Abstract: A medicine supply apparatus including a powder medicine dispensing portion that houses and dispenses a powder medicine is provided. The medicine supply apparatus includes: a leveling tool for leveling a surface of the housed powder medicine; and a leveling tool holder that holds the leveling tool. This configuration prevents the leveling tool from being easily lost, and eliminates the need to look for the leveling tool in every leveling. This allows an operator to quickly take out the leveling tool when needed, thereby providing good workability.

Abstract: To obtain a high-quality cast product of a cylinder head, a proper directivity to the cooling process of the molten metal after a pouring process by utilizing the shape of a cylinder head is discussed. In a process where molten metal is injected to a casting mold cavity formed between upper and lower molds to fill it therewith so that the molten metal is solidified to form a cylinder head of an engine, a plurality of core protrusions corresponding to holes (plug holes and bolt holes) are formed in the upper mold, and a cooling means is attached to each of the core protrusions. With respect to cooling means attached to the plurality of core protrusions, those attached to the inner core protrusions comparatively closer to the center of the casting mold are designed so as to have a greater cooling capability than those attached to the outer core protrusions; therefore, with respect to the center portion and the outer portion of the casting mold cavity.

Abstract: A method is used for discerning a specific type of a work, including a plurality of specified contoured portions forming parts of the work, from an image including the subject work. Each specified contoured portion, which may be defined by geometric characteristics, such as an area, a peripheral length of a specified contoured portion and a ratio between the area and peripheral length, is recognized in the image based on two-valued image data into which many-valued image data representative of the subject work is transformed with a threshold value. A position of the subject work is discerned based on a relative position of each two specified contoured portions defined by geometric characteristics, such as a distance between centers of each two specified contoured portions and an angle of a center line of each two specified contoured portions relative to a center line of another two specified contoured portions.

Abstract: A method and an apparatus for positioning a workpiece to a pallet on a working line. The line transports plural kinds of workpieces. Plural positioning pins are provided at various locations on each pallet to enable all the plural kinds of the workpieces to be carried by the pallets. Each positioning pin has a set position and a reset position. All positioning pins are first reset to the reset position. Thereafter, a selected positioning pin is set to the set position to accommodate a particular kind of workpiece. The positioning of the workpiece is accomplished by fitting a positioning hole defined by the selected workpiece onto the selected positioning pin.