Abstract: A rubbing treatment apparatus and method of rubbing are described. A rubbing roller has a rotation axis and a rubbing cloth wound around its surface. The rubbing cloth is made with pile yarns which are implanted at cyclic intervals in two directions perpendicular to each other. The rubbing roller is used to contact a surface of a film-to-be-processed which is formed so as to cover a plurality of strip-shaped electrodes formed parallel to each other on a substrate, to be moved together with the substrate in relation to each other to perform a rubbing treatment on the surface of the film-to-be-treated. The rotation axis of the rubbing roller is parallel to the surface during the rubbing treatment. An angle &thgr;3 in a plane parallel to the surface is formed by one of the implanting directions of the pile yarns of the rubbing roller and the longitudinal direction of the strip-shaped electrodes of the substrate and is in a range of from +5 degrees to −5 degrees.

Abstract: A circular door operating method and apparatus comprising two pairs of arcked door leaves, two pairs of arcked fixed panels arranged so as to form an enclosure defining a cylindrical wind blocking compartment. Each door leaf is hinged at an end and releasably coupled at the other end to a hanger assembly traveling on a circular track by means of a pulley mechanism. When a door leaf is released from the hanger assembly to pivot about upper and lower hinge mechanisms for operation as a hinged door, not only the upper and lower hinge mechanisms firmly support the door leaf in place but also a control unit disables the sliding door operation, thus providing a quick and safe escape from the building in the event of an emergency.