Abstract: A welding method is disclosed for butt welding a first base material 1 and a second base material 2 with each other. To also permit stable and efficient formation of a bead in the form of a fillet weld on a back side of a groove by conducting arc welding from the side of the groove without arranging a bead beforehand on the back side of the groove, the first member 1, on which a root face 1a and a single groove face 1b have been formed, is brought at its root face 1a into contact with a flat surface 2a of the second base material 2. A welding wire 6 is arranged facing on the groove formed by the contact between the first base material 1 and the second base material 2. The first base material 1 and the second material 2 are caused to fuse at an area of contact between them by an arc from the welding wire 6. A melt, which has been formed by the fusion at the area of contact and the like, is forced out to the back side of the groove to form a bead B4 in the form of a fillet weld on the back side of the groove.

Abstract: A bearing apparatus has a porous bush (9) impregnated with lubricant and a shaft (10) supported by the bush (9). The shaft (10) has a quench hardened section (10a) formed in the form of a projection, and an indentation (10b) which is formed between portions of the quench hardened section (10a) and traps lubricant flowing out of the bush (9).

Abstract: A welding method is disclosed for butt welding a first base material 1 and a second base material 2 with each other. To also permit stable and efficient formation of a bead in the form of a fillet weld on a back side of a groove by conducting arc welding from the side of the groove without arranging a bead beforehand on the back side of the groove, the first member 1, on which a root face 1a and a single groove face 1b have been formed, is brought at its root face 1a into contact with a flat surface 2a of the second base material 2. A welding wire 6 is arranged facing on the groove formed by the contact between the first base material 1 and the second base material 2. The first base material 1 and the second material 2 are caused to fuse at an area of contact between them by an arc from the welding wire 6. A melt, which has been formed by the fusion at the area of contact and the like, is forced out to the back side of the groove to form a bead B4 in the form of a fillet weld on the back side of the groove.

Abstract: In an arc welding method and apparatus, a plasma (13) is generated at a welding intended position on a base material (2) by a laser (16) irradiated to the base material (2). When a discharge electrode (12) is at a minus potential, an arc discharge (4) takes place in the direction of the plasma (13) and is induced at a position irradiated with the laser (16). When the electrode (12) is at a plus potential, arc electrons are generated from a laser irradiated point and discharged to the electrode (12). When a voltage applied between the electrode (12) and the base material (2) is alternating, the polarities of the electrode (12) and the base material (2) alternately change so that the foregoing phenomena alternately occur. When the base material (2) is at a minus potential, an arc discharge (4) takes place from a laser spot.

Abstract: Plate parts (1, 2) to be joined are formed with flat meeting surfaces (1A, 2A) and beveled surfaces (1B, 2B) at the respective joining ends, and fixed in a welding position with the flat meeting surfaces (1A, 2A) in abutting engagement with each other. In this state, a cladding material (4) is pressed against a groove (3) between the two plate parts (1, 2) and at the same time put in high speed rotation. Heat of high temperature is generated by friction between contacting surfaces of the plate parts (1, 2) and the cladding material (4). As the cladding material (4) is moved along the meeting surfaces (1A, 2A), part of plasticized cladding material at the lower end of the cladding material (4) is left and deposited on the front side of the groove (3), contributing to increase the cladding volume of a weld portion (5) on the front side of the groove (3) and to enhance the strength of bondage between the two plate parts (1, 2).

Abstract: An optical deflection angle measuring apparatus which, upon optically measuring a deflection angle, does not require an operation for directing a light onto a position detecting element and makes it possible to obtain measurement results without being affected by external force such as vibrations. A detector 410 is constructed with a common lens 411 for converging diffuse lights from light sources 41,42. Position detecting elements 412-2,412-1 receive the thus-converged lights from the light sources 41,42 and detect received positions of the converged lights. Reflecting prisms 413-1,413-2 allow the diffuse lights from the light sources 41,42 to be transmitted and guided so that the diffuse lights from the light sources 42,41, are converged, by the lens 411, onto the position detecting elements 412-1,412-2. The respective position detecting elements are arranged so as not to interfere with the convergence of the lights by the lens 411. The deflection angle &PHgr; can then be measured by computation.

Abstract: Detecting light from a detecting light source (122) is irradiated to a workpiece (1) and the reflected light is detected by a photosensor (126). At the same time, light resulting from emission of plume produced upon laser processing is also detected by the photosensor (126). A laser controller (26) binary-codes a detection signal from the photosensor (126) to provide a rectangular wave signal (TP) and, based on the rectangular wave signal (TP), generates a trigger signal (TP.sub.2) for oscillating a processing laser beam. At this time, the trigger signal (TP.sub.2) is fed back to generate a gate signal (GP) and, based on the gate signal (GP), the detection signal resulted from the emission of the plume is omitted in the gate circuit (245) to produce a trigger signal (TP.sub.G). This trigger signal (TP.sub.G) is given with a delay time (T.sub.D) to produce a trigger signal (TP.sub.1). The above trigger signal (TP.sub.2) is generated in synch with the trigger signal (TP.sub.1).

