Abstract: A postage meter has a locking cam follower so that locking arms on the print wheels of the postage meter are able to lock the wheels from unintended movement when the print rotor is out of its home position. Stiff runners are provided below guide rods of setting racks in the rotor so that the racks cannot be displaced away from the value wheels. A sensor is placed on the rotor cover with the meter software set up to keep a print cycle from starting if the cover is open. A cam on the rotor makes it impossible to open the cover when the rotor is out of the home position. A latch holds the cover shut, and the only way the latch can be released is if the meter software releases it, for example by sliding a rack to a position that triggers the latch. Cogs and cog teeth are used instead of gears and gear teeth to reduce the possibility of unintended movement of the value wheels. Rotating disks lock the racks when the rotor is not in the home position.

Abstract: A configuration for positioning components within the compartments on a delivery belt prior to their removal by an onserting apparatus. The configuration can include a brush and a vibrator.

Abstract: A postage meter (franking machine) is provided having a limited number of physical (mechanical) keys associated with frequently performed tasks, and a touch-sensitive display of limited size with regions associated with rarely performed tasks. Optionally a receiving area is provided which can receive a printed sheet, and a touch-sensitive area is juxtaposed with the sheet, permitting user selection of items on the printed sheet. By means of a scrolled display of subsets of a character set, the user may readily create text strings on the touch-sensitive display of limited size. A history is kept of frequently selected print parameters, and the user can scroll through a list derived from the history.

Abstract: The present invention describes a device for the controlled release of active compounds in the gastrointestinal tract with delayed pyloric passage, having a component expandable on contact with gastric juice, which is surrounded by a polymer covering which is permeable to gastric juice and active compounds. The device contains at least one active compound which is present in a multiparticulate preparation which releases the active compound into the gastric juice with a delay. Compared with conventional pharmaceutical forms with delayed pyloric passage, the release of active compound from a device according to the invention can be better controlled; likewise the device can be easily rolled or folded and can be introduced into capsules without problems.

Abstract: The suit according to the invention comprises, as well as a textile lining and an oversuit, an active part lying between them. This is at least partly made from a layer (3) on the body side and a layer (4) away from it, both of a fluid-tight, low stretch textile material, which are connected to each other at connection positions (6) by gluing, welding or sewing and thereby create hollow spaces (5), which are filled with fluid through valves (16, 17). Between regions, which comprise the layers (3, 4), for instance the upper part (14) and the front part (15), joining parts can be arranged, which transmit tensile forces only. This builds up a compensating pressure proportional to the acceleration working in the momentary and local direction on the parts of the body lying beneath and thus takes the load off the organism of the pilot arising from the effects of such accelerations.

Abstract: An apparatus for longitudinally welding and severing superposed thermoplastic films forming a packaging hose includes first and second feed rollers each having an outer periphery contacting one another for advancing the films passing therebetween; a drive for rotating at least one of the feed rollers; a circular heating disk mounted in the first feed roller coaxially therewith and having an outer diameter greater than the peripheral diameter of the first feed roller; and a circumferential groove provided in the second feed roller in alignment with the heating disk. Peripheral portions of the heating disk project into the circumferential groove of the second feed roller.

Abstract: A conveyor apparatus includes first and second conveyors for moving products from a receiving station to a first transfer station and a plurality of product-carrying elements mounted on the conveyors. The product-carrying elements of the first and second conveyors form respective first and second groups of product-carrying elements. The products are conveyable from the receiving station to the first transfer station alternatingly by the two conveyors. A first discharge mechanism at the first transfer station includes a plurality of product-pushing elements for displacing products transversely to the advancing direction. The product-pushing elements are spaced identically to the spacing of the product-carrying elements. A third conveyor extends from the first transfer station to a second transfer station.

Abstract: An active ingredient-containing transdermal therapeutic system with a nonadhesive backing layer, with an active ingredient-containing reservoir layer and with a self-adhesive surface facing the skin, where appropriate with redetachable protecting layer, is characterized by an elastic or plastically extensible diffusible backing layer with a metal layer which acts as permeability barrier for auxiliaries and active ingredients in the reservoir layer and is formed by film growth, in particular a metallization layer.

Abstract: An active compound-containing patch for the controlled delivery of oestradiol or its pharmaceutically acceptable derivatives, alone or in combination with gestagens, to human or animal skin, having an active compound-containing reservoir based on ethylcellulose and contact adhesives comprising adhesive resins is characterized by a contact adhesive having a high plasticizer content.

Abstract: A pharmaceutical lozenge for the modified release of active compounds in the gastrointestinal tract is described, with active-compound-containing particles which have a first coating controlling the release and a further, outer coating with saliva-resistant properties. The first coating, which controls the release of active compound, can have release-delaying or enteric properties.

