Abstract: Various methods and devices are provided for allowing multiple surgical instruments to be inserted into sealing elements of a single surgical access device. The sealing elements can be movable along predefined pathways within the device to allow surgical instruments inserted through the sealing elements to be moved laterally, rotationally, angularly, and vertically relative to a central longitudinal axis of the device for ease of manipulation within a patient's body while maintaining insufflation.

Abstract: A slow opening and fast closing gas valve includes a valve seat and a valve closure member arranged to respond to a gas pressure to seal aganst the valve seat to close the valve to an input gas flow therethrough. In order to open the valve, the gas exerting the gas pressure for sealing the valve closure member against the valve seat is allowed to bleed-off through a fixed restriction while the input gas is allowed to urge the valve closure member away from the valve seat to provide a slow opening of the input gas flow path through the valve. In order to close the input gas path through the valve, the input gas pressure is applied to the valve closure member to assist a closure spring in urging the valve closure member against the valve seat to produce a fast closure of the valve. A second valve is arranged to selectively control the flow path of the gas being bled off from the valve closure member to provide an unrestricted flow path or a restricted flow path through the fixed restriction.

Abstract: A connection for plain end well liner pipe and the like uses a threaded pin and box having a locking reverse angle thread profile to prevent radial separation of the pin and box due to deep well pressure and make-up pressures. The connection includes a primary internal seal structure wherein a metal-to-metal interference seal is located adjacent a thermoplastic ring seal. Separation of the interference seal due to the proximity of the thermoplastic seal is prevented by the locking thread profile. An external seal uses a metal-to-metal interference seal enhanced by a locking torque shoulder seal which acts with the thread profile to prevent radial separation of the interference seal.

Abstract: The invention concerns a method and apparatus for operating a multibin sheet collator, particularly a copier/collator installation. Additional to the number of sets to be collated, the number of sheets contained in each set is entered into the collator logic. If this number of sheets in a set exceeds the capacity of a single collator bin, adjacent bins are grouped together and treated as one virtual bin with increased capacity, thus extending the collator usage. Sheets exceeding the total capacity of the collator can be fed into additional receptacles.

Abstract: Method and apparatus are described for job recovery when jamming of copies occurs in copying devices generating duplex copies electrophotographically from either simplex or duplex originals. Recovery from jams while copying the first side of simplex or duplex originals can normally be immediately effected during the initial, or normal, run, after clearing the jam.

Abstract: The invention concerns a method of controlling a multi-bin sheet collator. Adjacent collator bins are treated as one virtual bin and sheet feeding is controlled appropriately by skipping bins if the number of sets to be collated equals or is smaller than half the number of bins. Thus, multi-page documents having a number of pages exceeding the capacity of a single bin can be collated. In a combined copier/collator the number of copies selected by the operator determines the number of sets, and thus the size and grouping of the virtual bins.

Abstract: A photoconductor member is cleaned by a rotating fiber brush. The cleaned particles are knocked from the brush by a knock-off bar causing substantial wear on the brush. To compensate for the wear, both the knock-off bar and the fiber brush are adjusted for maintaining cleansing contact between the photoconductor member and the brush, plus the brush with the knock-off bar. In a preferred form of the invention, the fiber brush also is an air impeller for entraining cleaned particles from the photoconductor drum into a disposal station which, by way of example, may contain a scavanging roll and an air filter. The adjustments are such that the air impeller properties of the rotating brush are maintained throughout the life of the brush.