Abstract: An apparatus and method of performing a cholecystectomy procedure through a 3-centimeter incision in the minimum stress triangle through the falciform ligament which provides for direct vertical view of the biliary ducts during dissection. Special tools are provided for this type and other types of surgical operations including obtuse-angled retractors having optionally fixed thereto lighting devices and/or suction devices.

Abstract: A gearbox and two hydraulic clutches are disposed between left and right follower wheels of a vehicle. The torque transfer capacity of the hydraulic clutches is controlled to effect the distribution of a torque between the follower wheels. In a low lateral acceleration range, the torque transfer capacity is increased in accordance with an increase in lateral acceleration to enhance the turning performance and the high-speed stability performance. In a high lateral acceleration range, the torque transfer capacity is decreased in accordance with an increase in lateral acceleration, such that it does not exceed a largest frictional force of a wheel acting as an inner wheel during turning movement of the vehicle, thereby insuring a cornering force.

Abstract: A ball or object ejecting device is disclosed which is useful as an automatic pitching machine. The device includes a support guide for supporting a ball to be ejected, a flexible impacting member for impacting against a supported ball at a large velocity for thereby forcibly ejecting the ball from the support guide, an actuating mechanism for cyclically actuating the impacting member in a predetermined cycle period, a mechanism for supplying a plurality of balls, one at a time, to the support means in the predetermined cycle period, and the actuating means also actuates the ball supplying mechanism simultaneously as it actuates the impacting member.

Abstract: A vehicle control system which controls a vehicle in accordance with the curvature of a road as determined from map information comprising a set of coordinate points which represent the course of the road. A passable vehicle speed enabling the vehicle to pass through a plurality of nodes existing at predetermined distances within an operating section established on the road ahead of a given vehicle position is calculated on the assumption that a voluntary speed reduction has been conducted. The radii of a first virtual turning locus and a second virtual turning locus produced at a predetermined lateral acceleration are calculated based on the passable vehicle speeds at the nodes. A passable zone, a warning zone and an automatic speed-reducing zone are established based on the first and second virtual turning locus radii. If any of the nodes ahead of the virtual vehicle position exists in the warning zone, a warning is provided to the driver.

Abstract: A course travel judging device judges based on outputs from a map information outputting device and a subject vehicle position outputting device whether a subject vehicle is traveling on a course set by a course setting device. If the subject vehicle is traveling on the set course, a vehicle speed is controlled by a travel control device, so that the subject vehicle can safely pass through a curve ahead thereof. If the subject vehicle has deviated from the set course, an alarm is given to an occupant by an alarm device, and the control of vehicle speed by the travel control device is stopped. If a departing possibility judging device judges that there is a possibility of departing of the subject vehicle from the set course, a deviatable course is set by a deviatable course determining device, and the vehicle speed is controlled by the travel control device, so that the subject vehicle can safely pass through a curve having a severest passing condition on either of the set course or the deviatable course.

Abstract: A sealing structure for a light-emitting bulb assembly includes a closure, having a core which serves as an electrode for sealing an open end of a bulb. The closure includes a bulb-side region disposed adjacent to the open end of the bulb and made of a compositional ingredient having a coefficient of thermal expansion which is substantially the same as that of the bulb, a core-side region disposed adjacent to the core and made of a compositional ingredient having a coefficient of thermal expansion which is substantially the same as that of the core, and an intermediate region disposed between the bulb-side region and the core-side region and made of a compositional ingredient having compositional proportions adjusted such that a coefficient of thermal expansion thereof varies gradually from the coefficient of thermal expansion of the bulb-side region toward the coefficient of thermal expansion of the core-side region.

Abstract: A shoe cleat for an athletic shoe. The shoe cleat comprises a first end which removably attaches to the underside of a shoe; a second end which is connected to the first end of the shoe cleat and which includes a surface which engages with a ground surface when the shoe cleat is attached to a shoe; and wherein the ground-engaging surface of the second end of the shoe cleat includes an anti-slip surface.

Abstract: A vehicle exhaust device including a rear silencer disposed at the rear portion of a vehicle, a large-capacity silencer having a capacity larger than that of the rear silencer and disposed below a passenger compartment of the vehicle, and an intermediate silencer disposed substantially at the middle of an exhaust tube interconnecting the rear silencer and the large-capacity silencer. With the vehicle exhaust device thus arranged, exhaust noises can be attenuated at a position near an engine forming a noise source, i.e., at the early stage of transmission and with substantially reduced length-dependent resonance of the exhaust tube.

Abstract: A collapsible and portable fishing shelter or survival unit for use in conjunction with a snowmobile. The snowmobile acts as the base for the unit, and adds stability to it. Structural members are releasably secured to the snowmobile, and a tarp covering is placed over the structural members to form the collapsible shelter. The seat or seats of the snowmobile form the seats of the collapsible shelter. The shelter may be erected at one location, and moved by the snowmobile to a new location.

