Abstract: A plurality of metallic telephone lines carrying both baseband POTS (plain old telephone service) and DSL (digital subscriber line) or ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line) signals originate at customer premises and pass through a common field cabinet enroute to a telephone central office. Baseband POTS signals flow in an undisturbed manner through the field cabinet and maintain the normal, highly reliable, communication between the subscriber premises and the central office telephone switch. At the field cabinet, DSL/ADSL signals are removed from the metallic telephone line and are then communicated between the field cabinet and the central office using fiber optic broadband transmission. Fiber optic transmission increases the allowed distance between the ADSL transceiver located at the customer location and the respective ADSL transceiver located in the telephone central office.

Abstract: In a process for separating wires of a wire bundle the latter is delivered onto feed plane (3) which is sloped in feed direction (3) so that it or the wires move under the action of gravity onto guide element (6) with a control gap. The control gap has a gap width corresponding to the wire diameter and is made to hold the separated wires in the form of a single wire layer. Before the wire bundle can reach the control gap, it is handled using several handling elements (8.1, 8.2, 9.1, 9.2, 10.1, 10.2) located next to one another. They have a strike edge parallel to the feed plane and a scraping edge pointed against the wire bundle, and they execute a striking motion which is such that in the first cycle segment the strike edge, proceeding from the starting point, is guided opposite feed direction (5) over the single wire layer just formed and in a second cycle segment the strike edge is raised from the wire layer in order to be returned to the starting point. Handling elements (10.1, 10.

Abstract: A flush valve assembly for use in the water storage tank of a toilet, the closing speed of which can be controlled and adjusted to seal the storage tank as soon as the trap in the toilet bowl has been refilled, thereby preventing water loss from an overfilled trap. A valve cup having a float is rotatably mounted within a housing and has an elongated horizontal slot or the like near the lower edge. The valve cup contains water when the storage tank is full, and upon initiation of a flush cycle, the float engages an abutment which is secured to the valve shaft and retards the rate of descent of the valve shaft by floating downwardly on the water in the valve cup as this water drains from the horizontal slot. The valve cup can be rotated to variably restrict the slot, thereby increasing or decreasing the rate of descent of the valve shaft to seal the tank as soon as the trap has been refilled.