Abstract: An optically baffled heating station for joining wire connections by using a solder sleeve includes: an outer housing; a reflection block where said reflection block includes a reflection chamber where the reflection chamber forms the shape of two overlapping ellipses where the ellipses intersect at one respective focal point of each ellipsis and the opposing non-intersecting focal points are separated by about a 90° angle; two heating elements within a heating element block where the two heating elements extend beyond the heating element block and protrude into the reflection pockets of the reflection chamber. A slot extends between the two heating elements through the reflection block and the heating element block. The closed end of the slot includes a target area where the shrinking of the sleeve occurs. The target area receives the reflected light and minimizes the reflection of light toward the open end of the slot.

Abstract: An optically baffled heating station for joining wire connections by using a solder sleeve includes: an outer housing; a reflection block where said reflection block includes a reflection chamber where the reflection chamber forms the shape of two overlapping ellipses where the ellipses intersect at one respective focal point of each ellipsis and the opposing non-intersecting focal points are separated by about a 90° angle; two heating elements within a heating element block where the two heating elements extend beyond the heating element block and protrude into the reflection pockets of the reflection chamber. A slot extends between the two heating elements through the reflection block and the heating element block. The closed end of the slot includes a target area where the shrinking of the sleeve occurs. The target area receives the reflected light and minimizes the reflection of light toward the open end of the slot.

Abstract: There is provided a method of texturing a metal sheet or strip (8), which method comprises a plurality oF sequential texturing passes each of which is performed by passing the sheet or strip (8) between at least one pair of rollers (7), wherein at least one of each pair of rollers (7) has a textured pattern on the surface thereof and the textured patterns is transferred to the sheet or strip (8) during cach texturing pass, and wherein the textured surface on the sheet or strip (8) resulting from each pass overlaps with that from the one or more other passes to form a final textured pattern. There is also provided an apparatus for texturing a metal sheet or strip (8).

Abstract: A novel, high-altitude, solar powered aircraft, capable of staying aloft at high altitudes for many months or even years to conduct around the clock surveillance and/or reconnaisance, includes a forward wing with solar energy capturing cells, a rear wing, inflated pontoons for keeping the aircraft aloft, suspension wires attached to the pontoons, a gondola suspended from and connected to the wires, control apparatus for moving the gondola along the wires, shifting the weight of the aircraft and thereby enabling banking to optimize exposure of the solar cells to the rays of the sun. The gondola preferably contains a sensor suite, power generating and storage apparatus, and synthetic aperture radar imaging apparatus.