Abstract: A load-bearing chair support for shipping or transporting objects, such as chairs. The chair support is constructed entirely from a one-piece blank of corrugated material, which is foldable into an upright tubular structure for positioning between a pair of seats of two chairs, with an upper one of the chairs being inverted relative to the opposite lower chair.

Abstract: Amplifying optical waveguide devices, which, by combining an instantaneous or nearly instantaneous gain medium with pulsed cladding-pumping can convert the multimode pump pulses to higher-brightness (even single-mode) signal pulses. The operating parameters can be carefully matched to the interaction length of the amplifying optical device to promote efficient conversion. The invention combines attractive features of cladding-pumped waveguide devices such as robustness and good thermal management properties with those of synchronously pumped devices. Thus, the pulse energy of the generated beam is not limited by the energy that can be stored in the gain medium.

Abstract: The present invention provides a chop mode operated mass spectrometer that substantially reduces the effects of line signals on the operation of the mass spectrometer by admitting gas samples to the analyzer of the mass spectrometer at a frequency that is a sub-multiple of the line frequency. The signal output by the analyzer is sampled at a frequency that is a multiple of frequency at which the gas is being admitted to the analyzer and processed using a digital filter that results in the line signal being isolated from the signal or signals of interest.

Abstract: A creep-resistant die casting is formed of a zinc-base alloy comprising about 4 to 12 percent copper and about 2 to 4 percent aluminum. The die casting is characterized by an intimate dispersion of fine epsilon and eta phases effective to retard slip and thereby enhance creep resistance.