Abstract: The array condition of leads (3) is detected by a photoelectric detector (41), the detection signal is subjected to signal processing to determine the timing to oscillate a pulsed laser beam, and a laser beam axis (13C) is relatively moved at a speed (v.sub.0) with a work table (21) while oscillating a pulsed laser beam (13A), thereby cutting a dam bar (5). At this time, the longitudinal size of a spot (13B) of the pulsed laser beam (13A) is adjusted to be twice or more the width of the dam bar (5) by a longitudinal beam transformer (11a), the transverse size of the spot 13B is adjusted to be not less than 1/2 but not more than 4/5 of the length of the dam bar (5) by a transverse beam transformer (11b), and a beam rotator (11c) is appropriately operated to make the longitudinal direction of the spot (13B) substantially aligned with the longitudinal direction of the lead (3) so that the spot (13B) lies across the width (W.sub.1) of the dam bar (5).

Abstract: A lead frame fabricating method and a lead frame fabricating apparatus are provided which can easily fabricate lead frames of fine pattern at a high speed, can improve dimensional accuracy and quality of the lead frames after the fabrication, and can realize mass-production at a lower cost. To this end, when cutting a metal plate 1101 by irradiation of a laser beam, a laser beam 1011 emitted in the form of pulses and having a circular section is converted by a beam section transformer 1020 into a laser beam 1012 having an elongate elliptic section. The section of the laser beam 1012 is rotated on its optical axis by a beam rotating device 1030 so that the lengthwise direction of the section of the laser beam 1012 is coincident with the lengthwise direction of each of inner leads 1013. An optical axis of a laser beam 1015 is revolved along each of concentric paths 161 to 174 around the original optical axis given when the laser beam 1011 is emitted.

Abstract: An object of the present invention is to, in methods of processing metal plates and lead frames, enable workpieces to be finely processed into a satisfactory configuration with high dimensional accuracy without suffering the effect of heat produced under irradiation of a laser beam. According to the present invention, resist films (1) are first coated on both surfaces of a metal plate (1), and a laser beam (202) is then irradiated to the metal plate (101) from surfaces of the resist films (1) to form a multiplicity of discontinuous through holes (3) in line, while leaving joints (6) as not-processed portions between the adjacent through holes (3). Openings (2) formed in each resist film (1) by the laser cutting are joined with each other to serve as an etching pattern. Next, etching is carried out to etch side walls (6) defining the through holes and also to remove the joints (6), thereby interconnecting the through holes (3) formed in line to form a gap (303a) of a desired shape.

Abstract: In a method for forming a lead frame (1) from a metallic plate, a metallic plate (11) is first etched to form outer leads (4) and outer portions (3b) of inner leads of the lead frame (1). Inner portions (3a) of the inner leads (3) are then laser-cut under the condition that a joint portion (7) is left so as to interconnect the inner leads (3) at their distal ends. Mechanical surface treatment and chemical surface treatment are then carried out to remove dross (10), spatters (9) and oxide films deposited during the laser cutting. Inner areas of the inner leads (3) connected to respective terminals of a semiconductor chip are then plated with gold to form plated terminal portions (3A). Subsequently, the region of the lead frame other than the outer leads (4) is coated with a protective film for solder plating and the outer leads (4) are plated with solder.

Abstract: A vibration generating apparatus including a support body having a first center axis, a first spherical joint element provided at a forward end of the support body and having the center of a sphere located on the first center axis, a vibrating body having a second center axis passing through the sphere center, a second spherical joint element provided on the vibrating body and concentric complementary with the first spherical joint element to cooperate therewith to allow the vibrating body to be supported on the support member for universal movement, a rotary shaft coaxially rotatably supported within the vibrating body, a pair of eccentric weights mounted on the rotary shaft with a phase deviation of 180 degrees and in a manner symmetrical with respect to the sphere center, and a drive motor connected to the rotary shaft for driving same for rotation whereby the pair of eccentric weights are rotated about the second center axis to cause the vibrating body to move in conical motion vibration such that the sec

Abstract: A pipe laying apparatus having an excavator for performing excavation in the earth to form a substantially horizontally extending hole, with the excavator having connected to its trailing end a leading end of at least one underground pipe at least partially located in the horizontally extending hole, an injector for injecting a viscosity imparting liquid into the earth in which excavation is being performed by the excavator to produce viscosity imparting liquid containing soil particles. A propelling device positioned against a trailing end of the pipe and is located in a starting pit. The viscosity imparting liquid containing soil particles produced by the excavator and injector are conveyed rearwardly of the excavator past an outer periphery thereof and filled in an annular gap defined between the horizontally extending hole and the pipe while the excavator and pipe are advanced by the propelling device.

Abstract: A pipe laying apparatus including an excavator propulsion unit located in a starting pit. The excavator includes an excavator body having a first axis, an excavating tool having a second axis and located at a forward end portion of the excavator body, and injection ports formed in the excavating tool for injecting a viscosity imparting liquid into soil as excavated.

Abstract: A method of and a system for laying a pipe underground wherein a head attached to the leading end of the pipe to be laid underground is caused to move in vibratory movement while a propelling force is exerted on the rear end of the pipe to obtain penetration of the earth by the pipe. While the head is forced to move ahead by the propelling force exerted on the rear end of the pipe, the vibration of the head is measured. When the vibration drops in magnitude, the propelling force is decreased to reduce the speed at which the head is forced to move ahead; so as to cause restoration of the vibration to the original level, and when the vibration rises, the propelling force is increased to increase the speed at which the head is forced to move ahead.