Abstract: A method of processing a transaction request at a database load balancer. The method comprises receiving the transaction request, where the transaction request is comprised of one or more operations; analyzing the transaction request to determine the one or more operations; associating one or more database locks with each of the one or more operations; analyzing one or more of the database locks to determine the one or more sequence numbers associated with each of the one or more operations; and transmitting the one or more operations with the associated database locks and the sequence numbers to one or more databases servers accessible to the database load balancer.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a high expansion two-component structural foam that expands to about twice its original volume while maintaining good cell structure. The foam of the present invention is based on epoxy resins. Each component of the foam system exhibits storage stability, e.g., no phase separation, yet reacts when combined to provide a cured material having exceptionally good compression strength and modulus. The blowing system used to prepare the foam produces a foam which is uniform in appearance and is essentially free of the large voids often found in conventional two-part thermosettable compositions, even when a relatively large mass is utilized.

Abstract: Expandable thermosettable compositions containing at least one epoxy resin, at least one finely divided thermoplastic polymer powder, at least one blowing agent, at least one curing agent, and at least one filler are suitable for the production of thermosetting laminated bodies with a tacky surface. These laminated bodies can be produced and handled in a simple manner and are suitable for stiffening and reinforcing flat structural components, in particular vehicle body structural components, such as vehicle body frames, doors, trunk lids, engine hoods and/or roof components in automobile construction. The expandable thermosettable compositions are also suitable for the production of thermosetting, thermally expandable shaped articles for reinforcing hollow structural members by the injection molding process. In preferred embodiments, the composition is injected onto a metallic or thermoplastic carrier.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a high expansion two-component structural foam that expands to about twice its original volume while maintaining good cell structure. The foam of the present invention is based on epoxy resins. Each component of the foam system exhibits storage stability, e.g., no phase separation, yet reacts when combined to provide a cured material having exceptionally good compression strength and modulus. The blowing system used to prepare the foam produces a foam which is uniform in appearance and is essentially free of the large voids often found in conventional two-part thermosettable compositions, even when a relatively large mass is utilized.

Abstract: A conveyor has an endless belt which encompasses a gate section and a fixed section thereof Both the gate section and fixed section have beds which extend lengthwise and widthwise thereof between rails which extend along the lengths of the section. The edges of the belt run along the rails and are hence guarded by the rails. The sections are joined at adjacent edges by hinges pivotally connected to the bed of the fixed section and extending across the joint to the gate section. The hinges are within the confines of the belt, that is within the path of the belt and between the edges of the belt, so as to enable the gate section to be pivoted to an open position allowing a passageway via the width of the conveyor. When in closed position, the hinge enables the ends of the rails to move into abutting relationship. Permanent guards on the outsides of the fixed section can extend above the belt to maintain safe operating conditions without interfering with the opening and closing of the gate section.

Abstract: A low cost, self contained endless conveyor belt assembly includes a flat conveyor bed, an endless conveyor belt and a plurality of frame members mounted thereto. The bed mounted frame members support and house a drive shaft which includes sprockets for engaging the front inside radius of the endless conveyor belt and a remote mounted drive motor. The self contained conveyor belt assembly is adjustably mounted to complemental frame rails, one of which includes the drive motor to which can be coupled the drive pulley of the endless conveyor belt.

Abstract: This invention is a two-part induction-curable epoxy adhesive comprising a first part of a polyfunctional epoxy such as a sorbitol polyglycidyl ether, and a diepoxy compound such as a diepoxy bisphenol-A wherein a portion of the diepoxy compound may preferably comprise a glycol-based epoxy having an epoxy equivalent weight of at least about 250. The second part of the adhesive is a curing agent which preferably maybe a mixture of nitrogen-based compounds di(aminoalkyl)ether of diethylene glycol, and a toughening agent. The invention also comprises a method of adjoining two substrates by applying the adhesive composition of the invention and curing as well as the article resulting from this method.

Abstract: A layer of material (14) comprising silicon, such as an SiO.sub.2 layer, overlying a silicon substrate (12) of a semiconductor device (10), is dry etched without the need for traditional halocarbon gases (such as CHF.sub.3, CF.sub.4, and C.sub.2 F.sub.6) which are known green-house gases. A fluorine source, for producing the active fluorine radicals needed to etch silicon, is selected from either HF or F.sub.2 gases. A carbon-oxygen source, for providing and stabilizing polymer build-up in the reactor, is selected from either CO or CO.sub.2. An additional hydrogen source may be added as needed.

Abstract: A crossed roller bearing in which the rollers are oriented with their axes of rotation effectively crossed perpendicular to each other can be made from four molded plastic parts which are outer and inner split rings where the outer rings are joined side-by-side and have surfaces extending inwardly from the inner periphery which define a outer V-groove. Sets of rollers are connected at corners of one end face by frangible connections to the inside peripheries of each of the grooves and extend radially inwardly away from the inner periphery. The outer periphery of an inside pair of rings also has faces which form a V-groove opposed to the V-groove of the outer rings, when the inner rings are advanced toward each other and joined inside the outer rings. The ends of the inner rings engage the end faces of the rollers and pivot the rollers, preferably about corners in steps on the faces which form the V-grooves which define fulcrums.

Abstract: A web feed device, particularly a tractor for feeding perforated paper, is provided with the capability of automatically cutting a margin along the edge of the paper. Where this margin is defined by side perforations, the apparatus is operative to burst the perforations automatically. The tractor has a lid which is spring biased in a closed position spaced from a surface of the frame of the tractor over which the paper is driven, as by a belt having pins which are received in feed perforations along the margin between the side perforations and the edge where the belt is entrained around a sprocket which drives the belt. The mechanism has a lower cutting disk, driven with the sprocket and presenting a cutting edge along an outside surface.

