Abstract: A spectroscopic sample analysis apparatus includes an actively controlled, direct contact heat exchanger in serial fluid communication with a spectroscopic analyzer, and a controller communicably coupled to the heat exchanger. The heat exchanger is disposed downstream of a fluid handler in the form of a stream selection unit (SSU), a solvent/standard recirculation unit (SRU), and/or an auto-sampling unit (ASU). The SSU selectively couples individual stream inputs to an output port. The SRU includes a solvent/standard reservoir, and selectively couples output ports to the heat exchanger, and returns the solvent/standard sample to the reservoirs. The ASU includes a sample reservoir having a sample transfer pathway with a plurality of orifices disposed at spaced locations along a length thereof. The controller selectively actuates the fluid handler, enabling sample to flow therethrough to the heat exchanger, and actuates the heat exchanger to maintain the sample at a predetermined temperature.

Abstract: A spectroscopic sample analysis apparatus includes an actively controlled, direct contact heat exchanger in serial fluid communication with a spectroscopic analyzer, and a controller communicably coupled to the heat exchanger. The heat exchanger is disposed downstream of a fluid handler in the form of a stream selection unit (SSU), a solvent/standard recirculation unit (SRU), and/or an auto-sampling unit (ASU). The SSU selectively couples individual stream inputs to an output port. The SRU includes a solvent/standard reservoir, and selectively couples output ports to the heat exchanger, and returns the solvent/standard sample to the reservoirs. The ASU includes a sample reservoir having a sample transfer pathway with a plurality of orifices disposed at spaced locations along a length thereof. The controller selectively actuates the fluid handler, enabling sample to flow therethrough to the heat exchanger, and actuates the heat exchanger to maintain the sample at a predetermined temperature.

Abstract: A laundry appliance includes a cabinet or surround structure. A pair of front feet are respectively provided at either front corner thereof. A front unit includes a front face, a pair of side face portions extending rearwardly therefrom to abut the side walls of the cabinet, and a pair of spaced apart front feet portions which are adjacent front feet of the cabinet. A top deck, held down by a securement, includes a flange surrounding or substantially surrounding an upper edge of the front panel and the side and rear walls of the cabinet. A connection, which is releasable by vertical relative movement of the front panel, is provided between each front foot portion of the front panel and a front foot of the cabinet.

Abstract: A laundry appliance includes a cabinet or surround structure with an attachment for a removable front panel and a removable front panel for attachment to the cabinet. The appliance is a drum and a drum support structure supporting the drum for rotation. There is a movement interface between the drum support structure and the cabinet or surround structure, allowing the drum support structure to move between an operating condition within the cabinet and a maintenance condition wherein the drum and drum support structure are at least substantially disposed outside the envelope defined by the cabinet. In the operating condition the drum and support structure are hidden behind the removable front panel. They may be moved out to the maintenance condition after removal of the front panel.

Abstract: A laundry appliance includes a cabinet or surround structure with an attachment for a removable front panel and a removable front panel for attachment to the cabinet. The appliance is a drum and a drum support structure supporting the drum for rotation. There is a movement interface between the drum support structure and the cabinet or surround structure, allowing the drum support structure to move between an operating condition within the cabinet and a maintenance condition wherein the drum and drum support structure are at least substantially disposed outside the envelope defined by the cabinet. In the operating condition the drum and support structure are hidden behind the removable front panel. They may be moved out to the maintenance condition after removal of the front panel. The appliance may be a clothes drying appliance with an outlet duct supported on the drum support structure and an exhaust duct connected with the base structure of the cabinet.

Abstract: A laundry machine includes a cabinet and a laundry holding drum rotatably supported therewithin. The drum includes a wall and a drum hatch comprising a section of the wall. A motor is connected to rotate the drum. A controller is configured to operate the motor to drive the drum through a closing operation. The closing operation includes rotating the drum in a direction to bring the drum opening toward the drum hatch to re-close the opening with the drum hatch and to detect stopping of the drum rotation. The controller may provide user feedback that a closure disruption has occurred. The drum hatch is configured to close circumferentially, with a leading edge of the drum hatch approaching a leading edge of the remaining wall. The leading edges are shaped such that interposition of fabric between the leading edges during closure stops the drum hatch reaching a fully closed position.

