Abstract: An ice fishing trap comprising in its operational state a crossbeam dimensioned for extending across a hole in ice covering a body of water, and a hingedly coupled vertical mast. The vertical mast has a rotatable reel dimensioned to carry a length of fishing line and a hook. A trigger mechanism is provided, wherein a rotation of the reel causes an arcuate movement of a trigger hook. One aspect of the invention provides at least two stabilizer limbs hingedly coupled to the crossbeam, so as to form a general Z shaped support base when operational. In another aspect the fishing trap provides a trigger bolt coupled to an indicator spring, wherein the trigger bolt is utilized to couple the indicator spring to the trigger hook. The trigger bolt is slidingly supported by bolt guide, thus providing improved resistance to false indications due wind vibration and the like. Preferably, the trigger bolt is coupled to the indicator spring by a ring shaped coupler.

Abstract: A single width bar code exhibiting inherent self clocking characteristics is provided so as to be particularly useful in the identification of semiconductor wafers in very large scale integrated circuit manufacturing processes. The codes described herein are robust, reliable and highly readable even in the face of relatively high variations in scanning speed. The codes are also desirably dense in terms of character representations per linear centimeter, an important consideration in semiconductor manufacturing wherein space on the chips and the wafer is at a premium. Additionally, a preferred embodiment of the present invention exhibits a minimum number for the maximum number of spaces between adjacent bars in code symbol sequences.

Abstract: A method and apparatus is provided for producing single width barcodes in a continuous, serpentine pattern. This pattern provides continuity of operation for laser marking instruments and thereby results in the formation of more uniform and higher quality barcode indicia. The use of a continuous serpentine pattern also increases the speed at which the code may be written onto a substrate. This marking method is particularly appropriate for use in marking a wide variety of materials including semiconductors, metals, plastics and ceramics.

Abstract: A pulse converter includes a set-reset flip/flop, or OPTOGLE 10, having a pair of cross-coupled switching devices such as transistors Q1, Q2 or logic gates G1, G2. The circuit operates by coupling pulses of optical radiation to each of the devices for causing the devices to alternately toggle between an on-state and an off-state. Optical inputting devices such as photodiodes or photoconductors, or the gates of FET transistors themselves, are integrally formed upon a common substrate with the switching devices for minimizing stray inductive and capacitive reactances to substantially eliminate temporal jitter in an electrical output signal. A pulsed laser source and a fiber optic or optical waveguide provide non-overlapping optical pulses to each of the switching devices.

Abstract: An optical clock system for high-performance computing systems uses unique methods of clock generation, delay timing, and electrical clock conversion to eliminate clock skew due to passive circuit elements. There is provided a direct optical connection to active devices in the computing system thereby eliminating the transmission of electrical clock signals through passive transmission elements. The optical clock system eliminates several stages of clock drivers and, as a result, is capable of reducing clock skew due to active circuit skew as well. In one embodiment, an optical pulse timing operator (10) produces ultrashort pulses which are equally divided by an 1-by-N splitter (16) into N optical fibers (18), where N depends on the number of clock signals required. Each fiber has a different length, resulting in different propagation times for the optical pulses.