Abstract: A vacuum conveyor for transporting articles across a space wherein the conveyor belt for the vacuum conveyor has a plurality of equally spaced apart fluid passageways formed therein and wherein a one way valve is installed in each fluid passageway so that when one of the fluid passageways is exposed to a vacuum source to hold an object on the conveyor belt the object will be held on the conveyor belt until a sufficient force is applied to the object to separate the object from the conveyor belt.

Abstract: A phased array antenna having an array of antenna elements, an array of phase shifter sections, each one thereof being associated with a corresponding one of the antenna elements, and a cold-plate having a pair of surfaces, one of the surfaces having the array of phase shifter sections mounted, and thermally coupled, thereto and an opposite one of the pair of surfaces having thermally conductive posts projecting outwardly therefrom, each one of the posts being disposed behind a corresponding one of the plurality of mounted phase shifter sections. A heat sink plate is thermally coupled to distal ends of the posts. The cold-plate has a plurality of feeds passing therethrough. The phased array antenna includes a power/radio frequency energy distribution section mounted to said opposite one of the pair of cold plate surfaces for distributing power and radio frequency energy among the phase shifter sections mounted to the cold plate.

Abstract: A heat exchanger system is provided having a heat exchanger including a plurality of conduits to receive a first fluid. The conduits have a plurality of passages therebetween which are in heat exchange relation therewith to receive a second fluid. An inlet and an outlet are connected to the plurality of conduits, and an inlet and outlet are connected to the plurality of passages. A valve is connected to one of the inlets to limit fluid flow therethrough. A thermally-responsive actuator is provided for the valve and extends into one of the conduits and the passages to control the valve as an incident of the temperature of a fluid flowing through the one of the conduits and the passages.

Abstract: An improved apparatus is disclosed for removing and installing faulty printed circuit cards laterally through a side wall of a computer system, while the remaining cards of the computer system remain under power and operational. The computer system incorporates zero insertion force (ZIF) connectors for receiving the printed circuit cards, and a special interlock mechanism prevents each ZIF connector from being moved from its open position to its closed position until an associated card has been fully installed into the connector. In addition, a special centering mechanism is used to adjustably position the printed circuit card with its electrical contacts precisely aligned with the contacts of the ZIF connector.

Abstract: A method of making evaporative cooler pads having a mat of absorbent material substantially uniformly distributed throughout the mat to provide the desired thickness and density to efficiently cool by evaporation warm air that is passed through the mat attached to an evaporative cooler system. The absorbent material can comprise excelsior in the form of aspen wood fibers. This material is cut into mats of the desired size and separated from other mats to create gaps between the mats. A mesh netting encloses the mat and the gap between mats. A stitching machine adds stitching to the mat and to the netting in the gaps between mats to bind the netting to the mat and to interconnect the netting layers in the gap. Adhesive material is applied to the netting and stitching in the gaps to retain the mat inside the netting. A cutting assembly cuts in the gap between the mats to form individual cooler pads.

Abstract: A label application apparatus comprising a main housing and a printer and an applicator mounted to the main housing for applying a label to an object. A supply reel is rotatably mounted to the main housing and has a continuous web of label material thereon. A feed mechanism is also provided for feeding the continuous web of label material from the supply reel to the printer and applicator. A cutting mechanism is associated with the applicator to cut labels from the continuous web of label material between the printer and the applicator whereby the applicator then places the severed label onto the object.

Abstract: Structures and methods that provide for the vertical alignment of and electrical interconnection of MEMS tiles using metallized elastic spheres and precision pyramid shaped pits etched on the surface of silicon substrates. The methods of producing large area, multi-tile (substrate) structures permit fabrication of phased array antenna transmit/receive subsystems, for example, requiring precision, vertical electrical (DC and RF) interconnects between tiles and frames stacked on top of one another. Metallized, back-to-back, inverted pyramid shaped, vertical via structures are fabricated on high resistivity silicon tiles using micro-electronics mechanical system (MEMS) techniques. Slightly oversize, metallized, elastic spheres are squeezed between two inverted pyramid-shaped indentations to provide electrical conduction and accurate alignment between the substrates.

Abstract: A method of operating a thermal ink jet printer with a removable print head having a plurality of ink firing resistors, the operation including calibrating the printer by determining a nominal input voltage above a threshold necessary for simultaneous operation of a plurality of the resistors. Then, during printing, detecting the input voltage on the print head at an input node connected to the resistors and generating a firing pulse having a duration based on the detected input voltage at the node. Thus, a detected input voltage higher than the nominal voltage is compensated for by a shortened firing pulse. The method may be achieved in a removable ink jet print head having a connector with many electrical inputs connectable to a printer, and a voltage input node connected to the connector. The print head has numerous firing resistors connected to the input node.

Abstract: An optical communications system comprises a laser (10) controlled to output a stream of soliton pulses (12) coupled to a beamsplitter arrangement (14, 20, 22) which converts the pulse stream (12) to a stream of pulses (24) having twice the pulse rate. This stream of pulses (24) is modulated to form a binary coded signal by modulator (24) as a series of binary digits each having one of two values in which a series of n optical soliton pulses, where n is an integer>1 is coupled into an optical fibre (4) at each occurrence of one of the two values. The optical fibre (4) and repeaters (6) provide a transmission link to a receiver (8). The present invention allows one to increase the average power within a bit without having to operate with shorter pulses that would otherwise be necessary with one soliton pulse per bit of prior art systems in order to avoid the limits inherent in single soliton pulse per bit prior art systems.

