Abstract: Devices for reading or writing electromagnetic information include a wafer substrate piece disposed between an electromagnetic transducer and an electrostrictive or piezoelectric actuator. The substrate piece is shaped as a rigid body adjoining the transducer and as a flexible element connecting the body and the actuator. To fabricate, at least one electrostrictive layer and many transducers are formed on opposite sides of a wafer that is then cut into rows containing plural transducers. The rows are processed from directions generally normal to the wafer surface upon which the transducers were formed, by removing material to form a head, flexures and a media-facing surface on the head. Conductive leads are formed on a back surface of flexures connecting the transducer with drive electronics. The flexures are aligned with forces arising from interaction with the media surface and from seeking various tracks, reducing torque and dynamic instabilities and increasing actuator access time.

Abstract: A write pole tip for a magnetic head has a trailing edge that is closer than a leading edge to a perpendicular recording medium, so that the write signal strength of the trailing edge is greater than that of the leading edge. Such an angled pole tip can write a sharp magnetic pattern with the trailing edge, reducing erroneous writing. A layer of physically hard material such as diamond-like carbon (DLC) may adjoin the trailing edge, the physically hard material layer protruding slightly after polishing of the media-facing surface due to its resistance to lapping. This can form an acute corner of the write pole tip adjacent to the physically hard material layer. The trailing edge may be longer than the leading edge, and the write pole tip may have a trapezoidal shape.

Abstract: An artificial candle has a delicate glowing shroud or sock that can flutter like a candle flame, and the sock may surround a “wick” that can be seen through the sock to glow. Such a diaphanous sock can be actuated by a fan, air pump, solenoid or conductor, which can be provided adjacent to the sock or removed from the sock, for example in a central body of a chandelier. Light can emanate from the wick from a light emitting diode (LED), and the sock can include fluorescent material that absorbs and reradiates some of the light from the wick. The wick and the sock can be coupled to a shaft that simulates a wax candle body. A standard threaded fitting can be provided so that the artificial candle can thread into a socket to replace a light bulb.

Abstract: Devices for reading or writing electromagnetic information include a wafer substrate piece disposed between an electromagnetic transducer and an electrostrictive or piezoelectric actuator. The substrate piece is shaped as a rigid body adjoining the transducer and as a flexible element connecting the body and the actuator. To fabricate, at least one electrostrictive layer and many transducers are formed on opposite sides of a wafer that is then cut into rows containing plural transducers. The rows are processed from directions generally normal to the wafer surface upon which the transducers were formed, by removing material to form a head, flexures and a media-facing surface on the head. Conductive leads are formed on a back surface of flexures connecting the transducer with drive electronics. The flexures are aligned with forces arising from interaction with the media surface and from seeking various tracks, reducing torque and dynamic instabilities and increasing actuator access time.

Abstract: Methods for making devices comprise forming a plurality of transducers on a major surface of a wafer, including forming a plurality of solid layers each having a thickness that is less than one micron; dividing the wafer and the attached transducers into a plurality of units such that each of the units includes a portion of the layers and a substantially planar surface that is substantially perpendicular to the portion of the layers; and removing at least part of the substantially planar surface, including creating, for each transducer, at least one flexible element that is attached the transducer. Conventional problems of connecting a head to the flexure and/or gimbal are eliminated. The heads can be made thinner than is conventional and gimbals and flexures can be more closely aligned with forces arising from interaction with the media surface and from seeking various tracks, reducing torque and dynamic instabilities.

Abstract: A CPP MR sensor includes a sense layer with a smoothly curving perimeter, lowering edge effects and Barkhausen noise. For example, a circular or oval CPP sensor stack can be defined, or the sensor layers can be milled to have a tapered track width that is narrower adjacent media facing surface, to avoid sharp corners at that media facing surface after lapping which has been monitored for resistance change to terminate at the correct plane. Single domain sensor layers, such as free, pinned, and bias layers, can be produced with this technique, increasing stability, lowering noise and increasing magnetoresistance of the sensor. A smoother rotation of the free layer magnetic moment, and a more linear signal, can also be provided. An antiferromagnetic bias layer can also be eliminated due to the reduced edge effects of the free layer.

Abstract: A write pole tip for a magnetic head has a trailing edge that is closer than a leading edge to a perpendicular recording medium, so that the write signal strength of the trailing edge is greater than that of the leading edge. Such an angled pole tip can write a sharp magnetic pattern with the trailing edge, reducing erroneous writing. A layer of physically hard material such as diamond-like carbon (DLC) may adjoin the trailing edge, the physically hard material layer protruding slightly after polishing of the media-facing surface due to its resistance to lapping. This can form an acute corner of the write pole tip adjacent to the physically hard material layer. The trailing edge may be longer than the leading edge, and the write pole tip may have a trapezoidal shape.

Abstract: A tool for assisting a medical professional in inserting an endotracheal tube in the trachea of a patient comprises a relatively rigid rod in the shape of an offset spiral. The tool has a mandrel section, a curved arc section smoothly transitioning from the mandrel section, and a tip section smoothly transitioning from the arc section. The arc section is an arc of a three dimensional spiral, and angularly and spatially offsets the tip section with respect to the mandrel section.

Abstract: Devices for reading or writing electromagnetic information include a wafer substrate piece disposed between an electromagnetic transducer and an electrostrictive or piezoelectric actuator. The substrate piece is shaped as a rigid body adjoining the transducer and as a flexible element connecting the body and the actuator. To fabricate, at least one electrostrictive layer and many transducers are formed on opposite sides of a wafer that is then cut into rows containing plural transducers. The rows are processed from directions generally normal to the wafer surface upon which the transducers were formed, by removing material to form a head, flexures and a media-facing surface on the head. Conductive leads are formed on a back surface of flexures connecting the transducer with drive electronics. The flexures are aligned with forces arising from interaction with the media surface and from seeking various tracks, reducing torque and dynamic instabilities and increasing actuator access time.