Abstract: The invention pertains to a novel cooking utensil for use in cooking food together with a conventional cooking vessel such as a covered skillet. The cooking utensil comprises a thin, substantially planar food-supporting cooking member having a bottom surface shaped substantially identically to a lower, inner surface of the conventional cooking vessel so that the food supporting member will substantially completely cover the lower, inner surface of the cooking vessel in flush contact therewith when the food supporting member is placed in the vessel, and handle means integrally connected to a central portion of an upper surface of the food supporting member for lifting and handling the food supporting member. The food supporting member preferably has a uniform thickness significantly smaller than the thickness of a bottom wall portion of the cooking vessel, and a continuous surface so that fluid cannot pass therethrough during a cooking operation.

Abstract: A lamplight device for a vehicle which is inconspicuous when it is turned off is provided. The lamplight device comprises a reflection type or transmission type optical member installed on a predetermined place of a vehicle body either directly or through an appearance member, and is adapted to reflect or refract a light of a specific wave length, a light projecting mechanism for projecting a light of the specific wave length, and a light guiding mechanism for guiding the light projected from the light projecting mechanism to an outer surface or an reverse surface of the reflection type or transmission type optical member.

Abstract: A plasma processing apparatus for etching, ashing, or otherwise processing silicon wafers has a pair of spaced reaction chambers each for processing a silicon wafers in a plasma, a pair of spaced cassette table mechanisms each for supporting a wafer cassette which houses a plurality of wafers therein, and a transfer robot disposed between the pair of spaced reaction chambers and the pair of spaced cassette table mechanisms, for transferring the wafers, one at a time, between the wafer cassette supported by one of the workpiece table mechanisms and one of the reaction chambers. Each of the cassette table mechanisms has a turntable for placing the wafer thereon, the turntable being rotatable to orient the wafer cassette out of physical interference with the robot arm of the transfer robot.

Abstract: A suction chuck and an inner cup are rotated in unison with each other to spread a coating solution uniformly over a planar object in the inner cup under centrifugal forces. Vent holes defined in an outer cup lid which closes an outer cup are held out of communication with vent holes defined in a ring-shaped closure member, so that the interior space in the outer cup is kept out of communication with the exterior space around the outer cup. The concentration of a solvent in the outer cup remains so high that no mist is produced in the outer cup. After the planar object has been coated and before the outer cup lid is opened, the ring-shaped closure member is turned to align the vent holes in the outer cup lid with the vent holes in the ring-shaped closure member, breaking any vacuum in the outer cup with ambient air introduced through the vent holes into the outer cup. Thereafter, the outer and inner cup lids are opened, and the coated planar object is taken out.

Abstract: When a carrier arm is retracted, a semiconductor wafer carried thereon passes between three light-emitting elements and three light-detecting elements associated therewith. At this time, a controller determines six points on the outer circumferential edge of the semiconductor wafer based on signals from sensors made up of the light-emitting elements and the light-detecting elements. The controller selects three of the determined points, determines the center of a circumscribed circle passing through the selected three points, and regards the determined center as the center of the semiconductor wafer. Then, the controller controls movement of the semiconductor wafer toward a rotary-cup coating device, an evacuating drying device, or an edge cleaning device based on the center of the semiconductor wafer.

Abstract: A rear panel is provided in rear of a connecting wall rising upwardly from a rear end of a front floor panel, and a fuel tank supported within a subframe is disposed beneath a lower surface of the rear floor panel. A gas fume absorbing canister and a muffler are juxtaposed in a lateral direction of a vehicle body in a space which is surrounded by a rear surface of a middle cross-member secured to a rear surface of the connecting wall, a front surface of the fuel tank and the lower surface of the rear floor panel. Thus, it is possible to shorten a purge passage connected from the canister to an engine, to protect the canister from collision against a stepping stone or the like, to insure the volume of a trunk room and to enhance the purging efficiency of the canister utilizing a heat of the muffler by reasonably disposing the canister at a rear portion of the vehicle body.

Abstract: In a vehicle steering control system, an actuating torque is applied to steerable wheels according to a steering torque applied to a steering wheel in a conventional manner, and an additional actuating torque is applied to the steering wheel by an electric motor according to lateral dynamic conditions of the vehicle so as to control the lateral stability of the vehicle even in the presence of external interferences such as crosswind. Such external interferences are detected as a lateral dynamic condition of the vehicle such as the yaw rate of the vehicle, and the steering control system produces a steering reaction which counteracts such a lateral dynamic condition by applying the additional actuating torque to the steerable wheels so that the vehicle may maintain a straight course in spite of such external interferences without requiring any intentional efforts by the vehicle operator.

Abstract: Disclosed is a method for forming a water-repellent film on the surface of a transparent substrate (e.g., sheet glass). While the film on the coated substrate is dried, the temperature is controlled to fall between 15.degree. C. and 25.degree. C., the relative humidity is controlled to be 30% or preferably from 15% to 20%, and the speed of the air stream to be applied to the coated substrate is controlled to be 0.5 m/min or lower. The water-repellent film formed by the invention has a uniform thickness and good abrasion resistance.