Abstract: A golf ball including an improved mantle composition which results in improved performance characteristics. The composition includes a soft, flexible resin, such as an elastomer, and a quantity of at least one hardness-enhancing material, such as a quantity of fibers or fiber segments, such as glass, carbon, aramid, and/or metallic fibers, and, optionally, at least one ionomer. The hardness-enhancing material can constitute about 1 to about 30 wt % of the intermediate layer. The composition of the intermediate layer enables the golf ball to maintain initial speed and distance of known golf balls, while improving upon spin rate and playability. Alternatively, spin rate and playability can be maintained, while improving upon the initial speed and distance.

Abstract: An airfoil with a reduced heat load for use in either a turbine or a compressor of a gas turbine engine comprises having at least one heat reducing dimple on the body of the airfoil or on the associated endwall of the airfoil. The body of the airfoil is comprised of a leading edge, a trailing edge, a pressure side and a suction side. The length of the heat reducing dimple in the expected direction of hot gas stream flow is at least equal to or greater than the width transverse to such direction. The heat reducing dimple is located on the airfoil or endwall so as to reduce the heat load as the hot gas stream flow passes from the leading edge to the trailing edge.

Abstract: A brewing machine freshly brews a single-serving of coffee or tea to be served hot or cold. The machine preferably includes a housing assembly, with a window therein to permit the viewing of the brewing of a fresh serving of coffee or tea, a water supply, a dry coffee or tea storage area, a brewer, and a flavor additive storage area. The coffee or tea is preferably brewed in a condensed form which becomes diluted to drinking strength by the addition of hot or cool water, and/or by the addition of hot or cool flavorings. The cool drink can subsequently be served over ice to provide a cold serving of iced coffee or tea. Mixing the various ingredients to obtain the final cup of coffee or tea preferably occurs in the user's cup. Preferred methods of making a freshly brewed single-serving of coffee or tea are disclosed.

Abstract: A page printer printing document data includes a first rasterizing part for rasterizing the document data with a first resolution and a data compression part for compressing each of blocks which form first rasterized data from the first rasterizing part to produce a compression code, and for storing the compression code in a compression memory. The page printer further includes a data decompression part for decompressing the compression code stored in the compression memory, and for transmitting decompressed data to a printer engine having the first resolution. A second rasterizing part rasterizes the document data again with a second resolution less than the first resolution when the compression code exceeds a given size. A resolution converting part in the page printer converts second rasterized data from the second rasterizing part to conversion data with the first resolution, and transmits the conversion data to the printer engine having the first resolution.

Abstract: A composition is comprised of the following: a) a hydrolyzed or partially hydrolyzed alkoxysilane; b) a solvent consisting of an organic liquid or mixture of two or more organic liquids in which component (a) and component (c) are soluble and c) a cross linking prepolymer, oligomer, resin or mixtures thereof that forms a low dielectric constant crosslinked polymer. Preferred crosslinked polymers are of a arylcyclobutene or polyphenylene prepolymer, oligomer, resin or mixtures thereof. A coating may be made using the composition wherein the coating is comprised of a crosslinked polymer of a low dielectric crosslinking prepolymer, oligomer, resin or mixture thereof and a hydrolyzed or partially hydrolyzed alkoxysilane, said coating being adhered to a surface of a substrate wherein said surface is comprised of a first material that is a metal, ceramic or polymer and a second material that is (i) a metal, ceramic, or polymer and (ii) different than the first material.

Abstract: A method for making a lightweight composite camshaft, includes the steps of providing at least one lightweight cam element having a lobed outer surface and a hub with a cylindrical bore, at least a portion of the hub not being radially occluded by the outer surface; providing at least one lightweight journal element having a cylindrical outer surface and a hub with a cylindrical bore, at least a portion of the hub not being radially occluded by said outer surface; providing a hollow cylindrical tubular shaft member having a diameter sized to form a snug sliding fit in the hubs of the cam element and the journal element; positioning the cam and journal elements on the shaft in required axial and radial orientations; and applying means, on the hub of each element and that portion of the shaft which is in registry with the hub, for establishing a permanent interlock to fix each element in its required axial and radial orientation on the shaft.

Abstract: A containment vessel (10) or retaining projected high energy material fragments produced during the catastrophic failure of a high energy rotary mechanism, such as a composite flywheel (20), includes a continuous outer ring (30) and a plurality of inner shaped elements (40) that produce an inner ring layer. The outer ring (30) is approximately circular in shape and is designed to be unyielding during a flywheel failure. The inner shaped elements (40) are juxtapositioned axially along the inner periphery of the outer ring (30) and are configured and positioned to produce hollow cells (60). These shaped inner elements (40) are adapted of a material and are configured and positioned in such a way as to possess sufficient ductility so that the elements adequately flatten through non-destructive plastic deformation and contain the high energy material fragments (50) of a failed flywheel (20).

Abstract: An industrially advantageous production method of an optically active alcohol useful for cosmetics and medical supplies or production intermediates thereof using an esterase having an ability to selectively hydrolyze an optically active sphingoid compound.