Abstract: An apparatus for continuously applying a coating to a running web, includes an elastic doctor blade having first and second ends, a frontal side adapted to be oriented towards the web and a reverse side opposite the frontal side and adapted to be oriented away from the web. The apparatus further has a clamping device firmly holding the doctor blade by engagement therewith in a zone of the first end. The clamping device positions the doctor blade for contacting the web at the second end along a scraping line. The apparatus also has an inflatable actuator engaging the reverse side of the doctor blade between the clamping device and the first end of the doctor blade. The actuator has a pressurized state in which a surface portion of the actuator is enlarged by an inflating fluid towards the reverse side of the doctor blade for pressing it against the web. A fluid pressure source is connected to the inflatable actuator.

Abstract: A device for accelerating projectiles from a muzzle of a launching tube, with an electrically heated plasma, the plasma being produced by two electrodes between which is formed an electric arc that creates and heats the plasma. To assure in a simple manner that the pressure at the projectile base is almost constant during launching of the projectile, one of the two electrodes is provided at a breechblock of the tube and the other is formed by the base of the projectile.