Abstract: An apparatus for optimizing multiplexer communications in a system having a host, a multiplexer, and a field instrument device. The host is arranged to run a host software and to transmit a message to the multiplexer, the message including an embedded message for the instrument device. The host re-transmits the message until a response to the message is received from the device via the multiplexer, with the first re-transmission occurring after a long delay and a second and all subsequent re-transmissions occurring after a second time interval.

Abstract: A safety switch for controlling the operation of a motor, including a sensor for generating an signal representing an operating condition of the motor; a filter for attenuating a rate of change of said signal and generating a filtered signal; and a controller for generating a control signal for the motor in response to a selected change between said signal representing the operating condition of the motor and the filtered signal.

Abstract: A drum hatch engaging mechanism is for inclusion in a laundry appliance having a cabinet and a drum rotatable within the cabinet. The mechanism includes a drum hatch engaging member connected with the cabinet with the connection providing for movement of the member between non-engagement and engagement positions. An actuator is provided to selectively move the drum hatch engaging member between the positions. A catch member is connected with a sliding hatch of the drum. The connection between the catch member and the sliding hatch provides for movement of the catch member between a position adjacent the skin of the drum and an outwardly displaced position. The drum hatch engaging member includes a ramped abutment to engage and lift the catch member to the outer position through movement of the catch member toward the abutment during an opening rotation of the drum. The hatch engaging member includes a closing abutment facing the ramped abutment.

Abstract: A laundry drying machine includes a cabinet and a laundry holding drum rotatably supported within said cabinet for rotation about a horizontal axis. The drum includes a cylindrical wall and a pair of ends. A drum hatch comprises a section of the cylindrical wall. A motor is connected to drive rotation of the drum via a drive belt. A hatch engaging member is actuable to grasp and hold the drum hatch relative to the cabinet. A controller operatively connected with the motor, is configured to operate the machine through each of: a) an opening operation in which the drum hatch is grabbed by the hatch engaging member and the drum is rotated to expose an opening, b) a closing operation, which follows a drum opening operation and in which the drum is rotated to re-close a the opening with the drum hatch, and c) a drying operation.

Abstract: A clothes drying appliance includes a cabinet and a drum inside the cabinet supported on a drum support structure. A belt passes around the drive pulley of a drive motor and around the drum for driving rotation of the drum in either direction. A belt tensioning device includes a pair of spaced apart tensioning pulleys each having an axis of rotation substantially parallel with the axis of rotation of the drive pulley. An imaginary line between the centres of the tensioning pulleys separates the drive pulley from the drum. The pulleys are supported on a yoke and the yoke passes around the drive pulley, with the tensioning pulleys spaced sufficiently close to impinge upon the path of the belt passing around the pulley and drum. A biasing agent such as a spring presses the pulleys toward the drum by urging the yoke toward the pulley.

Abstract: A self adjusting foot arrangement for an appliance cabinet has a first socket connected with the cabinet and a second socket connected with the cabinet spaced apart from the first socket. A foot downwardly protrudes from each socket and is moveable along axis into and out of the respective socket. A non-extensile band is fixed at one end to the first socket, passes into the first socket to bear on the first foot and is fixed at its other end to the second socket passing into the second socket to bear on the second foot. The band passes over the top of each foot within the respective socket.

Abstract: A laundry drying machine includes a cabinet and a laundry holding drum rotatably supported within the cabinet for rotation. The drum includes a wall that is circumferential relative to the rotation and a drum hatch that is a section of the wall. The drum forms an enclosure together with at least one stationary end surface centred on the axis of rotation of the drum. A motor is connected to drive rotation of the drum and a fan provides a flow of air through the interior of the drum. The drum includes an outlet opening centred on the axis of rotation and an annular filter screen extending from the periphery of the drum outlet and rotating with the drum. The annular screen is connected along one circumferential edge to the drum. There is an annular sliding seal between the other annular edge of the screen and the outlet duct and an annular sliding seal between the outlet duct and the drum external to the annular filter screen.