Abstract: A holder for picking up and holding a fitment and cap assembly prior to the bonding thereof on a filled and sealed carton. The holder is one of a plurality of holders mounted on a continuously moving conveyor. Each holder includes a body having an arcuate surface for engagement of the cap portion of the fitment and cap assembly, an arm pivotally mounted on the body, a compression spring mounted in an opening formed in the body and abutting against an inner end of the arm, and a pair of spaced abutments formed on the inner surface of the outer end for engaging vertical ribs formed on the cap adjacent the arcuate surface of the holder body.

Abstract: A mixing and kneading device comprises a mixing and kneading shaft mounted in a housing and driven to a rotating as well as to a reciprocating movement. For sealing the housing, there is provided a sealing assembly located between the housing and the mixing and kneading shaft. The sealing assembly includes a supporting assembly arranged between the housing and the mixing and kneading shaft and provided with first and second sealing means. The supporting assembly is locked against rotation, but coupled to the mixing and kneading shaft to perform therewith its reciprocating movement. The first sealing means serves for rotatively seal the mixing and kneading shaft and is located between the mixing and kneading shaft and the supporting assembly. The second sealing means provides for a translative sealing of the mixing and kneading shaft and is located between the supporting assembly and the housing.

Abstract: Process and system for programmed control of a home and building automation system, for saving energy and improving comfort, with the process being performed by means of software and presence and activity monitoring sensors. The software includes first adaptive algorithms controlled by signals from the presence and activity monitoring sensors, for continuously detecting and storing systematic and stochastic behavior of at least one person in a room and over several rooms, and including second modifiable deterministic algorithms for adapting and triggering actuators of installations or groups of installations. The algorithms are combined with external parameters into a third algorithm to optimize the automation system as a whole and to adjust the first and second algorithms by means of feedback.

Abstract: Process for the production, transport and storage of a therapeutic system which is in the form of a plaster and has an active layer supersaturated with active ingredient and containing the active ingredient in homogeneous dispersion or in solution, characterized in that it is carried out avoiding process parameters which favour or induce crystallization of active ingredient, and any type of pressure operating on the plaster and, in particular, on the active layer is avoided while it is carried out.

Abstract: A heater comprises a casing, which has an interior chamber. It further comprises a rotor, which is formed as an impeller on the one hand and as an eddy-current disk on the other, and a magnet support, which is equipped with permanent magnets and disposed non-rotarily in the casing and which is displaceable into an operating position in the direct neighborhood of the eddy-current disk and into a position of rest spaced therefrom. The eddy-current disk and the magnet support equipped with permanent magnets are rinsed by water.

Abstract: A transdermal therapeutic system (TTS) for the delivery of active compounds to or through the skin, having a layer adhering comparatively permanently to the skin, whose outer edges are defined by a contour, is characterized in that at least two sections which are concave relative to the surface are contained in the contour.

Abstract: The invention relates to a transdermal therapeutic system for application to the skin and/or mucosa consisting of at least one active substance in the form of a solid dispersion in combination with at least one destructuring agent and/or at least one structuring agent in a common matrix.

Abstract: An intro-aortic balloon catheter system and method for determining cardiac output with the system including a distal end for insertion into an aorta and a proximal end opposed to the distal end, a balloon portion in proximity to the distal end which repeatedly expands and contracts so as to assist the pumping action of the heart, a catheter tube connected to the balloon portion with the catheter tube having a lumen introducing a pressurized gas into the balloon portion and leading the pressurized gas out from the balloon portion and a temperature sensor attached to the catheter tube and being electrically coupled to a connector at the proximal end of the catheter tube.

Abstract: A catheter system comprising a catheter including a tip having a distal opening, a first opening, and a guide wire lumen extending from the distal opening to the first opening provided on a surface of the catheter, and a guide wire having a length substantially smaller than a length dimension of the catheter. The catheter system in accordance with the present invention may include a sensor lumen and a pressure lumen. The sensor lumen terminates at the first opening and includes an optically transparent closure and the pressure lumen includes a second opening. In the preferred embodiment, the first opening and the second opening are positioned on the catheter at substantially same axial distance from the distal opening and further includes a perforation that allows fluidic communication between the pressure lumen and the first opening. The catheter system may also comprise a pressure hose, at least one optical fiber and a thermal sensor element.

Abstract: A transporting apparatus includes a conveyor for advancing items and a transfer apparatus for lifting the items off the conveyor and for depositing the items at a location externally of the conveyor. The transfer apparatus has hoisting devices spaced from one another in the conveying direction. Each hoisting device has first and second lifters spaced from one another in a direction transverse to the conveying direction and being situated bilaterally of the conveyor. A first drive moves the first and second lifters into raised and lowered positions; and a second drive moves the first and second lifters toward and away from one another to cause them to assume a normal position and a spread-out position. First and second tray parts of a tray forming part of each hoisting device are mounted on the first and second lifter, respectively. In the raised and lowered positions the trays are clear of a travel path of the items on the conveyor.