Abstract: A vertical cavity optical amplifier can tilt to reflect light in different directions. An array of such amplifiers can serve as an optical cross-connect.

Abstract: Devices for transducing electromagnetic information are formed on and from a wafer substrate. The devices comprise a head attached to a flexible element such as a gimbal. To create such a device, a transducer and an optional amplifier are formed on a wafer that is then cut into rows containing a number of such transducers. The rows are then processed from directions generally normal to the wafer surface upon which the transducer was formed, by removing material to form a head and flexible elements such as a gimbal, creating a media-facing surface on the head and at least one aperture adjacent the head. Conductive leads may be formed on a non-media-facing surface of a flexible element to connect the transducer with drive electronics. Conventional problems of connecting the head to the flexure and/or gimbal are eliminated, as both are made from the same wafer on which the transducer is formed.

Abstract: A universal oxygen connector for connecting an oxygen supply tubing or an oxygen supply hose between and an oxygen supply appliance and an oxygen mask or a nasal oxygen dispenser. Multiple and aligned and spaced hose or tubing connection bodies on a single universal oxygen connector accepts oxygen supply tubing or an oxygen supply hose for use as required.

Abstract: A universal oxygen connector for connecting an oxygen supply tubing or an oxygen supply hose between and an oxygen supply appliance and an oxygen mask or a nasal oxygen dispenser. Multiple and aligned and spaced hose or tubing connection bodies on a single universal oxygen connector accepts oxygen supply tubing or an oxygen supply hose for use as required.

Abstract: A suction catheter system including a durable transparent pouch used to hold irrigating solution and a catheter in a contaminant-free environment between uses. The suction catheter system allows the practitioner to reuse the catheter several times for the same patient rather than using a new catheter for each suctioning when the practitioner needs use of both hands and has to lay the catheter down.

Abstract: An information storage system having a ring head sliding on a rigid magnetic storage disk in such close proximity that the magnetic field felt by the media layer or layers of the disk has a larger perpendicular than longitudinal component so that data is stored in a perpendicular mode. The head to media separation during writing of data to the media is a small fraction of the amagnetic gap separating the poletips of the head. Reading of data may be inductive or may be via a magnetoresistive sensor which is coupled to the magnetically permeable core of the ring head far from the poletips. The media preferably has a high perpendicular anisotropy.

Abstract: A Luer lock connector and a Luer lock injection site connector each featuring a flat surface for placing parallel to and substantially flush against the epidermis of a patient and for use generally with an intravenous catheter attached to the epidermis. Such orientation presents a wide contact surface with the epidermis which minimizes or prevents epidermal irritation.

Abstract: An information storage system having a ring head in such close proximity to a rigid magnetic storage disk that the magnetic field felt by the media layer or layers of the disk has a larger perpendicular than longitudinal component so that data is stored in a perpendicular mode. Reading of data is accomplished with a magnetoresistive sensor which may be coupled to the magnetically permeable core of the ring head far from the poletips, which may contact the disk. The media preferably has a high perpendicular anisotropy, and may be formed in a plurality of films with crystalline structures traversing the films.

Abstract: A operationally contacting hard disk drive system has reduced friction due to lower capillary adhesion between the disk surface and a transducer in a substantially continuous sliding relationship with the surface. The disk surface has an adhesion-reducing texture that includes a microscopic RMS roughness in a range between about 1.5 and 5.5 nanometers, or a number of asperities having a mean plane to peak height in a range between about 6 and 50 nanometers. The roughness may increase in a radially graded fashion to compensate for the increased linear velocity and concomitant frictional power loss near the outer diameter of the disk. It is important that the uppermost reaches of the textured surface are smooth but not flat in order to obtain lasting low friction operation, which is accomplished by constructing the surface with a highest approximately one percent having an average radius of curvature in a range between 2 microns and 100 microns.

Abstract: A hard disk drive has a head with a read element adjacent to a write element, with the write element extending closer to the disk than the read element so that the write element is proximate to the disk for writing sharp patterns and the read element is removed from the disk to avoid wear and thermal asperities. The write element is encompassed with diamond-like carbon (DLC) to allow at least occasional dynamic contact with the disk while the read element, which includes a magnetoresistive material, is disposed in a recessed area and may be covered with a thin coating of DLC to avert corrosion. The disk may have a multilayer granular media for low-noise, high-strength perpendicular data storage. Perpendicular data storage may also be provided by keeping the write element in such close proximity to the media that perpendicular write fields predominate, while perpendicular signals from the media are favored by the read element.

Abstract: A hard disk drive has a head with a read element adjacent to a write element, with the write element extending closer to the disk than the read element so that the write element is close to the disk for writing sharp patterns and the read element is removed from the disk to avoid wear and thermal asperities. The write element is encompassed with diamond-like carbon (DLC) to allow at least occasional dynamic contact with the disk while the read element, which includes a magneto resistive material, is disposed in a recessed area and may be covered with a thin coating of DLC to avert corrosion. The disk may have a multilayer granular media for low-noise, high-strength perpendicular data storage. Perpendicular data storage may also be provided by keeping the write element in such close proximity to the media that perpendicular write fields predominate, while perpendicular signals from the media are favored by the read element.