Abstract: A laundry machine includes a cabinet and a laundry holding drum rotatably supported within the cabinet. The drum includes a wall and a drum hatch comprising a section of the wall. A motor is connected to drive rotation of the drum. A controller is operatively connected with the motor. The controller is configured to operate the motor to drive the drum through a closing operation. The closing operation includes rotating the drum in a direction to bring the drum opening toward the drum hatch to re-close the opening with the drum hatch and to detect stopping of the drum rotation. The controller may provide user feedback that a closure disruption has occurred. The drum hatch is configured to close circumferentially, with a leading edge of the drum hatch approaching a leading edge of the remaining wall. The leading edges are shaped such that interposition of fabric between the leading edges during closure stops the drum hatch reaching a fully closed position.

Abstract: An apparatus for optimizing multiplexer communications in a system having a host, a multiplexer, and a field instrument device. The host is arranged to run a host software and to transmit a message to the multiplexer, the message including an embedded message for the instrument device. The host re-transmits the message until a response to the message is received from the device via the multiplexer, with the first re-transmission occurring after a long delay and a second and all subsequent re-transmissions occurring after a second time interval.

Abstract: A scalable Internet engine is comprised of a large number of commercially available server boards each arranged as an engine blade in a power and space efficient cabinet. The engine blades are removably positioned in a front side of the cabinet in a vertical orientation. A through-plane in the middle of a chassis assembly within the cabinet provides common power and control peripheral signals to all engine blades. I/O signals for each engine blade are routed through apertures in the through-plane to interface cards positioned in the rear of the cabinet. The scalable engine can accommodate different types of server boards in the same chassis assembly because of a common blade carrier structure. Different types of commercially available motherboards are mounted in the common blade carrier structure that provides a uniform mechanical interface to the chassis assembly.

Abstract: A scalable Internet engine is comprised of a large number of commercially available server boards each arranged as an engine blade in a power and space efficient cabinet. The engine blades are removably positioned in a front side of the cabinet in a vertical orientation. A through-plane in the middle of a chassis assembly within the cabinet provides common power and control peripheral signals to all engine blades. I/O signals for each engine blade are routed through apertures in the through-plane to interface cards positioned in the rear of the cabinet. The scalable engine can accommodate different types of server boards in the same chassis assembly because of a common blade carrier structure. Different types of commercially available motherboards are mounted in the common blade carrier structure that provides a uniform mechanical interface to the chassis assembly.

Abstract: A scalable Internet engine is comprised of a large number of commercially available server boards each arranged as an engine blade in a power and space efficient cabinet. The engine blades are removably positioned in a front side of the cabinet in a vertical orientation. A through plane in the middle of a chassis assembly within the cabinet provides common power and control peripheral signals to all engine blades. I/O signals for each engine blade are routed through apertures in the through plane to interface cards positioned in the rear of the cabinet. The scalable engine can accommodate different types of server boards in the same chassis assembly because of a common blade carrier structure. Different types of commercially available motherboards are mounted in the common blade carrier structure that provides a uniform mechanical interface to the chassis assembly.

Abstract: A stroller attachable mobile support that includes a forward U-shaped mobile support, a rear U-shaped mobile support, and two stroller frame attachment mechanisms. Each of the forward and rear U-shaped mobile supports includes a horizontal mobile attachment portion having a number of mobile element attachment rings. The forward U-shaped mobile support includes one of the two stroller frame attachment mechanisms formed at the end of each of two parallel portions thereof. The rear U-shaped mobile support portion extends away from the two parallel portions of the forward U-shaped mobile support. Each of the stroller frame attachment mechanisms is a mirror image of the other and includes a stroller frame structure member receiving channel and a threaded mobile support securing screw. The forward U-shaped mobile support includes a battery compartment, a two-position on/off switch, and a vibration mechanism. The two-position on/off switch is wired in controlling connection with the vibration mechanism.