Abstract: A link assembly for an endless conveyor belt includes a pair of side links and a center link interconnected together by way of a spring-biasing mechanism such that the conveyor belt provides its own tension without auxiliary tensioning apparatus.

Abstract: An improved protective storage cap for a rod-shaped device or instrument, particularly a fountain pen, wherein the female threads for securing the device within the cap are disposed within an axially and rotationally moveable ring. The ring is held stationary in the cap by the axial thrust of a compression spring while the male threads of the device are being rotationally engaged with or disengaged from the female threads of the cap. The cap cannot be overtightened and thereby damaged because further rotation of the device after full engagement of the threads serves only to overcome the restraining thrust of the spring and the moveable ring simply rotates in its cap with the device. The axial freedom of the ring and spring also permit the device to enter the cap to a depth sufficient to form a snap seal between the working end of the device and a chamber recessed within the cap, whereby the tool of the device, for example the writing nib of a fountain pen, sealingly is isolated from the outside environment.

Abstract: A relatively low cost, low friction plastic needle bearing assembly uses a unitary plastic circular member with multiple frangibly attached substantially cylindrical needles axially inserted into a cover. A plastic needle separator housing element provides a race and is in axial registration with the frangibly attached needles. A shaft (on which a sprocket of a web feed device or tractor is mounted), upon axial insertion through the member to which the needles are attached, frees the multiple needles from the frangible attachment to the member and ejects the member from the cover leaving the needle bearings captured by the race in the cover.

Abstract: A tractor feed mechanism combines, in a unitary assembly, components which provide the capabilities of separate, independent, left and right-hand tractors and their support and drive shafts. The assembly has fewer parts than a tractor feed using separate tractors thereby reducing the cost and increasing the reliability of the feed mechanism. In the unitary tractor feed, endless tractor belts are positioned by lid belt guide members which are slidable on a bar having a surface which provides a platform which sets the height of the belts, while the web is disposed on a gap between an upwardly facing surface of the guide members and a downwardly facing surface of the lid. The bar and a sprocket which engages the belt extends laterally (width-wise) of the web a distance at least as wide as the longest web to be fed.

Abstract: A document feed tractor in which pins which drive the paper upon entry into perforations in margins of the paper along the edges thereof are connected to a belt on beams cantilever mounted thereto. A guide and support bar holds the beams and the pins down so that they travel along a linear path entering and leaving the perforations at opposite ends of the path. In order to drive the paper precisely, especially at high speeds where the belt and pins start and stop, without denting or ticking the paper and to maintain alignment of multi-part documents (without shingling), an adjustable shelf is located on the inside of the tractor so that the paper overlies the shelf. The elevation of the shelf with respect to the pins is selectively set in accordance with the thickness of the paper. The tractor can then be set so that the web is maintained at the center line or pitch line of the belt, thereby insuring precision feeding of the form even at high speeds with rapid accelerations and decelerations.

Abstract: A perforated paper feed mechanism such as a tractor has an optical system for detecting the presence of the form and particularly the motion of the form and utilizes a reflector which may be mounted on the lid of the tractor at one end of the tractor (where the paper enters or leaves the tractor). The optical system may be implemented by a prism which folds the path of light from a light source (an LED) to a photo detector (a photo-transistor) the path is aligned with the perforations in the paper. Since the perforations are spaced, the photo transistor provides a train of pulses as the paper is fed by the tractor. A pulse detector responds to the presence or absence of pulses within a given period of time comparable to the time when perforations are fed past the optical path. An output from the detector thus indicates whether the paper is in motion and is being fed by the tractor. Failure to receive pulses indicates either the absence of paper (paper out) or a jam in the feed.

Abstract: Continuous web material, particularly perforated paper from a roll is dispensed by a system installed, for example, in a computer printer. The system utilizes a roller which is fixed in a frame. The roll of paper has a central opening. The roll is supported on a shaft of diameter smaller than the diameter of the opening. The roll rests on the roller and is supported so that it can pivot and move up and down toward and away from the roller. This support is provided by slots in walls of the frame between which the roll is located and which receive the opposite ends of the shaft and guide the shaft. When the paper is pulled (unwound) from the roll, as by tractors when the paper is edge perforated, the roll climbs along the periphery of the cylindrical roller. The pivotal movement is limited by the walls of the slot and the shaft. When the pull on the paper stops, the roll falls down along the periphery of the roller and rotates in the opposite direction from that in which the paper is pulled from the roll (i.e.

Abstract: A tractor for feeding perforated paper forms as in a printer, to and around a platen where a print head impresses characters or other symbols on the paper. The tractor has an endless belt with pins engageable in the paper before, during and after engagement with a drive sprocket which drives the belt in such a manner that the load on the paper is polarized to one side of the drive sprocket, preferably the side between the drive sprocket and the platen.

Abstract: An improved lid for a forms feed tractor, which feeds successive interconnected sheets of paper having edge perforations (feedholes), the sheets having forms printed thereon or being blank, in printers, copiers and the like is provided with an improved lid mechanism having an extension outboard of the tractor and over the form. A transparent or translucent window section in this extension is provided with markings which are seen when the lid is pivoted down and closed so as to capture the form. Then the form can be moved so that the edge of each sheet or certain markings on the form are in proper alignment in the printer or copier. Then when printing occurs or when copying onto the form occurs, the printing will be located in line with other material on the form or properly spaced from the top edge of each sheet.