Abstract: An apparatus and method for producing a solid product such as orthopedic appliances, dental splint mouthpieces, dentures, lined dentures and the like from flowable materials such as silicones, acrylics, polyurethanes and dental casting investments. The container in which an article is treated will develop 80-100 psi and has opposed curved surfaces between which a seal is formed without leakage.

Abstract: A wireless communication system for use in a process environment uses mesh and possibly a combination of mesh and point-to-point communications to produce a wireless communication network that can be easily set up, configured, changed and monitored, thereby making a wireless communication network that is less expensive, and more robust and reliable. The wireless communication system allows virtual communication paths to be established and used within the process control system in a manner that is independent of the manner in which the wireless signals are sent between different wireless transmitting and receiving devices within the process plant, to thereby operate in a manner that is independent of the specific messages or virtual communication paths within the process plant.

Abstract: A communication technique enables the efficient transmission of data through a low bandwidth and/or time delayed communication link and minimizes the idle time of the communication link by using a deferred acknowledgment of message bundles to temporally pack the communication link. The transmitting system stores messages to be transmitted in a pending message queue and applies a dynamic window to the pending message queue to define a message bundle to be sent through the slow communication link. The transmitting system requests an acknowledgment for at least one message within the bundle, but does not require an acknowledgment for every message within the bundle. Transmitted messages are temporarily stored as outstanding messages in a retransmission queue until the transmitted messages are acknowledged or until a time-out period associated with the messages has lapsed.

Abstract: Apparatus for lifting an open top container, such as a drum, comprises a plurality of clamps each having shaped outer and inner jaws for frictionally gripping therebetween a corresponding sidewall portion of the container. A lifting mechanism closes the clamps and then lifts the container with the container suspended from the clamps. The apparatus is constructed so that the weight of the container increases the clamping pressure as the container is lifted. Other loads having an upright tubular sidewall can also be lifted. In one embodiment, the lifting mechanism employs wedges for closing the clamps, and in another embodiment the lifting mechanism employs linkages for closing the clamps.