hot blast channel that is formed by the blast pipe and the tuyere.

Abstract: An installation system for wiring of a building has at least one junction boxes connected together, with each junction box having a removable plug-in block disposed at the back thereof. The plug-in block has conductors therein with sockets for providing access to the conductors, so that essentially all of the necessary electrical connections needed for wiring the building can, by means of the sockets and corresponding plugs on the power lines and electrical accessories, be made by simply plugging together the plugs and the sockets.