Abstract: A musical instrument stand holds at least one and preferably a number of musical instruments by a supporting structure that partly includes the structure of a case having top and bottom halves that are hinged together. The top and bottom halves are pivoted open to place the top half in a substantially vertical position where the top half holds a supporting yoke for holding an instrument, such as the neck of a guitar resting against a pad in the bottom half. A frame mounted to the case has two vertical legs mounted on the top half and a laterally extending support between the legs. Each leg is pivotally fastened in spaced relation to the other and is pivoted down for storage in the case or up to hold the lateral support and the instrument(s). In the pivoted-up position the legs snap resiliently into cutouts in a front edge of the top half, which provides part of the structural support for the instrument. The lateral support is coupled to and extends between the two legs at a selectable height.

Abstract: An encoder for a data compression system comprises a core encoder and a FIFO buffer. The FIFO buffer is able to absorb short bursts of high data rate and deliver the data to a transmission medium at a rate that it can handle. A corresponding decoder includes a FIFO buffer which receives data at a rate not exceeding the maximum that the transmission medium can deliver, but delivers data to a core encoder at a rate which can, for short periods, greatly exceed the rate from a transmission medium. With consumer media such as CD and DVD, the decoder cost is paramount so it is important to minimize the size of buffer memory required. Another consideration is the delay caused by the buffering since it is important to the latency between the user selecting a track or index point and hearing the decoded audio.

Abstract: A coating on a substrate e.g., mild steel providing high corrosion resistance consists of a first coating of nickel on which is electrodeposited an alloy consisting of 51 to 75% chromium, 5 to 15% nickel and/or cobalt and balance iron.